TRYING VEGAN

tinylightsbelow

I agree that you can still be a heavy vegan if you eat convenience foods or eat too much. I used to recommend veganism as a weight loss diet because I used to be a slender vegan (I lost 20ish lbs when I went vegan), but I gained it back later. Now I think it's best to just eat whole foods as much as possible and, of course, portion. If you do that it doesn't matter whether or not animal products are a part of your diet, you'll lose weight.

That said I do love veganism and if you want to stick with it, cool! If you want some healthy vegan recipes, I love to recommend the blog "Fat Free Vegan". Her recipes aren't actually all fat free -- they're just healthy and delicious and a lot of them are quite low cal.

JustJennie1

losing weight is all i care about . It it helps in that sense im in if not im out

Wouldn't a calorie deficit suffice then?

^^ This.

I agree with the person who says if you're going to go vegetarian in the hopes of losing weight to not bother.

Eat at a deficit and exercise.

MorningWhispers

I started eating vegetarian a few days ago, my goal is to try and eat no meat for 8 weeks.

I bought a cookbook called "You are what you eat" by Gillian McKeith that is full of vegetarian meals and lots of good information.

I don't want to buy the prepackaged processed "Vegetarian" foods, I want to make my own so I know exactly what's going in it and how much is going in it.

My reason for trying vegetarian is for my health, I love beef, chicken and so forth but I think I'd get more out of my clean diet by abstaining from meat and dairy for awhile. I am allowing myself an occasional bit of seafood if I really get to feeling the need for more than just fruits, veggies, grains and seeds.

Andrea8985

I went vegan for a month earlier in the year. Absolutely no animal products whatsoever. Honestly, it wasn't that hard. I wasn't a huge meat eater to begin with. Giving up yogurt was probably the hardest (and soy and coconut milk yogurts taste awful). I did it just to see if I could do it, and to see if I really did feel better eating that way. In the end I didn't stick with it past the one month. I live with a husband who is practically a carnivore (he eats about 2-3 pounds of bacon a week), and the benefits I felt weren't enough to make the extra work worth the effort. Now I eat meat sometimes, but mostly I eat at a deficit and have been consistently losing weight.

SkepticallyFit

You can still have dairy and eggs if you're ovo-lacto vegetarian. I've been eating this way for 2 years and it wasn't hard at all. I don't get tempted with meat, probably because I don't feel like I'm depriving myself of anything. You can make such delicious foods on this diet (just made black bean enchiladas yesterday... yummy), so my taste buds are satisfied.

And I do find it easier to lose weight and my health has improved according to my last physical, because the meat choices I made were terrible. I mostly lived off fast food meat, which is high in saturated fat, sodium, and when you combine the bread you're getting a ton of carb calories on top. The result is a high calorie, low nutrient meal. So I had to eat more to feel satisfied... you know how it goes.

Th3stral

Food wise I'm a vegan as I have tons of (medically confirmed) allergies, I can't even have soy/tofu products. Normally I eat 70-90% raw but I'm 3 weeks into a 100% raw 'detox'? As usual I start the detox (by detox i mean concious effort to reduce the junk in my diet) thinking I'll do 10-14 days, see how I go, and feel SO fabulous I stick with it for at least a month.

I was once advised never to restrict intake for 6-8 weeks after a dramatic diet change, the dietitian told me that it's to do will allowing your body to adjust to the new diet but I don't know the science behind that statement. If this is a big change for you I'd suggest not to restrict volume (you can still watch calories by choosing low calorie foods rather than high) until you've adjusted.

KenosFeoh

Good for you! I've been attracted to the vegan way of life for a long time, but I haven't been able to make the diet work for me (so far).

healthyeating555

I cant use the word abstain in my vocabulary until my body tells me it doesnt crave it anymore

perrinjoshua

Whether you want to try vegetarianism or vegan is really a very personal choice. When I started I decided to just stop eating meat, leaving myself the options of eggs, dairy and fish because I didn't want to give up certain things. That worked for me for about five years when I decided it was time for me to go the whole vegan route. I have been doing that for over three years now and I feel great. Am I healthier than I was before I took meat out of my diet? Yes. I don't need any medications, have no cholesterol problems, when I went to give blood a couple of months ago my iron levels were better than some of my colleagues who were refused because of it (actually mine were the best results of the group and I was the oldest person there) and I feel safe in my food choices. Why am I on a weight loss site? Because I never actually lost any weight to speak of just by eliminating meat and seafood. Portion control, healthy food options and exercise are still required. Hope this helps.

healthyeating555

Actually let me revise that thought. I want to lose weight by going vegan but more importantly feel better about myself and be void of health related issues like heart disease and other life threatening issues

perrinjoshua

In that case I believe vegan is a good start. All the best with your decision.

JayVarys

Maybe others can post their testimonials about the pros and cons of going vegan

I tried going Vegan for about a month then switch off. I think it may be easier for woman cause It's semi difficult to find a good source of protein to build musicles.

SJVZEE

I started transitioning to a whole foods, plant based diet last week and so far it's going really well. I'm in maintenance and doing it for health benefits. I'm reading a lot about raw veganism and see that as my probable end goal, but that will be way down the road.

As for weight loss, a vegetarian diet can be very high calorie if you eat a lot of grains, beans, processed foods and meat substitutes. My dad gained a lot of weight when he did it. I'm on a couple vegetarian/vegan sites and there's a lot people on these sites who are struggling with their weights eating vegetarian/vegan diets. So far I'm doing good with my calories-a large green smoothie every day, a serving of grain ( rice or oats) or beans, and then a bit of cheese and mushrooms and more veggies (salad or sauteed).

healthyeating555

Bill Clinton might be the exception . He looks like hes 90. extremely thin Says he has more energy than ever but from his appearance it looks like he;s knocking on deaths door

gnalani

I'm a most-of-the-time vegetarian and my vegetarian meals often become vegan simply because I never cook with butter and the only other dairy I really eat is cheese and sour cream. I do eat seafood from time to time.

I am doing it for both the health benefits and for animal rights/environmental reasons.

My biggest advice is to look for international foods and recipes -- its pretty difficult to eat vegan and healthy with the typical American diet. But there are some AMAZING asian dishes, indian curries, mexican food... yummmm...

Laubowie

I was vegan for six months, and I lost weight. I used vegan meats sparingly. I still eat tofu, no sodium;you can fry it, make a sandwich, put honey on it, etc. there's also seitan, which I really enjoyed at the time. Now I avoid gluten. You can eat lots of beans and lentils, and also nuts and seeds and vegan milks and cheeses for protein. I enjoyed it, but eat mostly vegetarian, now. I crave meat every now and then, but if I eat it often it makes me sick. Just listen to your body, eat plenty of fruits and veggies, some grains, and you should be fine. There's even vegan icecream! (So delcious is really yummy).

Laubowie

Good choices. Greens,salad, mushrooms. It works.

Laubowie

I started transitioning to a whole foods, plant based diet last week and so far it's going really well. I'm in maintenance and doing it for health benefits. I'm reading a lot about raw veganism and see that as my probable end goal, but that will be way down the road.

As for weight loss, a vegetarian diet can be very high calorie if you eat a lot of grains, beans, processed foods and meat substitutes. My dad gained a lot of weight when he did it. I'm on a couple vegetarian/vegan sites and there's a lot people on these sites who are struggling with their weights eating vegetarian/vegan diets. So far I'm doing good with my calories-a large green smoothie every day, a serving of grain ( rice or oats) or beans, and then a bit of cheese and mushrooms and more veggies (salad or sauteed).

This is what I mean, great choices! Good night, verybody!

melindasuefritz

In that case I believe vegan is a good start. All the best with your decision.

gnalani

Oreo's are vegan