How do you know how many calories are ACTUALLY in fruit and veg?

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Replies

  • ikakakhel
    ikakakhel Posts: 10 Member
    Guava 100g 68Calories
    Small apple 50Cal
    Medium apple 65 Cal
    Large Apple 75Cal
    Banana 80Calories
    Grapefruit 45Calories
    Orange 60 Calories
  • ikakakhel
    ikakakhel Posts: 10 Member
    2d3dlnddhn0j.jpg

    I reduced 26 KG in 5 Months, strictly following Calories in/Gym
  • Gaspode661
    Gaspode661 Posts: 1 Member
    There is always the UK govt official listing of food values: "McCance and Widowson" https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/composition-of-foods-integrated-dataset-cofid but you have to do some work to find out what the documents contain
  • zeejane03
    zeejane03 Posts: 993 Member
    ikakakhel wrote: »
    For reducing Belly FAT, I strongly believe on Weight Training 90 minutes and Protein Diet. No Carbs. I am no very smart, Waist size reduced from 46 inches to 39 and i am planning to reach 32 waist size

    For weight loss the only thing that matters is calories, not cabs or other macros/macros ratios.

    I eat 200+ grams of carbs a day and I'm nailing my weight management goals.
  • tmoneyag99
    tmoneyag99 Posts: 480 Member
    Might want to wrap your head around the fact that none of this is exact. There is no way to know exactly how many calories in the food you are eating can be used to raise 1gram of water one degree in temperature.

    It's a complicated science. Not to mention every person's metabolism is different depending on the amount of muscle they have, how efficent their body is with using calories, how much sleep they are or aren't getting.

    So go with the estimates and then compare to how much weight your losing.

    Even then it wont be exact. So control only what you can control and don't get obsessive. Quit bad habits and adopt good ones for life and You'll be great.
  • bigbandjohn
    bigbandjohn Posts: 769 Member
    Anita4548 wrote: »
    Fatty_Nuff wrote: »
    I can live with entering my apple as a medium or large. But a lot of people prefer to be more accurate, and the best way to be accurate is to weigh, after peeling and/or coring your fruit. You can also create custom entries to use in your diary, if the ones already in the database seem inaccurate. And quite a few are inaccurate and repetitious.

    Yes that's exactly what I mean. I don't know which entries to trust on MFP. Especially if one says Apple 100g - 85 cal and another says Apple 100g - 105 calories. I know the green tick means it's not user generated but if there isn't one that has a green tick then you have to pick another one. And as I don't have a huge amount of weight to lose, even a couple of hundred calories can make a difference

    If I see multiple entries, until I determine otherwise I pick the middle value from the cluster that is closest to consistent. I ignore the outliers. Not perfect, but a quick way to approximate if you have trouble finding exactly what you are looking for.

    But yet, the USDA website would be a good source.
  • Elerian
    Elerian Posts: 5 Member
    Not sure if it's already been said but something my nutritionist told me that I didn't know was that the information on the package is for the product AS IS on the inside of the package. So if it says 1/2 cup, and it's something like rice, it literally means 1/2 cup DRY like in the package, unless it specifically says "prepared".
  • heybales
    heybales Posts: 18,842 Member
    Elerian wrote: »
    Not sure if it's already been said but something my nutritionist told me that I didn't know was that the information on the package is for the product AS IS on the inside of the package. So if it says 1/2 cup, and it's something like rice, it literally means 1/2 cup DRY like in the package, unless it specifically says "prepared".

    Might read through the topic - because that has been mentioned, as well as the much more important point that it's by weight, not volume.

    Many other tips and tricks mentioned you might find enlightening.
  • lorrainequiche59
    lorrainequiche59 Posts: 900 Member
    SezxyStef wrote: »
    I haven't read all the comments, but what I have read I tend to agree with those who are less rigid. If you are eating the recommended servings of fruit & veg (is it still 5-10 daily? in the revised food guide) and not choosing HUGE portions then it shouldn't be that big of a deal if you're not exactly exact. And even though MFP contains varying estimates, I think most things can be averaged out without going extreme either way.

    If you think about it Weight Watcher members lose weight WITHOUT calculating most of their fruits & veg intake, but it is also based on being reasonable, it isn't a free-for-all just because they are considered "free" foods. For instance bananas are a free food, but only if you eat ONE banana not FIVE bananas. I'm assuming Weight Watchers still calculate that way...they tend to change their format regularly so perhaps it isn't...ANYHOO the principle still applies.....

    except 5 servings of fruit can be up to 500 calories and that can and often does wipe out a deficit.

    Same with veggies...

    I am not saying that it has to be so strict that you are stressing over a carrot stick or even 4 or 5 but they do have calories and they need counted especially if you are stalled...or finding it difficult to lose weight or gaining...time to take stock of the CI CO equation.

    I wasn't saying not to count calories from fruits & veg, I said "Weight Watchers" do not count fruit & veg, perhaps you could re-read my comment. I'm saying don't be obsessed if one estimate says a medium apple is 80 cals another says 90 cals. The difference is 10 calories. Multiply that by 5.

    I thought the OP was referring to tracking "exactly" what the correct calorie count is. And as another commenter said you'll never know "exactly" anyway, and if you continue to lose weight then does it really make a difference if the calories are "exact."
  • estherdragonbat
    estherdragonbat Posts: 5,283 Member
    CICO isn't counting calories. It's simply the energy balance equation that governs whether weight is lost, gained, or maintained.
  • lemurcat2
    lemurcat2 Posts: 7,885 Member
    I agree that you don't have to be super exact with fruit and veg, and there have definitely been times when I logged a cup of greens or a medium banana, or just went by how it compared to past experience (looks like that half avocado is about 75 g). I do that with some higher cal foods too (well, avocado is higher cal), although for me it's easier to weigh if I can rather than spend the extra time thinking about the estimate. ALSO, I think that eating lots of veg especially is important, so there I wouldn't want to be overestimating for safety -- I'd want to accurately understand how much I am eating and I want to be getting lots of cals from them.

    What I find more confusing is the idea that with fruits and veg it makes no difference what entry is chosen, that it's a silly thing to think about, just pick some average one. The principle behind picking a better entry for fruits and veg is the same as for any other food and it takes no extra time and it's nice to have a reliable one in your Frequent Foods. So why not tell someone who is confused by all the entries (many of which are nutritionally incomplete or just wrong) how to find the USDA ones (usually it's just a matter of typing in whatever it is, raw, and seeing if it has a lot of different measurement choices). I get that it's still just an estimate, but it's not like all the entries are reasonable estimates and differ based on season or what not. Many of the alternatives are things like "orange, one" (how big an orange?) or don't specify cooked or raw or are homemade weirdness that could have ingredients added or are just very off (celery, -3 calories or some such).
  • SezxyStef
    SezxyStef Posts: 15,267 Member
    SezxyStef wrote: »
    I haven't read all the comments, but what I have read I tend to agree with those who are less rigid. If you are eating the recommended servings of fruit & veg (is it still 5-10 daily? in the revised food guide) and not choosing HUGE portions then it shouldn't be that big of a deal if you're not exactly exact. And even though MFP contains varying estimates, I think most things can be averaged out without going extreme either way.

    If you think about it Weight Watcher members lose weight WITHOUT calculating most of their fruits & veg intake, but it is also based on being reasonable, it isn't a free-for-all just because they are considered "free" foods. For instance bananas are a free food, but only if you eat ONE banana not FIVE bananas. I'm assuming Weight Watchers still calculate that way...they tend to change their format regularly so perhaps it isn't...ANYHOO the principle still applies.....

    except 5 servings of fruit can be up to 500 calories and that can and often does wipe out a deficit.

    Same with veggies...

    I am not saying that it has to be so strict that you are stressing over a carrot stick or even 4 or 5 but they do have calories and they need counted especially if you are stalled...or finding it difficult to lose weight or gaining...time to take stock of the CI CO equation.

    I wasn't saying not to count calories from fruits & veg, I said "Weight Watchers" do not count fruit & veg, perhaps you could re-read my comment. I'm saying don't be obsessed if one estimate says a medium apple is 80 cals another says 90 cals. The difference is 10 calories. Multiply that by 5.

    I thought the OP was referring to tracking "exactly" what the correct calorie count is. And as another commenter said you'll never know "exactly" anyway, and if you continue to lose weight then does it really make a difference if the calories are "exact."

    and I didn't say you did...I elaborated on something you missed because you didn't read hte thread.

    I said...no you don't have to be "exact" most of the time but if you are stalled or finding it hard start tracking more diligently and htat includes fruits and veggies.