Counting Vegetables?

Vegetables have calories. Some vegetables have LOTS of calories (potatoes and corn are vegetables. Squash. Carrots and onions, even. These are all moderately calorie dense and when eaten in large quantities can dig pretty deeply into any caloric deficit you're aiming for), some have only a few (spinach. celery). Nutritionists would like most people who are eating a Western diet to eat more vegetables because vegetables are good for you and we typically don't eat enough. So many (not all) nutritionists will tell people who are trying to lose weight to "not worry too much" about gaining weight from eating vegetables.

If you are bothering to use software to track your calories, it's worthwhile to track your veg. If the caloric deficit you're aiming for is small to moderate, it's worthwhile to track your veg. If you eat a lot of starchy vegetables, it's worthwhile to track your veg. If you pile your plate high with vegetables, it's probably worthwhile to track your veg.

When is it not worthwhile to track your veg? When you don't eat a lot of veg, when the calorie deficit you're aiming for is quite large, when you're eyeballing portions and "back of the napkin"ing your daily calorie counts instead of using software to get an accurate measurement.

Do your own thing, it's your life and your body. And if you find that without tracking vegetables you're still getting predictable weightloss results, then it's working for you. But if you find that your results are not as expected after a month, tracking everything accurately is the first step to figuring out why.

For the first six months, I weighed and logged everything. After that, I knew which foods I could consider "free" because their calories were negligible in my personal overall diet.

Like others have said, vegetables have calories, and I eat a lot of them, so I count them.

Beyond that, I think of my logs as information, not just a way to count calories, so I like to be able to see if I'm falling short on nutrition or getting as much variety as I'd like, whether there's something different about a day when I'm feeling good vs. one where I'm feeling hungrier or less energetic, that kind of thing. For that to be useful at all, I have to log everything.

Also, it's an incentive to eat more and a greater variety of vegetables, a reminder to myself. I really don't see the conflict between them being good to eat freely and logging them. (I blame WW for this, and I've yet to find myself cutting veggies to fit into my calorie limit.)

It's not burdensome at all for me to log them. With something like greens I often estimate by cup, but otherwise I drop them on the scale, often when I'm chopping as just one additional step.

not logging non-starchy veggies is an incentive to me to eat more of them.
im not ignorant to think they don't add up, but so far has not affected me losing weight.

Sometimes I log my veggies as Crudités, other times as tossed salad. Close enough.

I only keep a 250 calorie deficit most days, so 50 calories of squash would have a significant impact on managing my goals if I ignored them. A potato could wipe out my deficit completely.

Count your veggies.

Herbs and spices, on the other hand, really do have negligible calories unless you're using large amounts (a "bunch" of cilantro, for instance.) If I skip logging anything, it's that.

SnuggleSmacks wrote: »

Herbs and spices, on the other hand, really do have negligible calories unless you're using large amounts (a "bunch" of cilantro, for instance.) If I skip logging anything, it's that.

I often make a big pot of red beans and rice, curries, or sauces from scratch. I noticed that spices can add up to 25 calories a day or so if you are using massive amounts of them per serving. (My red beans and rice usually has 15-20 spice calories per bowl) I was just saying that's how asinine I get with logging if someone just uses the occasional splash of pepper or something it's not going to be worth their time.

err you would miss the whole ppoint of MFP, which is to count. They do give great value for your calories though, which makes them valaubale in a nutrition sense and being able to eat a lot of them. If you didnt count you would most likely impact your deficit significantly. Count everything if you wnat accuracy.

ps what they already said

Honestly, you need to do what is right for you. Yes, MFP is about counting ALL calories, and therefore vegetables are no different. While I counted everything, including vegetables, while I was losing, I wasn't too worried even then since I knew that I had gotten fat eating too many cookies and and chips, rather than too many pieces of broccoli... Since I got to my goal weight, I estimate non-starchy vegetables in my meals. I tend to snack on vegetables too - usually cucumbers and green peppers, and I don't log them. I used to portion out and weigh everything - now I figure I probably eat an additional 100 calories of broccoli, cauliflower, and green pepper every day, but I don't gain by doing it, so I don't worry. Things like carrots and sweet potatoes though - I still portion out and log. Just know the calorie content of things and eat sensibly...