Logging fruit and vegetables

[MrsTophamHat]

I've seen an approach by someone I follow on Instagram who tracks MFP. She logs her foods but not any fruit or vegetables. This strikes me as quite a healthy approach as in if I want a snack, i'm not calculating the calories of an apple and it seems like it would encourage me to choose fruit or vegetables as they would be "free" (sorry for the SW terminology) and would mean I was getting the nutritional benefits too.

Does anyone else use this approach and how have you found it?

No, I always log fruit and vegetables. If you exceed your calories by an apple and a banana it’s still excess calories and could still hinder weight loss. It seems odd to log calories but not all calories if you are calorie counting.

I never log fruit or veg as they are full of the good stuff and should not, in my opinion, be restricted in any balanced diet.

I log all fruit but not vegetables as they are so low in calorie not worth it but by veg I don't mean potato/sweet potatoes/friend veg.

I mean I wouldn't count a pile of steamed carrots and broccoli or a chunk of cucumber.

I log stuff like an apple or banana or a load of berries
But I deliberately eat to say 200-300 cals under which means I don't count salad, diet drinks, the milk in my tea, a stock cube etc

A decent sized banana is easily well over 100 calories though

It's not just about calories though it's about sugar/carbs.

I love oranges - loads of sugar in them!!

I log fruit but not most veg - peas, potatoes, sweet corn I do.

I always log fruits and vegetables, RandomMess is right, it's also about sugar and carbs. I've seen people following this approach but the truth is that there is no 'calorie free' food and it's easy to accidentally have more calories than you've planned just because you believe fruits and vegs are 'safe food'

Same as Alma - I do log my fruit as that’s quite a few calories, and I estimate and log higher-cal veg such as potatoes and parsnips. But I’m honestly not faffing about with stuff like salad leaves or a bit of broccoli.

I do but I'm vegetarian so eat a lot of vegetables! My breakfast today had 175 cals of fruit (1 banana and 100g of blueberries) and I had stir fried veg for lunch which was 100 cals of veg. Afternoon snack is usually a pepper (about 50 calories) and dinner tonight will have about 100cals of veg. All together about 425 cals so about 25% of my daily allowance.

I wanted to do taht and then I remembered how I lose control around fruit😂
I am not joking. 3kg if watermelon, apple, orange, pear easily in one day.
I got fat on healthy food and salads😂

But I fully understand what you mean by it looking like a very good and mentally healthy approach.

I've just started back on MFP and am starving so am considering this approach for veg (it worked well when I did WW years ago).

However, whilst nobody is likely to get fat on celery and lettuce, fruit does quickly add up. My breakfast is usually a bowl of fat free yogurt with berries and whatever other fruit I fancy. It can rack up to anywhere between 180 to nearly 400 cals depending what I put in and how much. A banana is nearly 100 cals for instance.

Previously (when I was better at this!) I preferred to log everything including veg, but not worry if I went over by that amount of cals as the goodness and effects of not being hungry outweighed, in my mind, the overing.

Possibly it depends on how much you need to lose and how much your dietary habits need to change. So, if you have 10st to lose and have had a really poor diet then it might be better to eat what you need to in fruit and veg to get into better habits and reduce temptation elsewhere, then maybe tighten up as you go. If it's just a few pounds to lose, then this approach might really slow you down.

It's quite useful I think the see as you log how low cal most fruit and veg are. It's satisfying to plug in the ingredients of a big salad and realise it's really low cal for the size / weight. For me that is motivating and would tend to make me choose more fruit and veg over other things.

I have only been calorie counting for 3 days so I am a very long way from being an expert, but I don't really understand how this could work. I looked at my diary on MFP and about 1/3 of my calories are from fruit and veg, so if I didn't log them surely I would think I have lots to spare to use on other foods? I haven't been logging low calorie drinks (fruit tea etc) but there's no way that'd add more than 20 calories a day so I figure I can count that within the margin of error.

I count them all and actually it was a kiwi that took me over my allowance yesterday but I felt like I should admit that I ate it

I've been thinking about doing this for at least some veg. One approach would be to log your veg for a few days, see what a typical day's consumption is and then log an average figure each day. In fact I already do this with milk since I tend to have the same amount each week. It hasn't stopped me losing weight. For someone with hugely variable consumption it could prove a stumbling block though.

I have absolutely loads to lose, so at the moment I'm not counting fruit and veg (except potatoes). I don't eat bananas or avocados and the fruit I eat is mostly berries, so at the moment I'm not bothered. If I get to within a few stone of where I should be, then I'll start counting fruit and veg.

If I’m actively trying to lose weight then I log everything, including fruit and veg. If I’m maintaining then I don’t log things like salad leaves or cucumber but I do log tomatoes, peppers, avocado and fruit.

I guess it depends how strict you need to be to still lose weight. Unfortunately now I’m 50 I need to track everything.

If you're trying to lose weight then it's usually a good idea to eat a shit load of veg and quite a lot of fruit. If a largw portion of your diet is veg and fruit then you really need to be logging it.