Can I eat as much broccoli as I want, regardless of max caloric intake?
justinrunner
Posts: 11 Member
So I just started using myfitnesspal to count my calories yesterday, as I'm trying to lose 1lb per week (for performance reasons.) It was a tough day, I was constantly hungry and thinking about food. By night time, I only had a few calories left to intake so I found myself googling foods that were low in calories and high in satiation. An article came up about broccoli, how it's low calorie (30 calories per cup), but that it takes 80 calories to burn a cup of ingested broccoli.
Does this mean then that you can eat an unlimited amount of broccoli, and that you'll actually be burning more calories by doing so? All while allowing yourself to feel full? It sounds too good to be true, so I thought I'd ask...
Does this mean then that you can eat an unlimited amount of broccoli, and that you'll actually be burning more calories by doing so? All while allowing yourself to feel full? It sounds too good to be true, so I thought I'd ask...
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Replies
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No. There is no such thing as negative calorie food.26
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I'm pretty sure that negative calorie foods are an urban myth.8
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If you really, really like broccoli, I don't see why not. But just keep in mind that while low calorie, it is not "no calorie". Don't pile it up with butter or salt.6
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When I need a high volume, low calorie food to make my day work, I eat tons of broccoli, like 200g. I count it, though. It all counts whether I bother counting or not.18
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No one flunked out of fat camp from eating too much broccoli.14
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You know the old adage, if it's too good to be true...8
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Eating unlimited amounts of broccoli sounds unpleasant for... well... a lot of reasons.
Finding foods that satiate you are important, especially while eating at a deficit. Spend some time thinking about and experimenting with different foods - some people find fat satiating, some find carbs, some find protein, and some (like me) do best with a moderate mix of the above at most meals.
Also, are you exercising? Are you eating back calories burned from running or other activity? If not that could contribute to why you’re so hungry - the MFP goal is a net one meaning that you are supposed to eat back those calories in order to keep at that goal.19 -
So it counts against you when you consume it (towards your daily allowance), but how do we factor in how many calories it takes to digest it? It seems like our formula (daily allowance + exercise - consumed) doesn't factor this in...19
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no.
and aside from the fact i think broccoli is disgusting anyways, that MUCH broccoli is TRULY gross lololol10 -
Be careful ramping up your fiber intake too quickly unless you are already accustomed to eating that way. There are some potentially rather negative side effects if you jump into the deep end of the fiber pool instead of swimming over from the shallow side.16
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justinrunner wrote: »So it counts against you when you consume it (towards your daily allowance), but how do we factor in how many calories it takes to digest it? It seems like our formula (daily allowance + exercise - consumed) doesn't factor this in...
The calories burned while digesting are part of your bmr - the number of calories you'd burn lying in bed doing nothing all day. It's majoring in the minors to worry about that. Count all the calories you eat and eat the calories the MFP guided setup gave you. Stick to that a few weeks, reevaluate if necessary. And so on and so forth.27 -
The amount of calories that it takes to digest foods is very minimal (averages less than 10% of the calories of the food) so worrying about it is majoring in the minors.
And just to answer the question that you originally posed, no, it does not take 80 calories to digest a cup of broccoli. Even celery provides more calories than it takes to digest the celery (celery was the original zero/negative calorie food).11 -
Broccoli is great, eat away imho3
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I guess the article had it wrong then. Sounds like it's too good to be true, and I'll have to suffer through this... If losing 1lb/week were easy, no one would be overweight, right?10
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justinrunner wrote: »I guess the article had it wrong then. Sounds like it's too good to be true, and I'll have to suffer through this... If losing 1lb/week were easy, no one would be overweight, right?
Once you dial in on the foods and macro split that best keeps you satiated, it will get easier. Maybe not easy, but easier.8 -
No! You do not have to suffer. I don't know if 1lb/week is an appropriate rate of loss for you. I lose at 0.5 lb/wk, but I'm pretty lean to start with. Like Winogelato says, experiment a little to find the foods most satisfying and enjoyable to you that work in your calorie plan. Don't suffer!7
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justinrunner wrote: »I guess the article had it wrong then. Sounds like it's too good to be true, and I'll have to suffer through this... If losing 1lb/week were easy, no one would be overweight, right?
How much weight are you trying to lose? 1 lb/week may not be the right goal for you if you have less than 20 lbs to lose.
Again, are you exercising? Are you eating back this calories?
No one should feel they face yo suffer to be successful. In fact I think eating that much broccoli sounds like unnecessary suffering.
Set a reasonable goal based on the amount of weight you have to lose.
Eat a variety of foods to hit that goal focusing on those that provide nutrition, satiety, and enjoyment.
Log as honestly and accurately as possible, ideally using a food scale.
If you exercise, log and eat back some of those calories..
Be patient, monitor and adjust over time.
Oh and where ever you read that nonsense about negative calorie foods, stop visiting that site or talking to that person. There are no gimmicks. Weight loss is simple, not easy, but there’s no shortcut. At least not one that will provide you long term healthy results.
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I'm sure your life would be more enjoyable eating a variety of foods at sensible portions rather than eating infinite broccoli until you die. Think about what's truly going to satisfy you in life, unlimited portions of bland food, or limited portions of delicious food.7
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You might be right that 1lb/week might not be appropriate. I'm already lean (5'8" / 141lbs) but want to get the weight down before my Fall marathon, as each pound equates to roughly a minute gained/lost over the entire 26.2. I'm 10 weeks out and want to lose 6 pounds, so 1lb/week is the only way to hit that goal and still have time to stabilize so I'm not depleted going into the race. However, I run a lot (90-100 miles per week), so my hunger is ravenous. I'll tinker with this a few more days and see how it goes, maybe .5lb/week (like you said) would be more appropriate.3
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justinrunner wrote: »You might be right that 1lb/week might not be appropriate. I'm already lean (5'8" / 141lbs) but want to get the weight down before my Fall marathon, as each pound equates to roughly a minute gained/lost over the entire 26.2. I'm 10 weeks out and want to lose 6 pounds, so 1lb/week is the only way to hit that goal and still have time to stabilize so I'm not depleted going into the race. However, I run a lot (90-100 miles per week), so my hunger is ravenous. I'll tinker with this a few more days and see how it goes, maybe .5lb/week (like you said) would be more appropriate.
What is your calorie goal? Again, are you logging and eating back those running calories?3 -
You are likely ravenous because of the exercise calorie question you haven't answered.4
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justinrunner wrote: »You might be right that 1lb/week might not be appropriate. I'm already lean (5'8" / 141lbs) but want to get the weight down before my Fall marathon, as each pound equates to roughly a minute gained/lost over the entire 26.2. I'm 10 weeks out and want to lose 6 pounds, so 1lb/week is the only way to hit that goal and still have time to stabilize so I'm not depleted going into the race. However, I run a lot (90-100 miles per week), so my hunger is ravenous. I'll tinker with this a few more days and see how it goes, maybe .5lb/week (like you said) would be more appropriate.
You are already a healthy weight, so yeah 1 lb per week is aggressive and is not going to be fun. Typically, the advice would be to slow it down. I'm not a runner, so I can't speak to your goal. I know for some athletic goals, being more aggressive is typical (like a "making weight" sort of thing). One of the reasons slower loss is recommended is because once you are already lean, losing weight faster can lead to more muscle loss. How that hurts or perhaps is avoided by your training, I'm not sure though. You do need to fuel your training, so hopefully you are factoring that in as well. Just something to keep in mind. Good luck!6 -
I mean. It would be very hard for me to overeat on broccoli lol. If I sat down with an unlimited amount of broccoli and told myself I could eat as much as I wanted, I wouldn't get very far.
It's not negative calories. The calories you burn by digesting your food is factored into your NEAT2 -
justinrunner wrote: »You might be right that 1lb/week might not be appropriate. I'm already lean (5'8" / 141lbs) but want to get the weight down before my Fall marathon, as each pound equates to roughly a minute gained/lost over the entire 26.2. I'm 10 weeks out and want to lose 6 pounds, so 1lb/week is the only way to hit that goal and still have time to stabilize so I'm not depleted going into the race. However, I run a lot (90-100 miles per week), so my hunger is ravenous. I'll tinker with this a few more days and see how it goes, maybe .5lb/week (like you said) would be more appropriate.
Where did you get the idea that each pound equates to a minute added? If you lose too fast and your body starts to canabolize muscle, I'm pretty sure that equation doesn't work out.5 -
Well 2 lbs of broccoli is about 240 cals... i have been known to eat that amount of veg in a day. So, have a field day with non starchy veggies. Still stay withen calories. WARNING: gas might be horrid at first. Lol2
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After inputting my info, it said I'd normally want to eat 2,000 calories per day. So with the goal of losing 1lb per week it's down to 1,500 calories per day. I run 2-3 hours per day (auto-synced over from Strava, very cool!), so it allows me to eat an additional 1,600-2,400 calories. It probably sounds like a lot though, even though I'm starving lol!0
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justinrunner wrote: »After inputting my info, it said I'd normally want to eat 2,000 calories per day. So with the goal of losing 1lb per week it's down to 1,500 calories per day. I run 2-3 hours per day (auto-synced over from Strava, very cool!), so it allows me to eat an additional 1,600-2,400 calories. It probably sounds like a lot though, even though I'm starving lol!
How much are you actually eating?0 -
As for a pound equating to a minute, it's basically assuming a 2-3 second in pace per mile, which is generally what studies have found. However you're right, if I'm canabolizing muscle then that will certainly not be the case! I feel like I still have some fat on me, as I'm not as thin as a lot of the other runners I'm competing against and I don't have a super defined 6 pack. So if I lose weight slower (e.g. .5lb per week), there is less chance of what I lose being muscle?2
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in addition to running, are you doing any kind of strength training? that may help with maintaining muscle1
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I am! I do glute and hip strengthening exercises once/week, just using body weight and resistance bands. I also hit the hex bar deadlift twice/week, as that supposedly is a really big bang for your buck with runners. I should mention that I'm not including those workouts in myfitnesspal yet, as they're very short and minimal intensity (besides the deadlifts). However maybe I should, getting to eat another 50-100 calories might make me less miserable.0
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