New Vegan and Not Losing Weight

hellonikki123

mamapeach910 wrote: »

hellonikki123 wrote: »

ButterflyMyles wrote: »

I've been vegan for years and in that time I've been obese, overweight, healthy weight and overweight again! People seem to think vegans just eat grass or something, you can still have lots of high fat, calorie laden foods as a vegan. Going vegan in and of itself will not make anyone lose weight, as others have said, though there can be other health benefits. I'm not assuming that you, OP, just went vegan because you thought you might lose weight, I'm just saying some people do and it isn't the case, at all!

I think you are doing everything right, just give it time, and don't give up! If you are burning more than you're taking in you will lose weight. Also think about the other 'non scale victories' - eating well and moving more help you to feel more vibrant and energetic, de stress, improve your health, lower cholesterol and maybe take some measurements as well? I know in the past where I have incorporated a work out programme whilst also cutting calories, I found the numbers on the scale really slowed down compared to when I was just dieting alone ( in total I lost around 70lbs over two years or so), and sometimes even went up, but I felt smaller, fitter and stronger. It was very disheartening and confusing. Now I don't obsess so much about the numbers on the scales. After a very stressful year myself I also put on some weight (thankfully not all of it just a stone or so!) and restarted this whole weight loss thing on new years day too I just want to fit comfortably into my (UK) size 8-10 stuff again, after working so hard to get there in the first place!! But maybe leave longer gaps between weighing yourself, also are you logging your exercise and eating back all the calories? Maybe don't eat back all of them, the app isn't amazingly accurate in terms of calorie burn. Hope that helps!

Thanks for your response. Congrats on losing 70lbs. I will try eating back less of my exercise calories. This might account for some of the slowness.

That might be accounting for all your slowness, especially if you're using MFP's exercise burns. They are notoriously iffy. I've heard so many warnings about them and exercise machines on the forums that I'm leery of eating back any of mine even though I know I should.

What sort of exercise do you do? Depending on the type, heart rate monitors can be a good indicator of calories burned.

hellonikki123

My exercise routine is very mellow. I take a 20-25 minutes walk at work most days for fresh air and do an 1-1 1/2 hike every Sunday with my best friend. Otherwise it varies from yoga (which barely burns any calories but I love) to Zumba (which Id guess has inflated numbers on here) to doing the elliptical and exercise bike at the gym (not sure how accurate that is). I do rely on the exercise machine at the gym for calories and thought that was accurate.... Maybe that's a mistake? Opps. Thanks for your input. Maybe I need a heart rate monitor.

MKEgal

hellonikki123 wrote:

It's been almost 3 weeks and although, I feel great, I've lost no weight. I recently switched from vegetarian to vegan and my diet has been mostly plant based. ... Any insight as to what I am doing wrong? Should I just be patient or do you think I need to make some kind of change?

Your ticker shows you only want to lose 15 lb. This is going to go VERY slowly. Like if you manage 0.5 lb per week it's a HUGE victory. 1 lb a month would be a reasonable expectation.

I started with 110 lb to lose, and while there are weeks I've lost 5 lb, and weeks that I've completely stalled, over the last year I've averaged 1.5 lb per week. If I can lose the last 35 in 2015, I'll be happy. Heck, if I'm down to only 10 to lose in 2016 I'll be OK with it.

Basically, what you're doing wrong is 2 things:
- being impatient
- eating as much as you're burning (You mentioned that you eat your exercise calories; stop that, completely. Ignore exercise calories, unless you're doing really really high levels of exercise, then you might want to eat part of them.)

Being vegan or vegetarian is no guarantee of being healthy (either internally or in weight). I have a friend who's vegetarian and she's probably at least 150 lb overweight. Sad thing is, her girls are already fat too.

ETA: take measurements too; if you're exercising, especially weightlifting, you could be losing inches (or in your case, fractions of an inch) because you're losing fat but getting some gain in muscle. Some of the times I've been stalled for several weeks I've been extremely frustrated, until I did my measurements (every 2 weeks) and found that I was smaller.

CEGrant501

Another possibility is that you might be gaining muscle as you're losing fat. Thus, the scale might be staying the same as you get more fit. Try tracking measurements instead of pounds. Go by how your clothes fit.

nlambard

You could be losing inches around your body instead of actual "pounds". Also, if you eat your exercise calories you will simply maintain your current weight. Calories in and calories out will always be the key to losing weight. That being said, 500 calories of fruits, veggies and whole grains are a lot more nutritious and filling than 500 calories of fast or processed food. Therefore, staying within a calorie limitation can be a lot easier without feeling "starved".

My husband and I have been vegan for about 7 months now. We limit the extra "fats" in our diet, even "healthy" fats like olive oil, coconut oil etc.. Fat is fat. We don't need that much. I try to maintain a goal of less than 10% fat in my day.

I had a baby 12 months ago, so my weight loss numbers are high cause I lost extra "baby" weight. Anyway, in 7 months I have lost 30lbs, 6 inches off my waist and hips. My husband lost 35lbs and he didn't exercise at all. We stay away from processed foods and like I said limited oil. I actually don't even cook with oil at all. I was never "fat" and either was my husband. I'm 28yr old, 5'5" and 145lbs currently. My husband is 32yrs old, 6'0" and 200lbs.

If you are looking for more information on healthy plant based diet there is a documentary called "Forks over Knives" and a book called "Preventing and Reversing Heart Disease" "The China Study" great information!

My husband and I no longer "live to eat", we "eat to live."

Laurend224

CEGrant501 wrote: »

Another possibility is that you might be gaining muscle as you're losing fat. Thus, the scale might be staying the same as you get more fit. Try tracking measurements instead of pounds. Go by how your clothes fit.

Nope.

melimomTARDIS

Keep on logging. Sometimes I'd lose nothing for a few weeks, then Bam, down 2 lbs. Its called a "whoosh".

melimomTARDIS

Laurend224 wrote: »

I gained weight when I transitioned to a vegan diet. Give it time, logging accurately and consistently. You don't have a lot of weight to lose, it's going to take time.....

PS it's not the 'carbs' it's too many calories.

CARBS 4 LIFE. Dont fear carbs OP, they rock.