Fruits and Veggies dont count?

I keep track of all the calories i consume each day (my calorie intake is 1000 each day) but is it wrong if i dont count the calories for all the fruits and vegetables i eat? I kinda give myself slack because they are healthy calories and it kinda works because i end up going for fruit for snacks instead of actual food, so that way i dont have to add in the calories ;) but is that wrong??

Well, as you have probably heard, 1000 calories is not enough for your body on a daily intake. "starvation mode" and such will occur. However, since you aren't counting in the fruits and veggies, you may be going around 1200, so i guess I would count them in your calorie intake, but don't do that and remain at only 1k a day. Keep it around 1200-1500 and you'll remain healthy. If not counting them has worked for you and you are losing weight at a healthy rate, then I don't see why you should include them.

"i end up going for fruit for snacks instead of actual food..."

I'm sorry...this made me giggle when I read it... :)

a calorie is a calorie no matter where you get it from. Im not sure your stats but 1,000 calories would be low if you were counting the fruit and veggies. for basal metabolism women need anywhere from 1100-1200 calories a day. That is just for normal body functions like breathing, blinking, autonomic nervous system ect. so any movement you do on top of that while only eating 1000 calories cut into those vital calories. Also, your body will compensate for the loss and slow down functioning (metabolism is a big one!) and brain and physical functioning will slow down which no one wants.

 I would say, eat all the fruits and veggies you want on top of 1200 calories a day and don't worry too much about it BUT some fruits and veggies have more calories than others, fruit a lot more than veggies. So, dont go too overboard because they are not a free food and add up in the end.

 

Good Luck!

Christina- health science and nutrition major 

Fruits an Veggies are really healthy, and anyone that eats them need a round of applause. I barely get any of that stuff. An I if I did I would count them either. ^^ An eating under 1200 is not very healthy for you, but as that girl said, your veggies an fruits probably make up for it. ^^

No, the calories from fruits and veggies count, why wouldn't they? A calorie is a calorie, no matter where it comes from.

What other foods are you eating? When you say "fruit for snacks instead of actual food", what are you defining as "actual food"?

I hope I don't come off judgmental, I think your question is sweet, actually, and you should be proud of yourself to be so conscious of your food choices and make fruit your snack rather than chips or candy.

You're on the right track, but add in the fruit and veggies, make sure you're counting as much as you can. It's more important to count the fruit, I would think, as fruit has way more calories than veggies. If you ate a bunch of snow peas or celery for snack, I wouldn't think not counting that would be so bad, they're practically calorie free.

Hope this helps.

your approach to calorie counting is quite intriguing, actually.  you're using the calorie counter as a tool, in a creative way:  to get you to eat more fruits and vegetables while tracking the rest of your intake.  there's no logical "reason" to separate your fruits and vegetables from "actual food," but i totally understand your jane_lennette logic.

i personally do NOT almost ever eat enough fruits and vegetables.  maybe if i told myself they were "free," i'd be healthier for it.  this wouldn't work for someone who'd eat pounds of strawberries and bananas and apples and pineapple, but for those of us who have to twist our own arms to eat a salad, it just might work.

thanks everyone! ill try an start counting my fruits but i think ill give a little slack on my veggies!

If you are not counting celery or lettuce you can fudge, but not counting potatoes,peas, beans or carrots , etc, it will add up to a problem. HOW can you figure you are loosing or gaining weigh been so inaccurate?. Might be ok if you are maintaining- in which case why bother counting at all if you are willing to be inaccurate. Surely you have better things to do with your time.

If you're only logging 1000 calories per day, the cals from fruits and veggies that you are getting on top of that are probably desperately needed to get you closer to your healthy calorie intake for the day.  If you start logging everything and still restrict yourself to only 1000 cals per day, you're probably going to be hungry a lot more of the time and you may even have a setback in your weight loss efforts.

If what you are doing now is working for you, and you feel good, then you should just keep on going the way you have been.

I did this for a while and i eat alot of fruits and vesgs and i never saw any improvment because i had really the same mindset as you...but i was alowing myself 1500 and not counting my large amount of fruits and vegs,  so thats a big diffrence, best to get in the habit of counting everything its better that way, more acurate.

Do you think green veggies such as lettuce, broccoli, green beans etc, turn into fat if you've already eaten 1,600 non veggie calories such as chicken, lo-carb bread, egg whites, beans,oats.? That's an excess of calories at night, no exercise. Does it rreally turn into fat?

I have just come to terms that I think I need to count everything.  If I don't then I start to 'slack' with other things.  Plus, it doesn't help me to actually keep track and make sure I am getting the fruit, veg, fibre, etc that I should be getting.

rockyone: calories eaten > calories burned = body fat.  It doesn't really matter when or what you eat.  What you eat does effect your health though.

jane_lennette: Why count anything if you don't count everything?  If you don't count everything you eat then your data is meaningless.

I don't usually count my veggies either. If you are eating 1000 calories of other foods, and not counting your fruits and veggies, your probably getting an extra 200-300 calories in.. which is exactly where you should be. By not counting everything it gives you a sense of freedom. trhawley- do you count your sticks of gum? a squeeze of lemon? a sprinkle of pepper? that would be wat too obssesive for me. If you eat an extra piece of celery at night, and forget to log it,  that 5 calories is not going to kill you, or make you gain weight.

I myself do log, potatoes, corn, peas, and carrots.. because they are starchy and i would go overboard on them (especially carrots). and i log my fruits because i eat so much of them, and some can be quite high in calories (mango.. banana.. avacado.. etc). However, I don't think that you can ever eat too many fiberous water based veggies.

I don't count anything any more.  I only counted for about 3 weeks last spring to get a handle on proportion sizes.  But I wouldn't just count some things.  And if you eat the celery and know that is 5 calories, isn't that counting?  You are assuming that the OPer gets an additional 200-300 cals a day in fruit and veggies so she is "exactly where she should be" but how do you know?  How does she know if she doesn't count at least once to make sure she's getting to 200-300 cals she needs?