Can I eat as much broccoli as I want, regardless of max caloric intake?
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justinrunner wrote: »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...
That's simply not true. There is no food that has a TEF of 100% +. Protein has the highest TEF with some sources being around 30%. Broccoli is low calorie, but it is not negative calorie.0 -
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?
Inputting your info where? What does that mean “I would normally want to eat 2,000 cals/day” that’s the number that a calculator provided for maintaining your weight? Was it MFP or another calculator? Was that your BMR, NEAT or TDEE?
Because that sounds very low for an active, healthy male. I’m a 5’2 female maintaining at 118 and my TDEE is 2200.0 -
Yeah that was using MFP, I put in my age / height / weight and that's what it came up for me. The catch is I put in the most sedentary lifestyle, as when I'm not running I'm sitting on a computer all day at work. I figured my exercising doesn't factor into that, as I'm gaining calories when I actually do exercise. Does that seem right, or should I put in a more active mode (because I'm actually burning additional calories after my runs are over?)
I'm going to need to look up BMR, NEAT, and TDEE, as I have no idea what those are! (This is my first time calorie counting.)1 -
justinrunner wrote: »Yeah that was using MFP, I put in my age / height / weight and that's what it came up for me. The catch is I put in the most sedentary lifestyle, as when I'm not running I'm sitting on a computer all day at work. I figured my exercising doesn't factor into that, as I'm gaining calories when I actually do exercise. Does that seem right, or should I put in a more active mode (because I'm actually burning additional calories after my runs are over?)
I'm going to need to look up BMR, NEAT, and TDEE, as I have no idea what those are! (This is my first time calorie counting.)
But when you put your stats in MFP, you first selected “maintain my weight” and the number was 2000?
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No I didn't try maintain weight, I put in lose 1lb per week and it showed a goal of 1,500 calories per day. I just assumed that that meant my standard number was 2,000. Since it takes 3,500 calories lost to shed a pound, divided by 7 days in a week is 500 calories per day to lose.4
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justinrunner wrote: »No I didn't try maintain weight, I put in lose 1lb per week and it showed a goal of 1,500 calories per day. I just assumed that that meant my standard number was 2,000. Since it takes 3,500 calories lost to shed a pound, divided by 7 days in a week is 500 calories per day to lose.
That's odd...most males get a 1500 calorie target for 2 Lbs per week...the average male is going to maintain on around the 2500 calorie neighborhood with light, general activity...are you sure you put everything in correctly? MFP's calorie targets are also sans exercise.0 -
Just double checked, it all looks right to me. Maybe it's because I'm so small? 5'8" / 141 lb so they're categorizing me as a woman???
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I just checked 2000 maintenance is right if you put in sedentary. If you only intend to do this for 6 weeks I would go with a TDEE number which for you is probably 2800-3000. To lose .5lb per week I would shoot for 2550 for a couple of weeks and then go a little higher if you are still very hungry or you are losing more than expected.
Your results in 6 weeks may be disappointing this time around because it takes some time to nail down specifics but it might help you next time which I hope you will give yourself more than 6 weeks if/when you do it again.2 -
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...
It's factored into TEF (Thermic Effect of Food). The TEF of carbs is around 5%, fats around 3% and protein is around 25%. Since broccoli has both carbs (7g per 100g serving) and protein (3g per 100g serving), the TEF would be calculated as a mixed meal, which is generally accepted as 10%. So if you ate 1000 calories of broccoli, it would take around 100 calories to digest it, leaving you with a net intake of 900 calories.
That's not a negative calorie food.3 -
I'll eat my broccoli, cauliflower and brussels sprouts, STEAMED, so I don't really count or measure the quantity.3
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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.
Actually, TEF (thermic effect of food) is not part of BMR. But it should be roughly accounted for in the maintenance rate that MFP calculates as part of setting your calorie goal. And, definitely, worrying about it is majoring in the minors.3 -
lynn_glenmont wrote: »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.
Actually, TEF (thermic effect of food) is not part of BMR. But it should be roughly accounted for in the maintenance rate that MFP calculates as part of setting your calorie goal. And, definitely, worrying about it is majoring in the minors.
Thanks for the correction
Accounted for in maintenance was probable more what I was reaching for. I knew it was there somewhere! 1 -
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lynn_glenmont wrote: »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.
Actually, TEF (thermic effect of food) is not part of BMR. But it should be roughly accounted for in the maintenance rate that MFP calculates as part of setting your calorie goal. And, definitely, worrying about it is majoring in the minors.
Thanks for the correction Accounted for in maintenance was probable more what I was reaching for. I knew it was there somewhere!
Yeah, I figured that was what you had in mind. It's just that we see people really misunderstand terms like BMR (such as all the people who want to calculate their deficit from their BMR instead of their actual maintenance), so I thought it wouldn't hurt to clarify for lurkers.1 -
Be cautious, because if you eat too much broccoli, you may become a Broccoli Person.
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NextRightThing714 wrote: »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.
Not to mention the effect of fatigue from under-nutrition.
OP, even if being lighter would theoretically make you faster, doing an aggressive cut to get lighter is likely to have negative effects that offset any potential positive effects. Eat a healthy, moderate, well-balanced diet, maybe with a slight calorie deficit (no more than 250 calories below (daily-activity maintenance calories + exercise calories).
Under-nutrition will torpedo your training, and your race performance.
Fuel your training, fuel your race.3 -
feisty_bucket wrote: »Be cautious, because if you eat too much broccoli, you may become a Broccoli Person.
That's a bad mother veggie!2 -
So many woo posts like this today lol1
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Noreenmarie1234 wrote: »So many woo posts like this today lol
Weird Wednesday?2 -
And a little ISS probably 3 -
Broccoli is not a negative calorie food - there is no such thing.
However for most people it is unlikely to matter if you eat it without logging it - unless it is huge amounts, it is not going to be enough calories to derail you.
There are things I don't log eg lettuce - sure, if I ate 10 kg of it, the calories would matter.
But the 25 g or so that goes into one sandwich - too tiny to worry about logging IMO.
I would probably have same view of 1/2 cup of broccoli.0 -
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!
That's a pretty high calorie burn for 1-2 hour run. I run about 45 minutes to an hour and a half most days and burn about 100 calories per mile, which is pretty typical.2 -
justinrunner wrote: »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...
No, you will not keep losing weight as you eat broccoli, but it has so few calories per cup, that you are not going to gain weight by eating broccoli, you would be sick and running to the bathroom long before that 2 -
fitoverfortymom wrote: »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!
That's a pretty high calorie burn for 1-2 hour run. I run about 45 minutes to an hour and a half most days and burn about 100 calories per mile, which is pretty typical.
I agree with you're rule of thumb formula. However, you don't know how far he's running though.
If he ran 9m miles for about 2.5hours he'd be burning the 1600 (by your formula) it's giving him by running 16 miles.
However, that said what my HRM (chest strap) feeds into Strava generally overestimates calories burned IMHO and this seems to be backed up be research.
The study below indicated that sports watches often over estimate calories burned while being accurate on actual HR.
http://med.stanford.edu/news/all-news/2017/05/fitness-trackers-accurately-measure-heart-rate-but-not-calories-burned.html
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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...
Count that as zero.
This is like asking how many calories do I burn spreading butter.0
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