Do you count your vegetables?

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  • Sabine_Stroehm
    Sabine_Stroehm Posts: 19,263 Member
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    fascha wrote: »
    is this a joke? lol

    Weight Watchers, among other approaches, views vegetables as "free" or some such thing. It's a valid question in the world of dieting.
  • ThatUserNameIsAllReadyTaken
    ThatUserNameIsAllReadyTaken Posts: 1,530 Member
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    They say vegetables a "free" food. I am sure I have proven that one wrong. I can eat shameful amounts of vegetables in the blink of an eye. I have always been a vegetable lover.
  • Gena575
    Gena575 Posts: 224 Member
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    I had nearly 100 calories of veg (onions, peppers and mushrooms) at dinner last night. I'd log 100 calories of yogurt so I log veg. I am lax with amounts of salad greens and such, but usually over estimate. I even log 3 baby dill pickles...but that's more to keep any eye on sodium.
  • jennifer_417
    jennifer_417 Posts: 12,344 Member
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    Yup. The calories can add up!
  • noon1200
    noon1200 Posts: 35 Member
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    I'm not going to weigh and log salad ingredients each time I make a salad, I might do that once or twice just to get a general idea of how many calories are in the salads I tend to make. Then I'll just log a generic salad entry that has what I estimate to be the right number of calories for what I made.

    Dressings and higher-calorie toppings get added separately of course.
  • BarbieAS
    BarbieAS Posts: 1,414 Member
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    As many before me have said, I also log everything but feel good about my choice to eyeball serving sizes for most green/non-starchy vegetables - I also try to err on the side of overestimating, and even if I somehow ate twice as much as I logged (highly unlikely), it's at most, what, a 15-20 calorie difference for a typical serving? Not stressed. Sure, that technically can add up, but not to very much if you're generally making reasonable estimates on reasonable portions.

    Probably doesn't need to be said, but obviously any toppings/dressings or starchy vegetables get weighed/measured as appropriate.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,868 Member
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    When I logged I did count them, but I didn't go to super great lengths to be 100% accurate...like I didn't weigh every little thing that went on my salad...I basically made a generic entry in my recipe builder for salad for XXX calories based similar sized salads I could find without dressing in the database or elsewhere and then I'd log the dressing seperately. I wanted to log something, but really being spot on wasn't a huge concern...definitely bigger fish to fry dietary wise.
  • auddii
    auddii Posts: 15,357 Member
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    AoifeFitzy wrote: »
    Yep- if you eat it, log it!

    I've gotta say this, though: logging everything has worked wonders to get me out of any illusions about there being "good" or "bad" foods. There's just food, with different macros in, and depending on what I need at a particular time I should probably have this, or I can definitely get away with that. Veggies are great for some things- like when you want to fill up your tummy with a lot of food, or, of course, for different kinds of nutrients. But, like, at the end of a day when I've a couple hundred calories left (and I know that I do 'cause I logged every single gram of broccoli I had with my dinner), I feel absolutely no guilt at all over using up the last of my allowance for the day on a few cookies or a bowl of icecream. I think that's a fabulous thing about MFP- there's no 'good' or 'bad' food, there's just the food you eat and what it contains and how that fits into your goals.


    So... yep, weigh and log that lettuce! Just like you'll weigh and log that cake too ;)

    Meh, I see diminishing returns on weighing lettuce. I skip weighing very low calorie items. Of course, I use packaged lettuce, so it's easy to get a rough estimate. If I ever stop losing at the rate I expect, then yeah, I might have to tighten up my logging, but for now, I'm going to do what is working.
  • divcara
    divcara Posts: 79 Member
    edited September 2016
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    I don't measure, weigh or count my green veggies at all. I have as many greens as I want. I don't really log them since I have no idea how much I'm using. I just throw in enough for whatever I am making - spinach in my eggs, etc. I really don't think broccoli is going to be what does me in. I do however weigh/measure carrots, fruit, etc.
  • snowflake930
    snowflake930 Posts: 2,188 Member
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    Everything that I eat and drink.
    Little things add up and can make a difference.
  • peaceout_aly
    peaceout_aly Posts: 2,018 Member
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    Gozomalta28 wrote: »
    Wondering what is everyone's take on this. I understand to track vegetables like potatoes, corn etc...but how about zucchini, tomatoes, lettuce etc...Thanks!

    Everything counts! Even if you don't "count" it, your body still does.
  • RoxieDawn
    RoxieDawn Posts: 15,488 Member
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    When you get a sucky deficit like I do, it all counts..Except lettuce!
  • Sabine_Stroehm
    Sabine_Stroehm Posts: 19,263 Member
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    AoifeFitzy wrote: »
    Yep- if you eat it, log it!

    I've gotta say this, though: logging everything has worked wonders to get me out of any illusions about there being "good" or "bad" foods. There's just food, with different macros in, and depending on what I need at a particular time I should probably have this, or I can definitely get away with that. Veggies are great for some things- like when you want to fill up your tummy with a lot of food, or, of course, for different kinds of nutrients. But, like, at the end of a day when I've a couple hundred calories left (and I know that I do 'cause I logged every single gram of broccoli I had with my dinner), I feel absolutely no guilt at all over using up the last of my allowance for the day on a few cookies or a bowl of icecream. I think that's a fabulous thing about MFP- there's no 'good' or 'bad' food, there's just the food you eat and what it contains and how that fits into your goals.


    So... yep, weigh and log that lettuce! Just like you'll weigh and log that cake too ;)

    And micros, but yup!
  • auddii
    auddii Posts: 15,357 Member
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    divcara wrote: »
    I don't measure, weight or count my green veggies at all. I have as many greens as I want. I don't really log them since I have no idea how much I'm using. I just throw in enough for whatever I am making - spinach in my eggs, etc. I really don't think broccoli is going to be what does me in. I do however weigh/measure carrots, fruit, etc.

    And this is where you have to know yourself and your habits. I can put away 200 calories of broccoli. Most people don't eat that much broccoli and it won't have much of an impact.

    If you find what you're doing isn't working, then it's going to have to change. Most people give a variety of responses because they've found a method that works for them.

    OP, if you don't want to weigh or log veggies, that's fine, but you might need to adjust your goal down a bit to compensate if you find you're not losing or losing at a slower weight than necessary.
  • PinkPixiexox
    PinkPixiexox Posts: 4,142 Member
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    When I was in my strict "Must lose weight EVERY SINGLE week without fail" mode - I weighed and counted my vegetables. Technically, yes - this calculates your exact calorie intake from said vegetables however ... after developing a pretty nasty eating disorder, I no longer do this. I feel weighing my broccoli before I have a meal is not realistic and not a normal way to eat. It's broccoli. Don't get me wrong - I DO see the logic in weighing every thing you eat (That's how I got to my goal weight). And I totally understand weighing calorie dense food such as granola and meats and potatoes when trying to lose weight but like hell am I going to add up the grams in a carrot. It's not good for me mentally.

  • clicketykeys
    clicketykeys Posts: 6,568 Member
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    When you start out, it can be helpful to weigh and measure stuff, even if you don't log it. It can be incredibly surprising to find out what your assumptions are. So like yesterday I prelogged a salad that had 2 oz spinach, and 1 oz each of carrots, yellow squash, and celery.

    Then I started measuring the spinach. All I can say is that it's a good thing I like spinach! XD otoh, the yellow squash gave me relatively little for the ounce.
  • sarahthes
    sarahthes Posts: 3,252 Member
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    I do not weigh them very often. I estimate. My deficit is big enough that being out by 5-10 calories is not going to hinder my goals.
  • savithny
    savithny Posts: 1,200 Member
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    Like others, I log veggies.
    Like others, I don't bother weighing them. I try to make up for it by estimating high - 4 cups vs. 3 cups of raw baby spinach isn't going to make a huge difference.

    I want to know what I ate "for the record," and look at fiber and vitamins sometimes.

    I always log cooking oils and sauces, too. And I log 100% of what goes in the pan, I don't assume "well, some of it stays in the skillet" after I braise my kale. If 2 Tbs went into the pan and I split the greens four ways, I log 1/4 of 2 Tbs.

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