counting calories and juicing

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zane856
zane856 Posts: 60 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Hello!

I have been using MFP for a while to log my weight and have recently come into reading the community posts for advice/suggestions. I have slowly been gaining weight over this past year and no amount of exercise is helping me lose it, its just steadily creeping up. I just bought a food scale to figure out where I am going wrong with my eating, but my question is about how to log calories with juicing.

I have Crohns disease and had surgery 3 years ago, but still have significant digestive problems. I juice 3-5 times a week in addition to meals, only vegetables and a whole lot of ginger since it helps with digestion/inflammation. Does anyone have any idea how to account for these calories? I strongly suspect that this is why I am gaining weight, but the physical benefits are too huge for me to give it up. I am trying to figure out how much these juices are costing me so I know how much to cut back at other meals. Any advice would be greatly appreciated, thank you!!!

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  • Barbs2222
    Barbs2222 Posts: 433 Member
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    I use the calories of the whole vegetable. If I juice 3 carrots I log 3 whole carrots. I haven't juiced in a long time though, but that's how I used to do it.
  • glitzy196
    glitzy196 Posts: 190 Member
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    you would log the exact same way you would food. The juice still has calories, so you count everything you put in it..and it can add up. if you use the same combo you can save that and then just enter it as a whole next time
  • dontgiveup2319
    dontgiveup2319 Posts: 145 Member
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    It depends on what kind of juicer you're using?
    Is it a Centrifugal juicer (shreds the food) or is it a Masticating juicer (squeezes the food)? You will get more nutrients if you use a Masticating juicer then you would with the other.

    The calories are not the same in juice as it would be with solid foods because you do not get the whole vegetable in it. I use the internet to determine the right calories.
  • glitzy196
    glitzy196 Posts: 190 Member
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    but you could weigh the food, and then weigh the left overs..kinda like if you weigh a banana with a peel, then you go back and weigh the peel and take it off..
  • Barbs2222
    Barbs2222 Posts: 433 Member
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    I found this on the internet, I knew I was recording more calories than I had. I just didn't care. I have no idea if this is true but I thought it might help. I don't know who Heather is.

    here you go:

    1. list the ingredients your using. ex- 4 carrots, 2 apples, 1/4 cup cucumber, 5 strawberries, etc.

    2. look up 1 carrot on this site. note the calories as well as the grams of fiber.

    3.multiply the grams of fiber by 4 (each gram of fiber is equal to 4 calories) and subtract this from the total calories. If your using 4 carrots-then multiply this number by 4

    ex. 1 med. carrot is 25 calories and 1.7 grams of fiber.

    1.7 x 4=6.8

    25(carrot) - 6.8(fiber) =18.2(juiced carrot)

    18.2 times 4 (carrots)=72.8 calories for the 4 carrots juiced. 27.2 calories less than if you just put 4 carrots.

    There's an even bigger difference with apples.



    Hope this helps anyone else looking for this info.

    thanks, heather.
  • zane856
    zane856 Posts: 60 Member
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    Wow thank you heather!!! That is super helpful. I was thinking about logging the whole vegetable too if I couldn't get an exact science down just because I'd rather think it was more calories then it really is than less, but this will be really helpful. I really appreciate you finding that!

    It is a centrifugal juicer, when this one dies ill definitely look into getting a masticating juicer!
  • MTDDS18
    MTDDS18 Posts: 62 Member
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    I use the build feature on Juice Recipes (https://juicerecipes.com/build/). It works for me, but I don't juice that often.
  • WBB55
    WBB55 Posts: 4,131 Member
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    I have custom food entries for the things I make juice from most often (well, when I was doing that last year after some stomach issues). I just logged the whole vegetable and knew I was getting a bit less fiber than my log said for the day. Also, if it's easier to just weigh the juice, vegetable juice is ABOUT 50 cal per 8 oz and fruit juice is ABOUT 120 cal per 8 oz.
  • x_blackrainbow
    x_blackrainbow Posts: 439 Member
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    I haven't juiced in a while, but I've been thinking about doing it again and have also wondered about how to log it. Thanks for this post!
  • zane856
    zane856 Posts: 60 Member
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    Thank you everyone! I just made my first juice where I actually got to choose how many calories I wanted it to be and put things in accordingly, which was a great feeling! Hopefully now some of this weight will come off. I appreciate everyones help/input!

    Marilynxmonster good luck getting back into it! Hopefully it goes well!!

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