Debating unlimited fruits and veggies, like on WW. Thoughts???

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  • Queenmunchy
    Queenmunchy Posts: 3,380 Member
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    I know with the old WW program - which I used to lose all of my pregnancy weight years ago - the points I was given averaged around 900 calories. We had unlimited non-starchy vegetables, but counted starchy vegetables and fruit. At the end, most days I probably was eating around 1100-1200 calories with vegetables.
    With the new plan, I don't know if they built in that super low calorie target in order to make up for the unlimited vegetables, but "zero point" fruit or starchy vegetables makes zero sense to me.
  • teranga79
    teranga79 Posts: 202 Member
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    peter56765 wrote: »
    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.

    Totally! My intuition tells me to eat at least three packets of biscuits a day, and that dairy milk is a legitimate way of dealing with stress.
  • candicegriffith75
    candicegriffith75 Posts: 5 Member
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    To much of a good thing can be bad for us. Eating an abundance of any food, even fruits and veggies stretches the stomach mussel itself. It can then leave you feeling hungrier later just with the simple fact of having more space to fill just to feel full and this can carry on far later down the road. Once this happens it leads to some potentially poor choices if not careful. That is not taking into account the calories at all that add up as well. I hope this helps.
  • ksy1969
    ksy1969 Posts: 700 Member
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    isulo_kura wrote: »
    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 calories

    Holy crap, what size banana's are you getting. The average banana I eat is less than 100 calories. Usually right around 90 calories. Because I know they can be high in calories I always weigh them out in grams.

    Either way, I agree with other posters, fruit can really get away from you fast.

    I used to do WW and did the free fruit and veggies. That whole unlimited fruit and veggies is a marketing gimmick. After getting into it, you will find they only recommend so many servings of fruit a day. Also, if people start complaining about not losing weight the first thing asked is how much fruit are you eating? It is a marketing scam to get you sucked into their program.
  • barbecuesauce
    barbecuesauce Posts: 1,779 Member
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    ksy1969 wrote: »
    isulo_kura wrote: »
    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 calories

    Holy crap, what size banana's are you getting. The average banana I eat is less than 100 calories. Usually right around 90 calories. Because I know they can be high in calories I always weigh them out in grams.

    Either way, I agree with other posters, fruit can really get away from you fast.

    I used to do WW and did the free fruit and veggies. That whole unlimited fruit and veggies is a marketing gimmick. After getting into it, you will find they only recommend so many servings of fruit a day. Also, if people start complaining about not losing weight the first thing asked is how much fruit are you eating? It is a marketing scam to get you sucked into their program.

    Yeah, I think this person isn't using the USDA entry. I think the largest bananas I've eaten have been in the low 120s.
  • WalkingAlong
    WalkingAlong Posts: 4,926 Member
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    Maybe some people weigh it with the peel on?
  • ksy1969
    ksy1969 Posts: 700 Member
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    WalkingAlong wrote: »
    Maybe some people weigh it with the peel on?

    I hope not, because I think eating the peelings is bad for you ;)

  • isulo_kura
    isulo_kura Posts: 818 Member
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    ksy1969 wrote: »
    isulo_kura wrote: »
    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 calories

    Holy crap, what size banana's are you getting. The average banana I eat is less than 100 calories. Usually right around 90 calories. Because I know they can be high in calories I always weigh them out in grams..

    Well the average banana is around 1 Kcalorie per gram so mine average between 120 and 170 (peeled) which is average size where I buy them from. Occasionally I'll get one around 100 but not often
  • beemerphile1
    beemerphile1 Posts: 1,710 Member
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    Angela26point2finisher wrote: »
    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.

    Not in regards to weight loss and since the OP mentioned 'Weight Watchers' we can assume the goal is weight loss.
  • hoyalawya2003
    hoyalawya2003 Posts: 631 Member
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    midwesterner85 wrote: »
    Angela26point2finisher wrote: »
    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.

    I won't argue about the micro-nutrients, but let's not pretend that an apple and a dozen baby carrots is any more filling than a 100 calorie pack of Oreos. In either case, I may as well have eaten nothing... I will be just as hungry regardless.

    Yep. And if I was eating the apple instead of the Oreos I was craving, I'm likely to then eat the Oreos too. Which is how I got fat.

    OP, the free fruits and veggies thing didn't work for me, my husband, and a lot of folks who were previously successful with WW. However, the suggestion above for allotting a set amount of calories for f/v, then eating a fairly consistent amount of f/v on a day to day basis, is very sensible. Just don't go nuts and overeat.

  • callsitlikeiseeit
    callsitlikeiseeit Posts: 8,627 Member
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    go for it but dont complain when youre eating a crap load of fruits and veggies and still not losing lol
  • Sugarbeat
    Sugarbeat Posts: 824 Member
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    2snakeswoman wrote: »
    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.

    I seem to recall WW actually saying this. Don't try to do WW and Atkins at the same time, for example. That said, I'm guessing most people don't gain weight on carrot sticks and apples. Just my opinion, though.
  • 2snakeswoman
    2snakeswoman Posts: 655 Member
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    I think the current WW diet is around 1100 calories, then "unlimited" fruits and vegetables (the non-starchy, non-fatty kind - you'd have to count avocados for example). So as someone stated above, unlimited only works as long as you don't overeat fruits or vegetables. Most of us didn't get fat eating too many fruits and vegetables but we certainly could keep ourselves from losing by doing so.
  • yarwell
    yarwell Posts: 10,477 Member
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    Sugarbeat wrote: »
    That said, I'm guessing most people don't gain weight on carrot sticks and apples. Just my opinion, though.

    We're all guessing as a consumption of fruit or veg that high is 6 sd from the mean and we just don't know how healthy or fattening that is. The median intake of fruit struggles to reach one item per day.

  • Sabine_Stroehm
    Sabine_Stroehm Posts: 19,263 Member
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    beemerphile1 wrote: »
    Angela26point2finisher wrote: »
    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.

    Not in regards to weight loss and since the OP mentioned 'Weight Watchers' we can assume the goal is weight loss.
    This assumes there's only one goal.
  • Vixenmd1
    Vixenmd1 Posts: 146 Member
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    Yes the overall amount of pionts you get factors in free fruits and veggies. So if you are doing WW and not over doing it. Then it works ( I am a vegan who lost 75 lbs on WW and kept it off for a years but I stopped doing everything and regained 55 decided to switch to MFP snd calories for a change) but you won't drop weight if you eat to your calorie goal without tracking veggies and fruit sinc eyiur calorie gola is set to include those pieces unlike WW where it is set to not include them.
    Francl27 wrote: »
    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.

  • Vixenmd1
    Vixenmd1 Posts: 146 Member
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    Being vegan is NOT a silver bullet. Nothing is. I have been every size under the sun in my 25 years as a vegan. I am vegan for a lot of reasons animal, enviro, AND LONG term health. But I undertsand that my size is related to the amount of calories I consume and the amount I move. There is a ton of high calorie vegan junk food. I would say somethings you don't get much of as a vegan even if you over eat.But for weight/size calories in vs calories out still applies to us vegans.
    fishshark wrote: »
    beachhouse758 wrote: »
    ahamm002 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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