To count or not to count...

teecee60 wrote: »

I also want to comment on your calorie goals. I struggled with this concept for a long time. I thought if you want to lose, you had to really restrict calories. Like you, I have less than 20 lbs to lose and wanted to lose 2 lbs per week. I saw a nutritionist last year and she told me 1200 calories was too low...I didn't believe her. Six weeks ago I started with a personal trainer. He told me that I should be eating 1800 calories. I thought he was nuts. Low & behold, he is right. I am eating now in the 1500 calorie range (slowly ramping up to 1800) and I am losing more steadily than I was on 1200 calories or less. Plus, I feel fantastic. This is what I call sustainable. I am never hungry and I am losing steadily.

That is certainly food for thought for me, lol. How old are you? I am 50 next month.

I have about 17lbs to lose.

603reader wrote: »

TimothyFish wrote: »

Lounmoun wrote: »

UnikittyRocks wrote: »

I'm new to MFP and am on a 1200 a day plan. I actually didn't go over my limit yesterday although I didn't count the fruits and veggies I ate throughout the day. My brief time in Weight Watchers taught me that in moderation, F&V are "free."
What is the general opinion on this? Am I right or am I cheating??

This is not Weight Watchers. Log everything you consume. Fruits and vegetables have calories that add up. Some fruits and vegetables are not as low calorie as you might think. A banana can be 100 calories for example.
1200 a day is really low to start with. You might reconsider that number.

Even so, if a person were to eat 12 bananas in a day, they would probably be pretty stuffed, and that would keep them within their calorie goals.

Most bananas I buy tend to weigh about 120g.
Per USDA database, that's 107 calories.
1284 calories in bananas.

http://ndb.nal.usda.gov/ndb/search/list

I wouldn't be full. At all. Granted your mileage may vary but there isn't much staying power in bananas which is why people suggest adding PB or other items with fat/protein to add in satiety.

And that is relevant, why? The point is that a person isn't going to do something so silly because the bananas would make them so bloated that they wouldn't feel like eating all of their daily calorie allotment in bananas.

Since you brought it up, can I just point out that the 107 calories for a 120g banana is just an average? When they came up with that number there may have been a 120g banana that was 117 calories and a 120g banana that was 95 calories and a 120g banana that was some other number.

Set your calories to a more reasonable sustainable amount and count those fruits and veggies!

TimothyFish wrote: »

603reader wrote: »

TimothyFish wrote: »

Lounmoun wrote: »

UnikittyRocks wrote: »

I'm new to MFP and am on a 1200 a day plan. I actually didn't go over my limit yesterday although I didn't count the fruits and veggies I ate throughout the day. My brief time in Weight Watchers taught me that in moderation, F&V are "free."
What is the general opinion on this? Am I right or am I cheating??

This is not Weight Watchers. Log everything you consume. Fruits and vegetables have calories that add up. Some fruits and vegetables are not as low calorie as you might think. A banana can be 100 calories for example.
1200 a day is really low to start with. You might reconsider that number.

Even so, if a person were to eat 12 bananas in a day, they would probably be pretty stuffed, and that would keep them within their calorie goals.

Most bananas I buy tend to weigh about 120g.
Per USDA database, that's 107 calories.
1284 calories in bananas.

http://ndb.nal.usda.gov/ndb/search/list

I wouldn't be full. At all. Granted your mileage may vary but there isn't much staying power in bananas which is why people suggest adding PB or other items with fat/protein to add in satiety.

And that is relevant, why? The point is that a person isn't going to do something so silly because the bananas would make them so bloated that they wouldn't feel like eating all of their daily calorie allotment in bananas.

Since you brought it up, can I just point out that the 107 calories for a 120g banana is just an average? When they came up with that number there may have been a 120g banana that was 117 calories and a 120g banana that was 95 calories and a 120g banana that was some other number.

I realize it's not an exact science.
I've taken many a science and engineering course, I know how it works.

And in regards to the "something so silly", you clearly haven't heard of Freele the Banana Girl and her orthorexic diet. There are people who do mono-meals who *hopefully* aren't' as screwed up as Freelee but who knows

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You can use MFP in all kinds of ways. 1200 plus free produce is probably not a bad diet, if you're like most people and are not going to binge on bananas and avocados. To see how sensible it is for you, log a typical day of produce intake and see how much it is. 300 calories is probably pretty normal (or is for me, if I'm on a 'free produce' plan). So 1200 plus 'free' is going to put me around 1500, which would equal slow/moderate losses.

It's not going to have a huge effect on your results if some days you're at 200 and some at 600. And if it being 'free' encourages you to eat more produce, that's a healthy habit to get into. I lost 50 lbs. on a WW plan where not only was all produce free but so was all lean protein, eggs, oats and some other whole grains in moderation. Different things work. We're not all prone to binge without restricting every food group.