Should I count veggies and fruits in my daily calorie goal?
Options
OhHon97
Posts: 48 Member
I usually eat my set calorie goal for the day but dont count the calories of fruits or veggies (unless its something like a potato or avocado). Is this what most people do?
0
Replies
-
Track all the foods. Everything you eat.17
-
You should only track them if you’re eating or drinking them.18
-
If my body counts it, I count it. Some days I have a good 500 calories in vegetables/fruit. There's no way I'm not including that.14
-
They have calories, so I track them. Some fruits can be just as high calorie as an avocado.8
-
I also really like how MFP includes the nutritional content when I include all the food. It's intriguing to me to see how my food choices affect the data. It has inspired me to make different choices to see different vitamins and minerals that I was lacking change on the nutritional screen. It seems I'm never getting enough potassium and am making a real effort to do so now that I have that data.6
-
Definitely count them!
I eat about 1000 CALORIES per day in produce. My body counts it even if I don't. Lol
Just because it's a fruit or vegetable doesn't mean that the calories don't count.11 -
emmamcgarity wrote: »I also really like how MFP includes the nutritional content when I include all the food. It's intriguing to me to see how my food choices affect the data. It has inspired me to make different choices to see different vitamins and minerals that I was lacking change on the nutritional screen. It seems I'm never getting enough potassium and am making a real effort to do so now that I have that data.
You're likely getting enough. Even though it's a required micronutrient on food labels, it isn't regularly reported.8 -
While there are diets out there that consider fruits and vegetables as free food the reality is that anything with calories can decrease or wipe out your deficit. There are certain low calorie vegetables that I don't track precisely but I do make an entry for them.
Not many people track tea at 2 calories per cup or herbs and spices that might add a couple of calories for a serving or per serving in a recipe.7 -
A light veggie/fruit day for me would be anything under 10 (80g) servings. On a heavy day, 20+ servings isn't unheard of . . . that's hundreds of calories!
Furthermore, even though I know that the MFP database is less complete/accurate with respect to micronutrients, I still like to see those (not to mention the fiber and protein) in my nutritional totals.
Absolutely, I track them.5 -
Absolutely!!!! Especially fruit, as there are a lot of fruit that's high in calories.
General rule: if it has calories, track it.3 -
My body counts the calories so I do too. Just my banana every morning is 100+ cals, so I probably eat 200-300 cals of fruit and veggies per day, that can wipe out half of a typical 500 cal deficit. Most low cal veggies I will eyeball portions, but yes it all gets logged. I also track my fiber, so it makes sense to log produce to make sure I'm hitting that number too.
Personally, I think part of the benefit of logging is compiling data to learn from over time, and logging everything is necessary for that as well. Ultimately, you have to find the way that works best for you and the right balance for your life.6 -
If you eat it, you track it.1
-
I don't always track all of my veggies. It depends. If I add lettuce and pickles to a sandwich, sometimes I log, sometimes not. Same for cucumbers, celery, and other super low-cal veggies in a small quantity. I know, from having logged every single bite, which ones I can afford to ignore and how much of them. I'm also in a fairly large deficit. As that shrinks and I get closer to goal weight, I'll be less likely to skip any of them.
ETA: I weigh and log all fruit.4 -
Obviously your body will count the calories even if you don't. But I also find value in being able to look back through my diary and see what I ate on certain days. Without fruits and veg, that would be a very incomplete picture.4
-
This should answer your question. Why do you think potatoes or a couple of cookies are worth logging, but other foods are not?
3 -
Whether you count them or not, your body will.3
-
If they have calories, and you are paying attention to the amount of calories you eat, count them. You'd be surprises how even fruits and veggies can add up.4
-
I sure do, I can eat 200 calories in a huge salad. I also track seasonings even if they olnly add a couple of cals.
I’m on vacation right now, and still try and track what I eat and often over estimate.
If I don’t track, or attempt to track everything I feel that I’m failing.2 -
I don't necessarily log the 5 calories of lettuce on my sandwich or a stick of celery, and I don't always weigh vegetables with a low calorie density, but considering I eat about 500 calories a day in fruits and veg, it would be a little self defeating not to log at least a close approximation. One good sized piece of fruit can easily be 100 calories. If you eat the recommended daily allowance of fruit and veg, not logging it would quickly wipe out any deficit you might have.3
-
If they have calories, and you are paying attention to the amount of calories you eat, count them. You'd be surprises how even fruits and veggies can add up.
Agreed. Weigh everything too. I see entries like a “large” banana entered as 90 calories. Every banana that I have is 120-138 grams, which is closer to 130 cals.
3
Categories
- All Categories
- 1.4M Health, Wellness and Goals
- 391.4K Introduce Yourself
- 43.4K Getting Started
- 259.6K Health and Weight Loss
- 175.6K Food and Nutrition
- 47.3K Recipes
- 232.3K Fitness and Exercise
- 387 Sleep, Mindfulness and Overall Wellness
- 6.4K Goal: Maintaining Weight
- 8.5K Goal: Gaining Weight and Body Building
- 152.7K Motivation and Support
- 7.8K Challenges
- 1.3K Debate Club
- 96.2K Chit-Chat
- 2.5K Fun and Games
- 3.2K MyFitnessPal Information
- 22 News and Announcements
- 914 Feature Suggestions and Ideas
- 2.3K MyFitnessPal Tech Support Questions