Calories in vegetables

2

Replies

  • MikePTY
    MikePTY Posts: 3,816 Member
    Yeah, for the most part. I'm gonna be honest, I'm not terribly concerned about how much lettuce, onion, or cucumber I eat. If a vegetable normally only has a few calories per serving, I'm not super strict about weighing and logging it. I may log a rough estimate, if anything. But there are plenty of other fruits and vegetables that have a measurable number of calories, and I make sure to log them. A calorie from a vegetable counts just as much as a calorie from anything else.
  • mmapags
    mmapags Posts: 8,937 Member
    NovusDies wrote: »
    AnnPT77 wrote: »
    If one eats a material amount of veggies/fruits (say, the recommended 5 servings), but doesn't log them, one is giving up the opportunity to fine-tune weight loss rate that comes from having reasonably accurate calorie totals, or giving up a degree of accuracy in (eventually) using one's logged intake and weight loss experience to make a personalized estimate of maintenance calories.

    Neither of those benefits is essential to a happy life, but for some of us it's enough (on top of general accuracy and interest in nutrient tracking) to make it worthwhile to track them.

    And for me, personally, I'm one of the people who often eats 10+ servings, so several hundred calories of vegetables daily (let alone fruits) isn't at all unusual.

    I stopped trying to figure out my vegetable servings. Now I just go by the number of pounds. However, if I went by 98 grams per serving I would be eating around 15 a day... not to outdo you or anything. :tongue:

    Show off!! :D
  • kimondo666
    kimondo666 Posts: 194 Member
    Approximate vegetable counting is still better than no counting, so if ya dont have weight scale/ like eating in restaurant or outdoor. Still count.
  • NovusDies
    NovusDies Posts: 8,940 Member
    AnnPT77 wrote: »
    NovusDies wrote: »
    AnnPT77 wrote: »
    If one eats a material amount of veggies/fruits (say, the recommended 5 servings), but doesn't log them, one is giving up the opportunity to fine-tune weight loss rate that comes from having reasonably accurate calorie totals, or giving up a degree of accuracy in (eventually) using one's logged intake and weight loss experience to make a personalized estimate of maintenance calories.

    Neither of those benefits is essential to a happy life, but for some of us it's enough (on top of general accuracy and interest in nutrient tracking) to make it worthwhile to track them.

    And for me, personally, I'm one of the people who often eats 10+ servings, so several hundred calories of vegetables daily (let alone fruits) isn't at all unusual.

    I stopped trying to figure out my vegetable servings. Now I just go by the number of pounds. However, if I went by 98 grams per serving I would be eating around 15 a day... not to outdo you or anything. :tongue:

    I estimate servings based on 80g = 1 serving, left over from the 10 veg/fruit a day challenge here a while back. Sounds like you eat more than I do, though 15+ 80g servings isn't all that unusual for me. Feel free to outdo me: I wish more people ate more veggies/fruit.

    Yeah, let's not talk about my meager fruit portions. I am kind of meh about eating it most of the time and I don't find it satiating so 200 grams is about my limit. Especially right now while I am under a stricter calorie restriction. When it is over I may need to add a little more.
  • BarbaraHelen2013
    BarbaraHelen2013 Posts: 1,940 Member
    MikePTY wrote: »
    Yeah, for the most part. I'm gonna be honest, I'm not terribly concerned about how much lettuce,onion,or cucumber I eat. If a vegetable normally only has a few calories per serving, I'm not super strict about weighing and logging it. I may log a rough estimate, if anything. But there are plenty of other fruits and vegetables that have a measurable number of calories, and I make sure to log them. A calorie from a vegetable counts just as much as a calorie from anything else.

    I’ve bolded ‘onion’ in this because I’m often upset and surprised how little onion you get for your calories! For a veg that seems to have such a lot of water in it, much like cucumber and lettuce, it has a surprising amount of calories in my book.
  • sheloves89
    sheloves89 Posts: 88 Member
    I do log them, but since I'm in maintenance instead of losing, I just estimate the amount. =) I still weigh out the calorie dense stuff just to make sure I'm eating an appropriate portion (that's what's always gotten me in trouble - I've eaten healthfully all my life, just too much!), but I'm happy to estimate what a handful of carrot sticks weighs. =) If my weight starts trending up again, I'll go back to weighing everything again!

    As others have mentioned, though - I'm pescetarian and fruits/veg make up easily 30-40% of my total daily intake; if I didn't log them at all, I'd be in trouble!
  • Hannahwalksfar
    Hannahwalksfar Posts: 572 Member
    Veggies have calories, I am logging calories, why would I ignore those calories?
  • paperpudding
    paperpudding Posts: 8,926 Member
    That is true, but WW does not have a goal of getting you to lose weight... it has a goal of selling you a product and a service. Tracking calories is free and has been successful for hundreds of thousands, if not millions. Which do you prefer? A free method that works, or a business model designed to gain and keep customers?

    I think that is a bit unfair - MFP may be free to use but it is also a business model aimed to gain and keep customers. Just that the income derived is from premium customers and ads and sponsors.

    Different model to direct customer payments but business model nevertheless

    WW is also a method that works for many people and has been successful for thousands, if not millions.

    It's not a who is best competition - both systems have pros/ cons and work for different people.

    In answer to OP - yes. But loosely.
    Meaning like other PPs, I log generic garden salads, estimate veggie weights etc. and don't bother logging things like a leaf of lettuce in a salad sandwich.
    But I do mostly include them in my logging.

  • netitheyeti
    netitheyeti Posts: 539 Member
    If I didn't count my vegetables and still aimed for my 1300 net kcal per day I'd probably be *actually* eating around 1600.. which is the difference between slow weight loss and maintenance for me
  • BarbaraHelen2013
    BarbaraHelen2013 Posts: 1,940 Member
    NovusDies wrote: »
    acmorris77 wrote: »
    I'm in maintenance and have been for a long time so I'm not as strict. I'm just hearing that some veggies like cucumber, lettuce, and celery are negative calories foods. So, I rarely count them. I know onions, carrots, etc. have a lot more calories.

    I wouldn't listen to wherever you are hearing that. I may be one of the few people that eats enough cucumbers in a sitting to see 50 calories recorded but they definitely count.

    I thought it was just me! I could (and have done so) eat a full sized English cucumber much as others eat an apple!
  • LyndaBSS
    LyndaBSS Posts: 6,970 Member
    acmorris77 wrote: »
    I'm in maintenance and have been for a long time so I'm not as strict. I'm just hearing that some veggies like cucumber, lettuce, and celery are negative calories foods. So, I rarely count them. I know onions, carrots, etc. have a lot more calories.

    I'm fairly certain that there is no such thing as a negative calorie food. May I ask you to share the research that shows otherwise? Thanks.
  • kimondo666
    kimondo666 Posts: 194 Member
    edited August 2019
    i think raw celery is the closest to being negative calories, but not the other vegetables, and you need to eat it by mouth(and in small bites) not in some vegetable drink. Celery is not easily eaten, other vegetables are easy to eat.
  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 27,843 Member
    LyndaBSS wrote: »
    acmorris77 wrote: »
    I'm in maintenance and have been for a long time so I'm not as strict. I'm just hearing that some veggies like cucumber, lettuce, and celery are negative calories foods. So, I rarely count them. I know onions, carrots, etc. have a lot more calories.

    I'm fairly certain that there is no such thing as a negative calorie food. May I ask you to share the research that shows otherwise? Thanks.

    Decades ago I'd heard the same about celery, etc. (Not from a reputable source.) The origin of "negative calorie foods" is probably a misinterpretation about Thermic Effect of Food (TEF).

    https://www.aworkoutroutine.com/negative-calorie-foods/