Do I need to track my fruit and vegetables?

Weight Watchers and their (stupid) Points Plus system skews the points to force the user towards "certain" foods.

If you do the math, one WW Points Plus point is between 35 and 45 calories - depending on their view of how good or nasty the food is.

Count everything...

Before knocking Weight Watchers, it has been rated as the number 1 weight loss diet http://health.usnews.com/best-diet/best-weight-loss-diets so clearly it does work for many. There is the idea out there that counting calories is not effective AND one certainly cannot argue that counting calories is a natural way of eating. In fact and I do see a bit of irony in it, General Mills is running a series of commercials for a 'world without counting calories'. There is also the idea that counting calories can lead to and/or reinforce eating disorders. The point is, there are a vast number of diets out there ALL of which work on some level. At best, all you can say is that particular diet did not work for you.

you need to track everything that contains calories

the weight watchers system gives you a number of points assuming you're going to eat a certain amount of fruits and veg on top, and the number of points takes that into account

if you're counting calories and sticking to a calorie goal, you need to hit that goal (e.g. within 50 cals either way) to be sure you're losing weight at the desired rate. If you're not counting the calories from fruit or veg, then you don't know if you're hitting your calorie goal or not. Even if you aim to be under your goal because you know you're getting calories from the fruit and veg... well you still don't know if you're really hitting your goal or if you're under or over.... so that's why you need to log all the food you eat. Eating plenty of fruit and veg is good, and some veggies you can eat loads without the calories adding up to much, if you need to fill up on those or whatever works for you, but you still need to log them and know that you're hitting your calorie target.

If it's water - it's free .....

Anything else is calories and they all add up.

Track 'em !!

Agree.

fruit can be very sugary and high in calories, as can some carby veg, while some green leafy stuff can be very low
it can be really misleading to not count

if you want accuracy, long term steady progress, then you should log everything, as it will enable you to look back and see how you're doing

if you don't you risk filling up with unloggued fruit and veg carbs and sugar then turning round and going "but i'm under my calorie target why arenn't I making progress?"


my rule for myself: if you swallow it > you log it
when i'm on a loosing roll- then i sometimes guestimate the protion size of lettuces and other green leafys when I've weighed them recently but I always weight fruit and root veg and anything that I didn't weight earlier this week

Yeah you kinda do it surprised me too. Fruit and Veg is low in calories but it is not devoid of them. And fruit can actually be quite high.

I am another one who would suggest that you do track fruit and vegetables. Apart from more accurately counting calories, and the fact that some contain quite a high calorie count, it is also useful if you look at your nutrition count over a day, week etc.

Seems to me people are answering the question (you have to log them or calorie counting just doesn't work) but not addressing the issue at hand which is that you're hungry towards the end of the day.

If that's a regular thing for you, then it's probably a good idea to look at your general intake and see if you can tweak it to better balance the day. The point of a weight loss diet is not to be hungry, it's just to take in less calories.

THIS is what we should be focusing on. I've heard a ton of people (myself included) complain about being hungry but having no calories left to eat anything. At this point, you have a few options:

1. Emergency option: Eat something filling and smallish that doesn't completely blow your deficit- that way you'll still be slightly under or at maintenance.
2. Eating due to boredom/ habit/ dehydration option: Drink some hot tea or water. I've found that having a big glass of liquid will sometimes take the edge off hunger, especially hot liquids. It may or may not work for you.
3. Best option: Plan better! If your last meal is more than 3 or 4 hours before you go to sleep, it's PERFECTLY NORMAL to be hungry. If you can't move your last meal to a later time or go to bed earlier, pre-log an evening snack early in the day. You may have to adjust your intake just a little throughout the day to make up for it, but it will really cut down on stressing about being hungry. Also, you'll be able to look forward to it all day long.

I hope this helps. I've known people who have been wildly successful on WW, and also some that abused the 'free' foods and were not so successful. I prefer calories/ macros because it seems more precise and clear-cut to me, but if WW works for you, then godspeed!

On the subject of logging everything.... It's just got me thinking, (stupid question probably!) I put lemon and lime slices into my glass of water to flavour it, although I don't actually eat the slices should I be tracking them? I'm still getting the juice out of them alhough probably minimal but I've realised that's going towards my sugar intake at least?

it'll be very low in calories if you're not actually eating the slices, like 1-2 cals and less than a gram of sugar max. When you bear in mind that even with weighing your food, a lot of your entries will be out by a few calories (hopefully not too much if you're weighing carefully and using accurate data for the food you log) it's probably not worth sweating over the calorie content of things that are that low in calories. I don't log tea for this reason (I drink it black, no sugar). It's also really hard to measure the tiny quantity of lemon juice that's getting in your water, so whatever you log it as is likely to be as inaccurate as not logging it at all.

This of course only applies to things that have tiny numbers of calories. Going back to the OP's question, there are some veggies that if eaten in tiny quantities in a salad I don't see the point in logging for accuracy in the calorie number (but I still log them to keep a record of how much fruit/veg I'm eating) e.g. a small serving of onion in a salad is like 7 calories or so.... I'd understand not logging these particular veggies, but fruits and most vegetables actually do add a lot of calories and additionally if you're eating plenty of fruit and veg for health/micronutrients, the calories in them add up pretty quickly.

Yes, log fruits and veggies. Even if they're low in calories, it's helpful to see the sodium, vitamin, sugar and carb intake that comes from these foods.

How you track is up to you. You won't see the same, consistent results if you don't track everything you eat, but it's still up to you. I personally do track them - I want the people on my friends list to know I've been eating them! I also track my water intake to be sure I'm getting enough.

I think the point of the log is to get the whole picture.

ETA: You could also lower your calorie goal and add in free fruits and veggies. When I was on the 1200 calorie diet, I lowered myself to 1000 calories but fruits and veggies were totally free. Mind you, I was still starving because I was 18 and at a healthy weight and why did I eat 1200 calories in the first place I do not know. But my point is that you can lower your goal and have more "freedom."

On the subject of logging everything.... It's just got me thinking, (stupid question probably!) I put lemon and lime slices into my glass of water to flavour it, although I don't actually eat the slices should I be tracking them? I'm still getting the juice out of them alhough probably minimal but I've realised that's going towards my sugar intake at least?

it'll be very low in calories if you're not actually eating the slices, like 1-2 cals and less than a gram of sugar max. When you bear in mind that even with weighing your food, a lot of your entries will be out by a few calories (hopefully not too much if you're weighing carefully and using accurate data for the food you log) it's probably not worth sweating over the calorie content of things that are that low in calories. I don't log tea for this reason (I drink it black, no sugar). It's also really hard to measure the tiny quantity of lemon juice that's getting in your water, so whatever you log it as is likely to be as inaccurate as not logging it at all.

This of course only applies to things that have tiny numbers of calories. Going back to the OP's question, there are some veggies that if eaten in tiny quantities in a salad I don't see the point in logging for accuracy in the calorie number (but I still log them to keep a record of how much fruit/veg I'm eating) e.g. a small serving of onion in a salad is like 7 calories or so.... I'd understand not logging these particular veggies, but fruits and most vegetables actually do add a lot of calories and additionally if you're eating plenty of fruit and veg for health/micronutrients, the calories in them add up pretty quickly.

Thanks, I was thinking that but wanted to be sure

szirby wrote: »

I'm wondering if I can still lose weight without tracking my fruit and vegetable intake. I know people have lots of success with weight watchers and these items are "free". I realize it all comes down to a calorie deficite, but the idea of being able to eat something when I'm hungry and all my calories for the day are used up is really appealing. Any suggestions? Anyone done weight watchers and is now doing this? Thanks!

You might lose weight. You might not. Lots of people lose weight without logging any food or knowing how many calories they eat or burn.
If you are tracking calories though you should track everything you consume including fruits and vegetables.
If you are still hungry most days after reaching your calorie goal maybe your calorie goal is too low/agressive. You might do better with losing weight at a slower rate and getting more calories. Maybe you need to eat more satisfying foods with protein, fats and fiber. Maybe you just need to plan and pre-log your food better. Maybe you are actually thirsty instead of hungry and should just drink a glass of water.

Shellbug75 wrote: »

Wow! So many rude comments. She is asking a question. You didn't know everything when you started your journey. Relax!
With that being said, I would log it

This post is over a year old. I am sure everyone is over it by now.

WW gives you those zero point (not free) fruits because they incorporate it into the amount of daily points they give you. They assume that you're going to eat a reasonable amount of fruits and veggies a day. It would be like MFP figuring that you should consume 1500 calories a day, but telling you 1200 so you don't have to log your fruits and veggies.

Having said that....if you don't want to log fruits and veggies, join Weight Watchers. It's not a "stupid" program. It works, even with zero point fruit. But it's expensive (hence my presence here).

If you want to save money and do MFP, then log everything.