It’s important to consume vegetables if you want to lose weight. It’s an important source of nutrition for the body and should be an essential part of your diet.
While vegetables may not come with the three macronutrients - fat, protein, and carbohydrates - they are loaded with fiber and are great for hydration. Vegetables make you feel you’re full because of its volume. It helps in curbing your appetite and ensures you’re not overeating your calories.
Vegetables are capable of holding 80-90% water and are a voluminous consumption with much lesser calories. However, just because they're low in calories doesn’t mean you consume as much as you want to. Even for vegetables, there’s a certain limit to consumption.
How many servings of vegetables to lose weight?
Usually, it’s said that you should have 3 to 4 servings of vegetables a day. But what is the amount for 1 serving?
It depends on country to country, but usually it’s one cup or an ounce. Since we’re discussing mixed vegetables, it’s safer to assume it’s a cup of mixed vegetables. However, if we were talking about only green vegetables such as spinach or kale, it wouldn’t be a cup. If you stir fry leafy vegetables, a huge amount comes down to an extremely small portion, and it won’t give you the nutrition you seek.
As a result, you need to increase the volume you cook when it comes to leafy vegetables. Ideally, 2-3 cups a day is mandatory, but you can add a fourth cup if you want, as vegetables are your source of fiber, not macronutrients.
Some may opt not to count the calories in their vegetables if they're mostly leafy ones such as cucumbers or onions. They’re consumed in a handful but don’t really affect the number of calories significantly.
Meanwhile, some choose to supplement their vegetable intake with a high-fiber drink. That's usually green powder, as most of them are made from green vegetables.
What type of vegetables should you eat?
If you want to lose weight, you should consume green vegetables. That's important for fibers. In fact, you cannot consider potatoes to be a daily vegetable for 3-4 cups a day, as they're high in starch and in calories. What about green vegetables? Go nuts.
Some of the healthiest green vegetables you can eat to lose weight are Brussels sprouts, green peas, kale, spinach, and broccoli.
How much fiber do you need every day?
Usually, you should aim to eat approximately 25-35 grams of fiber every day. It’s good for your muscles; it’s great if you want to lose weight and ensure a healthy gut in the long run.
Bottom Line
If you want to lose weight, it's not just eating your vegetables but also ensuring you’re following the basics of a calorie deficit diet. If you’re not in a calorie deficit, you won’t be able to lose weight regardless of what you do.