Count the calories in Fruits??

I guy I used to work with, lost a lot of weight by counting calories.  He told me he never counted the calories in fresh fruits.  Just wondering others opinions/experiences in this.  I usually eat a Gala apple every day on my 50 minute ride home and sometimes have a banana or two or even an orange too. 

Thanks!

A medium banana is 110 calories each. If you eat two bananas and an apple a day, you can have 300 calories right there. You do need to count that!

Well, if it worked for him, then that's great.  But calories from fresh fruit really aren't processed differently than calories from any other source, so it's not like they're neglible.  A medium sized banana is approximately 100 calories - I eat one every morning, and I definitely count it.  That it's a fresh fruit doesn't factor into whether I count it or not - if I consumed the 100 calories, it goes in my log. 

Thanks!!

I always count them too but just thought I'd get others opinion on the subject.

I did a sort of unstructured diet 2 years ago during which I cut out all sweets, substituted deserts for fruits, had fruit at every meal, and was allowed to have as much fruit as I wanted for snacks. I lost 20 pounds in just a couple of months.

Now that I am on CC I realize that it was not just the fruit that did it. Since fruit has a high water content, and my favorite fruits have a lot of fiber and are low-cal, I was lowering my calorie intake overall. I was previously very overweight and uncontrolled in my diet and so the slightest change affected me--  cutting out soda was a huge one, and all the natural sugar in the fruit killed my cravings for oreo cookies.

I did consume so many strawberries it was ridiculous. Boxes of them! =D

My point is that fruit is really great, especially if you enjoy fruit, but you can't forget that it generally has more calories than vegetables. It works in a diet as a SUBSTITUTE for things you would normally eat-- like any and all deserts. A cut up apple in your salad is much better than a handful of walnuts. A pear or a grapefruit as a snack instead of crackers/chips is wonderful.

Here's where you run into trouble.. when you are on a calorie budget, and you count everything ELSE you have for the day (including treats!) and then you eat fruit on top of that. Then you're just sabotaging yourself because you might think-- well, I have 165 calories left and that's perfect for a serving of ice cream with a dollop of whipped cream. But it would be even BETTER with strawberries and blueberries, which I can have infinite amounts of because fruits don't count! And then you eat the ice cream AND the fruit and you're actually over your calorie target for the day. o__o

I count my fruits. Oh how I'd abuse the purpose if not counting was fine. I am a big fruit bowl eater. mmm.. fruit ;)

 

Original Post by ainedb:

A medium banana is 110 calories each. If you eat two bananas and an apple a day, you can have 300 calories right there. You do need to count that!

 There are things that are called "negative or zero" calorie foods according to some doctors. To digest food, it takes energy; however, if you eat something (lets say celery) which has almost no calories, you end up with a net or zero calorie food.

 It is true, however, that everything you eat has calories, but imagine eating something with some calories but it being made out of cellulose (you cant digest that. Since you can't digest it, you can't convert the energy into calories and you just poop it out. Stuff like celery is hard to digest which expends more energy. A banana is really sweet, so i doubt that is 'zero'. celery is most cellulose and water i believe (kinda like bark lol).

 

anyways, if you dont count them even if it's a banana, who cares. it's only 100 calories. if you ate a banana everyday, it would take you more than a month to have a net gain of a lb.

 

hope this helps.