Do you count fruits and vegetables in your calories ?

champion818
champion818 Posts: 65 Member
in Food and Nutrition
I know every calorie counts towards your weight loss and caloric deflect , but seriously I can't wrap my head around counting my fruits and vegetables with my calorie allowance ... If I have a banana and a bowl of watermelon that should be my healthy free food , sort of the weight watcher way of thinking ... We should be encouraged to eat as much fruits and vegetables as we want .. I would dread to have to think about eating an apple or not if it might go over my calorie allowance .. Does anyone agree with me ? Oppose ? I'm open to hearing your honest opinion you guys :) !

Replies

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  • beetle_stomper
    beetle_stomper Posts: 14 Member
    Every calorie counts. There is no such thing as a "free" calorie; they all add up the same. Naturally, some are much more nutritious (apple vs. cupcake, for example), but the simple science is, if you consume more than you burn, you will maintain or gain weight.

    I think fruits and veg are really important. If you want to eat a lot of them, great! But if you're serious about sticking to a set goal, you'll have to cut somewhere else.
  • Gallowmere1984
    Gallowmere1984 Posts: 6,626 Member
    An avocado is a fruit. It's also about 250 kcals (roughly, depending upon weight) per fruit. That should be free too, eh? Ponder that for a bit, and you'll realize how ridiculous the idea of "free" food items are, especially when you pull from such a large selection as "fruits and veggies".
  • ThePoeToaster
    ThePoeToaster Posts: 1,681 Member
    champion818 wrote: »
    I know every calorie counts towards your weight loss and caloric deflect , but seriously I can't wrap my head around counting my fruits and vegetables with my calorie allowance ... If I have a banana and a bowl of watermelon that should be my healthy free food , sort of the weight watcher way of thinking ... We should be encouraged to eat as much fruits and vegetables as we want .. I would dread to have to think about eating an apple or not if it might go over my calorie allowance .. Does anyone agree with me ? Oppose ? I'm open to hearing your honest opinion you guys :) !

    There are no healthy free foods; every food has calories and must be counted. That is all I have to say...
  • seska422
    seska422 Posts: 3,217 Member
    You are only cheating yourself if you don't count everything because you won't lose the weight you are expecting to lose since you won't be getting the deficit you expect.

    Weight Watchers gets away with having "free" fruits and veggies by lowering overall base calories in the hopes that you won't eat too many calories worth of "free" and overwhelm your deficit. For example, the points you get might just get you up to 900 calories because they plan for you to eat about 300 calories worth of "free" foods to make up the difference.

    MFP gives your full base calories intending for you to include everything so you need to include everything.
  • KarenMoeller2
    KarenMoeller2 Posts: 25 Member
    Every calorie counts. Bananas, watermelon, apples, carrots, peas, lettuce (yes lettuce counts!), cucumbers, potatoes, corn, plums you name it. If it goes in my mouth it is weighed and logged.
  • JeromeBarry1
    JeromeBarry1 Posts: 10,179 Member
    I count them. I even weigh them and spend too much time worrying about the 1g fluctuations on the digital scale.
    If I didn't, I'd certainly be incorrect at estimating portions.
  • Christine_72
    Christine_72 Posts: 16,049 Member
    edited August 2016
    If fruit and veggies were free foods i would eat a hell of a lot more of them. When we're dieting/maintaining every calorie counts.

    ETA: fruit and veggies aren't really free in WW, they give you lower than usual calories to account for them.
  • champion818
    champion818 Posts: 65 Member
    Lol Thankyou guys !
  • TeaBea
    TeaBea Posts: 14,517 Member
    Weight Watchers starts with a lower calorie allotment. So the fruits & veggies aren't really free. It's kind of a gimmick to encourage WW members to eat them.
  • MissusMoon
    MissusMoon Posts: 1,900 Member
    If you want to lose weight, log them.
  • Kamikazeflutterby
    Kamikazeflutterby Posts: 770 Member
    I count them, either by weight or by quick add calories. If I stopped counting a food because it was considered "healthy," I'd gain weight on oatmeal and berries alone.
  • Golbat
    Golbat Posts: 276 Member
    edited August 2016
    Yeah - I love fruit and I could overdo it. I eat plenty of fruits and veggies but I weigh it and count it.
  • Christine_72
    Christine_72 Posts: 16,049 Member
    Some people regularly eat 400-500 calories worth of fruit and veggies everyday. That is a lot of calories to ignore.
  • Alienique
    Alienique Posts: 122 Member
    Yup. Fruits might be low on fat, but some of them are packed with carbs. I also like to keep track of other macros (e.g., fiber) and micros (e.g., vitamins), so I think it's very necessary to count them.
  • Runfast2017
    Runfast2017 Posts: 9 Member
    Yes. I used to eat tons of fruits and thought they were for free. Now I count them in.
  • doironl
    doironl Posts: 1 Member
    The only thing I don't count is lettuce on a sandwich!
  • dragon_girl26
    dragon_girl26 Posts: 2,187 Member
    Christine_72 wrote: »
    Some people regularly eat 400-500 calories worth of fruit and veggies everyday. That is a lot of calories to ignore.

    Yep, I'm one of those people. Tomorrow alone I have a plan of nectarines, bananas, strawberries, corn on the cob, butternut squash, and spinach. Just adding that up in my head, I'd be missing about 300-400 calories from my diary if I counted them as "free".
  • Ready2Rock206
    Ready2Rock206 Posts: 9,487 Member
    Your body counts those calories even if you don't.
  • SusanMFindlay
    SusanMFindlay Posts: 1,804 Member
    joshperson195 wrote: »
    SherryTeach wrote: »
    Absolutely count everything. I eat hundreds of calories of fruit and veggie every day. If don't have an accurate log, I cannot maintain my weight. Also "healthy food" is not synonymous with "low calorie."

    Same! Every calorie adds up. I never understood the concept of fruits and vegetables being "free" foods.

    The idea is that having veggies as "free foods" encourages people to fill up on them to help with volumetrics. After all, 2 cups of zucchini have a heck of a lot fewer calories than 2 cups of rice. This really only works if you only treat low-cal veg as "free" though. My sister lost a lot of weight on Weight Watchers doing this - because the "free" system encouraged her to switch her diet to have lot of veggies and cut way back on starches and sugary drinks. So, it's all psychological. And, as others have noted, doesn't work if you go overboard with the fruit (or high-cal veg like avocados).
  • Sued0nim
    Sued0nim Posts: 17,456 Member
    champion818 wrote: »
    I know every calorie counts towards your weight loss and caloric deflect , but seriously I can't wrap my head around counting my fruits and vegetables with my calorie allowance ... If I have a banana and a bowl of watermelon that should be my healthy free food , sort of the weight watcher way of thinking ... We should be encouraged to eat as much fruits and vegetables as we want .. I would dread to have to think about eating an apple or not if it might go over my calorie allowance .. Does anyone agree with me ? Oppose ? I'm open to hearing your honest opinion you guys :) !

    So you don't want to count a Banana and watermelon? that's about 160-200 calories you want to not log ...you think that's nothing?

    If you want to do it that way go back to weight watchers...but even then you can't eat fruits freely
  • Machka9
    Machka9 Posts: 25,611 Member
    edited August 2016
    I count everything.

    Mangoes are my favourite fruit. One mango comes in at 135 calories. On a 1350 cal diet, that's 1/10th of my daily total.

    Today, I'm just having a banana and apple for fruit. That'll be about 180 cal.
  • amusedmonkey
    amusedmonkey Posts: 10,330 Member
    edited August 2016
    Absolutely! In the past month I have eaten 9000+ calories in fruits and vegetables, and that's a low month compared to others. That's more than 2 pounds worth of calories. If I hadn't counted them, my monthly weight loss would have been off by more than 2 pounds. If you don't have much to lose, not counting them could entirely derail your progress.

    I would do much better not counting my 70 calorie daily cookie or my occasional ice cream or chocolate than I would do not counting fruits and vegetables.

    Edit: Note that weight watchers has you eating a very low calorie diet, 800 calories in some instances, in order to account for "free" foods. You could simulate that by setting your calorie allowance low to give a buffer for free foods, but then you risk not eating enough or still overeating. Counting everything is the best way to go for most.

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