[FreeBird3]

I recently joined WW online. All fruits and veggies are 0 points, so I find myself snacking on these 0 point foods all day long. Is there such a thing as eating too many vegetables and/or fruits a day? I know the recommended servings of fruits and vegetables is 2 to 4 servings per day, but I believe I far exceed that given the fact that I'm constantly eating them throughout the day.

Even those it's 0 points on the WW plan, is there such a thing as eating too much vegetables and fruits? I usually snack on broccoli, carrots, tomatoes, blueberries, rasberries, grapes, and apples.

Just curious...

[124chicksinger]

See what kind of effect that has on your weight loss before you form an opinion on that. Lets say a person is a junk food junkie--switching to a diet where fruits and veg are snacked on, instead, that would be a good thing for that person. The veg you probably don't have to worry much about. The calorie count of foods like carrots, tomatoes, etc. isn't much. Better yet, veg like cucumber, peppers, celery, lettuce...those have very few. How much fruit is too much? Are you having more than 3 servings of fruit? Getting back to my first notion, see how you lose for a bit and then if you must, rethink the fruit. For now, I think you'll be okay and let the process unfold before you worry. Good luck on your journey.

[spetty]

While I'm not on WW, I have several friends who are, and one of them had the same concern about all fruits being 0 points. Her meeting leader told them that no one ever got fat eating bananas. If you're worried I would try to snack on more veggies then fruits and having a variety so that you're getting different types of nutrients.

[Koshka]

Yes, of course, you can eat too much fruit and veggies. Their calories count just as much as the calories from candy. Of course, it does depend on what you are eating otherwise. Veggies are usually less likely to be an issue than fruit. If I ate more than 5 fruit/veggie servings and didn't lose I would cut back particularly on fruit.

[Mabenda0]

You can never eat too many vegetables! I feel as if you CAN eat too much fruit. I personally have limited myself to two servings a day- but If i am really hungry and I dont wanna eat yet, I will eat an apple.

[Tudor Rose]

Originally Posted by FreeBird3

I recently joined WW online. All fruits and veggies are 0 points

This is not entirely true, as starchy veggies (corn, potatoes, etc.) still have points

I think the WW stance on this is that if you're eating so many fruits and veggies that you are so full you are falling very short of meeting your target daily points, then yes, it's too much. Personally, though, even with 41 dailies and the fact that I eat at least 4-5 servings of fruit a day, I have no problem meeting my daily points and losing. I think it's entirely up to each individual to find the right balance.

Also, be sure you know what a serving is. I think some people who are knew to the plan assume that one piece of fruit is a serving, when a serving of fruit is actually 1/2 a cup. So that's how I get so many servings in: one banana with breakfast, one large apple with lunch and boom. Four servings of fruit right there

[stellarosa27]

I limit myself to 2 servings of fruits per day, but I have more than 4 servings of vegetables. I have cucumbes, tomatoes, carrots, and peppers cut up in my lunch bag and I munch on them all day, then I usually have a cooked serving (or 2) of vegetables for dinner.

It hasn't really impeded my weight loss, it's more when I DON'T eat them that I tend to make terrible choices.

[pointspluspioneer]

I learned that too much of anything isn't good and can cause stall or weight gain. There was a woman in our meeting who was eating like 10-12 servings of fruit (most of which were bananas) and she gained 5 lbs. in one week. I would eat it in moderation and like other's say, see if you notice a lull and change it up after that.

[Somni]

Everyone is a little different so you'll need to keep an eye on how the scale seems to respond for you, especially with fruit. And make sure that even if you don't have to count 0 point foods, it still can be very helpful to track them - keep an eye on portion size, number of portions, etc, so you know exactly what you are eating if you do need to think about tweaking. It's easy to let bad habits start/continue with mindlessly grazing on 0 point foods if you aren't careful.

Also you might want to think about hunger signals, if you are snacking so much that maybe you need to think about finding more satisfying foods for your meals (personally higher protein intake helps curb my snack cravings a lot - greek yogurt, low fat cottage cheese, lite string cheese, lean meat, etc), and if are you getting in your daily points otherwise. There have been a few threads recently about people tweaking their points when the scale isn't cooperating, but when you are new to the plan it's a good idea to at least try the plan as intended with the recommended daily points.

Looking forward to seeing how it works out.

[MariaMaria]

Originally Posted by pointspluspioneer

There was a woman in our meeting who was eating like 10-12 servings of fruit (most of which were bananas) and she gained 5 lbs. in one week.

This doesn't make sense. Calorieking.com shows 105 calories in a medium banana. Times 10=1050 calories per day. Times 7=7350. So assuming these bananas are ADDED to the rest of what this person is eating and do nothing whatsoever for her feelings of satiety or being full (which is not reality), that's two pounds.

[kaplods]

Originally Posted by MariaMaria

This doesn't make sense. Calorieking.com shows 105 calories in a medium banana. Times 10=1050 calories per day. Times 7=7350. So assuming these bananas are ADDED to the rest of what this person is eating and do nothing whatsoever for her feelings of satiety or being full (which is not reality), that's two pounds.

That would be assuming that her metabolism is not effected by the extra carbs. It also not taking into account the weight of the undigested food in her gut and water retention. It's also assuming that eating those extra carbs did not increase her hunger - thereby increasing her consumption of other foods (even assuming staying within her WW points budget).

The factors again

METABOLISM

I lose more consistently and have less hunger on 1800 calories of low-carb than on 1800 calories of high carb (even when the carbs are "good carbs"). I'm not sure this was always true. When I was much younger, it seemed to me at least that I did lose about the same, regardless of where my calories came from.

This is a phenomenon that is frequently reported, especially in middle aged and older women, especially when endocrine and metabolic issues are involved such as insulin resistance, diabetes and other blood sugar issues, as well as thyroid and autoimmune diseases.




WEIGHT of undigested food & water

It can take up to three days for food to clear the body. So while it's unlikely that she gained five pounds of fat - the weight gain on the scale is perfectly logical. A person carry up to 25 lbs of digesting food in the gut (even more in some freakish cases). The weight of the food of course, will appear on the scale as a gain.

A one pound cabbage doesn't have 3500 calories - so you can't gain one pound of fat from eating one -but if you step on a scale before the cabbage is digested and passed, you will have gained a pound on the scale.

It's important to remember that our bodies don't work on a "daily" schedule or even necessarily a weekly one. The weight of your food and liquids you take in, will appear on the scale until they're fully digested and passed. Liquids ordinarily pass fairly quickly (but not always - there are many reasons the body will hold onto water).

One of which is that the body needs more water to digest carbohydrates - so increasing carbohydrate intake, increases water needs. Meaning the body is going to hold on to more of the water, resulting in a gain on the scale.



HUNGER


It's also very possible to eat large quantities of fruit on top of a normal diet, and have it not contribute to satiety. Because I'm one of those people for which that happens.

Carbohydrates even "good carbohydrates" increase my hunger. My hunger and satiety cues don't work right. On super low-carb, I'm often not hungry, even when I should be (irritability is my first symptom - so hubby recognizes that I need to eat before I do). On a higher carb intake - I'm hungrier. In fact, the more high-carb foods I eat, the hungrier I get. So eating 6 bananas in a day, actually would make me hungrier than eating 1, especially if I was careless enough to eat the banana or other high-carb foods without fat or protein.

I can eat fruit until I'm sick, and not feel satisfied. Every July, I do. I love Ranier cherries, and I will binge on those buggers and still feel starved. I have to count every calorie, because the fruit doesn't fill me up, it makes me hungrier.

I call high-carb food triggered hunger "rabid hunger," because it's absolutely horrific, and I can eat until my stomach is hurting and I still feel as though I'm starving.

Most people do not have this response to carbs, or at least to fruits - but it is well within the realm of possibility, because I've met others like myself here on 3FC, and in my TOPS group and other weight loss support groups, which is why it annoys me when people say "No one ever got fat, eating...." because it's inevitably a lie. There are a lot of people who got fat eating foods that most people believe "no one ever got fat on."

When I was put on my first diet in kindergarten, fruits were one of the few foods my parents didn't strictly control because until I proved them wrong, they did believe that "no one ever got fat on fruit."

It wasn't fruit alone, but fruit alone diets have their own side effects (for me, diarrhea).


Two apparently identical people can eat and exercise identically, and still have different results. Metabolism is not a constant, and that's why "a calorie is a calorie" doesn't always work out that way. What we eat can affect what we burn, and not everyone burns food the same way.

Insulin resistance is getting better understood, so it may eventually be possible to identify carb-sensitive folks before recommending a diet. But as it is, trial-and-error is unavoidable.

And that's one strength of WW - it's flexibility. You may have to "tweak" a bit (ideally with the leader's input) - but WW always has acknowledged the need for that. I'm not currently a member, but except for the newest system, I've been in every WW program since 1972 (when I was 8 years old, and WW was an exchange plan). While the guidelines were always written with "everyone" in mind - there were always members who had to tweak the program (and not just on their own). I remember women (usually middle-aged and older women - probably with metabolic issues like I'm now facing) who weren't getting results from the standard plan, and the leader would recommend that they drop down to a plan meant for someone smaller.

I've heard from current WW members that the same is still true. If someone isn't losing on unlimited fruit, and fruit seems to be a problem, they're encouraged to limit "free" fruit. It's entirely appropriate to customize the plan to your specific situation. If you don't have to limit fruit, then that's super. But some folks will have to.

[madamwu]

That was such a great, thoughful post. Thank you for the effort you put into it.

[QuilterInVA]

When WW came up with the plan, they included just 5 servings of fruits and vegetables a day as 0 points so yes you certainly can eat too many.

[sarahyu]

My leader told us recently after several of us complained about not losing, most of us had either stalled, gained or lost only 0.2 pounds. That in that situation to limit fruit to 2 1/2 c a day, that's 5 -1/2 cup servings. But if you are still losing and having no problems then don't limit yourself.

Once I put that into play I've done better because I really was eating way too much fruit. I had switched from a very little fruit food plan and kind of went crazy with it. Who needs a vegetable when a necterine tastes so good-and half a watermelon and....well you get the picture.

I don't think it's possible to eat too many non-starchy veggies. You will develop a strong need to run to the bathroom several times a day. Diarrhea can be pretty bad, and you can get stomach cramps from too much fiber
(1 serving of fiber one is 1/2 cup not a full bowl of ~ 2 cups. )

I still have problems recognizing when I'm no longer hungry vs I'm full.

[124chicksinger]

Kaplods, I applaud you! Wonder post.

Sarahyu, I tend to agree with you on the non-starchy veg because they have so few calories. Once could eat an entire head of lettuce, be full, and not have it make much difference on the scale. Green veg especially is extremely filling and low cal.