Veggies

ladysalmonroe
ladysalmonroe Posts: 4
in Health and Weight Loss
Should I be couting my greens (lettuce, cucumbers, etc.)

Replies

  • Ridoe87
    Ridoe87 Posts: 9 Member
    Definitely count everything! 1 cup of a garden variety salad is 16 Calories. It may not seem like much but every little thing counts. Hope this helps =)
  • megsmom2
    megsmom2 Posts: 2,362 Member
    If you eat it, log it.
  • refinley2
    refinley2 Posts: 52 Member
    No. Don't count your vegetables, because while yes, they do have calories, vegetables are freakin' amazing. Fruits and vegetables are wonder foods that will clear and tighten skin, help out digestion, pack your body with nutrients, and essentially detoxify your body. Since half the diet should ideally be fruits and vegetables, it's much better to fill up on calorie-light, mineral-heavy foods, than anything else in your diet.
    Of course, don't eat 10 apples or 2 lb.s of salad. But filling your plate with these will do wonders to body and brain chemistry and you will lose weight. Plus, you never have to worry about counting them.
  • Motleybird
    Motleybird Posts: 119 Member
    I log mine so I can see the numbers on the vitamins and minerals go up. Not everything is about calories.
  • nxd10
    nxd10 Posts: 4,570 Member
    Yes. Some of them have way more calories than I would have thought. And some less.
  • ktmmom189
    ktmmom189 Posts: 132 Member
    I log everything so I know where I am at
  • renwicker
    renwicker Posts: 158 Member
    If you eat it, log it.

    yep. I had 1 piece of salt water taffy earlier. I logged it. I ended up having 2 more a little later, but that's besides the point. Everything adds up and you need to know where youre at for the day. It's pointless if you dont.
  • djc315
    djc315 Posts: 585 Member
    I do log mine. I eat a lot of fruit and veggies though. (there are days I DO eat 10 apples or 10 oranges, mostly when I make a strictly fruit smoothie, meaning no yogurt or other fillers)

    I would log them on days I don't eat many, too. My reason is I don't want to fill those calories with bad calories. But if I happen to go over in my calories but 500 of them were from fruit/veggies, I don't beat myself over it.

    If I am hungry at the end of the night but used up my calories, I will eat fruit or veggies. Puts me over but they aren't bad calories. The body burns a lot of calories just by eating fruits/veggies since they are so easy to break down.
  • jzaz903
    jzaz903 Posts: 306 Member
    No. Don't count your vegetables, because while yes, they do have calories, vegetables are freakin' amazing. Fruits and vegetables are wonder foods that will clear and tighten skin, help out digestion, pack your body with nutrients, and essentially detoxify your body. Since half the diet should ideally be fruits and vegetables, it's much better to fill up on calorie-light, mineral-heavy foods, than anything else in your diet.
    Of course, don't eat 10 apples or 2 lb.s of salad. But filling your plate with these will do wonders to body and brain chemistry and you will lose weight. Plus, you never have to worry about counting them.

    So basically what you're saying is that a large apple, a cup of strawberries, and a medium banana don't add up to 260ish calories and therefore eating them over your allotment doesn't matter?
    If you eat it, count it. It all matters.

    Edit to add: vegetables have calories too. A serving of broccoli is 35 calories. A serving of carrots is also 35. Not much by themselves, but it all adds up!
  • djc315
    djc315 Posts: 585 Member
    No. Don't count your vegetables, because while yes, they do have calories, vegetables are freakin' amazing. Fruits and vegetables are wonder foods that will clear and tighten skin, help out digestion, pack your body with nutrients, and essentially detoxify your body. Since half the diet should ideally be fruits and vegetables, it's much better to fill up on calorie-light, mineral-heavy foods, than anything else in your diet.
    Of course, don't eat 10 apples or 2 lb.s of salad. But filling your plate with these will do wonders to body and brain chemistry and you will lose weight. Plus, you never have to worry about counting them.

    So basically what you're saying is that a large apple, a cup of strawberries, and a medium banana don't add up to 260ish calories and therefore eating them over your allotment doesn't matter?
    If you eat it, count it. It all matters.

    Edit to add: vegetables have calories too. A serving of broccoli is 35 calories. A serving of carrots is also 35. Not much by themselves, but it all adds up!

    There are a few successful diet plans that say this. Weight watchers is one of them. Fruits and veggies are a free food, eat as many as you want.
  • lessele
    lessele Posts: 40 Member
    not only to fruits and veggies have carbs and calories and some even have a fat content, it is the habit of being accountable for what goes in my mouth that is important. I can get lazy and break good habits quickly. If I dont log than I might not measure. If I dont measure I am lost and completely unaccountable....If I eat a lifesaver I log it....it has 16 calories. Do yourself a favor and remain accountable. Life is easier (at least for me) when I am. :happy:
  • lessele
    lessele Posts: 40 Member
    fruits are never free...
  • jzaz903
    jzaz903 Posts: 306 Member
    No. Don't count your vegetables, because while yes, they do have calories, vegetables are freakin' amazing. Fruits and vegetables are wonder foods that will clear and tighten skin, help out digestion, pack your body with nutrients, and essentially detoxify your body. Since half the diet should ideally be fruits and vegetables, it's much better to fill up on calorie-light, mineral-heavy foods, than anything else in your diet.
    Of course, don't eat 10 apples or 2 lb.s of salad. But filling your plate with these will do wonders to body and brain chemistry and you will lose weight. Plus, you never have to worry about counting them.

    So basically what you're saying is that a large apple, a cup of strawberries, and a medium banana don't add up to 260ish calories and therefore eating them over your allotment doesn't matter?
    If you eat it, count it. It all matters.

    Edit to add: vegetables have calories too. A serving of broccoli is 35 calories. A serving of carrots is also 35. Not much by themselves, but it all adds up!

    There are a few successful diet plans that say this. Weight watchers is one of them. Fruits and veggies are a free food, eat as many as you want.

    This is not weight watchers.
    However, I think their plan is flawed. I've been trying to tell my mom for months that her 2-point fruit smoothie that she has before breakfast is nearly 300 calories. This is why she's stopped losing.
  • amanda_ataraxia
    amanda_ataraxia Posts: 400 Member
    Yes, nothing is, "free". You should be logging all fruits and vegetables.
  • djc315
    djc315 Posts: 585 Member
    No. Don't count your vegetables, because while yes, they do have calories, vegetables are freakin' amazing. Fruits and vegetables are wonder foods that will clear and tighten skin, help out digestion, pack your body with nutrients, and essentially detoxify your body. Since half the diet should ideally be fruits and vegetables, it's much better to fill up on calorie-light, mineral-heavy foods, than anything else in your diet.
    Of course, don't eat 10 apples or 2 lb.s of salad. But filling your plate with these will do wonders to body and brain chemistry and you will lose weight. Plus, you never have to worry about counting them.

    So basically what you're saying is that a large apple, a cup of strawberries, and a medium banana don't add up to 260ish calories and therefore eating them over your allotment doesn't matter?
    If you eat it, count it. It all matters.

    Edit to add: vegetables have calories too. A serving of broccoli is 35 calories. A serving of carrots is also 35. Not much by themselves, but it all adds up!

    There are a few successful diet plans that say this. Weight watchers is one of them. Fruits and veggies are a free food, eat as many as you want.

    This is not weight watchers.
    However, I think their plan is flawed. I've been trying to tell my mom for months that her 2-point fruit smoothie that she has before breakfast is nearly 300 calories. This is why she's stopped losing.

    This is not a Weight Watchers (brand) website, no, but believe it or not, people DO do a combination of diets and programs and it works for them.

    I do Weight Watchers. But I also log my calories. It works for me. Saying fruits and veggies are "free" works for me so that I go for them instead of crap. I'm not saying this will work for everyone, but I was just giving the OP an example of what I do that works. (again, works for ME and I did say I do log mine)

    I can't really agree that a 300 calorie breakfast is why your mom stopped losing weight. Everyone hits a plateau, hard to say if you can blame it just on her smoothie each morning.

    In my opinion, if you go over your calories that day, I'd rather it be fruits and veggies than a chocolate bar or piece of bread.


    edit to add - You might feel weight watchers is flawed, but their "concept" is one of the most successful weight-loss programs. They don't just look at calorie count but also what nutritional value builds up each piece of food. You have to agree 100 calories in fruit is better than 100 calories in candy. And that is what weight watchers teaches you to do, is to look at each food as not just calories but what makes up those calories.
  • mamagooskie
    mamagooskie Posts: 2,964 Member
    Yes, they have calories so you should count them,
  • jzaz903
    jzaz903 Posts: 306 Member
    Yes, I do agree that 100 calories of fruit and 100 calories of candy are different. But if you go over your maintenence, you will gain. Whether it is fruit or candy.

    I think it's great that you've found something that works for you, but on a calorie counting website you should not go around telling people not to count calories. Weight watchers does count fruits and veggies for free, but they are set up differently. Unless you're in a thread or group specifically about/for ww people, I believe you should encourage people to follow MFPs plan of counting calories.
    I must disagree with you though, when you say that weight watchers teaches you to look at food "not just as calories, but as what makes up those calories". Weight watchers teaches you points. It does nothing to teach you where those points come from. You have to seek that out yourself, just like you do here. It does(and I give the program props for this) try to get people to snack on fruits and veggies. That's why they're free.

    And I thought I was clear on this, but I might not have been- my mom has a 300 calorie fruit smoothie every morning for 2 points. She then has a full breakfast afterwards. She eats all of her alotted points, snacks on fruits and veggies, does everything ww tells her to. But as far as I can tell, she's eating nearly her maintenence calories every day.
  • djc315
    djc315 Posts: 585 Member
    I believe you have misunderstood me. I did not say not to count calories. I'm not "going around telling people not to count calories" that is a silly thing for you to say. I said I would rather go over calories with fruits and veggies than with crap. I said to log the fruit and veggies. And like I said, in my experience, going over calories with fruits and veggies does NOT cause me to gain. Calories are not all made equal, some burn and digest differently for everyone. Some have higher calorie from sugar, natural sugars or not. I'm sure you know all that.

    I feel I was being encouraging not to beat yourself up if you go over your calories IF it is calories from fruits and veggies.


    With all due respect, you obviously don't know enough about WW to say it doesn't teach you to look at foods. It is a point system, yes, but it isn't just about that. That is what is to people who know nothing about it. If you know about WW and do it long enough (and long enough meaning a month or more), you will be able to tell how many points a food item will be by looking at the nutritional panel. I am pretty sure that is teaching you how to look at what makes up each food.


    And no, I was under the impression your mom's breakfast is just a smoothie, I didn't realize she ate a breakfast on top of that. Maybe she hasn't readjusted her points and that is the reason for her plateau. I hope when you get to a plateau you will find someone who is willing to help you instead of telling you it's because your way of dieting is wrong or doesn't work.
  • arcticfox04
    arcticfox04 Posts: 1,011 Member
    You should log everything you intake. Fruits veggies have carbs/fiber/sugar/protein in them. It's more about macro management then it is counting calories.
  • Dani_Strength
    Dani_Strength Posts: 44 Member
    You should log everything you eat/drink... some fruits are high in sugar so they should be limited to 1/2 a day.
  • ladysalmonroe
    ladysalmonroe Posts: 4
    Thank you Everyone. I going to log it in. :)
  • Sammyjo4486
    Sammyjo4486 Posts: 18
    I log mine so I can see the numbers on the vitamins and minerals go up. Not everything is about calories.




    THIS^^^^
  • refinley2
    refinley2 Posts: 52 Member
    I believe you have misunderstood me. I did not say not to count calories. I'm not "going around telling people not to count calories" that is a silly thing for you to say. I said I would rather go over calories with fruits and veggies than with crap. I said to log the fruit and veggies. And like I said, in my experience, going over calories with fruits and veggies does NOT cause me to gain. Calories are not all made equal, some burn and digest differently for everyone. Some have higher calorie from sugar, natural sugars or not. I'm sure you know all that.

    I feel I was being encouraging not to beat yourself up if you go over your calories IF it is calories from fruits and veggies.


    With all due respect, you obviously don't know enough about WW to say it doesn't teach you to look at foods. It is a point system, yes, but it isn't just about that. That is what is to people who know nothing about it. If you know about WW and do it long enough (and long enough meaning a month or more), you will be able to tell how many points a food item will be by looking at the nutritional panel. I am pretty sure that is teaching you how to look at what makes up each food.


    And no, I was under the impression your mom's breakfast is just a smoothie, I didn't realize she ate a breakfast on top of that. Maybe she hasn't readjusted her points and that is the reason for her plateau. I hope when you get to a plateau you will find someone who is willing to help you instead of telling you it's because your way of dieting is wrong or doesn't work.

    She's right. You can exceed your caloric intake in fruits and vegetables everyday and still lose weight. While this approach seems physically impossible (exceeding calories while losing weight? wtf?) by maintaining a diet solely of fruits and vegetables (not recommended,you need Essential fats too) your body learns to digest more efficiently. If a majority of the calories counted are coming from processed foods, heavy in sodium, hidden sugars, or enriched starches, the body will take much longer to process these foods (breaking apart all those complex chemicals ain't easy) which consequently slows your energy and your metabolism.
    By counting calories, you will lose weight, but you will lose it much faster by placing free range on the fruits and vegetables and avoiding unnatural foods. Gotta eat the veggies before you get dessert.

    Also, is she putting milk or yogurt in that smoothie? Because that defeats the whole nutritional purpose of fruit for breakfast. So does second breakfast.
  • lessele
    lessele Posts: 40 Member
    I think that is not accurate...If I eat 3 avocados a banana and 2 baked potatoes I am going to gain weight. I am a huge fan of fruit and vegetables of all types. It is dangerous to think that there are so called "free foods". I have tried just about every diet in the world and I can tell you that what you put in your mouth is never free. Eating a healthy balanced diet filled with nutrient rich foods; fruits, veggies) makes the most sense. A lot of us here have other issues, emotional or binge eating etc. I still say remaining accountable and logging is important. Taking processed, fried and junk foods out of your diet is important. Eat whole foods but low fat foods. What works for me is measuring certain items that I know I have issues with...ie: fats, proteins, starches. Fruits and veggies have a lot of the nutrients we humans need to live, but if you are a strict vegan vegetarian, you better be using supplements or know how to supplement your diet with some of the nutrients that are not found in the regular consumption of just fruit and veggies. Granted if you eat a bucket of salad without oil on it versus a bucket of pretzels you are not going to have the same amount of calories, but a bucket of anything isnt the way to go....let's practice moderation and listen to what our bodies need. "Free foods" is a slippery slope for this girl...

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