So, the consensus seems to be: there is no consensus. Everyone seems to figure out what works for them!

I think what makes calorie counting successful is becoming really aware of what we're eating and finding ways to limit portions so that we eat less than we "burn". Some people do that by writing everything down. Others figure out the general calorie counts of their meals and snacks and can interchange them, knowing what it works out it. Some count veggies. Some don't count ANY veggies (but may end up giving themselves somewhat fewer calories to compensate)...

The thing is, any of these approaches can be successful. It's up to each of us to figure out which one(s) will work for us!

^^^What she said! I answered this in a thread before and basically, I would be 250-500 calories over what I should eat daily if I didn't count vegetables!

I count ALL calories, including vegetables. Of course, most veggies have a lot of bulk for few calories (esp. veggies like mushrooms and peppers) but they still contain calories and should be counted.

Weight Watchers is not a calorie counting program, so they do things differently. If you're doing calorie counting, though, you should count all calories.

I completely disagree. Who decides what "should" be done anyway? There are several ways to count calories, and every one is legitimate. If it's working for a person, there isn't any reason to change what they're doing just because someone else thinks they're "doing it wrong."

Vegetables have calories, too. So yes, I count them.

However, some people don't. It just depends on what works for you. But since vegetables make up a huge part of my diet, I have to count them because that's where most of my calories come from.

I don't count lettuce or other greens, since the calorie count is so small. I count other types, because like the rest of you I eat a lot of veggies.

I think it depends on a few factors:

~How close you are to goal.

(If you are 5 pounds away, and things are going super slow-then every calorie matters at that point, whereas someone who still has 90 pounds to lose might find that 10 calories here and there don't matter all that much.)

~How many veggies and super low calorie foods you are eating.

If the only thing you are not counting is a celery stick at 7 calories, and a piece of sugar free gum at 5, then 12 calories over the entire day not counted isn't going to be a big deal. On the other hand, if you eat a large salad at dinner each day that has 4 cups of lettuce in it, and 4 celery sticks each day with your sandwich at lunch, and you chew 4 pieces of sugarless gum each day to keep you out of your co-workers candy bowl...then those calories are going to start adding up, and SHOULD be counted. If the little negligible calories are adding up to 100 or more per day-then you should count.

I count them.. I even count the sugarless gum and diet sodas!

Hi. What Meg said. I did WW many years ago, and if memory serves me, WW does account for certain veggies a different way. My WW experience goes back before the point system. It was selections (i.e. milk, protein, bread, fat and vegetable). Because of varied caloric contents in veggies like lettuce vs corn, lettuce was a vegetable selection and corn a bread selection. I'm new here and just starting again to make a commitment to get healthy and plan on keeping it simple by counting it all.