Do you log veggies?

LittleSimoni
LittleSimoni Posts: 24
in Food and Nutrition
I'm trying to determine if I it's worth it to log veggies such as raw or steamed spinach, lettuce, broccoli, celery (typical salad stuff). I do on starchy veggies (corn, sweet potatoes, potatoes).

It's good if you're tracking fiber, nutrients, etc and I log vitamins but I get lazy sometimes and do not want to add 4 oz of broccoli florets or one celery stalk or weigh out my salads.
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Replies

  • secretlobster
    secretlobster Posts: 3,566 Member
    Of course. I log everything I eat. That's the point.
  • angeldaae
    angeldaae Posts: 348 Member
    Are you trying to lose weight? Vegetables have calories, too. It's possible to overeat anything, including greens.
  • IveLanded
    IveLanded Posts: 797 Member
    I log EVERYTHING. I heard a good rule on these boards "If you bite it, write it"
  • Aureilie
    Aureilie Posts: 213 Member
    Yep. I log everything I eat.
  • WhittRak
    WhittRak Posts: 567 Member
    Is it food? Did you eat it? Then log it.
  • jennapony
    jennapony Posts: 73 Member
    I usually do, but I don't always
  • wolfchild59
    wolfchild59 Posts: 2,608 Member
    I log everything I eat. If you don't, you're just lying to your food log, which is just lying to yourself. As others have said, if it has calories, log it.

    I often make a big ole salad full of tons of fresh veggies and then cook some chicken breast to go on top for lunch. Then for dinner I'll make a hot meal made up of more veggies, some ground pork and maybe a little tofu. So, by your logic, my food log for lunch and dinner would be chicken breast and then some pork and tofu. How does that make sense?

    Plus, I watch my vitamins, minerals, and potassium, so if I skipped entering my veggies I would have horribly incomplete data each day.
  • sapalee
    sapalee Posts: 409 Member
    I do because I'm trying really hard to get my potassium up and I'm learning all kinds of foods that have more potassium. Ex. found out today that both zuchinni and sweet potato have more than a banana.

    Even with all the fresh fruit and veg I eat still coming in low...
  • wolfchild59
    wolfchild59 Posts: 2,608 Member
    Just as an experiment, I took an average day of eating for myself and took out all of the veggies. It dropped over 300 calories from the daily total between breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks.

    And that's not counting the carbs, fiber, vitamins, minerals, and potassium that my food log would also now be short on as well.
  • flyingwrite
    flyingwrite Posts: 264
    75% of what I eat are veggies. My diary would be completely skewed if I didn't log them.
  • jbdesign28
    jbdesign28 Posts: 2 Member
    I eat a large salad every day for lunch from the salad bar at work. One thing I did that helps cut down on the time logging every item every day, is set up a 'recipe' for my salad in the food tracking system. That way each day I just click one button. Even though the ingredients might change slightly fron day to day, at least I have a good calorie estimation in my log.
  • katysmelly
    katysmelly Posts: 380 Member
    tonight my kid didn't eat his one little broccoli floret, so I ate it.

    I am not going to bother to look up the calories in five grams (estimated) of boiled broccoli .

    Other than that, though - I log everything.
  • straitcrzyMary
    straitcrzyMary Posts: 75 Member
    If I put food in my mouth no matter what kind I log it.
  • albinogorilla
    albinogorilla Posts: 1,056 Member
    When i toss a little lettuce on a sandwich, or a slice of onion, i dont bother.
    If I make a salad, or have them as a side yes.
  • callikia
    callikia Posts: 226 Member
    I agree...a bite of a veggie? Not worth it to log (unless I'm really trying to see how I'm doing on my veggie intake). A side of veggies? YEP!
  • MattGetsMad
    MattGetsMad Posts: 429 Member
    Here's the thing: MFP only works as well as you let it. If you give it accurate data, it can give better estimations of weight loss expectation. If you skew the data in any way, you playing with the effectiveness of MFP as a tool.

    The veggie's you mentioned are not very high in calories, but they have calcium, potassium, dietary fiber and vitamins in relatively high quantities. You'll never accurately track those micros without adding the veg to your diary.

    From a weight loss standpoint, it would be hard to eat enough kale to worry about the caloric content, but not logging it means that MFP isn't going to work for you the way it was designed to work. And even with kale, at some point it could put you over your calorie goals.

    Good luck to you!
  • jenj1313
    jenj1313 Posts: 898 Member
    I do, but I'm pretty general with the veggies sometimes. I guess instead of weighing, but try to guess high. Since the calorie counts are low, I figure it's close enough. There are some salad options that include veggies, so I generally use those and then add whatever meat I'm putting on. But... there are some diet plans out there that let you eat as many veggies as you want without counting them, so you're probably not doing yourself too much harm if you leave them off.

    Good luck! Do what feels right for you.
    Jen
  • fitnotfluffy
    fitnotfluffy Posts: 213 Member
    I log every single thing I put in my mouth. Even though veggies have less calories than a lot of foods and are healthy, still log them! You need to be as honest with yourself as possible!
  • danasings
    danasings Posts: 8,218 Member
    I log every single thing I put in my mouth. Even though veggies have less calories than a lot of foods and are healthy, still log them! You need to be as honest with yourself as possible!

    ^^THIS :smile:
  • Olive32214
    Olive32214 Posts: 467 Member
    I log everything, The Good, The Bad and The Ugly. I never ate veg before but I am proud to log
    it. I shows me I'm eating healthy and why the heck would you not log it ???
  • myjourney2
    myjourney2 Posts: 424 Member
    I just changed from Weight Watchers to MFP. Took a bit for me to realize that veggies have calories since they are 0 points on WW.

    I make sure I log everything that I eat.
  • yaddayaddayadda
    yaddayaddayadda Posts: 430 Member
    I log everything:-)
  • janet0513
    janet0513 Posts: 564 Member
    Yes, I log everything. Is it that it is too time consuming that you don't want to? I have entered a couple of salads and meals that I eat on a regular basis and save it as a meal. The next time you eat it all you have to do is add the meal instead of each individual item. From there you can add items or delete as needed. It makes it real easy and quick.
  • strawberrie_milk
    strawberrie_milk Posts: 381 Member
    Definitely. They still have calories.
  • b3kah5
    b3kah5 Posts: 280 Member
    I log everything! Veggie calories add up!
  • queenpushycat
    queenpushycat Posts: 762 Member
    duh.
  • christina_theresa
    christina_theresa Posts: 290 Member
    If it's on as a side usually not.
  • SuffolkSally
    SuffolkSally Posts: 964 Member
    My veg calories for lunch today alone are 160... so yeah (I already made it, that's how I know ;)
  • SuzieZimm
    SuzieZimm Posts: 238 Member
    i log everything....but if it's something as negligible as one piece of celery, don't worry about it...(I had a bite of a macaroon today, hated it, threw it away...didn't log that...:P) but anything more than that, i'd try to log. that's the whole point.
  • mammothdoll
    mammothdoll Posts: 54 Member
    I absolutely log them. It's fun to have a record of what I've been eating. And I try to track vitamins and fiber as well as calories.

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