I've been trying to figure out how to figure out the calories in a generic salad. Just different kinds of lettuce, maybe a few sliced carrots, and some cucumbers. Is it right to say that the vegetable part of the salad can be in the 50 calorie range? Or am I doing something seriously wrong? I know that adding a protein and fat to it will up those calories, but is the veggie part sounding right?
I use fitday and just put in all the ingredients for the salad separately. For instance, I might put in a cup of raw spinach, 15 grape tomatoes, a quarter cup of raw carrots, 5 regular croutons, and 1.5 tablespoons of low fat salad dressing, and it gives me a good estimate for each item. Then it just gets added to my daily total.
I count any raw veggie (except things like avocado) in a salad as 50-75 calories. For me, I acknowledge that it wasn't raw veggies in a salad that got me to over 300 lbs, so seriously, those measly calories are not doing the 'damage'. I do count everything else diligently in a salad (any nuts, beans, dressing, cheese, avocado etc) because that can add up, especially nuts or seeds because a very small amount can be a heck of a lot of calories.
So yeah, I would say all the raw greens/cucumber etc are around 50-75 in a large salad. Then be diligent (and honest lol) about the calories in any additions.
Last edited by MyBestYear; 03-24-2010 at 01:50 PM.
If you really wanted to be super accurate you could find the calories per grams for each item and weigh everything. While it wasn't the salads that made us fat if sometime if we overestimate something it sure would have been nice to have that 25-50 cals for something else And on the flip side once your weight goes down and you need less cals overestimating by 25-50+ cals can bring on weight loss stalls. You just have to find your personal comfort level, for me right now estimate is working fine.
Okay, that makes me feel better! I just needed a sanity check.
I think I like the idea of just estimating the veggie part for now. I have to say, I think y'all are probably right. It was not lettuce and carrots that got me where I am today. lol I think I'm a pretty long way from where 25 calories of lettuce are going to stall out my weight loss.
I measure carrots because I eat a lot of them and while not a huge amount of calories, it makes me feel better to measure. All the other veggies in my salad get tracked on fitday but I estimate whether I'm having 2 or 3 ounces and don't worry that I might be off by a few calories. I totally agree that I didn't get fat eating too much lettuce! lol!
I'm also somewhat flexible with extra calories if I'm REALLY hungry and if they come from fruits or veggies. That's actually my test to tell if I'm really hungry or if it's emotional eating, boredom, etc. I try to plan to leave enough room for a snack if I need one, but if I happen to be truly hungry, I will go over my target by 50-75 calories but only for some extra veggies or a piece of fruit.
I weigh all my veg and then add up the calories for each to get the total. It's probably not neccessary, but I think that the longer I do it, the easier it will be when it's time to be maintaining in the real world...I'll have a better idea what 4 oz. of spinach looks like...(BIG...really, really, really BIG). Also, the difference in calories isn't much between 4 oz. of spainach and just 2, but it is so much more satisfying to see a plate full of veg instead of just a little dab...a full palte makes me happy still, so I can fake myself oiut with veg visually and still know that I am on plan. If I didn't count the calories, it would probably make no difference in weight loss, but it does help the psyche for me I guess.
Barb
I do this too (estimate at 50 calories) for my base salad on most salad days and then figure anything else so that every time I have a salad I do not have to weigh my lettuce, tomato, cilantro, cucumer, bell pepper and spinach. I use a regular sized cereal bowl for myt base salad. This seems to be working great.
50 cals sounds about right! Maybe even less. I eat a simple salad with a few leaves romaine lettuce and Kraft low-cal italian dressing (I use a lot of dressing). That's 30 calories for the entire salad
Calories in a salad
And on the flip side once your weight goes down and you need less cals overestimating by 25-50+ cals can bring on weight loss stalls. You just have to find your personal comfort level, for me right now estimate is working fine.
