Do you track everything in MFP?

Options
kingdonle
kingdonle Posts: 12 Member
in Food and Nutrition
I heard someone saying that they don't track fruit and veg in MFP. They eat it without limit. Does anyone else do this?
«1

Replies

  • penguinmama87
    penguinmama87 Posts: 1,158 Member
    edited April 2021
    Options
    I log both, but I have noticed that raw vegetables in particular have very, very low calories. But fruit can be very high, so I don't understand that.

    I don't always log condiments or spices if they have no calories. (I don't track sodium intake.)
  • janejellyroll
    janejellyroll Posts: 25,763 Member
    Options
    That would be a few hundred extra calories a day for me, so it wouldn't work at all. If you're not eating many fruits and vegetables, this might work but only because they're providing very few calories. Think about it this way: if your body can "track" the calories in fruits and vegetables (and it will), it's probably a good idea for most people to account for them when tracking their intake.
  • L1zardQueen
    L1zardQueen Posts: 8,754 Member
    Options
    I track most vegetables and fruit. Maybe your someone meant WW not MFP.
  • wunderkindking
    wunderkindking Posts: 1,615 Member
    edited April 2021
    Options
    Depends.

    If I'm eating a couple of tablespoons of strawberries or blackberries in oatmeal (sliced), or a couple of leaves of lettuce and slice of tomato on my sandwich, no.

    If I'm eating anything higher calorie (potatoes, avocado, banana, whatever) or eating the veg as a big part of my meal (stuffed tomato, a large salad, eating a whole piece of fruit as a snack) then I track it.

    Basically if it's basically edible garnish and not one of the high cal things no. If it IS the meal yes.
  • wunderkindking
    wunderkindking Posts: 1,615 Member
    edited April 2021
    Options
    janejellyroll wrote: »
    That would be a few hundred extra calories a day for me, so it wouldn't work at all. If you're not eating many fruits and vegetables, this might work but only because they're providing very few calories. Think about it this way: if your body can "track" the calories in fruits and vegetables (and it will), it's probably a good idea for most people to account for them when tracking their intake.

    Eh no. It also works if you're obese signifigantly overweight and have your deficit set at 1000 calories. At that point an extra 200-300 calories isn't going to take you out of the deficit and you're still going to lose. It's a pretty good way to change some snacking/eating habits for the better - and a good way to get into tracking (in general - ie: being loose while it becomes a habit). Eventually, yeah, you're going to need to track those things if you eat much of them, but for someone just starting with quite a bit to lose/ They have the wiggle room there to not sweat it and still have success.
  • MsCzar
    MsCzar Posts: 1,042 Member
    Options
    I just checked my dairy and see that I consumed almost 220 calories of fruits and veggies today. Not tracking those foods would result in the same calorie difference as my not tracking a candy bar. So I would say it's very much worth tracking.
  • ashleycarole86
    ashleycarole86 Posts: 6,142 Member
    Options
    I track everything unless it's 0 calories (certain spices, etc.)
  • GummiMundi
    GummiMundi Posts: 396 Member
    Options
    I log everything except condiments (like herbs and spices), and zero calorie drinks (like Diet Coke, coffee, and similar ones).
    If I'm eating out and my plate has a leaf or two of lettuce I won't bother logging it, but if I'm doing a salad at home, you bet I'm weighing it and logging it, as I'm using probably half a bag or more. ;)
    I've seen people here on MFP saying they don't log fruit and veggies. Since I eat a pretty good amount of those on a daily basis, not logging them would make a difference.
  • janejellyroll
    janejellyroll Posts: 25,763 Member
    Options
    wunderkindking wrote: »
    janejellyroll wrote: »
    That would be a few hundred extra calories a day for me, so it wouldn't work at all. If you're not eating many fruits and vegetables, this might work but only because they're providing very few calories. Think about it this way: if your body can "track" the calories in fruits and vegetables (and it will), it's probably a good idea for most people to account for them when tracking their intake.

    Eh no. It also works if you're obese signifigantly overweight and have your deficit set at 1000 calories. At that point an extra 200-300 calories isn't going to take you out of the deficit and you're still going to lose. It's a pretty good way to change some snacking/eating habits for the better - and a good way to get into tracking (in general - ie: being loose while it becomes a habit). Eventually, yeah, you're going to need to track those things if you eat much of them, but for someone just starting with quite a bit to lose/ They have the wiggle room there to not sweat it and still have success.

    Not counting any type of food will work (at least in the short term) when you have a very large deficit. You could also tell someone it doesn't matter if they log their evening glass of wine if their deficit is 1,000. It "won't matter" in the sense that they'll still lose weight, but it will matter in the sense that their deficit will be smaller. It's the same with fruits and vegetables. If someone wants to use their large deficit as a buffer for any type of food, they can do that.
  • BarbaraHelen2013
    BarbaraHelen2013 Posts: 1,940 Member
    Options
    I log everything. I’m vegetarian veering towards fully plant based so if I don’t track the veg I’m basically logging nothing! 😂

    In my opinion, it’s best to log everything so you have accurate data to compare with actual results where weight loss is concerned. That way you can be more confident adjusting intake up or down when assessing real life results.

    If you don’t know what the numbers actually are you’re working in the dark!
  • wunderkindking
    wunderkindking Posts: 1,615 Member
    Options
    janejellyroll wrote: »
    wunderkindking wrote: »
    janejellyroll wrote: »
    That would be a few hundred extra calories a day for me, so it wouldn't work at all. If you're not eating many fruits and vegetables, this might work but only because they're providing very few calories. Think about it this way: if your body can "track" the calories in fruits and vegetables (and it will), it's probably a good idea for most people to account for them when tracking their intake.

    Eh no. It also works if you're obese signifigantly overweight and have your deficit set at 1000 calories. At that point an extra 200-300 calories isn't going to take you out of the deficit and you're still going to lose. It's a pretty good way to change some snacking/eating habits for the better - and a good way to get into tracking (in general - ie: being loose while it becomes a habit). Eventually, yeah, you're going to need to track those things if you eat much of them, but for someone just starting with quite a bit to lose/ They have the wiggle room there to not sweat it and still have success.

    Not counting any type of food will work (at least in the short term) when you have a very large deficit. You could also tell someone it doesn't matter if they log their evening glass of wine if their deficit is 1,000. It "won't matter" in the sense that they'll still lose weight, but it will matter in the sense that their deficit will be smaller. It's the same with fruits and vegetables. If someone wants to use their large deficit as a buffer for any type of food, they can do that.

    I think I just tend to function under the belief that the best way to sustainable is to build new habits as easily and slowly as possible and that includes with tracking. Yes, the calories are still there regardless of source, but also if tracking is a pain - or weighing your food is - then eyeballing and letting the foods you want to see yourself eating more of go are valid strategies.


    It's always going to be individual, though.
  • hipari
    hipari Posts: 1,367 Member
    Options
    When I tracked (=not currently), I didn’t track spices like salt, pepper, herbs etc. Basically the dried stuff that comes from a spice jar went completely unlogged. I logged fruit and veggies, but definitely eyeballed them instead of weighing. I usually still had a rough idea, like knowing I put in about a half a bag of spinach and knew how much the whole bag weighs, according to the label. Not the most accurate solution, but worked for me.
  • cmriverside
    cmriverside Posts: 33,971 Member
    Options
    NOT tracking fruits and vegetables is a Weight Watchers gimmick.

    I have always tracked all my food, everything.


    But I do agree that if you're new to weight loss and have a lot of weight to lose then the tracking can be a lot looser.

    Just wait till you're 15 pounds from goal and you'll even stop licking the spoon when you cook, :lol:
  • wunderkindking
    wunderkindking Posts: 1,615 Member
    edited April 2021
    Options
    cmriverside wrote: »
    NOT tracking fruits and vegetables is a Weight Watchers gimmick.

    I have always tracked all my food, everything.


    But I do agree that if you're new to weight loss and have a lot of weight to lose then the tracking can be a lot looser.

    Just wait till you're 15 pounds from goal and you'll even stop licking the spoon when you cook, :lol:

    I mean also this. I'm about a POUND from a healthy bmi and 11 from goal and I'm definitely tracking much closer now but MAN had I tried to go from eating the party size of M&Ms to weighing carrots I'd have BROKEN.

    And even with what I'm saying here you need to know it's a STRATEGY and decision, not just. thinking they don't 'count' as food somehow.
  • janejellyroll
    janejellyroll Posts: 25,763 Member
    edited April 2021
    Options
    wunderkindking wrote: »
    janejellyroll wrote: »
    wunderkindking wrote: »
    janejellyroll wrote: »
    That would be a few hundred extra calories a day for me, so it wouldn't work at all. If you're not eating many fruits and vegetables, this might work but only because they're providing very few calories. Think about it this way: if your body can "track" the calories in fruits and vegetables (and it will), it's probably a good idea for most people to account for them when tracking their intake.

    Eh no. It also works if you're obese signifigantly overweight and have your deficit set at 1000 calories. At that point an extra 200-300 calories isn't going to take you out of the deficit and you're still going to lose. It's a pretty good way to change some snacking/eating habits for the better - and a good way to get into tracking (in general - ie: being loose while it becomes a habit). Eventually, yeah, you're going to need to track those things if you eat much of them, but for someone just starting with quite a bit to lose/ They have the wiggle room there to not sweat it and still have success.

    Not counting any type of food will work (at least in the short term) when you have a very large deficit. You could also tell someone it doesn't matter if they log their evening glass of wine if their deficit is 1,000. It "won't matter" in the sense that they'll still lose weight, but it will matter in the sense that their deficit will be smaller. It's the same with fruits and vegetables. If someone wants to use their large deficit as a buffer for any type of food, they can do that.

    I think I just tend to function under the belief that the best way to sustainable is to build new habits as easily and slowly as possible and that includes with tracking. Yes, the calories are still there regardless of source, but also if tracking is a pain - or weighing your food is - then eyeballing and letting the foods you want to see yourself eating more of go are valid strategies.


    It's always going to be individual, though.

    If someone wants to ease into logging that's fine. But OP's question is about eating unlogged fruits and vegetables "without limit." For a lot of people, that has the potential to interfere with consistently getting the results that one expects and that's also relevant to setting new habits. If you're logging other foods and not seeing results, that could be very discouraging to some people and then the lack the data (how many calories they're consuming) to make the necessary adjustments.

    So if someone is getting the results they want without logging fruits and vegetables, I wouldn't say they need to start. It's obviously working for them. But if someone is asking for advice, I'm going to come down on the side of logging all the foods that will provide relevant data.

    I see the distinction you make above about knowing they still count and I think that's an important one. There are people here sometimes who think they don't have to log fruits and vegetables because they somehow don't count the way other foods do. As long as someone knows they're being rougher in their estimates and knows they can revisit it if they stop seeing the results they want, I don't think not logging would be a problem.
  • chris89topher
    chris89topher Posts: 389 Member
    Options
    BarbaraHelen2013 wrote: »
    I log everything. I’m vegetarian veering towards fully plant based so if I don’t track the veg I’m basically logging nothing! 😂

    In my opinion, it’s best to log everything so you have accurate data to compare with actual results where weight loss is concerned. That way you can be more confident adjusting intake up or down when assessing real life results.

    If you don’t know what the numbers actually are you’re working in the dark!

    Same here, veggie and mostly plant based. I sure do wish vegetable calories were free.......I already eat my weight in veggies every day, but just think of the amount of additional food we could eat! Lol.
  • rosebarnalice
    rosebarnalice Posts: 3,488 Member
    Options
    If I didn't log my veg I'd be undercounting by 500- 600 calories a day! About the only things I don't log are herbs and spices--but I DO log any condiments like mustard, soy sauce, bbq sauce, etc. to make sure I'm getting the sugars and salts in my macros.


    The idea of "free" fruits and veg likely comes from a WW/ Weight Watchers points system where the user was given a certain number of points per day as a goal (12, 15, 20?), and then some foods like fruits and veg were either 0 or 1 point, while other foods like fried and high-fat foods were 3-4 points. I get that the plan was trying to incentivize filling up on veggies and disincentivize eating lots of saturated fats and oils to help build good lifestyle choices . . . but I always found the points to be annoyingly complicated.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,874 Member
    Options
    kingdonle wrote: »
    I heard someone saying that they don't track fruit and veg in MFP. They eat it without limit. Does anyone else do this?

    This really depends on how zealous and "exacting" you want to be or need to be. I don't log anything anymore, but when I did I was loose with fruits and veg. I never weighed out and logged exactly X grams of carrot or cucumber or anything like that. I had "generic" entries I had created for myself for things like "garden salad" that I would use if I was having a salad and then I'd just log all of my toppings and dressing and such...and I would just eyeball whatever veggies I was having with a meal and log something and call it good. For fruit I was usually pretty loose as well and just used the entries for "medium apple" or whatever...but I did log something, I just wasn't too particular about low calorie foods.

    YMMV...I have a relatively high TDEE, so even when losing weight I had quite a bit of wiggle room as losing about 1 Lb per week is still around 2300-2500 calories...I would imagine that being loose with certain things gets harder when calorie targets are very low. It is still important to keep in mind than while very good for you, fruits and veg do have calories and ultimately your body logs them just as it does with any other calorie...but really, how you determine to go about this is very much up to you. I don't think there's really a black and white right or wrong.
  • NVintage
    NVintage Posts: 1,463 Member
    edited April 2021
    Options
    I use MFP to easily meal plan for 1200 calories, but don't log some snacks and drinks so it's more likely around 1500. I could stand to lose 5 more pounds, but think those will come off easily as I get back to work, and go back to my precovid lifestyle. Honestly, I worry for people, especially young people, who count calories when they are at a healthy weight. Why not just weigh yourself a few times per week, and start calorie counting if you start gaining weight?


Categories