Do you log veggies?

LittleSimoni

I'm trying to determine if I it's worth it to log veggies such as raw or steamed spinach, lettuce, broccoli, celery (typical salad stuff). I do on starchy veggies (corn, sweet potatoes, potatoes).

It's good if you're tracking fiber, nutrients, etc and I log vitamins but I get lazy sometimes and do not want to add 4 oz of broccoli florets or one celery stalk or weigh out my salads.

secretlobster

Of course. I log everything I eat. That's the point.

angeldaae

Are you trying to lose weight? Vegetables have calories, too. It's possible to overeat anything, including greens.

IveLanded

I log EVERYTHING. I heard a good rule on these boards "If you bite it, write it"

Aureilie

Yep. I log everything I eat.

WhittRak

Is it food? Did you eat it? Then log it.

jennapony

I usually do, but I don't always

wolfchild59

I log everything I eat. If you don't, you're just lying to your food log, which is just lying to yourself. As others have said, if it has calories, log it.

I often make a big ole salad full of tons of fresh veggies and then cook some chicken breast to go on top for lunch. Then for dinner I'll make a hot meal made up of more veggies, some ground pork and maybe a little tofu. So, by your logic, my food log for lunch and dinner would be chicken breast and then some pork and tofu. How does that make sense?

Plus, I watch my vitamins, minerals, and potassium, so if I skipped entering my veggies I would have horribly incomplete data each day.

sapalee

I do because I'm trying really hard to get my potassium up and I'm learning all kinds of foods that have more potassium. Ex. found out today that both zuchinni and sweet potato have more than a banana.

Even with all the fresh fruit and veg I eat still coming in low...

wolfchild59

Just as an experiment, I took an average day of eating for myself and took out all of the veggies. It dropped over 300 calories from the daily total between breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks.

And that's not counting the carbs, fiber, vitamins, minerals, and potassium that my food log would also now be short on as well.

flyingwrite

75% of what I eat are veggies. My diary would be completely skewed if I didn't log them.

jbdesign28

I eat a large salad every day for lunch from the salad bar at work. One thing I did that helps cut down on the time logging every item every day, is set up a 'recipe' for my salad in the food tracking system. That way each day I just click one button. Even though the ingredients might change slightly fron day to day, at least I have a good calorie estimation in my log.

katysmelly

tonight my kid didn't eat his one little broccoli floret, so I ate it.

I am not going to bother to look up the calories in five grams (estimated) of boiled broccoli .

Other than that, though - I log everything.

straitcrzyMary

If I put food in my mouth no matter what kind I log it.

albinogorilla

When i toss a little lettuce on a sandwich, or a slice of onion, i dont bother.
If I make a salad, or have them as a side yes.

callikia

I agree...a bite of a veggie? Not worth it to log (unless I'm really trying to see how I'm doing on my veggie intake). A side of veggies? YEP!

MattGetsMad

Here's the thing: MFP only works as well as you let it. If you give it accurate data, it can give better estimations of weight loss expectation. If you skew the data in any way, you playing with the effectiveness of MFP as a tool.

The veggie's you mentioned are not very high in calories, but they have calcium, potassium, dietary fiber and vitamins in relatively high quantities. You'll never accurately track those micros without adding the veg to your diary.

From a weight loss standpoint, it would be hard to eat enough kale to worry about the caloric content, but not logging it means that MFP isn't going to work for you the way it was designed to work. And even with kale, at some point it could put you over your calorie goals.

Good luck to you!

jenj1313

I do, but I'm pretty general with the veggies sometimes. I guess instead of weighing, but try to guess high. Since the calorie counts are low, I figure it's close enough. There are some salad options that include veggies, so I generally use those and then add whatever meat I'm putting on. But... there are some diet plans out there that let you eat as many veggies as you want without counting them, so you're probably not doing yourself too much harm if you leave them off.

Good luck! Do what feels right for you.
Jen

fitnotfluffy

I log every single thing I put in my mouth. Even though veggies have less calories than a lot of foods and are healthy, still log them! You need to be as honest with yourself as possible!

danasings

I log every single thing I put in my mouth. Even though veggies have less calories than a lot of foods and are healthy, still log them! You need to be as honest with yourself as possible!

^^THIS

Olive32214

I log everything, The Good, The Bad and The Ugly. I never ate veg before but I am proud to log
it. I shows me I'm eating healthy and why the heck would you not log it ???

myjourney2

I just changed from Weight Watchers to MFP. Took a bit for me to realize that veggies have calories since they are 0 points on WW.

I make sure I log everything that I eat.

yaddayaddayadda

I log everything:-)

janet0513

Yes, I log everything. Is it that it is too time consuming that you don't want to? I have entered a couple of salads and meals that I eat on a regular basis and save it as a meal. The next time you eat it all you have to do is add the meal instead of each individual item. From there you can add items or delete as needed. It makes it real easy and quick.

strawberrie_milk

Definitely. They still have calories.

b3kah5

I log everything! Veggie calories add up!

queenpushycat

duh.

christina_theresa

If it's on as a side usually not.

SuffolkSally

My veg calories for lunch today alone are 160... so yeah (I already made it, that's how I know

SuzieZimm

i log everything....but if it's something as negligible as one piece of celery, don't worry about it...(I had a bite of a macaroon today, hated it, threw it away...didn't log that...:P) but anything more than that, i'd try to log. that's the whole point.

mammothdoll

I absolutely log them. It's fun to have a record of what I've been eating. And I try to track vitamins and fiber as well as calories.