is it really crucial to log raw veg??

So, I know there is the whole debate of negative calories etc. But any other diet I have done, veggies have been free, (obvs not potatoes, etc) so in my head you can kind of have as many as you want. Also, when you look at the standard, healthy diets, ie WW or Slimming world, veggies don't count. Here, they do.

Would I lose more weight if I logged my vegetables? do you? do you weigh your tomato to see whether it has 13 or 15 calories??

Thanks people,

Rachel

x

I'd say definitely log your vegetables. Some veggies like onions can quickly add to your calorie and carb count.
If anything logging all your vegetables will allow you to look back and see exactly what you ate on a certain day/ week. I find it really helpful to be able to replicate how I ate on successful weeks when I feel as though my diet may be lacking! (:

I have been doing it, yes. However, this is because I want to promote logging everything - knowing me, I'm likely to stop logging bigger and bigger things once I let myself stop! And because I'm sort of interested in keeping an eye on vitamins and that. I tend to do it as part of recipe-creation, so it's not as if I have to go massively out of my way.

I can't tell if it's helped me lose more or less weight, but it's certainly helped in terms of building a change in my eating and cooking where I feel I'm in more control.

I log them cause I am OCD like that but it's important to log if you're tracking vitamin and mineral intake too

I log them. Most don't add much in the way of calories but a few do and I wouldn't have known otherwise. Was shocked by carrots for example.

I would say a calorie ate is a calorie that needs to be logged. If we're talking about the difference between a veg that could be 10 calories or 15 depending on size... I go with the bigger number.

I am the sort of guy who could, if given the opportunity, do very, very bad things with various meat products. And -then- cook and eat them. But even still, I find a lot of veg helps me feel much better.

More-so than just calorie counting however - I found out that I tend to have a bad reaction to onions by keeping my veggies tracked in a food log. You may end up with other benefits aside from knowing if today was a 1800 calorie day, or an 1805 one.

I would imagine that the points goal that WW gives you takes into account that they expect you to eat a certain amount of fruit and veg on top of that. With calorie counting, your goal covers everything that you are going to eat, so the general idea is to log everything. I log it all, but then I'm also interested in tracking nutrients as well as calories.

In the end, it's up to you. If you are doing it without logging vegetables, and you are losing weight as expected, then there's no real problem. If you find that you are not losing as expected, it might be worth logging them to see if that's where the issue is. There's no MFP police that is going to come ad check if you're weighing and logging everything. If it's working ok for you, then carry on.

There is no rational debate on negative calorie foods as they don't exist except in some people's minds.

Log everything, as the point is to stay within your calorie limitations, and vegetables have calories just like cake.

If it gets in my belly, it gets in my diary period. Veggies have calories. A lot of "diets" don't count veggies because they want to promote eating more of them. A calorie is a unit of energy...your body doesn't care if those calories come from a piece of broccoli, an apple, or a package of M&Ms...from an energy standpoint your body treats it exactly the same way (nutrition being a different matter). I'm having two servings of broccoli with lunch today...it's 60 calories...why wouldn't I log it?

^this.

Log it. If you don't and you've consumed 120 calories in veggies in a day, you might think you have extra and eat something that puts you over for the day. Keep the maths simple and the maths won't fail you.

Complicating things by calling them negative calories or justifying not logging certain healthy foods is where you mess up. Plus, how will you know whether you've met your micronutrients for the day?

I don't know that it is CRUCIAL to log your veggies -- the calories for green non-starchy veggies are probably negligible. But I like to log mine because eating more than 5 servings of fruits and veggies is a great indicator of a healthy diet and I like to be able to look back and see how I've been eating.

I log them but mostly because I like to see my vitamin intake.

I say log it all. Or why log at all.

Julie

For me this depends. When I eat a giant bowl of green beans or mixed vegetables, I log it because it can be anywher from 75-150 calories.

I always have a ziplock full of sliced peppers and onions that I'll sautee with eggs, fish or sausage that I don't log. I probably eat a 1/2 cup of them and even if it's 50 calories, it doesn't really hurt my progress.

I say log it all. Or why log at all.

I like this!!

ok, ok, ok!! I'm not sure what the aggression is about, I was just asking a question....

I am not sure I was justifying it, nor was I encouraging the negative calories (merely mentioning it so that this debate doesnt happen here!) I was merely asking for clarification, seeing as I didn't quite get it.

One of my friends on WW is on 26 points, which means roughly 1700 calories. On top of this, all fruit and veg is free. She has lost stones of weight.... hence I was querying it.... She brought it up, and said that she ate her points as well as half a melon, 2 oranges, an apple etc. I was curious as to how it worked....

But thank you for your reply, I will definitely change my logging habits, and hope to see further progress...

Each WW point is roughly 50 calories. If there is more fiber, it can be higher calories. If you are calculating something with 5g of dietary fiber and no fat per serving, each point would be around 70 cal but if there is no dietary fiber and high fat it would be about 30 cal. So 26 points is roughly 1300 calories. If you ate nothing but fattier, low fiber foods it would be closer to 800 calories (in which case, the free veggies/fruits is what would bring that up to 1200 calories. If someone ate nothing but foods with high dietary fiber and no fat, it would be around 1820 calories. Almost no one eats all fatty foods or foods all full of dietary fiber so it is closer to 1300 calories.

If you eat it....log it. One of my pet peeves is the diet programs that call certain kinds of food "free." All food has calories and I have the belief that you should be aware of all the food we eat..nutritional info and all. Veggies are low calorie and all...but my advice...log it.

I agree. A calorie is a calorie regardless of where it comes from.