Are veggies a Free food?

Chrissygalpal · October 2016

I am counting my calories, works best for me. I did Jenny Craig a few years back and veggies of all kind were a free food, eat as many as you want. I know I am kind of answering my own question but want to be sure. Doing 1200 to start off. When I enter my foods, veggies, it adds up the calorie count. So should I worry about those taking away my calories or should I still look at them as FREE foods. Thanks.

Ideabaker · October 2016

I log everything that I eat... this includes veggies! The CICO model works for weight loss when your caloric intake is less than your caloric output. You can only monitor this accurately by counting all of the calories you consume, even lower-calorie options. All the best as you work to your goals!

leilaaitch · October 2016

Vegetables have calories(albeit a low amount), so they should be logged. I'm a vegetarian and log all veggies in my meals, it all adds up !

malibu927 · October 2016

Veggies have calories. Log them.

queenliz99 · October 2016

Count them.

dragon_girl26 · October 2016

There are no "free" foods when you're calorie counting. Everything adds up!

VintageFeline · October 2016

In the interests of accuracy, veggies have calories and therefore should be logged. Otherwise your logging won't be accurate.

cwolfman13 · October 2016

Veggies are not "free"...some diet plans do this in order to promote eating more veggies...plans like WW inflate points for other things to cover the "free" things...nothing is free.

Veggies are low calorie to be sure so you can eat a heap load of them...but they aren't free.

amfmmama · October 2016

nothing is free... but you certainly get more bang for your buck with veggies ; )

sympha01 · October 2016

Foods with calories have ... calories. If you are relying on calorie counting for weight loss, there are no free calories. Vegetables are good for you -- eat them, but log them. Truly, it's hard to make them add up to much trouble in your plan, though some starchy ones are higher in calories than leafy or watery ones. I'm especially careful with portioning potatoes, corn, and peas (or beans) for example.

If eating vegetables is making it hard to stick to your calorie goal, honestly I'd advise raising your calorie goal to account for it. Because a 1200 cal a day diet is very much on the low side. I know plenty of women who successfully lost weight on 1400-1600 cal a day diets. I lost lots of weight in my 40s on an 1850 cal a day diet (I'm very active, though). It took longer than a low cal diet but it was much easier to stick to happily, and didn't tempt me to do dumb things like try to make room for a delicious cookie by skipping vegetables. Furthermore taking a long time with a more sustainable diet plan did way more for me to build long-term healthy eating habits that have made maintaining nearly a breeze.

MelanieCN77 · October 2016

WW and similar plans with free fruit and veg are simplified to guide people who don't want to count calories to make better choices, that's all. Veg definitely isn't free. Their points were not a straight up and down reflection of calorie content, not at all.

cerise_noir · October 2016

If it has calories, then it is not free. Your body is still counting them even if you don't.

I can easily rack up 400+ cals with fruit and veg alone. If I didn't count fruit and veg, I would wipe out my deficit and maintain instead of lose.

MrsKila · October 2016

Log them

Aaron_K123 · October 2016

Eat veggies for health, but I wouldn't recommend them for hunger....they have very low saiety for most people. They aren't free but you'd be hard pressed to eat so many as y9 amount to a lot of calories. Some are more calories than others though.

MommyL2015 · October 2016

I make a stir-fry that, aside from about 20 calories of Teriyaki sauce and 50 calories of oil, has about 200 calories. It's a huge plate and it's all vegetables, but they still have calories that add up in volume.

alyssa0061 · October 2016

united1974 wrote: »

veggies have almost no calories, not enough to impact a 1200 count unless you are eating a kilo of 5 diff types for your tea, as Aaron k said.

Asparagus cooked 100g 25 calories approx
broccoli 1 cup cooked 91g 31 calories
carrot 100g 42
cauliflower 100g 25
mashed potato! 100g 105
mushrooms 100g 15
peas tinned 100g 55
green pepper 100g 15
red/yellow 100g 25
spinach 100g 25
canned tomatoes 100g 15

you could have all that and not even go close to half of your daily calories etc

nothing is free, but you wont go wrong with vegetables at all. and as many as you like, spread over lunch and tea etc.

you dont need to log them even if the rest of your food gets close to 1000. but if you are logging everything else, you might as well put them in. They also of course, arent full of the same garbage that most processed food is as well.

I just ate 180 calories worth of Brussel sprouts. That's not "almost no calories". I consume anywhere from 120 to 300 calories in vegetables at each meal. Factor in the fruit I eat, that's another 100+ calories a day. By your count, that's 500+ calories a day I "don't need to log".

Are veggies a Free food?

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