How much is too much? I mean I can eat 2 cupps of baby carrots a day no problem. Also an orange a banana some grapes. How bad r these for my diet?
i am staying well within my calories, i usually get anywhere between 1100-1300 a day.
Is this going to slow down my weightloss? Can I eat too much of a good thing?
Thanks
I don't know the exact mathematics of it all...but I eat fruit all day and veggies too! Calorie wise, most are fine, and the nutrition they offer is amazing. I always compare how I eat now to how I ate before...I'd much rather eat grapes and apples and carrots ALL day than have snickers bars and chips!
First off, for someone who weighs 240'ish pounds you should be able to eat at least 1800 calories a day and still lose weight.
Secondly, I don't think you can ever eat to many veggies. They are full of antioxidants, vitamins, minerals, protein, and much needed fiber. They help keep you full and most of them are low in calories.
Last edited by zinkemomx2; 01-26-2010 at 08:32 AM.
Thanks Ladies...I will keep snacking on my veggies and fruit. I was a big popcorn(extra butter) and chips person so i guess i could eat my weight in veggies and still be better off. Thanks!
I'm also a big fruit and veggie person. I can seriously eat like 5 bananas a day and be happy lol I also love grilled zucchini, spinach and mushrooms. Sometimes I feel like I'm overdoing it. Like when the diet calls fro 2 servings of fruit a day, I may eat an extra apple or banana at night when I get hungry. But then I think, "hmm, I'm "cheating" with a piece of fruit!" That's definitely the better choice made. But I too, wonder sometimes if m extra servings of fruit and veggies will effect my weight loss effort negatively.
This shows what is suggested, and more can be healthy!
If one is going to eat many servings of something, for most plans, fruits and vegetables are a great choice.
Personally, on my healthiest eating days, I get about 10 servings of vegetables and a couple of fruit, as I eat a plant-based diet. This allows me to feel satisfied, have plenty of fiber, vitamins, minerals and antioxidants while keeping the calories in check.
It's not impossible for fruits and some veggies to stall weight loss, but at your calorie level, that seems extremely unlikely.
I can lose weight better on 1800 calories of low-carb/low-glycemic foods than 1800 calories of high-carb eating, so I spend a lot of my calories on vegetables. Most vegetables are high in fiber (cellulose), which technically is a carbohydrate, but one that humans can't digest (so we don't get any of the calories coming from fiber). As a result veggies provide a lot more satisfaction, for the fewest amount of calories.
My weight loss can stall on too much fruit - but that really tends to happen only when I'm eating a lot more than the 3 servings of fruit alotted in the exchange plan I use.
I have to measure fruits like grapes, cherries, and watermelon (and especially dried fruits, which I mostly stay away from unless they're measured and used in a recipe or added to a salad) - because I can very easily take in a lot of calories before realizing it, with these fruits.
Low-calorie vegetables, I'm less concerned with precise measurements (though I use my food scale a lot, so I generally do use it for veggies, because it's already out).
I've been on and off diets for years, and the only thing that ever worked for me was lowering my calories, but NOT counting fruits and veg.
In fact I have the NY Times #1 bestseller book that just came out, The Mayo Clinic Diet. They recommend eating all you want of fresh fruits and fresh veg without counting. They say that the two lowest caloric density foods around are fruits and veg. Their Healthy Weight Food Pyramid encourages a lot of fruits and veg (not dried fruit or juice).
That's why I'm doing. I know in my heart fruit and veg never made me fat, but too much of everything else did! In fact Weight Watchers lets you eat "unlimited vegetables" and their Simply Filling Technique allows "free fruit and veg" (no counting). So maybe I'm on to something. I don't do Weight Watchers, but I sure like that philosphy. It's nice having some food you just don't have to count.
This shows what is suggested, and more can be healthy!
This only gave me 1.5 cups of fruit and 2.5 of vegables. Doesn't this fly in the face of the recommended 5 servings a day? I follow Volumetrics (Dr. Rolls' version, not Jenny Craig) and fruits and vegables are big, Huge, GIGANTIC on that plan.
I would agree that I did not gain my weight on non-starchy vegetables - but fruit very much did contribute to my obesity.
I've never been much of a fast food fan. I gained most of my weight on too many portions of mostly healthy (too high carb, but healthy) foods. Even switching to a whole food diet like South Beach, I lost weight the first few weeks, and then stalled, maintaining my weight for weeks because I was eating healthy - but too much.
I love fruit, and it's so easy for me to overeat to ridiculous levels if I don't count them. I can easily make a meal or snack of fruit that contains several hundred calories (from fresh fruit only, not from fruit juice or dried fruit), so it is important for me to count fruit.
If you're only going to have a couple pieces of fruit, counting may not be as important (but that doesn't mean the calories and carbs in the fruit are unimportant).
This only gave me 1.5 cups of fruit and 2.5 of vegables. Doesn't this fly in the face of the recommended 5 servings a day? I follow Volumetrics (Dr. Rolls' version, not Jenny Craig) and fruits and vegables are big, Huge, GIGANTIC on that plan.
I thought the calculator grossly underestimated for me also. I'm assuming it's a "bare minimum" calculator not an "ideal" one. Most of the research on the health benefits of fruits and vegetables that I've read show the most health benefits at significantly greater than the 5 servings recommended by the FDA. I suspect that the govt requirements were not based on the ideal, but the practical. If people aren't even eating 5 servings, telling them that 8-10 servings would be ideal is going to seem ridiculously unobtainable.
Haha so true. And let's think about this for a minute. I used to not need a snack because my lunch was so high fat that I was full all day. If I did get a snack it was something horrible like little powdered donuts. Ohhhh how I love little powdered donuts...and Coke...together. Yeah so I'm thinking an extra apple and banana a day isn't going to kill me.
This only gave me 1.5 cups of fruit and 2.5 of vegables. Doesn't this fly in the face of the recommended 5 servings a day? I follow Volumetrics (Dr. Rolls' version, not Jenny Craig) and fruits and vegables are big, Huge, GIGANTIC on that plan.
No. A serving is generally a 1/2 cup for nonleafy fruits and veggies. So they're recommending 8 servings.
I usually have a banana or orange with breakfast whick is special k blueberry. Then I have a snack of LF cottage cheese and about a cup of baby carrots after my mile walk and wii fit. Then at lunch I have a salad with pickle(love salty stuff) then in the afternoon I have another cup of baby carrots. Then dinner last night was LF chicken spaghetti with wheat noodles. For dessert I had a clementine and about 10 grapes.