Count ALL vegetable calories?

ds6099
ds6099 Posts: 98 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I try not to eat my exercise calories back. But mfp gives me 1240 calories and if I run 6 miles, am I to include all veggies too such as zucchini Nd cucumbers???
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Replies

  • sheldonklein
    sheldonklein Posts: 854 Member
    Calories are calories. Not sure what running 6 miles has to do with whether or not to count a cucumber.
  • deceived1
    deceived1 Posts: 281 Member
    It depends on how accurate you want to be.

    I personally skip on logging things like a leaf of lettuce which has almost negligible calories.

    However, if you eat a ton of veggies and don't weigh anything, those calories, although small individually, can start adding up.
  • Liftng4Lis
    Liftng4Lis Posts: 15,151 Member
    Everything counts.
  • loulamb7
    loulamb7 Posts: 801 Member
    ds6099 wrote: »
    I try not to eat my exercise calories back.

    Why not? MFP is designed to work by eating some to all exercise calories back.
  • oh_happy_day
    oh_happy_day Posts: 1,137 Member
    I do count it all because it adds up, especially on a smaller calorie allowance. I'm more relaxed about things like lettuce because it's basically negligible.
  • Machka9
    Machka9 Posts: 25,502 Member
    I include all my veggie calories.
  • Timorous_Beastie
    Timorous_Beastie Posts: 595 Member
    If you run 6 miles with any kind of regularity and only have 10 pounds to lose, your calorie goal should be way higher than 1240, unless you're about 4' tall.

    If you're not going to eat your exercise calories, be sure to adjust your activity level.
  • ds6099
    ds6099 Posts: 98 Member
    I'm still new to mfp and yes, I feel that 1240 is too little. I need to play with the settings and adjust I guess..
  • kyrannosaurus
    kyrannosaurus Posts: 350 Member
    All vegetables have calories. I log them all.

    You should probably rethink eating back exercise calories. You aren't eating much and you need energy to fuel those runs. With such a big deficit you will be losing more lean muscle mass than you would with a smaller deficit. This will not help you achieve your fitness goals.
  • loulamb7
    loulamb7 Posts: 801 Member
    ds6099 wrote: »
    I'm still new to mfp and yes, I feel that 1240 is too little. I need to play with the settings and adjust I guess..

    What are your settings for activity level and lbs to lose per week? Are they sedentary and 2 lbs?

  • Kalikel
    Kalikel Posts: 9,603 Member
    Everyone does it differently and you have to do what works for you.

    For me, I don't see the point in counting some of the calories. If I'm going to count them because I want a good estimate of what I'm taking in, I'm counting all of them. Carrots count just like hamburgers.

    Different people have different goals, though. :)
  • ds6099
    ds6099 Posts: 98 Member
    I adjusted my settings to 'active' so now it's 1460 calories. That's more manageable :)
  • Christine_72
    Christine_72 Posts: 16,049 Member
    ds6099 wrote: »
    I adjusted my settings to 'active' so now it's 1460 calories. That's more manageable :)

    Are you sure you're active?

    Mail men who are on their feet constantly walking all day, and high energy athletes are what i would class as active.

  • Machka9
    Machka9 Posts: 25,502 Member
    ds6099 wrote: »
    I try not to eat my exercise calories back. But mfp gives me 1240 calories and if I run 6 miles, am I to include all veggies too such as zucchini Nd cucumbers???

    MFP gives me 1250 cal. But that's a net number.

    In other words ...

    If I don't do any exercise one day, I eat 1250 cal.

    If I walk 1 hour and burn 200 cal, I can eat up to 1450 cal.

    If I cycle 1 hour and burn 400 cal, I can eat up to 1650 cal.

    I might not eat that much, I might only eat half my exercise calories back. But half the point of doing exercise is so that I can eat more. :)

  • JennieMaeK
    JennieMaeK Posts: 474 Member
    christinev297 wrote: »
    ds6099 wrote: »
    I adjusted my settings to 'active' so now it's 1460 calories. That's more manageable :)

    Are you sure you're active?

    Mail men who are on their feet constantly walking all day, and high energy athletes are what i would class as active.

    This is an interesting article about determining activity level based on steps per day. I aim for at least 10,000 steps per day. I'm not a mailman or a high energy athlete, but according to my vivofit my daily average is 10,989. That being said, I've only put my my activity level as slightly active, not at the active level this indicates I would be at. Others may feel like they are more active though with the same number of steps.
  • mike_bold
    mike_bold Posts: 140 Member
    Fruit and vege can be pretty cheap, personally if I have an apple or something a day, then I won't bother. TDEE is an approximation, MFP exercise cals are an approximation, dietary info in the MFP database can vary from entry to entry and is likely an approximation. All things considered you will never know the exact input and output, too many variables to measure accurately. Even if you religiously log everything, safe to say your net diary is probably +/- 100 cals (I'm guessing) or more to what you actually processed.
  • peterjens
    peterjens Posts: 235 Member
    Where are you gonna draw the line for counting vs. not counting?
    Count 'em all.
  • Merkavar
    Merkavar Posts: 3,082 Member
    Gotta count 'em all
    CAL-O-RIES

    veggies might be lower in calories than say bacon but they aren't zero. Better off logging them instead of wondering what you didn't lose weight.
  • ds6099
    ds6099 Posts: 98 Member
    Sounds good but I will use veggies towards exercise calories so I should have enough to eat.
    Am I considered active or lightly active if I run 4.5-6 miles 6 days a week?
  • slaite1
    slaite1 Posts: 1,307 Member
    mike_bold wrote: »
    Fruit and vege can be pretty cheap, personally if I have an apple or something a day, then I won't bother. TDEE is an approximation, MFP exercise cals are an approximation, dietary info in the MFP database can vary from entry to entry and is likely an approximation. All things considered you will never know the exact input and output, too many variables to measure accurately. Even if you religiously log everything, safe to say your net diary is probably +/- 100 cals (I'm guessing) or more to what you actually processed.

    I don't get this-so why not log an item that can be over 100 calories and have an even bigger variable? I can eat an Oreo for less calories than an apple-do I log that? If you're going to spend time logging-may as well be as accurate as possible.
  • earlnabby
    earlnabby Posts: 8,171 Member
    I count everything (well, except chewing gum and diet soda). I do eyeball rather than weigh my leafy greens but I still log them.
  • abatonfan
    abatonfan Posts: 1,120 Member
    Vegetables and fruit count. I'm eating at about a 200-calorie deficit (and eat at least 200-250 calories in fruit in veggies a day). If I didn't log those fruits and vegetables, I would be gaining weight instead of losing.
  • loulamb7
    loulamb7 Posts: 801 Member
    ds6099 wrote: »
    Sounds good but I will use veggies towards exercise calories so I should have enough to eat.
    Am I considered active or lightly active if I run 4.5-6 miles 6 days a week?

    The way MFP works, activity level is based on your normal daily activity, excluding exercise. For example, desk job versus mailman. Running is considered exercise and you add it when you do it.

  • Mr_Stabbems
    Mr_Stabbems Posts: 4,771 Member
    i honestly dont bother, i dont treat them as "free" but if i get all pedantic about it then it'll just start to be a chore and piss me off.
  • CSARdiver
    CSARdiver Posts: 6,252 Member
    You have to be as accurate as you need to be. If your goal is to maintain a deficit and you're losing weight, there's no issue. If you are not losing (over several weeks), then review your accuracy to ensure you aren't missing something.

    Considering the high degree of error in nutritional labeling (~20%), it is better to err on the side of caution - log all intake and overestimate, while underestimating your physical activity. As for eating back depends on your goals, but I eat back protein at a minimum to help maintain muscle and carbs to a lesser degree to ensure I have enough energy for the next training session.
  • ds6099
    ds6099 Posts: 98 Member
    loulamb7 wrote: »
    ds6099 wrote: »
    Sounds good but I will use veggies towards exercise calories so I should have enough to eat.
    Am I considered active or lightly active if I run 4.5-6 miles 6 days a week?

    The way MFP works, activity level is based on your normal daily activity, excluding exercise. For example, desk job versus mailman. Running is considered exercise and you add it when you do it.
    Ok so then I'm not active per se lol! I'm an accountant so yes, long hours for me at the desk :(
  • loulamb7
    loulamb7 Posts: 801 Member
    [/quote]Ok so then I'm not active per se lol! I'm an accountant so yes, long hours for me at the desk :([/quote]

    But you're running 4-6 miles 6 days a weeks. This should give you a nice calorie bump, even if you only eat 50-75% of them back. :) Don't forget to log your running.
  • seska422
    seska422 Posts: 3,217 Member
    edited July 2015
    It all depends upon which works best for you.

    If you want to track your exercise, you can put sedentary or lightly active and then eat back 50% or so of those exercise calories.

    If you don't want to track your exercise but you exercise nearly every day, then there's nothing wrong with setting it to "active" with the knowledge that those 220 extra calories take into account that you'll be exercising. If you get hurt or stop exercising for some reason, you can always reduce the activity level at that point.

    It doesn't really matter how you arrive at the number of calories as long as you eat enough and still hit your deficit.
  • pixiesgreene
    pixiesgreene Posts: 88 Member
    Think about it this way - it's not about what "counts" and what "doesn't count". Thinking like that is like thinking you can "cheat" - you only cheat yourself.

    It's about learning about what you eat. If I didn't bother to weigh and log all my veggies, I wouldn't be constantly reminded of how large in mass yet low in calories they were. Realising that vegetables are large mass, low calories, and that nuts and oil, for instance, are low in mass and high in calories, arms me with knowledge that I can use to adapt recipes.

    So now I can do something that I couldn't do when I started counting calories - I can pick up a new recipe, peruse the ingredients, and go "right, I'll cut the oil to 5ml instead of 20ml, only put in 30g of nuts rather than 90(!!!) and double the amount of leafy greens and shaved zucchini." I can easily revise a 500 calorie meal down to a 300 calorie meal in this way - just through intuition and knowing what works.

    I dunno, YMMV, but I really value that skill.

    TL;DR version - Just log everything, you learn a lot.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,865 Member
    well, they have calories...why the feck wouldn't you count them if you're counting calories. I eat around 200 calories in veg per day...why wouldn't I count that?

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