Debating unlimited fruits and veggies, like on WW. Thoughts???
staceypunk
Posts: 924 Member
When I found MFP and did research I chose to log all my fruits and vegetables and count them toward my daily calories goal. I was successful at losing weight (with regular Jillian Michaels workouts as well as staying within my macro goals). Now its a couple years later and I have gained back 15 of the 45 I lost. The reason for that is clear to me, lots of personal problems lots of alcohol intake and not being able to regularly workout.
Now I AM BACK IN IT! Eating good and working out regularly. I'd like to take a more intuitive approach. I'm not logging food everyday, not measuring and weighing everything I put in my mouth. Also, considering not sweating fruit and vegetable intake.
Thoughts???
and thanks!
Now I AM BACK IN IT! Eating good and working out regularly. I'd like to take a more intuitive approach. I'm not logging food everyday, not measuring and weighing everything I put in my mouth. Also, considering not sweating fruit and vegetable intake.
Thoughts???
and thanks!
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Replies
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Everything you eat (mostly) has calories, be it high calories or low calories, either way it all adds up in the course of 1 day.
I personally can't eyeball food portions, and you can still gain weight eating too many calories of 'healthier' foods.
I mean, do what you think would work for you. I just think that accountability and accuracy of what foods you ingest is important.0 -
I think estimating non starchy veggies and fruit (if you are good at it, because fruit has more calories) is fine, although I weigh them (since I chop them and weighing adds no real time or effort), but I kind of feel like if you are logging it's best to log everything. (I brought a bunch of broccoli and cauliflower to supplement my lunch yesterday, and it was about 75 calories, so I'm glad I knew the real total and not just the total without the veggies.)
One reason is that I think of logging NOT as primarily about keeping calories down but about me learning to understand what portions work for me and what calories I'm eating vs. what I think I'm eating. And I also think of it as a way to see how different ways of eating affect me (add more carbs, am I hungrier or not? add more protein to each meal, does that help? so on). As part of this second goal, I use it to see if I'm meeting my own personal nutritional goals, so logging veggies (and feeling good about it) is part of that--it's certainly not about calories primarily or about limiting them at all.
So while I don't think you should limit your veggie or fruit consumption (unless you eat a really crazy amount of fruit, at least), I don't think logging but only including certain foods really makes sense. I've tried out more intuitive approaches by eating what I thought was reasonable calories and logging at the end of the day or eating for a week without logging and then logging again to see if I was basically eating within a reasonable calorie limit. Similarly, doing a looser form of logging for those items might be a compromise.
But obviously you should do what works for you.0 -
It depends on your goals. If you're obese and eat a generally unhealthy diet, then WW's tactic of not counting fruits and veggies is probably great. It gets people into the habit of eating healthier and probably won't hinder weight loss.
Now if you're already pretty healthy and lean, and just trying to get a bit leaner to look great in a swim suit than you should log everything.0 -
A banana has on average 150 calories, Avocados are very high a few of those free fruits/veggies and you'll be putting on weight. Nothing is free it all has calories0
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I eat 300-500 calories of fruits and vegetables every day. I wouldn't be able to log my food if I didn't count fruits and veg (like, how do you handle soups? homemade fritatas? things that are mostly veggie but lead you to eat more of non-veggies, like carrots in hummus?).
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It's possible to gain weight eating too much "healthy" food.0
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nooooo, you will still get fat.0
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Yeah that won't work. You can still eat unlimited veggies and fruit... you just got to log them. They are only free with WW because you have less points than you would if you counted them.0
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They have calories...some more than others. If you are logging other food then I don't see the point in not logging fruits and vegetables as well.
You could try it for a month with not logging food consistantly or logging any fruits and vegetables and see how your weight loss goes. If you aren't losing the way you want then go back to logging everything.
I didn't lose weight not logging or only logging some things so I don't think that method would work for me.0 -
If it works for you, that is good. I know for me it doesn't as I can eat huge amounts of veggies, and I still get hungry soon after. Yes, I know it is not really hunger, but it still feels like hunger.0
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I'm pretty sure fruit and vegetables have calories. It doesn't matter to your body where the calories comes from.0
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It depends on your goals. If you're obese and eat a generally unhealthy diet, then WW's tactic of not counting fruits and veggies is probably great. It gets people into the habit of eating healthier and probably won't hinder weight loss.
Now if you're already pretty healthy and lean, and just trying to get a bit leaner to look great in a swim suit than you should log everything.
I agree.
Also, different approaches work for different people.
I have to log everything. That's what works for me.
For example I usually eat 1 avocado a day. I love them. Each avocado has about 200 calories and about 15-20 grams of fat.
If I ate unlimited avocados, then I would not be able to maintain a deficit.
But I eat one and I make my numbers work.
I also eat a ton of raw veggies, but I log them because I still need to learn portion control as part of my long term health goals.
I see a lot of the "Vegan Fitness Gurus" on IG and they don't count calories, they don't count portions and they have an enormous amounts of fruits and veggies everyday and they still manage to look like magical forest fairies. But since I love steak, bison, seafood etc..; so I have to make room in my diet for these things. And that means limiting my avocados.
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If you're not going to track calories, or weigh and measure everything you eat, or worry about how many fruits and veggies you eat... What ARE you doing to lose weight?
I completely understand not wanting to obsess - but to lose weight, you need to create a caloric deficit somehow.0 -
I had a small cup of melon and strawberries yesterday for 130 calories. I have sugar free ice cream sandwiches that are 110 calories. Can I eat unlimited ice cream sandwiches?0
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I log everything usually. Except for instance, if I were to have tacos, Id only log thenheavynfoods, and not the veggie toppings. Or if I forget to log some fruits or veggies, I dont usually sweat it, or if I am too close to calorie goal and still hungry, Id opt fruits or veggies, and not mind that I went over, due to what I ate. If that makes sense lol. To me, it doesnt make much difference because its also what you put into your body to fuel it. To me, its not ALWAYS about calories. Im doing just fine doing so.
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I am the poster child for this statement.jigglyjessica wrote: »It's possible to gain weight eating too much "healthy" food.
In addition to keeping track of calories, there are other reasons to "count" fruits and vegetables. We need them for health. They are a prime source of vitamins and fiber. Count fruits and vegetables so you are sure to get enough of them.
The US govt recommends adults eat 2 1/2 to 3 cups of vegetables per day. The UK health service recommends 5 servings a day. The "Healthy Eating Plate" recommends 1/2 your plate be filled with fruits and vegetables, more than 1/2 of that vegetables.
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if you are going to count calories ... count calories why trying to find ways to bypass that . eat unlimited amount of fruit and veggies if you want as long as you don't go over your calorie limit ( i don't suggest it though for obvious health reason since you will be lacking a lot of nutrient)0
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Intuitive eating has a lot of benefits. Listening to your body, feeding it what it needs, and eating only when hungry provides a great plan for some. The standard MFP CICO version doesn't look at that kind of eating plan as wise.
If it works for you - go for it!0 -
Unlimited vegetables!!!
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Eating a lot of fruits and veggies will definitely fill you up and keep you from eating junk food. You can eat a hell of a lot of veggies and hardly get any calories, which is awesome. I'm not ready to let go of the crutch of logging everything. I'm hoping to be to that point in a few months. Good Luck to you!0
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beachhouse758 wrote: »It depends on your goals. If you're obese and eat a generally unhealthy diet, then WW's tactic of not counting fruits and veggies is probably great. It gets people into the habit of eating healthier and probably won't hinder weight loss.
Now if you're already pretty healthy and lean, and just trying to get a bit leaner to look great in a swim suit than you should log everything.
I agree.
Also, different approaches work for different people.
I have to log everything. That's what works for me.
For example I usually eat 1 avocado a day. I love them. Each avocado has about 200 calories and about 15-20 grams of fat.
If I ate unlimited avocados, then I would not be able to maintain a deficit.
But I eat one and I make my numbers work.
I also eat a ton of raw veggies, but I log them because I still need to learn portion control as part of my long term health goals.
I see a lot of the "Vegan Fitness Gurus" on IG and they don't count calories, they don't count portions and they have an enormous amounts of fruits and veggies everyday and they still manage to look like magical forest fairies. But since I love steak, bison, seafood etc..; so I have to make room in my diet for these things. And that means limiting my avocados.
I still don't understand those people... one of my best friends is a raw vegan and he literally consumes like 10 avocados a day like 100 oranges like the most ridiculous (and expensive) diet ever and he is skin and bones. i logged his day once and it was about 5k in calories.0 -
There's a diet contest show in the UK based on dietbet. They had one competitor who was vegetarian, and thought instead of counting, he'd just eat "cleaner." After a week or two, the doctor who hosts the show had to do an intervention on him to explain he'd been eating 4000 calories a day, and half of it was bananas and oranges.0
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simplydelish2 wrote: »Intuitive eating has a lot of benefits. Listening to your body, feeding it what it needs, and eating only when hungry provides a great plan for some. The standard MFP CICO version doesn't look at that kind of eating plan as wise.
If it works for you - go for it!
My body's intuition tells me to eat when I'm hungry, bored, stressed, for pleasure, or just when I'm sitting around in front of the TV - basically whenever possible. I suspect I am descendant from a long line of people who managed to survive periods of famine by stuffing their faces when a surplus was available. Now of course, I am surrounded by surplus all the time but my "intuition" keeps telling me to chow down. So, yeah, I think I'll pass on intuitive eating.0 -
I can eat mountains of peas so it's never a good idea to give me unlimited veggies!0
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I weigh and log fruit and estimate and log all veggies.
I don't see the point in "not counting," though. Take my breakfast, for example. I usually have a coffee with half and half and a veggie egg white omelet. The cream in my coffee and the broccoli in my omelet each have about 40 calories. Why would one "count" and not the other? makes no sense.
Oh, and according to WW, the egg whites in my omelet are also "zero points!!" So, basically, my whole omelet is "free." Which....no. It's not.0 -
I think that amount of fruits & veggies go right through without touching the sides. Hence, nothing counts!beachhouse758 wrote: »It depends on your goals. If you're obese and eat a generally unhealthy diet, then WW's tactic of not counting fruits and veggies is probably great. It gets people into the habit of eating healthier and probably won't hinder weight loss.
Now if you're already pretty healthy and lean, and just trying to get a bit leaner to look great in a swim suit than you should log everything.
I agree.
Also, different approaches work for different people.
I have to log everything. That's what works for me.
For example I usually eat 1 avocado a day. I love them. Each avocado has about 200 calories and about 15-20 grams of fat.
If I ate unlimited avocados, then I would not be able to maintain a deficit.
But I eat one and I make my numbers work.
I also eat a ton of raw veggies, but I log them because I still need to learn portion control as part of my long term health goals.
I see a lot of the "Vegan Fitness Gurus" on IG and they don't count calories, they don't count portions and they have an enormous amounts of fruits and veggies everyday and they still manage to look like magical forest fairies. But since I love steak, bison, seafood etc..; so I have to make room in my diet for these things. And that means limiting my avocados.
I still don't understand those people... one of my best friends is a raw vegan and he literally consumes like 10 avocados a day like 100 oranges like the most ridiculous (and expensive) diet ever and he is skin and bones. i logged his day once and it was about 5k in calories.
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beemerphile1 wrote: »I'm pretty sure fruit and vegetables have calories. It doesn't matter to your body where the calories comes from.
It does matter where your Calories come from. 100 Calories from an apple and a dozen baby carrots is going to have much more nutrients then a 100 Calorie pack of Oreo bites, way more filling, and won't leave you wanting more. The micro-nutrients matter, too.0 -
I'm not one of those "it's only calories in and calories out" types because metabolism is far more complex than that... BUT. If unlimited means a licence to over-eat, then it will be a fail. Especially with starchy vegetables (which aren't unlimited in WW) and fruits. Too much fruit for me is a FAIL cuz SUGAR. Assuming that you have excess body fat then sugar DOES matter, and calories to a lesser degree (it's the FOOD more so). WW sucks imo (where I learned to starve myself, fear dietary fat, and just basically eat opposite of what is biologically appropriate) so I wouldn't personally want to emulate anything from their program.0
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I've ALWAYS been unlimited non-starchy vegetables. I do somewhat limit (or remain conscious of) starchy vegetables and fruits.
But I eat as many and as much vegetable foods as I want and can.0 -
I think if you want to use Weight Watchers strategy, you will have to do the whole WW program, not just the part that appeals to you.0
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