Vegetarian Until 4 pm (or 16:00)

BananaBite

I just realized I am kind of leading a vegetarian diet until 4 pm (or 16:00 in other countries). I am definitely fully committed to a vegetarian lifestyle. I was wondering if anyone is following this diet for an extended amount of time. What results have you seen so far? Any advice?

Mycophilia

If you are fully committed to being a vegetarian, why aren't you vegetarian 24/7?

littlechiaseed

I'm vegetarian 27/7. What results are you looking for?

smotheredincheese

I had a cheese salad for lunch but might have sausages for dinner.
That does not make me a vegetarian.
You are not a vegetarian.
You are just someone who didn't eat meat for breakfast or lunch.

kommodevaran

Part time vegetarian is just as meaningful as almost pregnant.

kgeyser

Well, if you're eating that way most of the day, it sounds like you already have a pretty good idea about what it would be like to transition to that way of eating completely. We have a vegetarian/vegan group here which might be helpful and give you more information about the diet long term.

http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/group/45-happy-herbivores

psuLemon

littlechiaseed wrote: »

I'm vegetarian 27/7. What results are you looking for?

Impressive.

OP, so you only eat plant based foods in the morning and afternoon but then eat meat at night?

meshashesha2012

ummm what? if you eat meat you aren't vegetarian regardless of the time you eat or not eat the meat

AnnPT77

I've been vegetarian for over 42 years (ovo-lacto).

I wouldn't expect any particular results from a vegetarian diet, generically speaking. You can eat nutritiously as a vegetarian, or not. You can eat too much, too little, or just right. You can get enough protein as a vegetarian (or vegan), or not enough.

Personally, I got fat as a vegetarian, stayed fat (obese, even) as a vegetarian, got high blood pressure and high cholesterol and cancer and gallbladder adenomyomatosis as a vegetarian, then lost weight as a vegetarian, and left the bad health conditions by the wayside (so far).

If you want to be vegetarian or vegan for ethical reasons, that's great. But vegetarianism in and of itself is irrelevant to the healthfulness of one's way of eating. One can eat healthfully as a vegetarian, or as an omnivore, and lose (or gain) weight as either, too.

hlbutterfield1212

If you were fully vegetarian you would still be able to get enough protein. You only need 5% of your macro nutrients from protein. Just beans and rice are a complete protein.

TavistockToad

hlbutterfield1212 wrote: »

If you were fully vegetarian you would still be able to get enough protein. You only need 5% of your macro nutrients from protein. Just beans and rice are a complete protein.

Eeeeerm, no.

AnnPT77

hlbutterfield1212 wrote: »

If you were fully vegetarian you would still be able to get enough protein. You only need 5% of your macro nutrients from protein. Just beans and rice are a complete protein.

Yeah, beans & rice are a complete protein.

But 5% of your macro nutrients from protein? I'm not even sure what you mean - protein is a macronutrient. IF you mean 5% of your calories from the protein macronutrient, then I don't think so.

The USDA (among others) pretty much subscribes to the 0.8g per kg of body weight per day idea, or something in that neighborhood, IIRC. That would be roughly 0.4g/pound, in round numbers. You would want to use healthy body weight as the base, if you're under/over weight.

So, for a 100-pound person, that's 40g of protein daily to avoid malnutrition. And most of us prefer to come closer to optimizing nutrition if possible, not simply avoid malnutrition.

Moreover, 40g is 5% of an 800-calorie daily diet, which is way too few calories for that same 100 pound person. The TDEE for a sedentary 100-pound person is around 1300-1800 calories, more or less, depending on sex, height & age.

Yes, some of the vegan blogs say the USDA protein recommendation is excessive. Based on my own reading (of research studies, not vegan blogs), one needs more protein (than the USDA recommendation) when losing weight, when getting older, when working out, when getting much of one's protein from plant sources, and more.

Personally, based on my reading, I think that 0.6-08g protein daily per pound of healthy body weight is a reasonable, conservative goal, and I could hit that pretty easily even in steep calorie deficit, as a vegetarian. (I think I could do it as a vegan, too, but I'm not vegan.) In maintenance, at 120 pounds, I'm trying for a consistent minimum of 100g, which is more like 20% of my calories (at 4 calories per gram of protein).

Everyone can choose his/her way of eating based on his/her own judgement, but I'd argue with anyone suggesting that 5% of calories idea - if that was the idea.

12Sarah2015

I've eaten that way all my life and I consider myself a meat eater

cwolfman13

DanceDiva234 wrote: »

I just realized I am kind of leading a vegetarian diet until 4 pm (or 16:00 in other countries). I am definitely fully committed to a vegetarian lifestyle. I was wondering if anyone is following this diet for an extended amount of time. What results have you seen so far? Any advice?

Not eating meat for breakfast or lunch doesn't make you vegetarian.

Also, I'm not sure what results you would be expecting...any diet can be as good or bad as you make it. Being vegetarian doesn't default to weight loss...I know several overweight vegetarians and there are a lot of vegetarians on this site who are here because they became overweight while being a vegetarian...it has nothing to do with weight management.

CrabNebula

cwolfman13 wrote: »

DanceDiva234 wrote: »

I just realized I am kind of leading a vegetarian diet until 4 pm (or 16:00 in other countries). I am definitely fully committed to a vegetarian lifestyle. I was wondering if anyone is following this diet for an extended amount of time. What results have you seen so far? Any advice?

Not eating meat for breakfast or lunch doesn't make you vegetarian.

Also, I'm not sure what results you would be expecting...any diet can be as good or bad as you make it. Being vegetarian doesn't default to weight loss...I know several overweight vegetarians and there are a lot of vegetarians on this site who are here because they became overweight while being a vegetarian...it has nothing to do with weight management.

Bingo.

Things that are vegan:

Plant based oils and shortenings
Oreos
Non-dairy chocolate
Cashew cream
Veganaise
Sugar
Bread
Falafel (assuming egg isn't used to bind)
Vegan ice cream
Nuts and nut butters
Avocados
Coconut
French fries

I like basically all of those things, so I'd probably manage to be an obese vegan. Gimme that falafel, pb&j sandwiches, vegan Ben and Jerry's, guac, vegan chocolate bars, deep fry those French fries...

Christine_72

I very rarely eat meat during the day, but most always do for dinner. It's not a planned thing, just how i eat.

SusanMFindlay

AnnPT77 wrote: »

So, for a 100-pound person, that's 40g of protein daily to avoid malnutrition. And most of us prefer to come closer to optimizing nutrition if possible, not simply avoid malnutrition.

Moreover, 40g is 5% of an 800-calorie daily diet, which is way too few calories for that same 100 pound person. The TDEE for a sedentary 100-pound person is around 1300-1800 calories, more or less, depending on sex, height & age.

Your math is a bit off.

40 g x 4 cal/g = 160 cals from 40 g protein. Which is 20% of 800 calories. But it's only 10% of a 1600 cal/day diet (13% of a 1200 cal/day diet).

So, for the sake of argument, 10-15% of calories from protein is a pretty good "don't go any lower than this" estimate for anyone who doesn't want to do the math for their specific case. Assuming the person doesn't require more due to their exercise program.

Note that that's a minimum not a recommended amount.

littlechiaseed

How do all these threads end up about protein? I haven't seen anyone post here that their doctor said they had a protein deficiency

AnnPT77

SusanMFindlay wrote: »

AnnPT77 wrote: »

So, for a 100-pound person, that's 40g of protein daily to avoid malnutrition. And most of us prefer to come closer to optimizing nutrition if possible, not simply avoid malnutrition.

Moreover, 40g is 5% of an 800-calorie daily diet, which is way too few calories for that same 100 pound person. The TDEE for a sedentary 100-pound person is around 1300-1800 calories, more or less, depending on sex, height & age.

Your math is a bit off.

40 g x 4 cal/g = 160 cals from 40 g protein. Which is 20% of 800 calories. But it's only 10% of a 1600 cal/day diet (13% of a 1200 cal/day diet).

So, for the sake of argument, 10-15% of calories from protein is a pretty good "don't go any lower than this" estimate for anyone who doesn't want to do the math for their specific case. Assuming the person doesn't require more due to their exercise program.

Note that that's a minimum not a recommended amount.

Oops, you're absolutely right - my math is off (usually my math is fine & my arithmetic wrong, but not this time).

I should've said, 40g protein is 5% of 3200 calories - which is unlikely to be what the 100-pound person is eating. My main point - which I clearly botched - is that 5% of calories for protein is seriously too low in a typical person's scenario.

Thanks for the correction!

BananaBite

Sorry everybody I had a typo. I meant I am "definitely *not* committed."

Thank you for the explanations and insight

BananaBite

AnnPT77 wrote: »

I've been vegetarian for over 42 years (ovo-lacto).

I wouldn't expect any particular results from a vegetarian diet, generically speaking. You can eat nutritiously as a vegetarian, or not. You can eat too much, too little, or just right. You can get enough protein as a vegetarian (or vegan), or not enough.

Personally, I got fat as a vegetarian, stayed fat (obese, even) as a vegetarian, got high blood pressure and high cholesterol and cancer and gallbladder adenomyomatosis as a vegetarian, then lost weight as a vegetarian, and left the bad health conditions by the wayside (so far).

If you want to be vegetarian or vegan for ethical reasons, that's great. But vegetarianism in and of itself is irrelevant to the healthfulness of one's way of eating. One can eat healthfully as a vegetarian, or as an omnivore, and lose (or gain) weight as either, too.

Thank you for your response. I guess I always assumed those that took out meat and other produce were somehow healthier. Of course, not that I assumed those that ate meat were any less unhealthy. Although, do you think that the kind of meat and how much meat you eat can lead to weight gain? Is there a certain amount of meat that is better to eat on a weekly basis rather than a daily basis?

AnnPT77

DanceDiva234 wrote: »

AnnPT77 wrote: »

I've been vegetarian for over 42 years (ovo-lacto).

I wouldn't expect any particular results from a vegetarian diet, generically speaking. You can eat nutritiously as a vegetarian, or not. You can eat too much, too little, or just right. You can get enough protein as a vegetarian (or vegan), or not enough.

Personally, I got fat as a vegetarian, stayed fat (obese, even) as a vegetarian, got high blood pressure and high cholesterol and cancer and gallbladder adenomyomatosis as a vegetarian, then lost weight as a vegetarian, and left the bad health conditions by the wayside (so far).

If you want to be vegetarian or vegan for ethical reasons, that's great. But vegetarianism in and of itself is irrelevant to the healthfulness of one's way of eating. One can eat healthfully as a vegetarian, or as an omnivore, and lose (or gain) weight as either, too.

Thank you for your response. I guess I always assumed those that took out meat and other produce were somehow healthier. Of course, not that I assumed those that ate meat were any less unhealthy. Although, do you think that the kind of meat and how much meat you eat can lead to weight gain? Is there a certain amount of meat that is better to eat on a weekly basis rather than a daily basis?

I've been vegetarian for 42+ years, since I was about 18: I have utterly no idea about which meats are good, or better, or worse, or what! (I'm sorry.)

I think that what causes weight gain is eating more calories than one burns, over a long period of time. It doesn't matter much - purely in terms of weight gain - whether those calories come from meat, chocolate milkshakes, or raw carrots. (OK, it would be hard to eat enough raw carrots to go over one's calorie goal, without help from other foods, but I'm sure you take my point. )

If one wants to lose weight, plus be healthy and strong, then I think it's very important to have a calorie deficit (all you need for the weight loss), get enough protein, get enough healthy fats, eat sufficient fiber, get plenty of micronutrients (probably from eating lots of nice, varied, fruits & vegetables), and do some exercise-like activities one enjoys, regularly.

I think that getting enough protein is a Very Good Thing, and that meat can be an efficient way to consume protein. I hope that someone else, someone who actually eats meat, can give you advice about which meats are the most calorie-efficient and generally healthful! Sadly, I have no clue.

kommodevaran

DanceDiva234 wrote: »

Sorry everybody I had a typo. I meant I am "definitely *not* committed."

Thank you for the explanations and insight

That made a slight difference

DanceDiva234 wrote: »

AnnPT77 wrote: »

I've been vegetarian for over 42 years (ovo-lacto).

I wouldn't expect any particular results from a vegetarian diet, generically speaking. You can eat nutritiously as a vegetarian, or not. You can eat too much, too little, or just right. You can get enough protein as a vegetarian (or vegan), or not enough.

Personally, I got fat as a vegetarian, stayed fat (obese, even) as a vegetarian, got high blood pressure and high cholesterol and cancer and gallbladder adenomyomatosis as a vegetarian, then lost weight as a vegetarian, and left the bad health conditions by the wayside (so far).

If you want to be vegetarian or vegan for ethical reasons, that's great. But vegetarianism in and of itself is irrelevant to the healthfulness of one's way of eating. One can eat healthfully as a vegetarian, or as an omnivore, and lose (or gain) weight as either, too.

Thank you for your response. I guess I always assumed those that took out meat and other produce were somehow healthier. Of course, not that I assumed those that ate meat were any less unhealthy. Although, do you think that the kind of meat and how much meat you eat can lead to weight gain? Is there a certain amount of meat that is better to eat on a weekly basis rather than a daily basis?

Isn't "produce" normally fruit and vegetables, not meat? Anyway, too many calories lead to weight gain. Nothing else leads to weight gain. A (truly) varied diet is healthy because it provides a range of nutrients, it decreases the risk of getting too much of anything, it usually heightens your enjoyment of the food you eat (less boredom); being used to eat many different foods makes you more flexible when being social and traveling etc.

How much meat is safe, is a very very hot topic. In my opinion, these warnings are conflating several risk factors, that may or may not be important, for the public as a whole and/or individually, like too much sodium, overheated fat, trans fat, saturated fat, unbalanced intake of fats and other nutrients, overall insufficient nutrition, food that is too easy to overeat, resulting in intake of too many calories.

Eating less meat, and even cutting meat out of your diet, can be better for the environment, your wallet and your conscience. Maybe. There is no real consensus. Some people don't miss meat at all. Some people eat vegetarian most days, and meat only in social settings where they "have to". Some people eat meat reluctantly to avoid deficiencies. You have to figure out what you can and can't live without.