Sigh... who knew there were this many calories in vitamins?!?
kchapmanma
Posts: 174 Member
Today I decided to set up my food diary to track my medications and vitamins, and really looked at the nutrition label on my vitamin bottles. Yikes! I was expecting there to be calories in gummy type vitamins, but was surprised to see how many calories there are in some of those "just swallow this pill" types. In hindsight, I should have really looked at this before - but I'm still a bit sad to realize that I could have easily been adding a 100 calories a day with just vitamins. Ah well. Live and learn.
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Replies
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Gummies are more candy than pills...
If it will make you feel any better, you're making more than 100 calories per day in errors - some high and some low.
It all works out.
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Yes, I get 40 calories everyday just from my gummy prenatal and calcium+D vitamins. I prefer gummies because they're easier on my stomach, but yes, they are like candy. In my case I think they're worth it. As my deficit narrows maybe I'll try something else to free those up on a regular basis (I quit sugar in coffee for this reason and it saved me about the same amount per day IIRC).6
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As someone who is watching her carbs, I was ticked to see I was consuming 8g extra in carbs due to two different gummy supplements. As soon as I finish them, I will be going back to capsules ... *sigh*5
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Yeah I just had the realization the other day that my Omega three supplement that I'm taking has 20 calories per supplement and I take it twice per day! I mean, I guess I should have known this since it's just oil, but still.3
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Well, *I* didn't know and I'm not going to look either.
Ok, I looked. There are no calories listed on either one of the supplements I take. Keeping my head in the sand. 8 -
The only thing I take that has calories is my salmon oil capsules. Not really that many though...not enough for me to worry about anyway.3
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100 calories in vitamin pills??
Really?
which ones are you taking??4 -
paperpudding wrote: »100 calories in vitamin pills??
Really?
which ones are you taking??
Yeah, I take vitamin C, D3, B12, Zinc, Biotin, and a cinnamon alpha-lipoic acid supplement. It'd normally be better to take a multivitamin, but because I'm diabetic, my doctors have suggested I avoid niacin and chromium which are often in multivitamins. Niacin can raise your blood sugar levels, and chromium can cause issues with kidneys. The vitamin C is chewable, and the D3 and Zinc are gummies, so altogether they add up to 80 calories. I said 100 because sometimes the gummies stick together and I take 2 by accident.
I didn't actually mean to buy gummy vitamins, so next time I'll be more careful when I restock my vitamins. I was expecting the gummies to have calories, but for some reason I was thinking they'd be more like 5 or 10 calories each instead of 20. The one that surprised me the most was the 20 calories for the Biotin - and the reason is really sort of ridiculous. The capsules for the Biotin stink, and since I don't really like taking them, I just assumed they wouldn't have any calories. I have a false belief that floats around in my head that the more enjoyable I find something, the more calories it will have and the worse for me it will be. The corollary is then the more I dislike it, the fewer calories and the better for me it must be. Doh.
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OK so taking the gummies out brings the count down nicely.
Not familiar with Biotin - 20 calories sounds a lot for a pill though.2 -
Y'know what? If your deficit is effectively getting you half a pound or a pound a week weight loss, or perhaps more, on average . . . the 100 calories of vitamins don't really matter IMO, if the gummy version works better for you.
Sure, if you don't care, switch it up. If you'd prefer to spend those calories on food, switch it up. But if gummies are easier, sustainability is important, too.
Happy balance is the goal, not wringing out every last calorie.8 -
mine don't have any calories1
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kchapmanma wrote: »paperpudding wrote: »100 calories in vitamin pills??
Really?
which ones are you taking??
Yeah, I take vitamin C, D3, B12, Zinc, Biotin, and a cinnamon alpha-lipoic acid supplement. It'd normally be better to take a multivitamin, but because I'm diabetic, my doctors have suggested I avoid niacin and chromium which are often in multivitamins. Niacin can raise your blood sugar levels, and chromium can cause issues with kidneys. The vitamin C is chewable, and the D3 and Zinc are gummies, so altogether they add up to 80 calories. I said 100 because sometimes the gummies stick together and I take 2 by accident.
I didn't actually mean to buy gummy vitamins, so next time I'll be more careful when I restock my vitamins. I was expecting the gummies to have calories, but for some reason I was thinking they'd be more like 5 or 10 calories each instead of 20. The one that surprised me the most was the 20 calories for the Biotin - and the reason is really sort of ridiculous. The capsules for the Biotin stink, and since I don't really like taking them, I just assumed they wouldn't have any calories. I have a false belief that floats around in my head that the more enjoyable I find something, the more calories it will have and the worse for me it will be. The corollary is then the more I dislike it, the fewer calories and the better for me it must be. Doh.
Zero calorie biotin!
https://www.amazon.com/NOW-Biotin-5000-mcg-Capsules/dp/B00YMRO4GI/1 -
Discouraging. I had been thinking replacing my multi with a gummy multi when the current bottle runs out, because they're so huge they're hard to swallow, but I don't really want to waste a lot calories on the gummy. Maybe somebody uses artificial sweeteners in their gummies? I have to think it's the sugar, nor the pectin or cornstarch or whatever it is they're to get them to gel, that's adding most of the calories.2
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I honestly wouldn't be worried unless you are taking a tremendous amount of them. The stress of worrying about the small things isn't doing any good. If you enjoy them, take them. If you're worried about the extra calories, do some walking lunges on your way to get them and do some air squats while you eat them. ☺️4
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lynn_glenmont wrote: »Discouraging. I had been thinking replacing my multi with a gummy multi when the current bottle runs out, because they're so huge they're hard to swallow, but I don't really want to waste a lot calories on the gummy. Maybe somebody uses artificial sweeteners in their gummies? I have to think it's the sugar, nor the pectin or cornstarch or whatever it is they're to get them to gel, that's adding most of the calories.
Yeah, it's definitely the sugar in mine. In other capsules with fatty acids or oils it's the substance itself that has the calories, so probably not avoidable if you want to supplement with those.
I initially switched for the prenatal because I couldn't keep a pill down in early pregnancy, and even later on found a pill really unsettled my stomach. I basically take a prenatal all the time now and find it's easier to stick to one brand than jump around. When I did use a regular women's multivitamin, I had to laugh though because I also bought the same brand's multi for men and it was rolled in sugar while the women's ones were not. My husband joked that the company probably thought it was the only way they could get men to take them, and I gotta say sometimes I wonder if that's the reasoning!0 -
Unless you have a medical condition and your doctor recommends that you take a vitamin, then if you are eating an overall well rounded healthy diet full of a variety of fruits and vegetables then you very likely do not need any vitamin supplements except for:
B12 — sometimes referred to as the ‘too clean’ vitamin. Humans used to get vitamin B12 from the soil residue on vegetables. But our vegetables today are too clean all the vitamin b12 is scrubbed off.
D — sometimes referred to as the ‘sun shine’ vitamin. If you spend most days inside or live in the northern hemisphere where daylight in winter is limited. Then you may benefit from a vitamin D supplement.
In any case, you really should talk with your doctor and consider having the vitamin levels in your blood measured. It is only if you measure the levels you already have will you know whether you need to take any supplements.
Good luck!3 -
age_is_just_a_number wrote: »Unless you have a medical condition and your doctor recommends that you take a vitamin, then if you are eating an overall well rounded healthy diet full of a variety of fruits and vegetables then you very likely do not need any vitamin supplements except for:
B12 — sometimes referred to as the ‘too clean’ vitamin. Humans used to get vitamin B12 from the soil residue on vegetables. But our vegetables today are too clean all the vitamin b12 is scrubbed off.
D — sometimes referred to as the ‘sun shine’ vitamin. If you spend most days inside or live in the northern hemisphere where daylight in winter is limited. Then you may benefit from a vitamin D supplement.
In any case, you really should talk with your doctor and consider having the vitamin levels in your blood measured. It is only if you measure the levels you already have will you know whether you need to take any supplements.
Good luck!
Stick to the original posting. The OP didn't ask for opinions about taking or not taking vitamins, the OP just wondered about the calories that some vitamins have.1 -
I would NOT be worried about 'calories from vitamins' focus more on your other macros, proper eating habits and an exercise routine that makes a difference.
You can do it!
Isaac1 -
My costco gummies are 15 calories for 2, my collagen supplement is 35 calories, so that's not too bad1
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Yep! I love my gummy vitamins though.1
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age_is_just_a_number wrote: »Unless you have a medical condition and your doctor recommends that you take a vitamin, then if you are eating an overall well rounded healthy diet full of a variety of fruits and vegetables then you very likely do not need any vitamin supplements except for:
B12 — sometimes referred to as the ‘too clean’ vitamin. Humans used to get vitamin B12 from the soil residue on vegetables. But our vegetables today are too clean all the vitamin b12 is scrubbed off.
D — sometimes referred to as the ‘sun shine’ vitamin. If you spend most days inside or live in the northern hemisphere where daylight in winter is limited. Then you may benefit from a vitamin D supplement.
In any case, you really should talk with your doctor and consider having the vitamin levels in your blood measured. It is only if you measure the levels you already have will you know whether you need to take any supplements.
Good luck!
Stick to the original posting. The OP didn't ask for opinions about taking or not taking vitamins, the OP just wondered about the calories that some vitamins have.
I guess I should have added “you can avoid those calories all together, because chances are you don’t need to take any vitamins. Especially if you are concerned about the calories in those vitamins”, but I didn’t because I thought it was implied by my reply.
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I take Vitamin D3 _ 2000 iu and One Daily Iron Free vitamins by MegaFood
They are not cheap, but I much prefer them to others on the market - they are all plant based0 -
I realized last month, when planning to reorder, my magnesium citrate capsules had a fair number of calories. ( I take them in quantity, at doctor’s advice, for severe muscle cramps.)
So this time I simply ordered a tablet, well rated, with no calories. Crossing fingers
I felt kinda dumb not even thinking about vitamins having calories.
At one point, I was taking so many vitamins (recommended by doctor) that it felt like they were breakfast. I see several of my friends doing the same. I backed off. It was just too too many.
I would not, however, give up my B12 sublingual (melts under the tongue). They were impossible to get during COVID, because apparently B12 was a “thing”, and shelves were bare. I could tell a difference, both when I ran out, and when I was finally able to replace them with another, ineffective brand. I showered the manufacturer with emails, and they notified me personally when new stock was coming in. I tried self injecting B12 for a while, but it all landed on the bath mat.1
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