Log fruits and vegetables

AllOutof_Bubblegum

This is not Weight Watchers. Log everything.

fallingtrees

Oh, yes, log them! And then watch your fiber and potassium go up. Although, a lot of foods that have potassium come up zero when you log them, because people don't bother to include it in the nutrition count.

I read a neat mnemonic on MFP a few days ago:
Produce plus Protein.

It's my new motto. If I load up on those two, I tend not to overeat on the processed carbs.

Tanya949

2 calories for lettuce, or 6 calories for a slice of tomato, I don't log. A 5 calorie pickle, even if I eat 3, I don't log. My 25 calorie greens for my salad I will log. And I also don't log 2 almonds or a small handful of raisins. Reason? I rarely eat up to my cal goal every day, so the day I eat a few nibbles over... I still had room from a day or 2 ago. Over a week it evens out for me. As long as it's not mindless and I know how much I'm nibbling, it may not be logged.

TriShamelessly

Log it all. While unlimited fruits and veggies may sound like it can't hurt, it can put you into a calorie surplus if you're not watching overall intake. For example, MFP sets you at 1800 cal/day and you eat that in other stuff, plus a ton of fruits and veggies. You will likely not lose weight. MFP looks at calorie intake as a whole. That being said, I will still encourage you to eat a lot of fruits and veggies for the fiber and micronutrients that only they can generally provide in good quantities. Best of luck!

CarolinkaCjj

Log everything and...

Food for thought,

This morning for breakfast I had 450 grams (approx 16oz) of strawberries. I know I had that many because I have a scale at my desk that I use to add up each strawberry as I at them. That many strawberries 144 Calories.

my mum always thought they must have messed up calculating the calories in strawberries - how can some so tasty really have so few calories. Agreed, they will add add up but what a delicious treat.

Brige2269

Log all of it. It's natural sugar, unless you have to stay away from sugar for health reasons, you shouldn't really worry, also, those are the good carbs. In my opinion, I think WW is wrong in saying not count fruits and veggies, you should count everything.

Ashaleet

I took "sugar" off of my main diary and replaced it with fiber.

Also, the reason why WW started saying fruits and veggies are zero points was to encourage people to eat more of those things.

Ten years ago, a banana was 2 points. And an Orange was 1 point.

amblight

Considering that 22%+ of my calories this week came from veggies and fruit, I'd consider it pretty awful logging to not count it!

ruthieoftx

I don't pay attention to sugar, since mfp treats sugars that naturally occur in foods and added sugar exactly the same. If there was a count that was just added sugars then I'd pay attention to it.

Why?

I can't speak for the OP, but I would also pay more attention to an "added sugar" category. Several reasons: 1) Sugar can be listed under so many different names, it's sometimes difficult to find on a nutrition label. 2) sugar that comes from a whole food--fruit, vegetables, and dairy, for instance--likely comes with essential nutrients, fiber, minerals, etc. Added sugar is just sugar, and therefore useless empty calories. 3) every calorie of non-nutritive, empty sugar you eat is a calorie of nutritious food you don't eat! Your body needs nutrition, so empty sugar is a waste of good calories, especially when you're trying to create a calorie deficit to lose weight. (That's not to mention the multitude of studies that have suggested links between higher consumption of added sugars and diabetes, heart disease, fatty liver, leptin resistance, etc.)

The problem is severe enough that the FDA is planning to add an "Added sugar" category when they revamp the nutrition label. (http://www.fda.gov/Food/GuidanceRegulation/GuidanceDocumentsRegulatoryInformation/LabelingNutrition/ucm385663.htm) Which is good, because the FDA, the WHO, the AHA, and virtually every other organization I could find recommends that an adult woman consume less than 6 tsp of added sugars per day, or two teaspoons less than what you would find in 12 oz of coke. You could go over that between a serving of breakfast cereal and a granola bar!

For me, I have a problem with sugar. I LOVE it. I want it all the time. But when I eat it, I never feel full, I feel melancholy, I crave it, and I tend to lose control and binge on it. So I avoid it. I'd love to have an "added sugar" section on MFP, because it would be easier to make sure I'm keeping my added sugars as close to 0 as humanly possible. (At the moment, I just try not to go over on sugars. Most of my diet comes from whole foods and vegetables, so it's not hard to stay under, really.)


I know that's not a popular opinion here, so here are some sources with various opinions, ranked in order of friendly-readability:
http://www.nerdfitness.com/blog/2013/06/17/everything-you-need-to-know-about-sugar/
http://www.forbes.com/sites/alicegwalton/2014/02/03/more-evidence-that-sugar-is-harming-our-hearts/
http://www.webmd.com/food-recipes/features/health-effects-of-sugar
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/foodanddrink/healthyeating/9987825/Sweet-poison-why-sugar-is-ruining-our-health.html

DivineChoices

When I was on WW, I still logged the 0 point foods. For me, it's the pride in shoving my food diary in my doctors face when they ask me to prove I'm eating health(ier).

And now on MFP, I log 0 cal foods too (like spices, etc), because I want this to be a habit, not something that I can ignore willy-nilly.

I've been eating MANY salads this week, all with the same basic ingredients, so I save time by copying from date under quick tools and adjusting the actual grams I ate.

krokador

I stopped logging most vegetables because I eat ...so much in a day it was becoming WAY too tedious to keep track of it all.

If you eat a lot of it, wouldn't that make it even more important to log it?

...those veggies are somewhat a stable input in my daily life.

If you have about the same amount each day, why not weigh it and log it once, and just use that entry every day if it's about the same every day?

Just a thought.

I was logging them for a while and got really fed up with the whole process, which in my case was not constructive at all.
I eat a similar amount of different types of veggies over the course of several meals. So no, really ain't no way to just copy from day to day.

I did forget to mention my calorie goal does account for those vegetables. I worked out an average over what I did log that has allowed me to take them out completely because even if I'm not having the same exact thing, it'll balance out.

So many people are really tight with the "you need to log everything" concept, I figured I'd add a different view here: it's better to log what really matters then not log anything at all because the process has burned you out. It's been working so far for me.

And again, I do log higher carbs vegetables and always log fruits (when I do log).

cwolfman13

I've eaten roughly 300 calories worth of fruit and veg today...which is pretty much par for the course. I don't log anything anymore, but I spent 6 months logging everything that went into my mouth...now I've been maintaining for a year just keeping a reasonably good tally in my head...but when you're actually trying to lose with calorie counting, it's pretty important to log everything. 300 calories worth of unlogged fruits and vegetables would have pretty much wiped out my past deficit.

1pandabear

Vegetables will help you hit your macros (proteins, carbs, fats). I would suggest spending some time on what macros work best for you and try to hit those numbers day in and day out. For example, my protein is sat at 40%, Carb 35%, Fat 25%.

Hope that helps...

Good advice :-)

tracydr

I tried the new WW a few years ago. I gained weight! I used to do well on WW but I cannot be trusted with free fruits and veggies!

Flutterloo

I don't use weight watchers. It makes sense to me to log everything....because if I ate it....it counts.

tinychuck

definitely log everything! Even if just to make sure you're getting enough fibre/vitamins etc

Alatariel75

You say they jack up your carbs and sugar and think that's a reason NOT to log them? Those carbs and sugar are in your body whether an internet site says you ate them or not.

Having said that, MFPs sugar limits are BS.

WW makes them "free" so people will have an apple instead of a cookie. If they actually applied the Points formula to the fruit, a banana would be 2-3 Points, and many people would grab a small pack of chips instead. It's a mental thing and in no way reflects that fruit and veg don't have calories, carbs etc. WW Points limits also take into account an assumption that you're going to eat fruit and veg, and are set deliberately low for that reason.

stephe1987

Log everything! MFP has calorie goals as well as macro goals that are important to log to ensure proper nutrition. Although you can adjust the macros to meet your individual goals.

It's also good to have a daily log of what you're eating. If you eat fruits and vegetables, those should be in your diary. That way if you ever need weight loss advice from the forums, people can see your log and it'll be accurate (people won't assume you don't eat fruit or vegetables). And if you ever talk to a doctor or nutritionist or dietitian you will be able to show them the log of what you eat. If you don't log fruit or vegetables, how will you know how much you're eating? Everyone will assume you eat none and the best you can do is guess which really isn't helpful especially if you need to track something for a few months at a time: there's no way you'll remember what you ate three months ago. You'll be lucky if you can accurately remember the last few days...

BurntCoffee

I have been logging EVERYTHING. I even log my sugar free gum. If it has calories I log it.

shmerek

If it goes in your mouth log it. Period.