How to measure a serving size for vegetables & fruits..?

alondraNramos

I am really confused in regards to how to meansure fruits & veggies.. should I use a scale or measure using cup measurements..? If you can elaborate on your respond, it would be greatly appreciated ♥️

Poisonedpawn78

Use a scale and weight to the gram. Generally I would build a meal based around the protein and fat content in the meat/main sides if i do something that is more substantial calorie wise, then if i had a goal for that meal I would fill it out with veggies.

For example if i had 200g of chicken =330ish calories + 200g of white rice = 260ish calories at 590 calories. If my goal for that meal was 650 calories I would aim for around 200g of broccoli = 65ish calories.

Alatariel75

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XpHykP6e_Uk

nowine4me

It makes it easier to set them up in your foods by gram. So if a banana is (for example) 1 calorie per gram, and yours is 87 grams without the peel, you enter 87 servings. The other option is to set everything up by 100 grams. You won’t get it perfect every time using MFP’s percentages, but pretty darn close.

Edited to add: use USDA entries (by gram).

lynn_glenmont

nowine4me wrote: »

It makes it easier to set them up in your foods by gram. So if a banana is (for example) 1 calorie per gram, and yours is 87 grams without the peel, you enter 87 servings. The other option is to set everything up by 100 grams. You won’t get it perfect every time using MFP’s percentages, but pretty darn close.

Edited to add: use USDA entries (by gram).

I strongly recommend using 100 g serving sizes (then you would enter your 87 g banana as .87 servings -- there's no real "math" involved, just moving the decimal point). The problem with using a 1 g serving size is that the USDA entries don't have 1 g serving sizes for most foods (other than perhaps spice and herbs), and MFP rounds the data for disply, so that the data you see when you check to see if the nutrition information is correct for a 1 g entry is going to be 0 or 1 for macros, and anything from 0 to 9 for the calories. You can't really verify if the nutrition information behind the rounding is correct or not. If it says 1 calorie for 1 g serving of banana, that could represent any number from .5 to 1.5, and you could end up logging your 87 g banana as anything from 43 calories to 130 calories (it should be 77 calories).

yirara

Poisonedpawn78 wrote: »

Use a scale and weight to the gram. Generally I would build a meal based around the protein and fat content in the meat/main sides if i do something that is more substantial calorie wise, then if i had a goal for that meal I would fill it out with veggies.

For example if i had 200g of chicken =330ish calories + 200g of white rice = 260ish calories at 590 calories. If my goal for that meal was 650 calories I would aim for around 200g of broccoli = 65ish calories.

surely 200gr of cooked rice as 80gr dry is nearly 300kcal.

Fatmansyndrome

IMO measuring fruits and vegetables is just wrong. We should be encouring eating more of those

Alatariel75

Fatmansyndrome wrote: »

IMO measuring fruits and vegetables is just wrong. We should be encouring eating more of those

How does measuring discourage that? People like to keep an accurate log for more reasons than just calories, and weighing can make you realise how much more you can eat.

Machka9

Another vote for a food scale!

Fatmansyndrome

Why would u limit those?

Fatmansyndrome

There's no one over weight because they eat too much fruit or vegetables.

amusedmonkey

Fatmansyndrome wrote: »

There's no one over weight because they eat too much fruit or vegetables.

If you want to eat as much of them as you want, you can, but tracking them allows you to know how to arrange your other foods around them to fit your calories. I eat nearly 500 calories of fruits and vegetables a day and I have always done so even at my highest weight. If I don't track them I would not lose weight, and may even gain. You don't gain weight by eating fruits and vegetables (or any other food for that matter including cookies and pizza), you gain weight by eating too many calories, and fruits and vegetables have calories which can contribute to that overall calorie surplus (weight gain).

Terrytriesharder

Show me a person who got fat eating fruits and I will show you a person with a deep fat dryer and too much time on their hands.

kommodevaran

Fatmansyndrome wrote: »

IMO measuring fruits and vegetables is just wrong. We should be encouring eating more of those

If you feel that some foods are "free", maybe WeightWatchers or something is a better match for you. If you count calories, you count everything that has calories. Weighing and logging fruit and vegetables lets you see how relatively little calories they have, and how much they contribute to satiety, wouldn't that encourage increased fruit and vegetables consumption?

Anna_137

Fatmansyndrome wrote: »

Why would u limit those?

Because they have calories in them.. some things like spinache/lettuce/cucumber I don't bother weighing because they are so few calories. But fruit and other veg like sweetcorn i do. Otherwise i would be eating 100-200 calories a day and not logging it. For people with a lot to lose it probably wont make much different. People who are very close to their goal weight aiming to lose .5lb week could wipe out their deficit. Then they post on the forums wondering why they aren't losing weight even though they're eating so 'clean'.

callsitlikeiseeit

Fatmansyndrome wrote: »

IMO measuring fruits and vegetables is just wrong. We should be encouring eating more of those

absolutely they should. but it doesnt mean they dont have calories and shouldnt be accounted for. I can make a 600 calorie salad without thinking about it. Which is fine, and I do it all the time, but its a meal. it has calories. and they need to be counted.

lemurcat12

Fatmansyndrome wrote: »

Why would u limit those?

For me, tracking and logging fruits and veg has never been about limiting them. (However, some people really want to eat enormous amounts of fruit, and for them limiting them in order to get in enough veg, protein, healthy fats might be a good thing sometimes.) But in any case, I like to log them so I have an accurate track of what I am eating, can look back and make sure I'm eating enough and a diverse selection, and if a day is tougher or easier or there are patterns, I like to be able to look at what I ate.

Also, we have a challenge right now about eating 10+ servings of veg and fruit a day, and even though on a normal day I easily hit that (the challenge counts it as 80 g per serving), it's a nice incentive to actually log.

If I were trying to lose, I'd also want to log my veg and fruit so I'd know my real deficit.

I really think that assuming logging is only for foods you are trying to limit is a negative approach to logging, and results, of course, in less accuracy. I strongly dislike the idea that if you write something down or log it that you will want to eat less -- I have always liked logging veg and found it encouraged me to eat more (I tend to eat more veg and little fruit in the winter so right now it's also encouraging me to add in more fruit). I felt the same about hitting my protein goal, fiber, things like nuts and seeds which have lots of cals that I think are good for me, etc. The goal is to get a good diet within your calories (and not be ignorant of what the real calories are), and not to try to hit the lowest possible number, after all.

Anyway, I assumed OP wanted to know serving size to count servings (and hit a minimum) not to limit them. I think focusing on specific serving size is likely unnecessary and a hassle (although we do it in my challenge, based on the UK recommendation/measure).

deannalfisher

for me tracking vegetables and fruits is to make sure i eat enough, not to avoid eating them...

karahm78

No one is saying to limit fruit and veg..... what we are saying is you do still need to account for them. I also like to record the fiber, fats, etc that they contribute. Some are calorie dense (such as avocado). Weight on scale in grams.

mmapags

Fatmansyndrome wrote: »

There's no one over weight because they eat too much fruit or vegetables.

So, you've never met an overweight vegan? Used to manage a restaurant that catered to vegans and those with special dietary needs like G.F. Or dairy free. I've seen lots of them.

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tinkerbellang83

Fatmansyndrome wrote: »

There's no one over weight because they eat too much fruit or vegetables.

Of course there are, you only have to spend 10 mins browsing the weight loss forum for all of the "I've been eating clean for 2 months but lost no weight" posts and additionally I know several overweight vegans.

You gain weight by overeating, it doesn't matter what you're eating if it makes you eat above what you're burning.

I have a 500 calorie deficit, which could easily be wiped out by a Banana, an avocado and some veg over the course of a day. That's not to say I limit fruit and veg, but I do plan my meals to ensure I get adequate Protein, Fats & Carbs.

mmapags

Terrytriesharder wrote: »

Show me a person who got fat eating fruits and I will show you a person with a deep fat dryer and too much time on their hands.

See my post above. I've seen lots of them. Of course they were eating fats too but it's still CICO.

Rebecca0224

Terrytriesharder wrote: »

Show me a person who got fat eating fruits and I will show you a person with a deep fat dryer and too much time on their hands.

I can easily eat 500-1000 calories of raw fruits and vegetables a day. Not everyone is going to enjoy the same foods so assuming people don't over eat fruits and vegetables is ignorant. We have to limit fresh vegetables and only buy fruit I don't like because I over eat those foods. 500 calories of vegetables is still 500 calories.

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amusedmonkey

It's interesting how many people think of their diet in terms of single foods, not in terms of the sum of them. Weight gain is basically a diet that surpasses the body's energy needs, where these calories come from is irrelevant outside of how they contribute to calorie management as a whole. People also fall for that when they're trying to eat healthy as if a single food is going to be the difference between a healthy and an unhealthy diet.

It's also interesting that logging is seen as a negative thing used to limit stuff, not as the information tool it is. I log my high days where I'm way over calories because that's useful information. The act of logging doesn't automatically translate to limiting things. Sometimes it's done for weight gain, or to track certain things a person is interested in like fiber and protein. Some people do it for weight maintenance to insure they're eating enough to maintain their weight...etc.

fitoverfortymom

I might steal a nibble of broccoli or cucumber while I'm prepping dinner and not log it, but when I'm eating a crapton of veggies for dinner, I weigh my portion you're damn skippy. My main course tonight is zucchini noodles slathered in pesto, and I will weigh every last zoodle that crosses my lips.

Tacklewasher

I admit I stopped weighing my veggies. I've been weighing them for a while and know what ~85g looks like for my baby carrots and snap peas, so I grab and go now. I know I've got wiggle room with them as the calorie hit isn't bad if I'm over a bit. Same for fruit. I'm good logging an apple or banana as a medium because I've weighed enough to know it's close.

But they still get logged.

Fatmansyndrome

Fat vegans are eating too much other things like vegan ice cream. I know it's cico but it ain't the veggies or fruits that's putting them over.

kimny72

Fatmansyndrome wrote: »

Fat vegans are eating too much other things like vegan ice cream. I know it's cico but it ain't the veggies or fruits that's putting them over.

But that's not the point. If you're going to count calories, fruits and veggies have calories. I weigh and log my fruits because they can be calorie dense, and I weigh and log my veggies to make sure I'm getting enough and to be sure my calories are where I want them. Not sure why you think weighing veggies means limiting them. It means keeping an accurate record of what you ate.

lili200

Fatmansyndrome wrote: »

There's no one over weight because they eat too much fruit or vegetables.

Fruits contain plenty of sugar. I eat a lot of them a day and was told to limit them to 3-4