Counting fruits and vegetables???

terryt1992
terryt1992 Posts: 94 Member
edited November 17 in Food and Nutrition
I have lost 85lbs so far. Starting on MFP then for a while I did Weight Watchers and now back to MFP (Successful with both of them btw) Switched back to MFP because I find it easier to meet my nutritional goals such as protein ect. and I recently started strength training so those things are important. On Weight Watchers you do not count fruits and vegetables as points. Now that I am back on MFP I have continued to not count any fruits or vegetables. My theory is I did not get overweight by eating fruits and vegetables. I would like anyone to give their opinion or feedback about this.

Replies

  • Mary_Anastasia
    Mary_Anastasia Posts: 267 Member
    edited April 2017
    It sounds like you know what your body needs best at this point, and can probably eyeball your servings. But fruits and veggies do have calories that should be included in your daily intake. Yes, you may burn more calories digesting them than you would, say, candy, but they still count- even with "zero calorie" fruits, it all evens out in your metabolism.

    IDK how many you eat, but my nutritionist told me to stay away from TOO many fruits if you have glucose issues. I do not have diabetes for example, but I do have irregular glucose responses to fasting/eating, so I'm not supposed to have more than 1 serving of fruit/day in a <120g carbs/day lifestyle. I'd think otherwise you could have as many as you want, fruits and veggies are infinitely better than most any other food :)
  • crazyycatlady1
    crazyycatlady1 Posts: 292 Member
    edited April 2017
    I have to preface this by saying I'm several years into maintenance, and back during my active weight loss phase I did track calories from everything.

    Currently though I'm working on getting rid of my winter 'fluff' (I adjust my maintenance range up a few pounds in the winter and then get rid of it in the spring). I base my days around 800g-900g worth of veggies and fruit and I'm not tracking the calories from any of that, and instead track all the non veg/fruit calories I eat, with a goal of 1,000-1,100 calories a day for that category, (so 1,000-1,100 calories PLUS the calories from 800g-900g of veg/fruit). A very 'loosey-goosey' way of doing things, but since I'm just casually losing right now it works well for me, (and I'm losing around .5lb a week, which is exactly what I'm aiming for). I also walk 2 miles a day 4-5 times a week now, so that's factored in there somewhere as well :) But again, my situation is not the norm-when I started this short spring weight loss phase my bmi was around 21.5, is currently 20.6 and my summer goal puts me at around 19.7.
  • buffinlovin
    buffinlovin Posts: 100 Member
    I do count fruits and vegetables, but I will usually grab an entry that sounds about right (medium banana, small apple, etc). I'm also one of few that don't weigh absolutely everything I eat. I will usually weigh my proteins, and more calorie dense foods, but with other things I'm okay just using the package details. That being said, however, I understand that my rate of loss may not be as great as it would be if I would weigh and measure everything, and I'm OK with that. If I start stalling too much or too long I'll tighten up the counting, but for now I'm losing at a rate that works for me :)
  • happysherri
    happysherri Posts: 1,360 Member
    Some bananas are 105 calories, my grapes were 75 calories - that right there is 180 calories. I am striving to get in 5 servings of fruits and vegetables each day this week. So for me, I think it would matter.

    Maybe log them for a week and then compare them to a non-veggie/fruit logged week. Then go from there.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,865 Member
    When I logged, I was definitely more loose with veg and fruit as it is pretty low calorie, but I still made some kind of estimate...didn't worry too much about exactness in the way I would with more calorie dense items. WW makes them free to entice people to eat more...they also inflate points of other things to make up the difference from my understanding.
  • TeaBea
    TeaBea Posts: 14,517 Member
    terryt1992 wrote: »
    I have lost 85lbs so far. Starting on MFP then for a while I did Weight Watchers and now back to MFP (Successful with both of them btw) Switched back to MFP because I find it easier to meet my nutritional goals such as protein ect. and I recently started strength training so those things are important. On Weight Watchers you do not count fruits and vegetables as points. Now that I am back on MFP I have continued to not count any fruits or vegetables. My theory is I did not get overweight by eating fruits and vegetables. I would like anyone to give their opinion or feedback about this.

    WW didn't really give you "free" fruits and veggies. Your daily goal was lowered because it was assumed you would eat fruits & veggies. MFP didn't lower your daily goal......so log them.
  • steph2strong
    steph2strong Posts: 426 Member
    It is true you did not get overweight by eating too many fruits and vegetables, you got overweight by eating too many calories. Fruits and vegetables have calories, if you don't count them in your calorie total you will be eating more of the other foods. I guess it all depends on how much of them you are eating... my husband used to consider fruit "free food", as he put it, until I totalled it up for him and showed him he was eating over 600 calories a day in "free food" (he can eat a whole bag of grapes and cherries in one sitting and it does nothing for his satiety, it's just mindless munching he didn't count)... now he doesn't eat fruit anymore, just vegetables.
  • BoxerBrawler
    BoxerBrawler Posts: 2,032 Member
    Fruits and veggies are the BEST! I love fruit, I love both, and I eat as much as I possibly can, but I do log all of it. However, oddly enough I had lost all of my weight before I even knew MFP existed. I really didn't struggle until I started counting calories LOL! But I've been doing it for so long now... Congratulations on your 85 LB loss, that's awesome! I'd say just keep doing what you're doing :smile:
  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
    terryt1992 wrote: »
    I have lost 85lbs so far. Starting on MFP then for a while I did Weight Watchers and now back to MFP (Successful with both of them btw) Switched back to MFP because I find it easier to meet my nutritional goals such as protein ect. and I recently started strength training so those things are important. On Weight Watchers you do not count fruits and vegetables as points. Now that I am back on MFP I have continued to not count any fruits or vegetables. My theory is I did not get overweight by eating fruits and vegetables. I would like anyone to give their opinion or feedback about this.

    When I log on MFP (I often don't, at maintenance) my goal is to learn my overall TDEE and to make sure I eat a good diet. I eat a lot of vegetables and usually some fruit daily. Leaving out those calories would mess up my macros (which I like to know so I can experiment with them) and understate my TDEE by quite a lot. It would also make my diet look a lot less nutritious than it is.

    For me, logging is not about not eating something, but making sure I eat what I should be. So I find it a positive to eat vegetables. (And I ate lots of vegetables when I was gaining, too, although I have never limited vegetables -- I believe eating lots of vegetables is a positive and one reason to track if you don't naturally do so would be to make sure you are eating enough, IMO.)
  • dfwesq
    dfwesq Posts: 592 Member
    You should log them, but I think you'll find that eating plenty of them help you stick to your calorie goals. Whole fruits and vegetables have a lot of fiber and will tend to fill you up without adding very many calories. Unless you prepare them with something else that's high-calorie (salad dressings, butter, sugar, etc.) nearly all of them will be lower in calories than other foods you might eat instead. By crowding out other higher-calorie foods, they can make losing weight easier. Not to mention, there are all kinds of nutritional benefits.
  • J72FIT
    J72FIT Posts: 6,002 Member
    terryt1992 wrote: »
    I have lost 85lbs so far. Starting on MFP then for a while I did Weight Watchers and now back to MFP (Successful with both of them btw) Switched back to MFP because I find it easier to meet my nutritional goals such as protein ect. and I recently started strength training so those things are important. On Weight Watchers you do not count fruits and vegetables as points. Now that I am back on MFP I have continued to not count any fruits or vegetables. My theory is I did not get overweight by eating fruits and vegetables. I would like anyone to give their opinion or feedback about this.

    It's my understanding that with weight watchers, the points formula is so that even with a modest amount of fruit consumption you will still be in a deficit. In other words, fruit consumption is worked into the points formula. So unless you are doing points, I would count it...
  • Ready2Rock206
    Ready2Rock206 Posts: 9,487 Member
    TeaBea wrote: »
    terryt1992 wrote: »
    I have lost 85lbs so far. Starting on MFP then for a while I did Weight Watchers and now back to MFP (Successful with both of them btw) Switched back to MFP because I find it easier to meet my nutritional goals such as protein ect. and I recently started strength training so those things are important. On Weight Watchers you do not count fruits and vegetables as points. Now that I am back on MFP I have continued to not count any fruits or vegetables. My theory is I did not get overweight by eating fruits and vegetables. I would like anyone to give their opinion or feedback about this.

    WW didn't really give you "free" fruits and veggies. Your daily goal was lowered because it was assumed you would eat fruits & veggies. MFP didn't lower your daily goal......so log them.

    This. It may be working for now to mix both programs but the tighter your deficit gets the less it is going to work. Might as well start trying to be accurate from the start rather than adjust to being accurate later.
  • VintageFeline
    VintageFeline Posts: 6,771 Member
    Starchy veg (if you're including those, some don't consider them in the veg category as such) and fruit calories can add up pretty darn quickly. So yeah I'd be logging those. I happen to not eat a lot of fruit other than when the summer fruits are in season. As such I can get through quite a lot of calories in cherries given half the chance.

    Green veg I'm not so worried about and would say you could get away with loose or no logging of those, particularly most males who generally have a more generous calorie goal.
  • PrincessMel72
    PrincessMel72 Posts: 1,094 Member
    Count everything. This is a different system than WW. Just one large apple can be 150 calories! Bananas are typically about 105-120 depending on the weight. Always log them!
  • Lavelle1980
    Lavelle1980 Posts: 367 Member
    My diet is mainly 90% fruit. I guess you can call it fruitarian or vegan. Even though there's a quite of few calories in some fruits, I usually get full very quickly and usually under my caloric goal by 800-1,000 sometimes. I think this is where the theory, "you can eat as many fruits as you want" comes in to mind.

    The carbs and fiber is what keeps me full, and they digest really easy so it doesn't turn into fat on me.

    For example: yesterday I had a mini (small personal size) watermelon that I ate for breakfast, and was snacking on that until about 3pm. It was only around 300 something calories.
  • animatorswearbras
    animatorswearbras Posts: 1,001 Member
    Some days my calories from fruit and veg can be 500 calories or more which is the same as my deficit, I have to count them otherwise I'm on maintenance. MFP is CICO and everything has "points" :) Most importantly however if its working for you just do what works, but if you aren't losing start counting.

    Good luck x
  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,427 MFP Moderator
    Whether or not you count them is up to you, but I your body counts everything. The reason WW does that is because they severely count calories expecting you to eat fruits and veggies to make up the difference. When my wife was on it, they had her set around 900 calories.
  • thewindandthework
    thewindandthework Posts: 531 Member
    If you're losing weight without counting calories from fruit and veg, then keep it up.

    I suspect eventually you will hit a plateau that you won't break through until you begin counting everything, but if it's working for now, who am I to judge?
  • terryt1992
    terryt1992 Posts: 94 Member
    Thanks everyone for the input. It does seem to be working I have lost weight since switching back to MFP. Another this I forgot to mention is that I do not add my workout calories on MFP so I never eat those unless you add in the fruit and veggies that I did not count. Seems like everyone here agrees that you should definitely be counting the calories for these. One a typical day I would eat 1-2 bananas 1 apple then a generous serving of vegetables with lunch and dinner. So I know those things combined could add up to 350-600 calories a day. I will test this and see what happens I am still extremely over weight so my eating deficit to lose weight is still pretty high. I weigh 330 and my calorie goal is 2000 per day
  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,427 MFP Moderator
    If you aren't eating back exercise calories.. it's probably going to even out, especially if you have an aggressive weight loss goal like 2 lbs a week.

    Personally, I don't change things that aren't broken yet. Once you stop losing and you get more lean, than I would tighten up your logging practices.
  • terryt1992
    terryt1992 Posts: 94 Member
    I agree with that @psuLemon I am going to test it anyways I wont change it but whatever works best for me is what I am going to do. I do agree that at a certain point when my body is more finacky that I would need to count them and yest my goal is 2lbs per week. With a sedentary life style so my calorie goal is way low from the beginning. I do Workout and exercise but also have a sit down all day job so I figured that would work best
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