Can you really eat celery all day long and never gain weight?

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  • sgtx81
    sgtx81 Posts: 466 Member
    edited December 2017
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    There are 72 calories in a pound of celery. If you're chewing well and hand washing it and cutting it, then that could potentially be getting close to a 0 calorie food when it's all said and done.

    Whether or not it's a "negative" calorie food is beside the point. Your body is having to perform actions that burn calories to cancel it out. Why not just make your body burn more of what you eat all of the time by exercising?
  • fitoverfortymom
    fitoverfortymom Posts: 3,452 Member
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    There is a way of eating called Volumetrics that some MFP users follow. The idea is that you can eat higher volumes of food with low calorie profiles. There's not really a negative calorie food, but some people just need to eat a lot of food to feel satisfied. Ultimately, however works for you best to keep your calorie deficit is how you'll lose. There's many paths to keeping that deficit--volume eating is one of them. There's a volume eaters thread in the Food/Nutrition forum.
  • T1DCarnivoreRunner
    T1DCarnivoreRunner Posts: 11,502 Member
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    You would not get enough protein from eating only celery. Same with cucumbers. Your body stores fat and can make its own glucose, so you don't technically need to eat fat or carbs. But you cannot make your own amino acids without "essential" amino acids from protein consumption. You have to eat protein for this reason.
  • apullum
    apullum Posts: 4,838 Member
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    You could eat chocolate chips all day and lose weight, as long as your calorie intake was less than the number of calories you burned.

    Realistically...do you enjoy celery or cucumbers? Do you enjoy them enough that you would be happy eating those things as your snacks? If so, then eat as much as you want of them, *as long as you are within your calorie goal.* But if you don't actually enjoy these things, then you're setting yourself up for an unsustainable and miserable time.
  • ladyhusker39
    ladyhusker39 Posts: 1,406 Member
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    I don't see how it's any different than chewing gum all day and lots of people do that for basically the same reason. I would recommend logging it though. You don't want to get into the habit of eating things you don't log. Slippery slope.
  • amandaeve
    amandaeve Posts: 723 Member
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    I also want to much all the time. My mouth just wants to chew. I've lost a lot of weight, and my urge to much is the same as it was when I was heavier. My strategy has been this, and it has worked for me:

    -count calories and plan such so that I am not losing too quickly so I don't get too hungry
    -drink water before eating anything everytime
    -for the crunchies: 2-3 snacks a day, spread out over hours of: carrots, cucumbers, grapes, apples. I don't like celery. My fave is carrots because they are so crunchy. Lately I've taken to adding measured pb2, hummus, or Toby's tofu pate to make it more filling, I don't bother counting the veggies. It hasn't ruined me.
    -plain air popped popcorn (I do count this)
    -between snacks, I chew on gum, straws, pen lids, or these cool necklaces designed for kids with oral issues (not joking here, this has helped me).
  • karaken
    karaken Posts: 1 Member
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    Put some hummus on that celery
  • pinuplove
    pinuplove Posts: 12,874 Member
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    All this thread made me want to do is bump this one, to keep balance in the universe http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10498878/looking-for-friends-who-dont-eat-clean-and-healthy#latest

    It certainly didn't convince me to eat celery!
  • 220Dani
    220Dani Posts: 198 Member
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    I remember someone on here (or some other nutrition area I can't remember) saying sometimes we crave food but we're actually thirsty. Especially with celery and cucumbers, this might be something to look into. How much are you drinking a day? Maybe try grabbing a glass before munching to see if it reduces the urge to snack?
  • Alatariel75
    Alatariel75 Posts: 17,959 Member
    edited February 2018
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    If you ate nothing but celery you'd not gain weight, because... celery. But I presume the query is about the myth of negative calorie foods.


    If there were any truth to this, someone who was stranded with nothing to eat but these vegetables would starve to death faster by eating them, then by not eating at all.

    Logically, does that sound at all like something that could happen?

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