o calorie per serving foods-do you track them? and if so how?

I log almost everything, even 'no' calorie items such as pickles, gum, etc. While a calorie deficit is my first priority, I want to do so while maintaining a healthy sodium intake and proper vitamin intake. Therefore, I count it all.

I log everything I eat and drink on here...except for water, I use a different app to log that. Not only are calories important to me, but also my sodium intake...not for health reasons, more so, just to keep track. Its usually the explanation to why I am gaining / not losing weight, and I know then to drink more water when my sodium intake is high to avoid that.

Anyway, yeah, I log everything, even my tea even though it is 0 all across the board in everything. For me, its a matter of developing a routine and habit to log. If I only track some times, then it will be too easy for me to let things I definitely should track slide between the cracks.

Plus, even though Im not focused on my micros ...macros?! LoL obviously not...at this point, at some point I might be. And I think it would be good to have a legit log of how Ive been eating to know what changes need to be made to how I eat. Just because its not my priority now, doesnt mean it wont be at some point when this data would be useful to have.

I log my cholula hot sauce. It says it has 0 calories but I find it hard to believe. Regardless, there's tons of sodium in it.

From someone who is currently in nursing school and is taking a required nutrition course, there is NO SUCH THING as a zero calorie food. The only thing with zero calories is water. Pickles actually do have a significant amount of calories depending on the type, and they have a very high sodium content which causes bloating and is not great for you. The Walden Farms products are basically chemical soup, and they have been called out for not being entirely truthful on their labels as far as calorie content. Read the ingredients list on one of those bad boys, and I can promise you you won't recognize anything on there. Why would you want to put that in your body? It is much better for you to have a normal sized portion of the real thing, and track that into your daily calorie amount vs. throwing off your body with weird chemical items that you don't even know the nutrition info or contents of.

That being said, I am not perfect either. I use Stevia, which while it is a natural zero calorie sweetener, I'm sure it's still not great for you. But I still log it all. Even though it is zero calories, it is still something I put in my body and consumed that day, so I track it. I even track water and vitamins. That's the whole purpose of keeping a food journal, is to make you aware of what all you really are consuming in a day, so I'd say yes...if you are choosing to consume those things, definitely track them!

Sassy_xo wrote: »

The Walden Farms products are basically chemical soup, and they have been called out for not being entirely truthful on their labels as far as calorie content. Read the ingredients list on one of those bad boys, and I can promise you you won't recognize anything on there.

This isn't surprising, though. They seem a little suspicious. I've only tried one of their products, but it was kind of gross and I could never figure out if it was vegan or not because the ingredient list was in some made up language, I swear. I'm wary of that entire brand.

I don't log cooking spray, garlic, onions, some condiments, some veggies (even though I know they obviously have cals), but I have a large intake to play with so in the grand scheme of things they are insignificant (for me) - depending on your intake and how much of these items you consume as well as your current results up to this point, you may want to consider logging them

Up to you! I'm about 50/50, sometimes I'll track ultra low cal things like herbs and coffee, but usually I don't.

There are foods with 0 calories????? lol

If you are talking about food with low cals, you should still log them because they can add up. All food has calories... or else it wouldn't be considered food... right?

I'm currently eating a serving of zero cal capers. I log them to remind myself tomorrow, when I'm retaining water, that my capers carry a crap-load of sodium.

TheOwlhouseDesigns wrote: »

i use some olive oil spray and butter spray and kernel seasoning. It says zero calories per serving. Also for sweeteners ( i use them in my tea).
But to be sure i just have everyday a quick add of 50 calories added. Specially on days i use more than normal.

So when i cook in butter i log those normally.
But when i cook in a olive spray and have my popcorn butter spray and seasoning i will add the extra 50 calories

Because the only thing that has no calories is water.

I was watching some show, that said that those oil and butter sprays..a serving is like a spray of a fraction of a second. and they said the average person actually holds the spray for 3 seconds or more, and actually using something like 20+ servings of the spray, in one go!

I dont use cooking sprays anyway, but that alone freaked me out..and this was before I started trying to lose weight. But yeah, at those quantities (20+ servings of a "0" calorie food) its definitely adding cals to your overall meal. Very unfair and a wrong way to label serving sizes of those things, I think.

Zedeff wrote: »

Sassy_xo wrote: »

From someone who is currently in nursing school and is taking a required nutrition course, there is NO SUCH THING as a zero calorie food.

...

That being said, I am not perfect either. I use Stevia, which while it is a natural zero calorie sweetener

Does not compute.

It is because, while a good might have negligible kcal for a single serving that rounds to 0 (say .2kcal) the food can still add up to something if you eat enough of it.
I think for most of these it's a non issue, but if you're drinking 30 diet sodas a day....

TheOwlhouseDesigns wrote: »

Dragn77 wrote: »

TheOwlhouseDesigns wrote: »

i use some olive oil spray and butter spray and kernel seasoning. It says zero calories per serving. Also for sweeteners ( i use them in my tea).
But to be sure i just have everyday a quick add of 50 calories added. Specially on days i use more than normal.

So when i cook in butter i log those normally.
But when i cook in a olive spray and have my popcorn butter spray and seasoning i will add the extra 50 calories

Because the only thing that has no calories is water.

I was watching some show, that said that those oil and butter sprays..a serving is like a spray of a fraction of a second. and they said the average person actually holds the spray for 3 seconds or more, and actually using something like 20+ servings of the spray, in one go!

I dont use cooking sprays anyway, but that alone freaked me out..and this was before I started trying to lose weight. But yeah, at those quantities (20+ servings of a "0" calorie food) its definitely adding cals to your overall meal. Very unfair and a wrong way to label serving sizes of those things, I think.

Well i am not too worried about it. Lost almost 80 pounds in 5 months. So my guess is i do something right for me...winks

Ohh..I wasnt implying that you're wrong or should be worried and didnt mean that in a negative way or personal way against you or your weight loss progress.

My point literally was what I said, the unfairness of the serving sizes that they put on them. Im going to back away from you now though..