Too much of a good thing?

  • Just had a question, I've been calorie counting on and off for quite a while now. This time go round I've been really trying to clean up my eating and not just count, so I have been eating ALOT of fruits and veggies to help "fill" me up. I'm just curious if it's possible to have too much of a good thing? I eat a pretty good amount of veggies for lunch dinner and sometimes snacks as well so i don't feel hungry. My husband bought a bunch of fresh fruits and few veggies so i keep eating them... just wondering what everyone thinks I'm staying in my calorie range of about 15-2000 a day, I like to mix it up.
  • Are you getting enough protein? That would be my only concern. There was someone here once who was like "I am not eating any carbs at all, and 90% of my calories come from raw fruit and vegetables" and we were all like "Um, you know fruits and vegetables are carbs, right?"

    This is not to say they are bad--I eat well over a pound of produce myself each day. But you need protein as well.

    I also have a crazy theory that sometimes people who tend towards "if some is good, more is great" can overhydrate. Fruits and vegetables are 90% water. If you are eating pounds of produce and also drinking huge amounts (like gallons) of fluid each day, I might worry about it.
  • I think I'm getting enough protein I try to incorporate a small amount with every meal and snack, I eat lean beef chicken pork fish 1-2 times a week peanut butter nuts ect.. I just try to make the veggie my main part of dinner ect.. and do fruits for desserts and breakfast sometimes snacks. Just trying to figure out what's the "norm" for veggie and fruit consumption in a day I've heard 5 a day but I'm sure i eat much more could it de-rail me in the long run?
  • I don't think it's that much of a problem so long as you're still getting proper nutrients which it sounds like you are. I'm not a nutrition expert and can really only offer my own experience, so take what I say with a grain of salt...

    Before my weight loss journey I was a binge and emotional eater (hence my high weight). When I started my lifestyle change last year I cut out ALL junk food, soda/juice, fast-food, most processed foods, ... , and I also made sure I was eating in proper portions.

    Cutting out all the 'bad' stuff worked wonders, except that I still had problems with binge/emotional eating. One of the biggest problems I had was constantly feeling 'hungry.' After years of overeating and binging I couldn't tell when I was physically hungry or just bored and wanting food. So while I was going through withdrawal from junk food I allowed myself to eat as many fruits and veggies as my lil' heart desired.

    Long story short, after a few weeks my eating was mostly under control and I no longer felt that constant need for food. Even 'overeating' on veggies I lost weight. For me, it was much healthier to eat a whole lot of carrots rather than a bag of cheetos.

    Nowadays, with my eating under control I'm rarely hungry so I'm not eating as much veggies as before. Of course the majority of my diet is still veggies/fruit although I take vitamins and try to make sure I'm getting enough nutrients. My love of veggies hasn't negatively effected my weight loss.
  • Even though I love fruit and it is healthy; for some reason I wasn't able to lose eating much of it. It's the same in maintenance as well. I really have to limit how much I eat, but can still eat tons of veggies. They're great for those of us who are volume eaters!
  • grace- that's how i feel i was and im sure still am a binge eater and i really feel that eating a ton of steamed veggies or a bowl of fruit to subside my hunger is a much better choice than the ice cream or bread i really want to binge on. I guess we will see if it negativly effects the scale or not and adjust then. thanks guys!