Are Strawberries Good For Weight Loss?

This article has been Fact-Checked by Kendall Kennedy MS, RD, RYT

There are many ways to implement some sweetness in your diet. Find out whether strawberries or good for weight loss or not.

Strawberries are relatively low in calories, contain a nice amount of fiber, and offer a few vitamins and minerals in small amounts.

The result of these details is that eating strawberries will likely help you feel fuller and consume smaller portions of foods that are less helpful for losing weight.

If this is the case, and it often will be, strawberries are good for weight loss.

On the other hand, you do have to make the changes above. Just adding strawberries on top of the typical things you eat will likely not change much.

Additionally, you want to keep in mind that there are other important nutrients for weight loss and health that strawberries do not offer. You need other smart food choices too.

This article will also go over the specific nutrient amounts in strawberries, when and how to eat them, and how strawberries compare to similar alternatives.

Calories in strawberries

Calories are not the only thing that matters for weight loss but it does offer helpful information. Find out how strawberries do in this area.

100 grams of raw strawberries contain around 32 calories (1).

Even compared to other fruits for weight loss, strawberries are relatively low in calories.

Vegetables tend to be even lower in calories but it is fair to say that strawberries are low in calories compared to many foods.

27.2 of the calories above come from carbohydrates (7.7 g per 100 grams of which 2 g fiber).

Strawberries are one of the lowest-carb berries but you do still have to keep your portions small to fit them in ways of eating like the ketogenic diet.

So while the sources of these calories matter too, strawberries look good for weight loss for now.

Micronutrients in strawberries

The first thing to look at is the amount of micronutrients in strawberries.

Micronutrients are a group of nutrients your body absolutely needs to survive and thrive. Micronutrients include vitamins and minerals. These are involved in basically every aspect of your health, including weight loss.

100 grams of strawberries provides you with approximately (1):

• Vitamin C: 98% of the DV (Daily Value)
• Manganese: 19% of the DV
• Folate: 6% of the DV

And a few other vitamins and minerals in less significant amounts. Besides vitamin C, these are low amounts of vitamins and minerals compared to many whole foods.

Strawberries do contain certain kinds of antioxidants, substances that help your body deal with oxidative damage.

Fiber in strawberries for weight loss

Another very important factor for weight loss is the amount of fiber in your food.

Strawberries contain around 2 grams of fiber per 100 grams (1).

That is a good amount of fiber per 100 grams compared to many other whole foods.

Fiber has multiple benefits for weight loss. First of all, it feeds your microbiome, the microbes that live in your intestines. The health of your microbiome influences your body’s health and weight. Feeding it well is usually not a bad idea.

Fiber also helps you feel less hungry without adding a lot of calories to your diet. Hunger and cravings can be a big pitfall for people trying to lose weight, so avoiding this is a big plus.

With the amount of fiber in strawberries you can reduce the time you spend craving for food a bit.

Do strawberries help you lose weight?

Strawberries are low in calories, contain a nice amount of fiber, and have a few vitamins and minerals.

By eating more of these, you will likely feel fuller and consume smaller amounts of other foods. If this happens and these other foods would be worse for weight loss, strawberries should help you lose weight.

At the same time, you need to keep in mind that just eating more strawberries is not enough. You still have to make the changes in the rest of your diet too.

On top of that, there are a variety of other nutrients that are important for losing weight. Strawberries do not really contain a lot of these in significant amounts.

That means you still need to make other changes in your diet to lose weight with strawberries in the long term.

Do strawberries burn belly fat?

Targetting fat loss in a specific area like your belly is generally not possible. Not by eating more of a specific food or by doing a specific exercise. To burn belly fat you have to lose weight overall.

Since strawberries will likely help you lose weight in general this fruit can also help you lose belly fat once your body wants to lose fat in your abdominal area.

Are strawberries fattening at night?

The calories in strawberries are mainly from carbohydrates. Carbohydrates raise insulin. Insulin in turn can mess with the production of sleep hormones. Sleep is important for your weight loss and health.

That’s one of the reasons why you preferably want to consume strawberries earlier in the day or at least not right before bed. The amount of calories in strawberries is not that high but if you can make the better choice why not.

Strawberries won’t be that fattening at night that they mean the end of your weight loss journey but you preferably want to stop eating them a while before bedtime.

Healthiest ways to eat strawberries

Strawberries make for a great snack on their own but it also combines great with other healthy foods. Here are some healthy dishes you can combine with strawberries:

• Yogurt
• Oatmeal
• Fruit salad
• Smoothie

If you are looking to lose weight you want to avoid dishes with strawberries like milkshakes, cheesecake, and most other baked goods.

Strawberries vs other popular fruits for weight loss

You now know how good strawberries are for weight loss but how do they compare to certain other fruits? Find out how good strawberries are for weight loss vs blueberries, bananas, raspberries, and grapes.

Strawberries vs blueberries

Blueberries are another popular fruit choice. Blueberries are higher in calories than strawberries, 47 calories per 100 grams (2).

The amount of fiber in both of these fruits is similar but enough of a difference to matter. Blueberries have about 2.4 grams of fiber per 100 grams vs the 2 grams of strawberries. In terms of the total amount of vitamins and minerals blueberries are slightly higher.

It’s hard to predict which of these 2 fruits is the best for weight loss. This most likely depends on the individual. If you struggle with hunger the extra fiber in blueberries might be worth the small amount of extra calories.

Strawberries vs banana

Bananas are one of the most popular fruits there are. If you’re only looking at calories bananas contain a relatively large amount more. Strawberries contain around 32 calories per 100 grams vs the 89 calories per 100 grams of bananas (3).

Strawberries contain around 2 grams of fiber per 100 grams, bananas 2.6 grams. Bananas contain about the same amount of vitamins and minerals as strawberries but more spread out over different vitamins and minerals.

Strawberries are most likely slightly better for weight loss than bananas.

Strawberries vs raspberries

Next there is strawberries vs raspberries. Raspberries are higher in calories than strawberries, 52 calories per 100 grams vs the 32 calories per 100 grams of strawberries (4).

Raspberries contain around 6.5 grams of fiber per 100 grams. Considerably higher than the 2 grams of fiber per 100 grams in strawberries. These 2 fruits contain similar amounts of vitamins and minerals.

All in all, raspberries will likely be better for weight loss due to the amount of fiber in raspberries. There most likely won’t be a difference of several pounds of weight loss but if you like both the same amount you might as well choose raspberries.

Strawberries vs grapes

Lastly the comparison between strawberries and grapes. Grapes are higher in calories than strawberries, 69 calories per 100 grams (5).

At the same time grapes are lower in fiber. About 0.9 grams per 100 grams. Strawberries are slightly higher in the amount of vitamins and minerals.

All in all, if you look at these numbers strawberries are likely better for weight loss than grapes.

Chart of strawberries vs other popular fruits

All in all, the differences between these fruits won’t make that much of a difference when it comes to losing weight. If you like all these fruits equally you might as well choose the ones that are better for weight loss.

The amount of vitamins and minerals in the foods does matter for weight loss and health but you can’t simplify that in one number. You can check out the numbers for strawberries (1), blueberries (2), bananas (3), raspberries (4), and grapes (5) to compare.