Overweight Vegetarian! Yes it is possible.

Kimegatron

By the way, check out Pinterest. I LOVE zucchini noodles or spaghetti squash. I have a HUGE herb garden on our deck, and so I make all my own sauces. I love me some pesto, even though its usually a bit fatty. The spaghetti squash makes up for it. There are also VERY low calorie soy noodles(I think they're soy) in the organic/vegetarian section at my grocery stores. I can't remember what they're called, but they come in a bag of liquid and "noodles." I haven't tried them yet.

Kimegatron

AshleyCMoody wrote: »

moodyfam9 wrote: »

Look what you've started Ashley. For me I confess that I love meat. After calorie counting I decided I didn't love meat for a while. After actually reviewing my calorie counting with more interest I found that many meats weren't the problem. A harmless peanut butter sandwich almost killed my day! Calories in vs. Calories out along with exercise seem obvious. To answer your question about specific foods . . . I often eat the same foods and just change spices. I made a Greek salad the other day with homemade dressing. Even the kids went back for seconds!

Keep posting. You'll find more support when asking. There will always be misunderstandings when reading rather than talking. It's easy to misunderstand without hearing tone or reading body language.

So true. Greek salad is delicious! Wish I could have been there. And I know what you mean with the peanut butter. I used to eat it straight out of the jar. Not anymore!

Be careful with greek dressings. A lot of them contain sardines. I can't have it at restaurants unless the servers double check the ingredients. It usually ends with me not having greek dressing, but I do put italian on it. Try cottage cheese instead of dressing, too! Also, my go to dinner at work is this:
one of those half pocket whole wheat pita things
3-4 TBSP of humus
a little of chopped onion
a little bit of feta, you don't need a lot
chopped tomato,
spinach leaves
about 3 falafal balls. Kroger has pre-packaged ones, but they are out a lot, so sometimes I will bake my own while cursing the jerks that bought all my falafel balls, or I will use a patty of the Morningstar Meditarranean Chickpea stuff. It's not as good, but it will do.

Kimegatron

SnarlToothSeether wrote: »

janejellyroll wrote: »

SnarlToothSeether wrote: »

I'm a very overweight vegetarian. Just because I love animals. Not because I don't love cookies, ice cream, and other sweets that don't contain meat. I think if I could go vegan, I'd be a rail, but I love cheese. I get a lot of the shocked "Omg, YOU'RE vegetarian?????" comments and gape mouthed faces when I tell people. I think the stereotypical image of a vegetarian is healthier and thinner than I am.

It isn't necessarily easier for vegans to be thin -- we still have access to all kinds of sweet and savory foods that are easy to consume in excess.

You're 100% right...but for me if I committed to being vegan I would have to give up, for example, ice cream. They do make vegan ice cream, but it's freaking expensive, so that would deter me. I would have to give up, another example, pizza. Since I hate to cook I wouldn't make it myself...lol. And being unable to pick up the phone and order it from any number of places would cut that out of my diet. I know there's soy cheese, but most pizza places don't offer it. That's all I was saying.....personally for ME, I hate to cook and bake and I'm too broke to buy tons of specialty ready made stuff...so it would definitely help ME.

That sucks, we have vegan pizza options here! And cauliflower crust isn't TOO hard. Check your neighborhood for artisan pizza places, a lot more of them may be around than you think!

AshleyCMoody

Man, I know what you mean about the cheese pizzas and salads. And I did not know that about Greek dressing. That's a big surprise to me.

vadimknobel

I find eating high protein food like yogurt, tofu, eggs, quinoa, whey protein mix, lentils, beans helps with satiety.

AshleyCMoody

Yes I agree. I need to incorporate more protein for sure.

breathebelievejen

I was vegan for about 6 years, vegetarian for a few after and I'm now a pescetarian. Things I found helpful to keep my calories down without compromising my sanity/ enjoyment of food:
- write a list of your favourite (or tolerable) veggies and use these as the bulk and basis of your meals. For example, I eat a crap load of broccoli, cauliflower carrots, peas, sweetcorn and chick peas. I can eat a plate of these with minimal seasoning but I pick out a few ways to vary the flavour (gravy, garlic puree, grated cheese..) so that I can eat them several times a week without getting bored. I also batch cook them and leave them portioned out so I can just stick them in the microwave instead of having to steam them individually each day . If you get bored more easily you might want to look up recipes on pinterest etc for inspiration
- pretty much same goes with protein sources. I boil eggs for the week or I make them scrambled in the microwave for the sake of saving time (takes only a few minutes). I slow cook Quorn fillets or bake Linda McCartney sausages or tesco meat free burgers (both the highest in protein v calories I can find within my budget in the uk) in batches ready to add to lunch and dinner options
- get a plan together of things you're happy to eat regularly that you enjoy but still fit your calorie or macro goals. This might mean finding alternative lower cal ways to make your favourite go-to meals (eg. Slim pasta 8cal/100g then you can go all out on the sauce) Almost like your own little restaurant menu.. For example, I make overnight oats a lot for breakfast (soak muesli overnight in your fave milk and add a sliced banana or grated apple in the morning), veggies for lunch or dinner as I said earlier and then I have the freedom of having a portion of whatever I fancy for the other meal.
- to summarise.. a few meal ideas that can be low-cal (use semi skim milk, eat recommended portion sizes etc etc). Breakfast: overnight oats, scrambled egg on toast, porridge, cereal + fruit
Lunch/ dinner: steamed veggies, veggie chilli, veggie pita pizza, soup, stew, stir fry, veggie sauce + pasta, rice + veg, Shepherds pie/casseroles..
Dessert: sugar free jelly, fruit and yoghurt (Greek and sky high protein are my faves atm), dates + raw nuts..

Hope some of that helped, I can't think of all the things I eat regularly off the top of my head but could add more when I get home and can look at my menu plans. oh, also I found the biggest thing in cutting calories for me was changing my food rituals. For me that means not eating in front of the TV, eating at a table and not doing anything else whilst I eat, also eating more slowly and mindfully and shifting my focus from calories to nutrients. As somebody else mentioned it's often emotions that come into play with overeating. All the best!

kshama2001

JoeyFrappuccino wrote: »

I don't know how much I subscribe to the idea that your macros significantly, though indirectly, affect your weight, but vegetarian diets do seem to trend more towards high-carb than high-protein or -fat. And the large majority of vegetarians and particularly vegans I've known have been overweight or obese. I think the diet has maintained its association with health-freaks and continues to appeal to people looking to be healthier, and some probably think that as long as they're not eating meat, they'll be healthy (and not overweight).

All the vegans I met at yoga centers were normal - low normal weights. They focused on vegetables, legumes, and nuts, rather than just not-animal products.

kshama2001

JoeyFrappuccino wrote: »

billieljaime wrote: »

JoeyFrappuccino wrote: »

I don't know how much I subscribe to the idea that your macros significantly, though indirectly, affect your weight, but vegetarian diets do seem to trend more towards high-carb than high-protein or -fat. And the large majority of vegetarians and particularly vegans I've known have been overweight or obese. I think the diet has maintained its association with health-freaks and continues to appeal to people looking to be healthier, and some probably think that as long as they're not eating meat, they'll be healthy (and not overweight).

So wrong Joey.... yesterday I netted 130 grams of carbs and my proteins and fats were on point. I chose this way for moral reasons.

If slaughter houses had glass walls you would chose this way too.

I am plant based that eats dairy. Occasional fish, very rarely I may have meat, only from a very specific local source in my area.

Not all of us are obese or overweight. Judgey mcjudgersonpants

Well great, I'm glad you found an agreeable amount of carbs, but what I said had nothing to do with you specifically. I was saying what I had found to be typical in my own experiences, and never tried to make it seem like anything but that. So not only am I not wrong, I conceded in a later post here that some studies showed the opposite of what I had seen. I've known many people who've tried going vegan for a few weeks to lose weight, more people than I've known to adopt it for ethical reasons. Again, this was not a personal attack on you.

I don't like doing the whole pious vegan thing, but I actually am vegan for moral reasons, and if slaughterhouses had glass walls you wouldn't eat dairy. As someone who is both vegan and a normal weight I understand that it's possible. I also understand that most plants are higher in carbs than in fats or protein. Nothing I said was judgmental, so it's unfortunate that you took my post as an attack rather than the opinion it was presented as.

By the way, my post was about vegetarians and vegans, so if you eat fish and meat (apparently fish are not animals?) none of this would apply to you anyway.

Did you mean "if dairy farms had glass walls you wouldn't eat dairy"? I'd agree with you if you meant conventional dairy, but we had dairy goats when I was growing up and I have no qualms about consuming dairy from small family farms where the animals are well treated.

janejellyroll

tiffpileg wrote: »

Go vegan girl! It is a lifesavor to your health. Trust me, the pounds will melt off

I gained all my weight as a vegan. I was able to lose it, but veganism isn't a magical weight loss method.

JoeyFrappuccino

kshama2001 wrote: »

JoeyFrappuccino wrote: »

I don't know how much I subscribe to the idea that your macros significantly, though indirectly, affect your weight, but vegetarian diets do seem to trend more towards high-carb than high-protein or -fat. And the large majority of vegetarians and particularly vegans I've known have been overweight or obese. I think the diet has maintained its association with health-freaks and continues to appeal to people looking to be healthier, and some probably think that as long as they're not eating meat, they'll be healthy (and not overweight).

All the vegans I met at yoga centers were normal - low normal weights. They focused on vegetables, legumes, and nuts, rather than just not-animal products.

Sounds about right. Most of the vegans I've met socially and especially during high school basically focused on not-animal products, but for a fitness group that would probably be the other way around.

JoeyFrappuccino

kshama2001 wrote: »

JoeyFrappuccino wrote: »

billieljaime wrote: »

JoeyFrappuccino wrote: »

I don't know how much I subscribe to the idea that your macros significantly, though indirectly, affect your weight, but vegetarian diets do seem to trend more towards high-carb than high-protein or -fat. And the large majority of vegetarians and particularly vegans I've known have been overweight or obese. I think the diet has maintained its association with health-freaks and continues to appeal to people looking to be healthier, and some probably think that as long as they're not eating meat, they'll be healthy (and not overweight).

So wrong Joey.... yesterday I netted 130 grams of carbs and my proteins and fats were on point. I chose this way for moral reasons.

If slaughter houses had glass walls you would chose this way too.

I am plant based that eats dairy. Occasional fish, very rarely I may have meat, only from a very specific local source in my area.

Not all of us are obese or overweight. Judgey mcjudgersonpants

Well great, I'm glad you found an agreeable amount of carbs, but what I said had nothing to do with you specifically. I was saying what I had found to be typical in my own experiences, and never tried to make it seem like anything but that. So not only am I not wrong, I conceded in a later post here that some studies showed the opposite of what I had seen. I've known many people who've tried going vegan for a few weeks to lose weight, more people than I've known to adopt it for ethical reasons. Again, this was not a personal attack on you.

I don't like doing the whole pious vegan thing, but I actually am vegan for moral reasons, and if slaughterhouses had glass walls you wouldn't eat dairy. As someone who is both vegan and a normal weight I understand that it's possible. I also understand that most plants are higher in carbs than in fats or protein. Nothing I said was judgmental, so it's unfortunate that you took my post as an attack rather than the opinion it was presented as.

By the way, my post was about vegetarians and vegans, so if you eat fish and meat (apparently fish are not animals?) none of this would apply to you anyway.

Did you mean "if dairy farms had glass walls you wouldn't eat dairy"? I'd agree with you if you meant conventional dairy, but we had dairy goats when I was growing up and I have no qualms about consuming dairy from small family farms where the animals are well treated.

No, I meant slaughterhouses. Dairy cows are typically sent to slaughterhouses after their milk production slows and they're processed into meat just as other cattle are. The person I was responding to brought up slaughterhouses so I assumed she was not talking about small family farms, but I agree that that would be a different story.

AshleyCMoody

Thanks breathebelievejen that was a ton of good info! Really appreciate your comment.

AshleyCMoody

In general, if a milking animal is not milked for an extended period of time (more than 1 or 2 days for a cow giving a normal volume of milk – dairy cows are typically milked two or three times per day), they are likely to become ill and may develop mastitis, which is an inflammation and infection in the udder.

AshleyCMoody

[quote="janejellyroll;33608458"

I gained all my weight as a vegan. I was able to lose it, but veganism isn't a magical weight loss method.[/quote]

So true.

AshleyCMoody

I'm re-posting this for carob chip to view.