Not counting fruits and veggies

i totally get it. and the others who have said you should count your calories accurately are correct. can you work it out so you could have both a chocolate bar and a banana? sometimes i have extra servings of fruit and veg, but only count it as one. It is not the best practice, but you should do what works for you, so long as you are pleased with your progress.

In terms of weight loss, calories are calories. Doesn't matter if it comes from fruit or from a bowl of ice cream. Telling yourself that you can ignore calories from fruit because you want to eat more fruit is no different than telling yourself you can ignore calories from ice cream because you want to eat more ice cream. I get that fruit has more nutritive value than ice cream does but that doesn't mean you can just ignore the calories if your goal is weight loss.

So...here's the thing. Both the banana and chocolate smoothie bar have their day in court, so to speak, and I think a lot of people fall into a trap of labeling foods as 'bad' or even 'unhealthy' and try to avoid them entirely when this isn't necessary. I do the same thing sometimes, I'll eat 2 small pieces of chocolate instead of an entire apple (or whatever) for the same calories...and honestly that's OK as long as my nutritional needs are still being met by the rest of my day. If you're consistently choosing chocolate over fruit, then I would focus on breaking that habit instead of not tracking the calories from fruit, maybe you need to save some calories for a chocolate treat so you're not depriving yourself? I eat between 1200-1500 a day, usually, and I eat fruit and veggies daily, plus a sweet 'treat' at the end of the day when I'm watching TV. I pre log my calories to make sure I know what I'm eating, and half the time I don't even eat the treat but knowing it's an option is a HUGE help.

At home, I track everything. But, for example, at my nephew's birthday party, my sister had out fruit platters and some veggie straws, pretzels, and popcorn. I kept a mental count of the veggie straws, but kept ambling over to the fruit and putting 4-5 grapes on my plate, then going back for more. I didn't have my scale. Taking a few at a time made eyeballing hard. I eventually logged it as 320 grams of grapes when I got home. (My typical breakfast includes one cup of grapes that I weigh out to around 160 grams on any given day. I figured I'd log two cups and call it even.) Could it have been 200? Sure. 400? Yep. But I was guessing.

Mostly, though, I count fruits and veg because I'm trying to hit my iron RDA and 2% here, 6% there? It adds up.

End of the day, I'm less meticulous about accurately logging non-fatty fruits and non-starchy veg, but I do try to be accurate when feasible—i.e. when I'm at home with my scale. When it's not feasible, I'm way more laid-back about grapes and melon than I am about caramel-coated popcorn, chips, or soft-bake chocolate chip cookies.

Aaron_K123 wrote: »

In terms of weight loss, calories are calories. Doesn't matter if it comes from fruit or from a bowl of ice cream. Telling yourself that you can ignore calories from fruit because you want to eat more fruit is no different than telling yourself you can ignore calories from ice cream because you want to eat more ice cream. I get that fruit has more nutritive value than ice cream does but that doesn't mean you can just ignore the calories if your goal is weight loss.

She's not really "ignoring" the calories from fruit though, as she is reducing her daily calorie allowance to account for it. It's her way of ensuring that all of those calories do not come from chocolate or foods with a lower nutritional value. It's kind of backwards thinking to me too, but I do believe it can work for some people.

fitoverfortymom wrote: »

I had to get out of the "chocolate has fewer calories than a banana" cycle by figuring out how full I wanted to feel. If I just want a treat, I go for the chocolate. If I'm hungry and need to feel full or satisfied or something, I go for the banana. Both are awesome depending on what your needs are.

This is exactly what I would have said. Yes, chocolate might be better in the moment, but how about 5 mins later? I took me a while, but I was finally able to replace (almost) all sweets with substitutes that offer way better satiety and nutrition. Two of my favs are a banana with a tiny drizzle of maple syrup and sea salt flakes, or an apple with 2tbs spicy hummus. Sweet, salty and satisfying.

That being said, have some chocolate once in a while!!

Ivanapoutine wrote: »

Thanks everyone for the responses. Some were very helpful. I fully realize fruit have calories (hence why I was avoiding it to eat other foods aka the problem). WW is a no go for me as their “free style” is too much since 90% of the food I eat would be zero points. I actually gained weight from it. I do agree, I want to account for the nutritional value of my food so I know I’m on track. To me, 1200 cals does not go that far so maybe instead of not entering fruits and veggies, I will just add an extra walk to have some sweets. Problem solved. Thanks community!

Sounds like a solid plan to me, cheers and good luck.

if it works...
but fruit and vegetable calories can add up surprisingly fast