I Don't Get It

According to MFP, the veggies I just had for dinner were 150 and the apple I have every couple days is 95. When you're only eating 1300 calories, that stuff can add up quick.

In other words, they're in denial.

when I log my food, I count every single thing I eat; fruits and veggies included.

I agree that it's probably just a carry-over from weight watchers. Once upon a time, you could have a cookie for 2 points or an apple for two points. So what red-blooded sugarholic would eat an apple?

So basically, WW said, "You SHOULD be eating that apple, so we're going to assume you're going to. We're going to give you fewer points, tell you the apple is zero points, and then you'll be more likely to eat it."

And it worked. And a bunch of weight watchers got fat and couldn't figure out why.

It turns out you can't eat 20 bananas a day on top of your regular diet and lose weight.

I've already eaten 200 calories worth of veggie today and I haven't eaten dinner yet. Omitting my fruit and vegetable calories every day would completely destroy my deficit.

There are a lot of posts on the boards asking whether or not people count the calories in their fruits and vegetables and there are a lot of people who say no. There was a post recently debating on whether or not one should count every veggie/fruit that they put into a salad claiming that since the calories are "negligible" that it doesn't matter.

I made a salad for dinner tonight and I subtracted the meat, cheese and dressing and just the vegetables alone came out to 166 calories so how can one justify not counting those since it is obvious that the calories add up?

I'm just curious.

Jennie, I fully agree.

I know that Weight Watchers give free foods in the way of fruit, but I never have understood how that worked to be honest. I can sometimes eat five pieces of fruit per day (has been more) all approx 70 calories per piece - that comes to 350 calories. Now if I do not count them and take them as free, how does that work, I would be eating an extra 350 calories per day if I did not count them, that is 2,450 calories PER WEEK.

My response for those that say that the calories are so low it doesn't matter...would you say that about .5lb weight loss? or even a .2lb loss? They'd rather say that they didn't lose weight when they actually did? However small? Little things add up. Apples at 95 calories add up, and so does .2lbs.
JMHO

And it worked. And a bunch of weight watchers got fat and couldn't figure out why.

This is so wrong I just have to address the misconceptions about the "free" fruit on Weight Watchers, though it's truly a dead horse topic here and people just refuse to get it.

Yes most fruits and veggies are 0 points on the WW 360 plan. Peas, corn, potatoes and some others do have points. Dried fruit such as craisins have points. However the WW plan includes the calories for the recommended 6-8 servings of fruit/veggies into how many points you are assigned. Since I double track everything on WW and MFP and have for almost a year I can tell you with certainty that my assigned 26 points(that's the lowest amount WW gives) translates to right around 1200 calories with the included fruit and veggies I have during the day. I do not limit myself to only 6-8 servings of fruit and veggies either.

Seriously no one got fat from eating to much fruit and veggies and those that claim WW zero point fruits and veggies were the reason they couldn't lose weight on the program are lying to themselves!

Sorry, but yes they did. My Weight Watchers leader, included. I was there when 360 came out, I was there when crap hit the fan, and I was there for the crap control, ie, the meetings about only eating fruit if you're hungry, and only until you're satisfied, not mindless fruit snacking, and concentrating on veggies not fruit. In fact I went to a meeting with a friend a couple weeks ago and there was still a "fruit in moderation" undertone.

Jennie, I fully agree.

I know that Weight Watchers give free foods in the way of fruit, but I never have understood how that worked to be honest. I can sometimes eat five pieces of fruit per day (has been more) all approx 70 calories per piece - that comes to 350 calories. Now if I do not count them and take them as free, how does that work, I would be eating an extra 350 calories per day if I did not count them, that is 2,450 calories PER WEEK.

As a long-time former WW member, I can explain it. WW DOES work, if you 'work it.' I left for a fresh start because I was on autopilot. Trying something new, but I lost my first 30 pounds with WW. It works on Weight Watchers for a couple of reasons:

1. They have you on a big calorie deficit, KNOWING that you'll choose to fill up on 'free' fruits & vegetables. If you know the WW formulas, it's easier to understand. But I'll give you my info from when I did it. I got a daily points target of 29 per day. I'm supposed to hit that number each day. But calorie wise, that's less than 1200 calories per day. So if you add in a couple hundred calories of fruits & vegetables, I'd still be at a reasonable number that will allow me to lose weight (for perspective, I'm 5' 6.5" and I have about 35-40 pounds to lose). On average I eat about 200 calories/ day of fruits and vegetables.

2. You're also supposed to eat to 'satisfaction', paying attention to your body's hunger levels. So a reasonable person probably wouldn't eat pounds of grapes, a dozen apples and a half dozen bananas if they were truly in tune with their level of hunger.

However, if they have moved away from WW and came here to MFP (like I did) they have to change that mentality, or face a weight gain more than likely. Because if you're now eating 1500 calories (or whatever) that includes every bite - nothing free. If they are combining 2 programs, they will probably end up with 0 results.

Some vegetables take more calories to digest than they give the body. These are effectively "zero calorie" foods.