How to measure a serving size for vegetables & fruits..?
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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 -
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?9 -
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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