Hey everybody, I just have a quick question.
So i've been eating a lot of raw veggies for snacks lately, you know, munching on a carrot stick instead of chips or something.. My question is should i be counting the calories in the snack veggies I eat? I count them if they're cooked, but I've been thinking of raw veggies as freebies. Any thoughts?

i would like to know this too!
i eat A LOT of veggies.

Of course you count calories in vegetables. You count calories in everything that has a calorie .

Just because all calories count, doesn't mean you're obligated to count them all. Your results will depend upon your calorie intake, not the precision of your math, which means if you're seeing the results you want - count or don't count - entirely your choice, and either is legitimate. You're not any less a calorie-counter if you count differently than someone else

All variations of calorie counting are maths of estimation, and there's no "prize" for having done the most precise math. The best math doesn't necessarily mean the best weight loss (The results are important, not the mathematical equations you used to get those results).

Remember that it's the calories, not how you count them that determines results. There are many different methods of calorie counting. For example, all of the following (except the last) are forms of calorie counting, and they'll all yield the same results (and there are dozens of other variations that will as well).
No matter which you chose (and you can choose a different one every week, if you want to) all will yield the same results:


1. eat 1200 counted calories and around 300 calories of uncounted non-starchy veggies

2. eat 1500 precisely counted calories

3. eat an average of 1500 calories per day (because you aim for a target range of 1200 - 1800)

4. follow a 1500 calorie exchange plan (because exchanges are based on calories it is a type of calorie counting).

5. follow a 1200 - 1800 calorie exchange plan and average 1500 calories

6. follow a 1200 calorie per day calorie or exchange plan, and give yourself an allowance of 2100 calories to use through the week


7. eat an average of 1500 calories without counting (whether it's because you're following a non-counting plan which happens to average out to 1500 calories per day, or you're using a meal delivery service in which someone else has done the counting for you. No matter why you're eating 1500 calories, if you're eating 1500 calories, you'll yield the same results as if you did the counting).

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A lot of people argue that if you eat tons of veggies, you have to count them. That's not precisely true. Say you ate about 1000 calories of veggies every day. You could still lose just as much wieght as any of the above methods by reducing your "counted" calories to 500. It would still come out to the same weight loss.

It would even still be calorie counting (just a kind of weird way to count).

If you're eating a relatively consistent calorie level of uncounted food, it really doesn't matter. You'll easily continue to lose, just by adjusting your counted calorie budget downward.

If you eat 100 calories of uncounted veggies one day and 600 the next, that could impact on your results. You still might be able to lose reliably and successfully, but your results would be more inconsistent (and you'd have to decide if you're ok with that - and whether you are or aren't, it's still calorie counting).

Cooked veggies and starchy veggies have a much higher calorie count than raw, low-calorie veggies, so it makes less sense not to count those such as say not count lettuce and spices. However, that doesn't mean you couldn't be successful if you chose not to count them. The math would just have to be different.


There are a lot of ways to count calories and as long as you're satisfied with your methods and seeing results, there's no way to do it "wrong."

For some folks, not counting the non-starchy raw vegetables makes them more likely to put them on the plate freely, so I can see why some people choose not to count them. If thinking of them as freebies helps you eat more of them, that can work out well for you.

I record them, but I do so more to track nutrition than to worry about the calories that the fresh spinach or lettuce I put on my sandwich contains. I didn't get fat because I stacked too much lettuce on a sandwich, so I don't sweat it if I now load up on it.

Thanks for all the advice. I read somewhere that eating raw vegetables (especially things like celery) actually raises your metabolism to digest them, effectively burning more calories than there are in the vegetable itself, and so got me wondering about the calorie counting, etc.
also, Nola Celeste, nice to meet somebody else who plays dnd (as evidenced by your avatar)

Well, unfortunately the "negative calories" thing is untrue; all foods have only positive calories, and none of them cost more calories to digest than they contain. Still, when you're talking about single-digit calories as in celery and cucumbers, it's such a small number that a lot of people do consider them freebies.

I only count mine to keep track of nutrition; I certainly don't worry about the calories they contain. I assiduously weigh out my breakfast cereal and other carbs, weigh or measure calorie-dense fats, and portion out avocados and such on the scale, but I don't keep careful track of my green leafy vegetables. I tend to estimate those because treating them as a "go ahead, pile it on" kind of food encourages better eating habits in myself.

Others' mileage may vary, of course.

And I would love to play D&D if I had more people in my neighborhood who played--but I used to play like a fiend. Fatferretfanatic is another 3FC gamer chick, so we're not too scarce around here.

I tell myself constantly: "You can always eat another carrot!"

Yeah, vegetables do have calories, but the bulk factor prevents you from eating something worse, which could have fit into that digestive space.

I have yet to hear of anyone gaining weight eating only *RAW* vegetables. Now.... frying them, topping them with salad dressing, grinding them up into smoothies, those are entirely different situations.

I've added them up a few times and they didn't amount to much. Since I round up and try not to hit my max number of calories just to compensate for any underestimating I figure I'm good.

I'm LOVING this commie!!

Being that I just started. I log everything that I put in my mouth. I think as long as I journal my food intake, I'll have a better idea of what I need to cut out, what I can do to switch foods up or even what I can add. I log excercise and H20 also.

Count them if you want, but I wouldn't stress over it unless you are eating hundreds and hundreds of carrot sticks a day