How to measure a serving size for vegetables & fruits..?
Replies
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Fatmansyndrome wrote: »There's no one over weight because they eat too much fruit or vegetables.
So, you've never met an overweight vegan? Used to manage a restaurant that catered to vegans and those with special dietary needs like G.F. Or dairy free. I've seen lots of them.
They are overweight from other stuff ( French fries..)14 -
Guess my point is eating too many vegetables and fruits isn't the problem with over weight people... it's the other things they eat...and if they were to eat a lot more vegetables and fruit they might not eat so much garbage20
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Pulling out the scale to weigh an apple just seems ridiculous to me as the apple is the least of the dieters problem20
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Fatmansyndrome wrote: »Guess my point is eating too many vegetables and fruits isn't the problem with over weight people... it's the other things they eat...and if they were to eat a lot more vegetables and fruit they might not eat so much garbage
Like I mentioned earlier, I consume about 500 calories of fruits and vegetables daily (more if I'm going through a fruit phase). That's way more than many people consume and what I've always done. It did not prevent me from getting to 300 pounds. The rest of my food was rarely "garbage" either. I just had (have) an affinity for olive oil, nuts, and dried fruits.
That's besides the point, though. What does any of this have to do with logging? How does keeping track of food discourage eating fruits and vegetables? If anything, seeing in numbers how much satiety for the calories they provide is eye opening and encouraging for some people. When someone is hungry, 150 calories of vegetables provides better satiety than two cookies, so that choice gets made more often and cookies are consumed only when there are worth it, like when you have extra calories left or when it would help adherence. Skimping on vegetables in order to save calories is rarely worth it (at least for me). Saving calories by rationing something else has a better payoff because I don't feel like I'm giving up too much. There is even a huge thread around these parts on volume eating, which features a lot of vegetables. What would be discouraging is to feel like you're making an effort by eating more fruits and vegetables and then not having it pay off because the total calories don't add up to a deficit.10 -
Fatmansyndrome wrote: »Pulling out the scale to weigh an apple just seems ridiculous to me as the apple is the least of the dieters problem
You're still missing the point. The dieters problem is calories. Fruit has calories. I've eaten an 80 cal apple and I've eaten a 170 cal apple. For a woman trying to stay under 1500 cals, those differences can add up. It's fairly common for people trying to lose weight to switch out their old treat foods for fruit and think they don't have to account for them because they're healthier. But an apple, a banana, and a bunch of grapes could be 300 cals or it could be 600 cals.11 -
Fatmansyndrome wrote: »Why would u limit those?
There are a number of reasons, but one obvious one is diabetes. Many fruits are high in sugar and it's very easy to eat too many carbs in one sitting and spike your blood glucose. One large banana is more than I can easily tolerate. If I'm having other carbs as part of a meal, I definitely need to control my portions.5 -
Fatmansyndrome wrote: »Pulling out the scale to weigh an apple just seems ridiculous to me as the apple is the least of the dieters problem
My scale lives on the counter. It takes literally seconds to weigh something. It seems ridiculous to me that someone wouldn't want to take literally seconds to do their best at an endeavour. If i didn't weigh that Apple, on 1200 calls a day is either have to guess the Apple cals and come in under 1200 to compensate or risk being over and not have a reasonable idea what result I'm getting in the scale that week. I'd rather take the few seconds to weigh my Apple.15 -
Fatmansyndrome wrote: »Pulling out the scale to weigh an apple just seems ridiculous to me as the apple is the least of the dieters problemFatmansyndrome wrote: »Guess my point is eating too many vegetables and fruits isn't the problem with over weight people... it's the other things they eat...and if they were to eat a lot more vegetables and fruit they might not eat so much garbage
What is ridiculous is that I used to think the same way to a degree and it wasn't until I wasn't losing weight eating lots and lots of fruit and veg and I started weighing all that fruit and veg and realised I was eating over 600 "extra" calories (at least, some days) in things like avocado, peaches, plums, grapes etc. It wasn't the other stuff I was eating that was causing the problems, that was all logged.... Now, when I count calories, I count it all, that way I have all the information. Yes, eating too much fruit and veg can make you fat!7 -
@Fatmansyndrome - if you have a cup that holds 1200 ml, and you try to put 1500ml of different liquids in it, it's not one particular liquid that's going to make it spill over - it's the fact that there's too much liquid for the cup in total.
I'm going to make assumptions here, but you're a dude and given your username, I assume you're overweight. You will likely have a high enough TDEE that a few hundred calories either way won't really mess with your losses. But when you're a short woman eating 1200 calories a day, 300-400 calories in fruit and veg most definitely is worth tracking and can significantly impact your deficit.11 -
Fatmansyndrome wrote: »There's no one over weight because they eat too much fruit or vegetables.
So, you've never met an overweight vegan? Used to manage a restaurant that catered to vegans and those with special dietary needs like G.F. Or dairy free. I've seen lots of them.
They are overweight from other stuff ( French fries..)
Nonsense.9 -
Fatmansyndrome wrote: »Pulling out the scale to weigh an apple just seems ridiculous to me as the apple is the least of the dieters problem
This may be true - but it is very easy to eat a lot of calories in fruit. It was a shock to me to see wht 100g fruit looks like - most single helpings - eg bananas, apples etc weigh far more and it can mislead you. I eat mountains of fruit, I coud happily eat a couple of apples, bowl of grapes, 2 oranges and a banana in one day (and the rest) That would be a lot of unaccounted calories. Also, how small is a helping of grapes? That seems so unfair! Believe me, I know how easy it is to stymie weightloss with fruit and veg. I eat very little processed food, fortunately live 15m from my nearest takeaway, consume very few sweets/chocolate and do not have a fryer. BUT I did eat lorry loads of fruit because 'they are healthy'. Now everything is weighed and accounted!
I weigh things in grams as fruit sizes vary so much - an apple is definitely not just an apple - sometimes it can be 2x and apple
Being accurate with fruit and veg is also a good way of checking that you are getting enough of the good stuff - eg fibre.6 -
I weigh them like everything else.
When it comes to grapes I get a small bowl tear out the scale. And put in the amount of grapes that I think I want to eat. I weigh them in grams look up the calories in Presto. Sometimes I'm in the mood for 200 grams of grapes. Sometimes I'm in the mood for 50 grams of grapes, 50 grams of blueberries, 50 grams of strawberries, a hundred grams of cantaloupe. Nice little fruit salad. It's so much easier when you weigh your fruit by grams.
I do the same thing with veggies.
The only time I wing it with fruits and vegetables is when I am out and cannot weigh my food because I just don't carry a food scale around with me.
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The other day I bought what I would consider medium size oranges (based on the size of other oranges at store). By weighing them I know they are really each almost the equivalent of 2 medium oranges. I used to not weigh my fruit and non starchy veggies, but calories in fruit add up and what most people consider medium or small really are larger and therefore more calories6
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Fatmansyndrome wrote: »There's no one over weight because they eat too much fruit or vegetables.
So, you've never met an overweight vegan? Used to manage a restaurant that catered to vegans and those with special dietary needs like G.F. Or dairy free. I've seen lots of them.
They are overweight from other stuff ( French fries..)
This really seems like a red herring. It doesn't matter how someone ended up overweight. The point is that if you've decided to lose weight via calorie counting, you need to count your calories. Sure, there's room for a little rounding - I don't log the lettuce and bell peppers on my usual Subway order, for example - but at least until you've got a sense of portion sizes, it's good to log as many things as possible. Programs that don't "count" certain foods only work if they've restricted other foods enough to compensate. That's a fine approach. This one is just more granular than that.
Regarding the fries vs. fruit question, yesterday I got a small fry from McDonalds (MMMMMMMMM!) as a pre-snow-shoveling treat: approximately 230 calories. I also ate two clementines, half an apple, half a bell pepper, and a handful of cherry tomatoes for a total 164 calories. In my mind, all of that is worth logging.9 -
I get what your saying...I do...the bigger point I'm trying to make is if you eat more vegetables and fruits you will eat less garbage and will feel better! Yes I'm very over weight8
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Fatmansyndrome wrote: »I get what your saying...I do...the bigger point I'm trying to make is if you eat more vegetables and fruits you will eat less garbage and will feel better! Yes I'm very over weight
You are right, eating more fruits and vegeatables will definitely help you limit eating junk food. 500 calories worth of fruits and veggies is amazing, if you know you are eating 500 calories and account for it. Otherwise you could easily eat 500 calories, not log it, then eat 1200 calories of other foods and think you are doing great. In reality, you are 500 calories over, and confused about why you are not losing. But if you weigh and count the fruits and veggies, you are going to be able to make better informed chouces on how much to eat of all your other foods. It's not so much about limiting the stuff that is good for you to eat a lot of, as it is about knowing how much of the other, higher calorie stuff you can eat, with out going over your calorie budget.5 -
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Fatmansyndrome wrote: »I get what your saying...I do...the bigger point I'm trying to make is if you eat more vegetables and fruits you will eat less garbage and will feel better! Yes I'm very over weight
I am confused. If I don't measure my vegetables and fruits to know whether I've gotten my 400 to 800g, and my protein to know I've gotten my 140g, and my fiber to know I'm above 38g, how will I know how many calories I have available for ice cream and chocolate without going over?
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Fatmansyndrome wrote: »I get what your saying...I do...the bigger point I'm trying to make is if you eat more vegetables and fruits you will eat less garbage and will feel better! Yes I'm very over weight
Please define "garbage" that people will eat less of. I'm not very overweight and I eat what I like and that includes fruit and veggies. And I log it all when I'm logging. Taking a break from logging right now to learn more intuitive eating skills and habits. Within 8 to 10 lbs of ideal weight.5 -
Fatmansyndrome wrote: »I get what your saying...I do...the bigger point I'm trying to make is if you eat more vegetables and fruits you will eat less garbage and will feel better! Yes I'm very over weight
Please define "garbage" that people will eat less of. I'm not very overweight and I eat what I like and that includes fruit and veggies. And I log it all when I'm logging. Taking a break from logging right now to learn more intuitive eating skills and habits. Within 8 to 10 lbs of ideal weight.
ditto - i had an epic bowl of ice cream the other night (approx 3 servings) because I was burnt out on sweet potatos and rice and it still fit my calories (and bonus I was down 1lb the next morning)5 -
Fatmansyndrome wrote: »Guess my point is eating too many vegetables and fruits isn't the problem with over weight people... it's the other things they eat...and if they were to eat a lot more vegetables and fruit they might not eat so much garbageFatmansyndrome wrote: »Pulling out the scale to weigh an apple just seems ridiculous to me as the apple is the least of the dieters problem
I notice you did not respond to my earlier comments about tracking veg and fruit not necessarily being about limiting them, or the many other people who said similar things.
The things you said above, that I am quoting here, are reflective, I think, of how you perhaps used to eat, or are tempted to eat, but they are not true for all people who need to lose.
When I decided to lose, I was eating a lot of vegetables (and some fruit) -- well more than the average American and even more then the recommended amounts of veg, by a lot. I don't think the veg made me fat (veg are pretty low cal), but I often cooked them in fat or ate them with high cal dinners, and eating the veg made zero difference to the fact that I was overeating in a number of different ways that added up.
For me, it was extremely helpful to understand my diet and enjoyable to log carefully, and since I cook treating veg and fruit as thing not to weigh or log when I was weighing everything else would have just seemed weird and nonsensical. Plus, some things are hard to classify -- I eat a lot of beans and beans are technically a veg (and one serving counts as one for the challenge I mentioned above). Some will count potatoes and sweet potatoes as veg (they technically are, after all). Others are quite high cal (avocado). If you are prone to eat lots of higher cal fruit (I'm not, but some are), they add up too.
Bigger thing is that a significant amount of my calories daily are from veg and fruit (since I eat so much of them), and if I were on low cals, it would be even more. I want to know my real calorie level (if I am logging), and my real macros (most of my carbs are from veg, fruit, beans, tubers, after all), and green veg and beans contribute a decent amount of protein too.
And as mentioned, one use for logging veg -- and what I think OP was getting at -- was to make sure you are eating a sufficient amount. Saying "oh, I don't log veg, they can't make me fat," can also be a good way to ignore the fact you aren't eating an adequate amount or reasonable variety. Not my issue, but something to think about.3 -
Fatmansyndrome wrote: »I get what your saying...I do...the bigger point I'm trying to make is if you eat more vegetables and fruits you will eat less garbage and will feel better! Yes I'm very over weight
This is not true for me. Sadly, just eating lots of veg and fruit does not cause me to just naturally decrease other calories.4 -
Terrytriesharder wrote: »Show me a person who got fat eating fruits and I will show you a person with a deep fat dryer and too much time on their hands.
HighCarbHannah on YouTube.
She gained a bunch of weight when she was eating mostly fruit and vegetables.
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Fatmansyndrome wrote: »Why would u limit those?
It's not limiting them...it's using weight to accurately log them and their calories.2 -
cwolfman13 wrote: »Fatmansyndrome wrote: »Why would u limit those?
It's not limiting them...it's using weight to accurately log them and their calories.
^ This.
And weighing food is neither a punishment nor a deterrent. It's actually extremely liberating.
Edited for grammar.3 -
Fatmansyndrome wrote: »I get what your saying...I do...the bigger point I'm trying to make is if you eat more vegetables and fruits you will eat less garbage and will feel better! Yes I'm very over weight
You are completely right. And I've become even more convinced of my need for fruits and vegetables by tracking them. Not only does tracking them let me see the calories, I can see if I've had enough fiber and vitamins. It also helps me to see that maybe I should choose a bowl full of berries instead of the mango and bananas on days when my other foods have been a little over the limit. It never, ever, ever discourages me from eating them in any way, shape or form. It also shows me how on the days I have more of XYZ fruit/veggie I feel better/workout better/eat less crap. So yes, tracking my fruits and vegetables is extremely important for my overall success and serves to increase the amount I eat of the healthiest produce.3 -
iWishMyNameWasRebel wrote: »Fatmansyndrome wrote: »I get what your saying...I do...the bigger point I'm trying to make is if you eat more vegetables and fruits you will eat less garbage and will feel better! Yes I'm very over weight
You are completely right. And I've become even more convinced of my need for fruits and vegetables by tracking them. Not only does tracking them let me see the calories, I can see if I've had enough fiber and vitamins. It also helps me to see that maybe I should choose a bowl full of berries instead of the mango and bananas on days when my other foods have been a little over the limit. It never, ever, ever discourages me from eating them in any way, shape or form. It also shows me how on the days I have more of XYZ fruit/veggie I feel better/workout better/eat less crap. So yes, tracking my fruits and vegetables is extremely important for my overall success and serves to increase the amount I eat of the healthiest produce.
Yes, this is a great point. Fruits and vegetables aren't all completely interchangeable -- they have different calorie counts as well as different macro- and micronutrients. Tracking them allows us to see these differences and choose a variety that best meets our nutritional needs.1 -
alondraNramos wrote: »I am really confused in regards to how to meansure fruits & veggies.. should I use a scale or measure using cup measurements..? If you can elaborate on your respond, it would be greatly appreciated ♥️
A scale will be the easiest and most accurate way to measure fruits, vegetables or any solid food.
A lot of vegetables and fruits are awkward shapes to fit in a measuring cup so you might measure more or less depending on the shape and how much you could cram in. 50 g of avocado is 50 g of avocado though.0
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