Negative Calorie Foods?!

FLCullen

I've been reading a bit about negative calorie foods recently (i.e. those foods which your body uses more calories to digest than the food actually contains). They are fruits and vegetables in their raw (or mayble slightly steamed-sautéed- at a push) and include oranges, pineapples, mangoes, apples, broccoli, green cabbage, cucumber and parsnip.

My question is- if I eat these foods raw (or slightly steamed, because raw broccoli just packs too much of a crunch for me!) can I not include them in my food diary? I ask because my fruit and veg intake can be around 500 calories, and on a 1200 calorie, minimal exercise day, this would leave me STARVED!

Thoughts?

DerDude

There are NO foods anywhere with negative calories! No matter what you read about it :huh:

If you have a calorie intake off 500cal in fruits (an orange has about 50cal/100g) you should watch your sugar. Thats what your body turns into starving.

carld256

Negative calorie foods are really just a myth. Get in the habit of tracking everything you eat. Honestly, keeping an accurate account of what you eat, no tricks, games, or excuses is the biggest part of the weight loss battle. The foods you mention are low-calorie, and excellent choices, but you probably shouldn't just ignore the calories.

And as far as calories go, make sure you entered good information into MFP and that your weight loss goal isn't too ambitious. If you're set for losing 2lbs a week try setting it to 1lb or even .5. Starving yourself is not the way lose weight. If you could sneak in an bit of exercise during the day you could earn extra calories, but If you're really ravenous on 1200 calories then something isn't right with with the way you're eating.

Hope that wasn't too negative, and good luck.

emhargs

nothing very helpful to add, just wanted to say i got a shock when i realised an apple is actually quite high in calories!! i guess from the sugar content.

good luck on your journey :-)

Martucha123

maybe insted of not logging them, just put yourself at 1700 kcal / day?
same result, but at least you will be honest with yourself and tracking properly

kyle4jem

Negative calorie foods are like Unicorns... a figment of someone's imagination.

I do like the idea of anything sautéed (fried in oil) comprising a net negative calorie count :noway:

Similarly, some foods with under 5kc per portion are apparently allowed to market themselves as Zero cal foods - again, while fairly negligible, in the grand scheme of things they still contain some calories.

Yes, there are foods like celery which when eaten raw probably burn as many calories to consume as they contain, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't log them, because your total calories goal already has the thermionic effect of food built into it.

Just concentrate on eating a balanced and varied diet of carbs, protein, fat, vitamins and minerals and ensure you are not consuming more calories overall than you burn (looking at weekly totals rather than daily ones) and you will lose weight. Add exercise to the mix and you'll get fitter as you lose weight.

Good luck! :flowerforyou:

sneekspeete

i've heard hard boiled eggs take more calories to digest then they r to eat.Anyone know anything about that?

MizSaz

There is no such thing as a calorie negative food. NONE. It's the product of the starved imaginations of high school girls.

FLCullen

Damn....that dream is dead. Lunch time jog it is then!!!

Laoch_Cailin

maybe insted of not logging them, just put yourself at 1700 kcal / day?
same result, but at least you will be honest with yourself and tracking properly

^^ I'd go with this. If your over slightly from fruit and veg I wouldn't worry too much about it. Maybe try the 1700cals and see how you go. Good luck