Logging 0 calorie foods??

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macaroon123
macaroon123 Posts: 6 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
HI! I was just wondering what everyone thought of logging foods that technically have no calories or negative calories because your body burns the calories in them just by digesting the food, such as apples and celery and watermelon, etc. I guess my question is do you log these or do you just omit them because technically they don't make you gain anything?
Thanks!
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Replies

  • TavistockToad
    TavistockToad Posts: 35,719 Member
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    HI! I was just wondering what everyone thought of logging foods that technically have no calories or negative calories because your body burns the calories in them just by digesting the food, such as apples and celery and watermelon, etc. I guess my question is do you log these or do you just omit them because technically they don't make you gain anything?
    Thanks!

    if you ate 3000 calories of apples, celery and watermelon you would still put on weight.
  • RunHardBeStrong
    RunHardBeStrong Posts: 33,069 Member
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    HI! I was just wondering what everyone thought of logging foods that technically have no calories or negative calories because your body burns the calories in them just by digesting the food, such as apples and celery and watermelon, etc. I guess my question is do you log these or do you just omit them because technically they don't make you gain anything?
    Thanks!

    Yes, I log EVERYTHING that goes in. You can still gain weight if you eat TOO much of any food. Healthy or not. It still comes down to cals in vs. cals out and negative calorie foods do not exist. Your body keeps an accurate log of what goes in even if you don't. Lots of people also track their sugar intake, granted fruit is a good sugar but it still counts.
  • mizzie1980
    mizzie1980 Posts: 379 Member
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    Yes, log them. My (admittedly limited research) is that the whole "zero calorie food" thing is something of a myth. There's been very little true scientific research on it, not enough to support the claims. Seriously, google it. Everything you find will just be someone repeating what "they've heard" with no actual research to back it up. Better to err on the side of caution.
  • j99li
    j99li Posts: 421 Member
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    I would log it. I even log green tea that I drink. This could help you be more conscious of what you eat/drink on a daily basis
  • rose313
    rose313 Posts: 1,146 Member
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    Log everything because 0 cal foods have sugar, sodium, etc. Diet Coke has 70g of sodium, for example.
  • macaroon123
    macaroon123 Posts: 6 Member
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    Thanks everyone! Yea I guess It's best to just log everything!
  • Mokey41
    Mokey41 Posts: 5,769 Member
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    There are no 0 calorie foods besides water. I know they say celery is but it still has calories in it and you burn calories digesting all of your food and that's accounted for in your BMR. Be honest and log everything.
  • brynnsmom
    brynnsmom Posts: 945 Member
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    If we're talking mustard, or the couple of tomato and pickle slices on my burger, I don't necessarily log that. But everything else- yes.
  • stines72
    stines72 Posts: 853 Member
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    log everything. even the 0 calorie stuff, sometimes it has other stuff in it like sodium.
  • AnvilHead
    AnvilHead Posts: 18,344 Member
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    There is no such thing as "0 calorie foods". An apple is around 100 calories and TEF (Thermic Effect of Feeding) uses about 2-3% of those calories to process it, leaving you with about 97-98 calories per apple. Anybody who considers anything but water as "zero calorie foods", eats a significant amount of them and doesn't account for it, doesn't need to look far to figure out why they're not losing weight.
  • PriceK01
    PriceK01 Posts: 834 Member
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    If we're talking mustard, or the couple of tomato and pickle slices on my burger, I don't necessarily log that. But everything else- yes.

    I log those, and any seasoning I put on my burger while cooking. There's no point in logging if you aren't going to log everything.
  • sofielein
    sofielein Posts: 539 Member
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    The only thing I consider 0 calories is water and plain black coffee.

    There is usable energy for the body in an apple. It is NOT 0 calories.
  • acogg
    acogg Posts: 1,870 Member
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    I try to log everything because it helps me learn to make healthier choices. I wasn't logging my coffee until I found out that coffee has lots of potassium so logging it has helped me reach my potassium goals. Yesterday I logged three slices of pickled jalapeno, while only 1 calorie, it added 84 mgs. of sodium! I have learned a lot by logging.
  • stines72
    stines72 Posts: 853 Member
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    I try to log everything because it helps me learn to make healthier choices. I wasn't logging my coffee until I found out that coffee has lots of potassium so logging it has helped me reach my potassium goals. Yesterday I logged three slices of pickled jalapeno, while only 1 calorie, it added 84 mgs. of sodium! I have learned a lot by logging.
    exactly my point! and i had no idea coffee had a decent amount of potassium.. wish i liked it :(
  • sofielein
    sofielein Posts: 539 Member
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    I try to log everything because it helps me learn to make healthier choices.

    Good point!

    If I look back a week earlier i do want to know what I shoved down all day - regardless if it was cabbage or pasta.

    Moreover, I want to know if there was enough "cabbage" in there!
  • jjrichard83
    jjrichard83 Posts: 483 Member
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    good luck putting on weight from celery! In fact in raw state, it has a negative calorie number b/c it takes more energy to chew it than it actually has.
  • BeachGingerOnTheRocks
    BeachGingerOnTheRocks Posts: 3,927 Member
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    If it is a zero calorie food that does not have one of the micronutrients or sodium, I don't log it. If it has something I track, it is logged. Basically, I don't log water at all. I sometimes don't log tea.

    I always log black coffee for the negligible calories and great micronutrients.
  • phildawson75
    phildawson75 Posts: 205 Member
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    good luck putting on weight from celery! In fact in raw state, it has a negative calorie number b/c it takes more energy to chew it than it actually has.
    chewing expends ~5 cals an hour. A small amount of celery is ~10 cals, which takes like 20 secs to eat, if that.

    Maybe if you if you spent two hours chewing the same stick in your mouth you might break even by moving your jaw enough times. It might get a bit mushy after a few minutes so its certainly a challenge.

    There isn't such a thing as negative calorie number, this is a myth that gets spread because it sounds like it could be true.
  • BarackMeLikeAHurricane
    BarackMeLikeAHurricane Posts: 3,400 Member
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    The only thing I consider 0 calories is water and plain black coffee.

    There is usable energy for the body in an apple. It is NOT 0 calories.

    8oz of black coffee is 2.4 calories. Log it.
  • Sarauk2sf
    Sarauk2sf Posts: 28,072 Member
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    HI! I was just wondering what everyone thought of logging foods that technically have no calories or negative calories because your body burns the calories in them just by digesting the food, such as apples and celery and watermelon, etc. I guess my question is do you log these or do you just omit them because technically they don't make you gain anything?
    Thanks!

    There is no such thing as negative calorie foods.

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