Is it ok not to count some foods?

[Gemi33]

I have tried all sorts of diets in the past and the most successful was calorie counting so I am leaning towards doing that again. However, one thing that I did like when I tried WW some time ago was the fact that there were zero point foods (I know there are more now but I'm thinking particularly of vegetables). Not only was it a good option if you didn't have many point left to have salad or stir fry but I get so bored having to measure and count every piece of lettuce or carrot so it was nice to have a bit of a break from it. I'd quite like to do something similar when counting calories but not sure whether it would work and how many calories to have (I assume points allowances are worked out taking into consideration that some things aren't counted). Has anyone done something similar with calorie counting? If so, what don't you count and how many calories do you allow yourself a day?

Thanks!

xx

Currently doing 1400 calories. I don't count coffee/sweetener or diet coke, everything else gets counted. Some fruit and veg is high calorie die to sugar content, so personally I don't think it's a good idea to skip counting it.

I will admit to sometimes estimating and then rounding up to the nearest 100 calories if I can't weigh something - but that only works if you have a reasonable knowledge of calories, portion sizes and can judge weight by eye.

Things I don’t count:

• most raw ‘low sugar’ veg
• black tea coffee with sweetner

I count certain fruit and veg. If i had a tangerine then no, but banana yes. If i have sweet potato then yes, some cucumber no.

Anything's ok if it works and if you're using a bit of common sense.

I've decided not to count tea and coffee. I take mine with milk and sugar, so they're definitely calorific, but I only tend to have them when I'm at work, and then it's usually only 2 a day, and I walk around more at work than I tend to otherwise (something else I need to deal with!)

I really hate calorie counting, so I've decided I'm just going to count foodstuffs (and any smoothies/milkshakes/other definitely troublesome drinks) this way it's a little less of a chore. I think if I was going to be drinking 4+ cups a day I would be more strict and record it, but as it is, a cup of tea with milk and a sugar is about 50cal, so I'm just 100cal out if I don't count two cups.

I'm the same I've only successfully lost weight when I've been calorie counting and I'm back to using my fitness pal now. Most things I eat have a barcode on it somewhere so I just scan it but things that don't I just type in what it is and pick what I think is the right amount of calories (or closest to)

But I always count everything. Even the cups of tea as I have two sugar and milk in them. If you don't count everything you'll start having little bits here and there that soon add up and then you won't stay on track

The only thing I never ever count is the milk in my tea. It's never made any difference so I don't intend to change.

Last year, DH and I tried not counting fruit and veg as long as it was either raw or cooked with no added fats/other ingredients (so steamed broccoli was free but roast parsnips definitely weren't). I still counted things I know are higher calorie, like banana and avocado, but he didn't. We both still lost weight at the expected weight. But I found it easier just to count everything so that's what I've gone back to. Apart from my tea milk

I like my tea and coffee milky so have worked out I usually put 100ml in. That’s about 40-60 calories per cup depending on the type of milk. I don’t take sugar with my tea or coffee but I definitely feel I have to consider them in my calorie allowance!

I'd definitely count fruit and starchy veg (potato/parsnip/sweeten etc)

I wouldn't bother to count lettuce/cucumber/steamed green veg...

*sweetcorn

I count root veg and sweet corn but nothing else