Do you count fruits and veggies?

Do you add in calories for fruits and vegetables? Or do you consider them "free"? I nosh on peaches, watermelon, apples, carrots, and bananas the most.

Yes, because everything you have listed there (even the carrots) has lot of sugar. Which, by the way, is not unhealthy and each come with a generous dollop of nutrients and fiber and other good stuff, but none of them are anywhere near calorie-free.

If you set yourself up for a 500 calorie deficit per day and ate one large peach (61 calories), one slice of watermelon (86 calories), one large apple (110 calories), 1 cup of carrots (52 calories) and one large banana (121 calories), you've eaten 430 unlogged calories and your deficit is now 70 calories.

Net result: Your goal says you should lose 1 pound a week. Your actual weight loss would be closer to one pound every two months.

MFP already puts you in a deficit. You will not lower your deficit unless you eat above the calorie goal MFP sets for you.

I count absolutely everything - including my multivitamins - which have 5 calories btw.

Fruit and Veggies in grand amounts are GREAT. In fact, most science recommends that you eat 4 whole fruits a day and at least 1 lb of veggies. However - this has calories and if you're going to follow this than you have to log it. I actually piece together my salads and count how much is going in there of everything.

A good resource for info on fruits and veggies is Dr. Fuhrman who recommends a diet based around fruits, vegetables and legumes. He has a great book - Eat to Live that is totally and completely backed by legit science and multiple studies. I recommend you check this out although take it with a grain of salt. Things work differently in people's bodies. Keep in mind that obviously Diabetics (for example) would be hard pressed NOT to count their fruits.

Fruits and vegetables are great because they are packed with nutrients. They have a high nutrient density compared to calorie density. In general, that's what you want to eat nutrient rich, calorie low foods. But if you're COUNTING CALORIES than you count them in.

if i eat it, it counts..... because well...im not actually consuming that.

Do you add in calories for fruits and vegetables? Or do you consider them "free"? I nosh on peaches, watermelon, apples, carrots, and bananas the most.

Yes, because everything you have listed there (even the carrots) has lot of sugar. Which, by the way, is not unhealthy and each come with a generous dollop of nutrients and fiber and other good stuff, but none of them are anywhere near calorie-free.

If you set yourself up for a 500 calorie deficit per day and ate one large peach (61 calories), one slice of watermelon (86 calories), one large apple (110 calories), 1 cup of carrots (52 calories) and one large banana (121 calories), you've eaten 430 unlogged calories and your deficit is now 70 calories.

Net result: Your goal says you should lose 1 pound a week. Your actual weight loss would be closer to one pound every two months.

MFP already puts you in a deficit. You will not lower your deficit unless you eat above the calorie goal MFP sets for you.

You miss my point.

If you have a no-exercise TDEE of 2,000 calories and ask MFP to set you a 1 pound a week weight loss goal, you will have a deficit of 500 calories. So your daily calorie budget will be 1,500 calories. If you eat 1,500 "net" calories (meaning you add any exercise to that), you should lose about a pound a week on average.

If you eat 1,500 "net" calories of logged food, but decide not to log fruit and eat 470 calories of that, you are now eating 1,970 calories. Since your TDEE is now 30 pounds over your intake, you have reduced your deficit to 70 calories.

MFP's system requires that you log pretty much everything. If you eat a lot of fruit and don't log it, you may be eating FAR more calories than you realize and eating yourself completely out of a deficit, and possibly into a surplus.

If you put it in your mouth...peaches, tacos, etc. Count it!

Everything counts.

In large amounts?

The graph on the wall tells the story of it all. :happy:

If a food contains calories, I count it. I do not log coffee, tea, spices, herbs, etc. I think this idea of "free food" comes from Weight Watchers." but I don't get it.. Besides wanting an accurate calorie count for the day/week, I like to see how I'm doing getting the right nutrients: calcium, iron, vitamins, fiber, etc.

I thought all spices and herbs were pretty much calorie free until I built my chili recipe in MFP. I decided to check cumin and chili powder and at 2Tbsp, they added quite a few calories according to the nutritional info on the site. I did not do my own research though. Just want to remind everyone to chck even stuff like that.

If a food contains calories, I count it. I do not log coffee, tea, spices, herbs, etc. I think this idea of "free food" comes from Weight Watchers." but I don't get it.. Besides wanting an accurate calorie count for the day/week, I like to see how I'm doing getting the right nutrients: calcium, iron, vitamins, fiber, etc.

I thought all spices and herbs were pretty much calorie free until I built my chili recipe in MFP. I decided to check cumin and chili powder and at 2Tbsp, they added quite a few calories according to the nutritional info on the site. I did not do my own research though. Just want to remind everyone to chck even stuff like that.

Agreed!! Cinnamon is 18 cals per tablespoon. I love cinnamon on my chopped up apples. I drown my apples in it....until I plugged in cinnamon....I limit it to 1 tbsp now.

I log fruit and high calorie veggies but most of the time I will throw peppers,spinach or onions on my plate and not count it, then again this ia all estimates anyway...I couldn't care less about 40 calories of veggies if I don't log it.

Absolutely. Healthy does not equal no calories.