How many people log every fruit and vegetable they eat?
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price101110 wrote: »Is it worth the stress or time? I mean in a way you should probably eat those fruits and veggies even if you don't have the cals left for the day.. right?
I log everything I eat. Why would you not? What is stressful about it?3 -
I am not sure why but I always log veggies, but never log fruit unless it was in a smoothie or such.0
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For the people saying they don't log fruit, why not? How much do you eat? I log both, as explained upthread, but I'd think fruit would be more important as it's higher cal. Do you just eat nothing but a few occasional berries or is there some other reasoning? Just curious.2
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I log it all. I'm not at all concerned about the calories in non-starchy vegetables and I eat a ton of them. If I was going to pick something to not log it would be those. I've been a dieter all my life and non-starchy vegetables have always been considered "free" items to eat ad lib.
Fruits and starchy vegetables are important to log accurately.0 -
I don't log the fruit calories. I have seen progress and some weight loss without logging any kind of fruit!
I can understand choosing not to log vegetables, but some fruits can be pretty calorie-dense (100 grams of banana is about 90 calories).
OP, I log everything I eat, even the diet soda I have at dinner.3 -
Many years ago my friend went on a diet. She would eat fruit like it was going out of fashion and I mean serious amounts. She must have read something somewhere about a fruit diet because she was usually a sensible person. It was doing horrible things to her tummy and she would complain to me - I'm not losing weight, I'm eating all this fruit and I'm not losing weight.
Anyway, I was tracking cals on here and I asked her if she wanted me to put in a typical day for her. Well, obv she was maxing out on calories but, her sugar intake was off - the - charts! That was the end of her fruit diet.
Log everything. Just because it's 'healthy' doesn't mean it has no calories - just like if you don't log that cookie it doesn't mean it didn't happen.0 -
My body counts the calories, so why shouldn't I? It all adds up.4
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estherdragonbat wrote: »I log them, but I'll admit that if I'm using them in a recipe and entering the ingredients ahead of time, if it's a non-starchy vegetable or a fruit that isn't an avocado, I'll use the generic "1 medium onion, 2 large carrots" as a placeholder and not necessarily go back and fill in the actual weights at the time of cooking. I will do so with stuff like corn and potatoes, though.
If I'm throwing a salad together for lunch, I weigh and log as I go.
*Keep in mind also that when I do a recipe, I live on it for part of the week. So, if an apple is 90 for a "medium" but 140 for 175 grams (I am making up numbers without checking the database for this example) but the recipe yields six servings... my inaccurate logging means I'm off by under 10 calories. I'm not really that worried about it. Still, little things add up and should I hit a plateau, it's something I'll look at.
I've found through consistent weighing of all fruits and vegetables when at home that what is considered a "large" or "medium" piece of fruit or vegetable is quite a ways off from the typical sizes of produce. I'm not sure where the USDA is getting their produce and numbers (which is what the MFP database pulls from), but my typical onion or sweet pepper is literally twice as much much food as a "large" from the database. The USDA puts a large onion at 150g, but an average onion I get from the bulk bin weighs 300+g. Same for red peppers.
I log all of my fruits and vegetables and weigh them when at home. Not only do they make up a decent chunk of my calories, I track my macros and micros as well, and many of the nutrients in my diet come from them.1 -
When I logged, I logged them, but I wasn't as concerned with precision as I was with more calorie dense items. I was a lot more loose with fruit and veg...1
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Through lunch today I will eat 880 calories. ~300 of that will be fruit and vegetables, not including the veggies I put in the soup I'm eating. Probably have an apple when I get home as well. Pretty normal day for me and if I didn't log them, I'd be over my goal by 350 cals. That would slow by weight loss by more than a 1/2 pound per week. Yeah I log them.
I don't log really small things. My coffee may be ~ 5 cals but I don't log it. Same for the couple of Coke Zero I had last night (really unusual for me).2 -
I usually log them, but I don't measure them. Like, not even with a measuring cup. So it's "medium apple", "medium orange", and for things like celery and carrots, I just grab a handful and assume that it's a cup.
There is no need to get exacting with celery, in particular. A cup has, what, 15 calories? Even if you are so terrible at eyeballing that you eat two entire cups instead of one, that's still only 15 more calories.2 -
I do.0
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I'm consistent in logging ALL my exercise everyday, whether it's walking or hiking or cycling, or housecleaning or playing music (yes, you can log that here!) or dancing, or anything that MFP has for cardio or strength. It might not burn all that much, but every little bit does count.
For me, the same applies to eating - if I consume it, I log it, if I'm logging my food. I admit to not always being consistent with logging my food, although I fully intend to.
What's the point of logging only some things but not others? As with exercise, every bit counts, no matter how small or how large. I count everything I take in, whether it's fish or meat or dairy or breath mints, along with veggies & fruit & water. I don't see the point in leaving anything out. How else will I have an accurate account of my caloric intake or a record of how my habits have changed as I make progress? To me, it makes perfect sense, & as YalithKBK said just before me here,
Otherwise, the logging tool wouldn't be as helpful as it can be.I don't see it as time consuming/stressful. It's just part of my daily routine. I vigilantly log everything I eat.
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I should add, I guess, that one reason I estimate a lot is because my husband does most of the cooking. Because he's better at it than I am.0
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BlueSkyShoal wrote: »I usually log them, but I don't measure them. Like, not even with a measuring cup. So it's "medium apple", "medium orange", and for things like celery and carrots, I just grab a handful and assume that it's a cup.
There is no need to get exacting with celery, in particular. A cup has, what, 15 calories? Even if you are so terrible at eyeballing that you eat two entire cups instead of one, that's still only 15 more calories.
Cups aren't even for solids. And a "medium" apple could be a small or even large depending in who you talk to. Food scale.2 -
Hah! I just posted this exact question yesterday in the Food and Nutrition section. I got really frustrated as my sandwich had 7 vegetables (cucumber, carrot, lettuce, cilantro, jalapeno, onion and radish) that I prepped from scratch. After calculating, it was a neglible addition of 19 calories to my sandwich. Needless to say, I didn't log the 7 vegetables for my own sanity.
But, it's just vegetables you say? If I were to eat that sandwich everyday for the entire year and not log the vegetables, I will gain almost 2 pounds. Sure it isn't realistic to say I will eat that same sandwich everyday for the entire year, so with anything that is complimented with vegetables that you eat... the same similarly applies.
As I learned with other posts, be careful what you ask for in feedback because, after all, you are using an app that is designed, dedicated and used by people COUNTING CALORIES.1 -
cerise_noir wrote: »BlueSkyShoal wrote: »I usually log them, but I don't measure them. Like, not even with a measuring cup. So it's "medium apple", "medium orange", and for things like celery and carrots, I just grab a handful and assume that it's a cup.
There is no need to get exacting with celery, in particular. A cup has, what, 15 calories? Even if you are so terrible at eyeballing that you eat two entire cups instead of one, that's still only 15 more calories.
Cups aren't even for solids. And a "medium" apple could be a small or even large depending in who you talk to. Food scale.
There's no need for a food scale if you're losing without it, and I've lost 55 lbs. 2 -
Absolutely0
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I log every thing, I ate a half of a mini peppermint patty 35 calories. One granny smith apple anywhere between 72 and 95 calories. I weigh and log religiously. But that works for me therefore I am more accountable for what I put in my mouth I am in it for the log haul I have about another 60 pounds to lose. So yes I log it all.0
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That would be true only if your calorie intake and use are exactly even every day, except for the 19 calories of vegetables. Personally, I wouldn't worry about small amounts like that, because calorie intake and use just can't be measured that precisely. You might even have burned up the extra 19 calories while prepping the vegetables.BuffingButtons wrote: »But, it's just vegetables you say? If I were to eat that sandwich everyday for the entire year and not log the vegetables, I will gain almost 2 pounds.
That's not to say you shouldn't log that amount of vegetables. There are several good reasons why you might want to. Just that if you didn't, it wouldn't necessarily interfere with weight loss.
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I should add, I guess, that one reason I estimate a lot is because my husband does most of the cooking. Because he's better at it than I am.
Aah yes, these are the times I'm a bit loosey goosey and have to estimate. The only reason i insist on doing most of the cooking is so i can be accurate with the measurements. My hubby is a great cook and loves it, he just goes nuts with the oil/butter/cream etc etc Oh and his favourite Cheeeessse, he adds twice the amount that is actually needed in his dishes
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I love these posts. I log veggies, but I dont weigh them. I do log fruit but I only weigh the bananas, everything else I just guestimate unless it is canned fruit then I weigh it. I also do not log or weigh the almond milk I put in my coffee every day. Other than that I pretty much weigh everything. Oh I don't weigh the fat free dressing I put on my salad when I have salad, only because I know I am using less than a serving from experience, but I do log the dressing some times.0
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I do. It's not stressful to me. It's stressful when I can't weigh everything.0
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I sure do. No matter what, I log it.0
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price101110 wrote: »Is it worth the stress or time? I mean in a way you should probably eat those fruits and veggies even if you don't have the cals left for the day.. right?
I stopped finding logging stressful when I switched from using measuring cups and a spring scale to a digital food scale.
With cups, I never knew how tightly to pack it. Also, what the heck is a medium banana? Easier to just weigh.1 -
Fruit is nature's candy. It has some nutritional value, sure. But it's also very high in sugar and calories and not ideal to eat all the time. Sugar is sugar - whether it comes from a banana or a chocolate bar. You can get the same nutrients from vegetables without overloading on the sugar.0
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Some veggies I don't bother with it, but fruit I definitely do. Fruits affect my carb macros a lot every day I'd say it makes up almost a third or more.0
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I log them not only for calories, but to track nutrients and general trends - I can't know if I'm doing a good job with my intake if I don't log them.0
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Yep, because if I don't, the only one I'd be lying to is me.
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EbonyDahlia wrote: »Fruit is nature's candy. It has some nutritional value, sure. But it's also very high in sugar and calories and not ideal to eat all the time. Sugar is sugar - whether it comes from a banana or a chocolate bar. You can get the same nutrients from vegetables without overloading on the sugar.
Trying not to get too off-topic here, but... The amount of sugar in whole fruit is low compared with other sweet foods, and because it has fiber too, it's hard to mindlessly overeat. So if you want something sweet, fruit is a good choice. For most people it's fine to eat every day, several servings in fact without being in any danger of overeating sugar.
And while fruits and vegetables are similar nutritionally, there are some differences when it comes to phytonutrients. Fruits are a better source of some of those than vegetables.1
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