anyone have "that doesn't count" food?

ssmith468

Hi All,

A bunch of ladies in my office started weight watchers recently and apparently on that you don't have to count fruits and vegetables. Do you count those in your daily calories?
Thanks!
Stephanie

littlenoms

I count everything I eat or drink.

Tzavush

If you are counting your calories, I think the only things that don't "count" are those that have no calories....

vold94

I agree, I think with calorie counting you need to count everything.

rileamoyer

agree!

chubswonky

I count them- they have calories.
I'm pretty sure the plan they're doing is a little different than strictly calorie counting

SaraTonin

Then people on Weight Watchers eat a corn diet like livestock, I assure you, there are calories in fruits and vegetables! How do we think our corn-fed cows gain weight?

Some fruits and veggies are better than others, to be sure. It's best to count it all.

Sometimes I don't add my one carrot just because I know it was less than 20 calories and it's annoying to look up something that hardly counts, but other than that, it adds up if you're eating a lot.

SheilaSisco

I agree... if you're tracking calories here, EVERYTHING you put into your mouth COUNTS and should be logged. Otherwise, you're only going to sabotage yourself... there ARE calories in those things...

albragg

Yes, I do. Fruit has sugar, which count for carbs. As for vegetables, I count them too unless it's something like 3 slices of cucumber on a sandwich. Those calories are negligible.

luppic8

Yes I do because they do contain calories and sugars. Some veggies have carbs too!

obifatkanobi

I didn't use to count anything, and that's what got me here to begin with. However, if I wanted to sell a means of losing weight, I would definitely tell you not to count everything, so that sooner or later, you would be back, buying more of my weight loss product...

dayzeerock

I'm vegan and if I didn't count my fruits and veggies I'd hardly be counting anything at all! Of COURSE they count! Anything with any nutritional value counts!

burtchma

I count everything I eat.

mjf0461

EVERYTHING!!!!!!!!!!!

Delicate

I think its not counted in weight watchers and slimming world, so you fill up more on fruit and veg, so you are fuller and have less tendency to eat less of other things.

However it works the other way, they eat alot of fruit and veg cause its 'free' then eat other types of food to make up their points/syns.

CandeesLand

The only things I don't count are spices ie: garlic powder, cinnamon, pepper (anything with salt I do count though) you probably burn the # of calories in those things just by looking them up.

KrisPage

I dont count breath mints or chewing gum but anything over 20 calories adds up if you keep eating it.

LuckyLeprechaun

If I have a salad, I'll log the avocado, the dressing, the ingredients which add substantial calories. But the lettuce and the green onions I don't log, because they are so minimal and that's not how I'm going to regain weight, overeating lettuce! LOL

kmtetour

Weight Watchers' most recent plan doesn't count fruits and vegetables as points because it doesn't count calories and carbs. I believe it counts protein, fiber, and fat. Maybe some other things, too. It's a completely different system.

Grokette

Yes I do because they do contain calories and sugars. Some veggies have carbs too!

All veggies have carbs............



I don't count calories..................but if I did, I wouldn't count the lemon I put in my water or tea.

marthamcel

If you are going by weight watchers do what they say...If not count everything...

Tzavush

I think mustard and vinegar are safe too..but I add them in anyway

ladybg81

EVERYTHING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

bethanyweathers

When I tried Jenny Craig, anything under 20 calories was considered "free." That being said, unless it's gum or mints, I count it. Also, sometimes I forget to log my drink powders (like Crystal Light) to my water.

zeeeb

i'm not a big calorie counter / points counter.

i know what i can eat roughly, and i eat it, roughly. i will not be a slave to the calories.

every now and then i check the calories of what i'm eating, to see if i'm roughly on track, but that might be one day a month, just to check up on myself. and then i trust that i'm doing the right thing, and i'm losing consistently, so i know i'm doing the right thing. i write a diary of my food (an actual paper diary) so that when i hit a plateua i can look through and re-assess my choices.

if i hit a plateau, i will count the calories for a couple of days, re-assess and maybe change things up a bit, but apart from that i just try to eat healthier snacks with lower calories. i do check the nutrition panel on foods to make sure i'm not eating things that are massive in calories, i try and eat snacks that are around 100 calories and no more, just so i know that i'm not eating too much in between my meals.

with my main meal in the evening, i actually weigh the plate. so i eat whatever my kids eat generally but only eat 350-400g in total for my evening meal. i know what i cook is healthy and nutritious, i was just eating far too much, always going back for seconds, and eating left overs as i got a bit peckish in the evening, so i weigh it, and then don't go back for seconds. that has made the biggest difference for me. generally i try to aim for about 100g of meat, 100g of carbs the rest is vegies or salad.

as soon as tea is gone, i give the left overs straight to the dog or chooks, that way i can't be tempted to eat seconds later on. when i cook things i really like, i really control the portions that i cook so there are no left overs, otherwise i know i'll just eat them. i figure if the kids are still hungry, they can have a piece of bread and a drink of milk.

sdirbder

Yes I do because they do contain calories and sugars. Some veggies have carbs too!

All veggies have carbs............



I don't count calories..................but if I did, I wouldn't count the lemon I put in my water or tea.

I looked it up once and the lemon I put in my water has 0 calories.

b00b0084

I count EVERYTHING even those foods or drinks that I know I really really really do not need but wanted anyways. Like my garlic cresent rolls with hard salami. And now that I have had some, I wont be eating them or anything like that for a very long time. but EVERYTHING COUNTS!

Kellee_76

In defence of Weight Watchers: It works fantastically... if you can stick to it. I lost 85 pounds with them and kept it off for years. I stopped being able to stick with it after a while and that's why I'm here. Not all WW veggies are free. Corn is never free, potatoes are never free, avocados are never free, etc. The water-based low calorie veggies are all free because their few additional calories are already calculated into your daily allowance. Supposedly, this is what they've done with fruit, too. I did WW for a few weeks on this new plan and they warn you not to eat too much fruit or it might stall your weight loss. I personally eat too much fruit to not have to count it. It has a lot more calories than green veggies and I'll always pick the strawberry over the lettuce leaf!

I figure though, if you're doing WW, then follow the rules to a tee. And if you're counting calories, then make sure you count everything you put in your mouth. (Not everyone does this but I even count my Yerba Mate tea at 5 cals per cup because I tend to drink more than one cup and every little bit adds up when you start rolling those days up into weeks and months!)

schmanna22

I am a WW online member, as well as a user of this site. MOST fruits and vegetables are zero points (which isn't the same as "free," though I could see why it would be viewed as such.) The program wants to encourage people to reach for plant based foods, rather than a calorically similar cookie or cracker. They designed the program with the idea that plan users would/should eat about 200-300 calories a day of fruits and vegetables, in addition to other foods, which in total works out similarly to the number of calories that this site suggests, in terms of recommended daily intake.

Obviously, results may vary, but that's basically the gist of it. Their system uses fat, protein, carbs and fiber to formulate how many points a food is worth. But all in all, it's calorie restriction, just a different way of doing it.

Azuleelan

I wish there was something I didn't have to count!! But you really do have to count everything

catcrazy

I count everything, veg often accounts for about 400 of my calories...imagine if i didnt count them!