Possibly going vegetarian.

Velum_cado

I think you should do what works best for you!

I like meat far too much to be vegetarian. I have tried it, but it didn't work for me. I'm not a big fan of highly processed foods, so I generally avoid the meat substitutes. I do occasionally have Quorn chicken burgers because I think they're delicious (a rarity in Quorn products, in my experience), but I don't eat them very often.

ecka723

Op, I have been in that situation. A few years ago, I decided to go veggie because I wanted to lose weight, and I thought it would help. It lasted all of three days, because my heart wasn't in it.

About a month ago, I decided to give vegetarianism a try, with a few meat meals here and there, mainly for health reasons (rather than animal rights, which I think is important, too.). I have noticed that I feel different when I eat vegetarian meals versus carnivore meals.

I would say the best thing for you to do is to give it a shot for a week. If you like it, how you feel and are comfortable, then do it. If you are not, there's not harm done. I think a good idea though is to phase the meat meals out if you want to do it. Cold turkey may not be the best way for a person.

Feel free to message me if you need to chat or have questions.

sozisraw

this year Ive lost 30lb, was already vegetarian, did a lot of raw vegan , say a month or two no cheating out of 7.
Nowadays I am mainly vegan, sometimes vegetarian, and a meat eater at mums cause she 70 and its easier for her

jonasmluster

I was a Vegan for three years for more or less moral reasons. I was a vegetarian before that. I didn't lose much weight on either diet, especially the vegetarian one. I always hovered in overweight bordering on more, and no matter what I did I didn't lose much.

In 2010 I decided that the dumbest thing to do when you're opposed to something (animal cruelty) is to ignore it, shut yourself out. So I started supporting farmers and ranchers and bee keepers and whatnot by buying their product. I decided, essentially, to fight the bads of animal husbandry not just by taking money away from them but by giving it to their mortal enemies, the small, humane, farms and ranches.

Immediate changes, after about three months, included being able to run more. Where I before hit my ceiling after 5k I now could do 10k runs, it was hard but I could. I gained more muscle, more strenght, and despite that, despite building muscles, lost weight.

Now, keep in mind that I was a vegetarian for ten years and a vegan for three. I read (and, actually, wrote one) more books and studies on the topic than I care to remember. I knew how to add supplements (a whole 'nother bag of crazy, avoiding animal protein and being forced to buy things that are even more harmful to fauna and flora), I was one of the people who debunked Tempeh and the B12 claim on vegan.org, and was a dyed in the wool vegan cook, chef (as in "worked in a professional kitchen, directing a professional brigade, making food for money," not the "I am a little bit of a chef myself" bullcrap), and advocate. But, at the end of the day, not being vegan helped me build strength, lose tons of weight (~45kg so far), and be healthier. It also helped animals and the environment.

Oh, and bacon is happy making! Period!

ecka723

Vegan is a huge jump. I'd suggest starting with lacto-ovo vegetarianism and then slowly cutting out animal product. You have to be careful about what you consume because for example, oj has fish oil in it. Also, if you're vegan make sure you supplement your omega 3 and 6 fatty acid and are taking a multi-vit daily.

YOU - are an idiot. There is no fish oil in OJ and a vegan wouldn't want to take a fish oil supplement for omega 3 and 6, we can get that from eating hemp seeds or something similar. I would suggest you do a little research before you talk about things that you don't know about.

You do know they make veggie omega 3/6 supplements, right? From plant sources.

healthyeating555

wait a minute im lost . So what youre saying is that you went back to eating meat?

lithezebra

I was a Vegan for three years for more or less moral reasons. I was a vegetarian before that. I didn't lose much weight on either diet, especially the vegetarian one. I always hovered in overweight bordering on more, and no matter what I did I didn't lose much.

In 2010 I decided that the dumbest thing to do when you're opposed to something (animal cruelty) is to ignore it, shut yourself out. So I started supporting farmers and ranchers and bee keepers and whatnot by buying their product. I decided, essentially, to fight the bads of animal husbandry not just by taking money away from them but by giving it to their mortal enemies, the small, humane, farms and ranches.

Immediate changes, after about three months, included being able to run more. Where I before hit my ceiling after 5k I now could do 10k runs, it was hard but I could. I gained more muscle, more strenght, and despite that, despite building muscles, lost weight.

Now, keep in mind that I was a vegetarian for ten years and a vegan for three. I read (and, actually, wrote one) more books and studies on the topic than I care to remember. I knew how to add supplements (a whole 'nother bag of crazy, avoiding animal protein and being forced to buy things that are even more harmful to fauna and flora), I was one of the people who debunked Tempeh and the B12 claim on vegan.org, and was a dyed in the wool vegan cook, chef (as in "worked in a professional kitchen, directing a professional brigade, making food for money," not the "I am a little bit of a chef myself" bullcrap), and advocate. But, at the end of the day, not being vegan helped me build strength, lose tons of weight (~45kg so far), and be healthier. It also helped animals and the environment.

Oh, and bacon is happy making! Period!

I prefer the moderate moral stance too. A lot of people in affluent countries eating less meat would do the world more good than a few people eating no meat.

lithezebra

Vegan is a huge jump. I'd suggest starting with lacto-ovo vegetarianism and then slowly cutting out animal product. You have to be careful about what you consume because for example, oj has fish oil in it. Also, if you're vegan make sure you supplement your omega 3 and 6 fatty acid and are taking a multi-vit daily.

YOU - are an idiot. There is no fish oil in OJ and a vegan wouldn't want to take a fish oil supplement for omega 3 and 6, we can get that from eating hemp seeds or something similar. I would suggest you do a little research before you talk about things that you don't know about.

You do know they make veggie omega 3/6 supplements, right? From plant sources.

As long as they're DHA and EPA, not ALA. Otherwise, they're not the same thing.

Also, if I need to supplement a diet in order to make it meet my nutritional needs, it isn't a healthy diet.

Girl_du_jour

Not to steal anyone's topic (!), but I'd really appreciate some vegan perspectives on a thread I just posted earlier this evening if anyone can help!

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1058471-veganism-advice-please

SJVZEE

Vegan is a huge jump. I'd suggest starting with lacto-ovo vegetarianism and then slowly cutting out animal product. You have to be careful about what you consume because for example, oj has fish oil in it. Also, if you're vegan make sure you supplement your omega 3 and 6 fatty acid and are taking a multi-vit daily.

YOU - are an idiot. There is no fish oil in OJ and a vegan wouldn't want to take a fish oil supplement for omega 3 and 6, we can get that from eating hemp seeds or something similar. I would suggest you do a little research before you talk about things that you don't know about.

You do know they make veggie omega 3/6 supplements, right? From plant sources.

As long as they're DHA and EPA, not ALA. Otherwise, they're not the same thing.

Also, if I need to supplement a diet in order to make it meet my nutritional needs, it isn't a healthy diet.

I've seen this argument brought up a few times now and I'm confused by it-everyone I know is a meat eater, and I know a lot of them take supplements (have had conversations about it). How many meat eating parents give their meat eating kids chewable multi-vitamins every day? (I fondly remember my Flinstone vitamins as a kid). How many threads are on mfp, about supplements, with members posting all the vitamins they take ? It seems like there's an awful lot of meat eating people who's diet aren't meeting their nutritional needs :huh: More than half of all American's take vitamins now-doubt there's that many vegetarians/vegans out there
http://abcnews.go.com/Health/vitamins-vitamin-supplements-united-states/story?id=13359944

Sieden76

Vegan is a huge jump. I'd suggest starting with lacto-ovo vegetarianism and then slowly cutting out animal product. You have to be careful about what you consume because for example, oj has fish oil in it. Also, if you're vegan make sure you supplement your omega 3 and 6 fatty acid and are taking a multi-vit daily.

Sadly, Tropicana does fortify their orange juice with fish oil. However, I hesitate to call that orange juice anyhow. I drink freshly squeezed OJ. The other day I was at my friend's house and took a swig of her super processed OJ. Man, that stuff was nasty. It tasted like straight up chemicals.

Okay in this case yes, you're right, I didn't think about that but then again it's usually stated on the package that it's fortified with something. I am like you, I hardly call that stuff orange juice. I usually squeeze mine myself or buy cold pressed organic. There is a huge difference.

Sieden76

Vegan is a huge jump. I'd suggest starting with lacto-ovo vegetarianism and then slowly cutting out animal product. You have to be careful about what you consume because for example, oj has fish oil in it. Also, if you're vegan make sure you supplement your omega 3 and 6 fatty acid and are taking a multi-vit daily.

YOU - are an idiot. There is no fish oil in OJ and a vegan wouldn't want to take a fish oil supplement for omega 3 and 6, we can get that from eating hemp seeds or something similar. I would suggest you do a little research before you talk about things that you don't know about.

A little googling goes a long way
http://www.tropicana.com/#/trop_products/productsLanding.swf?TropicanaPurePremium/55

Another one to be aware of
http://wonderbread.ca/products/breads/4

Yeah I found out after I said that. Guess I'm not used to drinking that low quality stuff, thank you though

Sieden76

I still have to say that I have lost far more weight being vegan than not and I started out on this diet for health reasons not for the animals. I do care about the animals, I'm just saying, that wasn't my reason for doing this. I don't put my food in here every single day anymore because I have gotten good enough to guess at it but you can go back and look at a few days ago when I put it in. I had a HUGE fruit smoothie that took me about an hour or more to drink and then a HUGE salad that I actually ate in 2 meals but I put it in as one, it was about 2 gallons of salad all together. Every day my eating is different based on my activity level but it's usually fruits during the day because they digest quicker and then I have veggies at night because they take longer. Obviously I wouldn't want to put something that digests fast on top of something that takes a few hours to digest because that would cause stomach upset.

I have lost a total of 40 lbs since I started working out and 25 lbs since I joined this site but now I'm losing weight at a rate that it fast enough that I get a warning on here telling me that I'm losing too fast. Am I concerned... no, not at all. You'll see my total calories and think that I'm not eating enough and that's why I am losing so much but there are days when I hit my 1400 calorie mark and even go above it, just depends. I also use http://cronometer.com/ and it says that I get 100% on almost all of my daily vitamins and I don't need any supplements or multivitamins.

You can choose whatever diet you want, or whichever one works for you but high carb - low fat vegan is what works for me and it works for a lot of other people too. It doesn't happen over night but it will happen. Give it a month or two. Check out these people Durianrider and The Banana Girl, look up 30 bananas a day. I'll even give you the links, watch their youtube videos. Look at how lean the banana girl is and tell me that you can't get ripped eating nothing but fruit.

Freelee the banana girl
http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLwUd5KtYONsRJ3UAOojZ0w

Harley (DurianRider) One of his many channels lol
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z3KLEzdkN28

http://www.30bananasaday.com/

lithezebra

Vegan is a huge jump. I'd suggest starting with lacto-ovo vegetarianism and then slowly cutting out animal product. You have to be careful about what you consume because for example, oj has fish oil in it. Also, if you're vegan make sure you supplement your omega 3 and 6 fatty acid and are taking a multi-vit daily.

YOU - are an idiot. There is no fish oil in OJ and a vegan wouldn't want to take a fish oil supplement for omega 3 and 6, we can get that from eating hemp seeds or something similar. I would suggest you do a little research before you talk about things that you don't know about.

You do know they make veggie omega 3/6 supplements, right? From plant sources.

As long as they're DHA and EPA, not ALA. Otherwise, they're not the same thing.

Also, if I need to supplement a diet in order to make it meet my nutritional needs, it isn't a healthy diet.

I've seen this argument brought up a few times now and I'm confused by it-everyone I know is a meat eater, and I know a lot of them take supplements (have had conversations about it). How many meat eating parents give their meat eating kids chewable multi-vitamins every day? (I fondly remember my Flinstone vitamins as a kid). How many threads are on mfp, about supplements, with members posting all the vitamins they take ? It seems like there's an awful lot of meat eating people who's diet aren't meeting their nutritional needs :huh: More than half of all American's take vitamins now-doubt there's that many vegetarians/vegans out there
http://abcnews.go.com/Health/vitamins-vitamin-supplements-united-states/story?id=13359944

That example shows a misunderstanding of what I said. I didn't say that the average American diet is healthier than a vegan diet, just because it includes meat. I said that any diet that relies solely on supplements to provide a nutrient is a less healthy diet than a diet which provides all the nutrients that you need. A vegetable based diet that includes some meat and animal based foods is optimally healthier than a vegan diet, because it can provide DHA, EPA, and vitamin B12 from a variety of sources, AND it's much healthier than a diet high in processed meats, empty carbs, and low in vegetables. Eating meat doesn't mean that you don't have to work at making healthy choices, or that don't need to eat anything else.

ecka723

Vegan is a huge jump. I'd suggest starting with lacto-ovo vegetarianism and then slowly cutting out animal product. You have to be careful about what you consume because for example, oj has fish oil in it. Also, if you're vegan make sure you supplement your omega 3 and 6 fatty acid and are taking a multi-vit daily.

YOU - are an idiot. There is no fish oil in OJ and a vegan wouldn't want to take a fish oil supplement for omega 3 and 6, we can get that from eating hemp seeds or something similar. I would suggest you do a little research before you talk about things that you don't know about.

You do know they make veggie omega 3/6 supplements, right? From plant sources.

As long as they're DHA and EPA, not ALA. Otherwise, they're not the same thing.

Also, if I need to supplement a diet in order to make it meet my nutritional needs, it isn't a healthy diet.

Mine are. They'er made from flax and chia seeds, but I bought them before they started selling them whole here. Also, I supplement out of habit from before my vegetarian days. I never liked fish, and I HATE walnuts. Why are you against supplementation if it adds to a healthy diet? I use it to make sure I hit all of my nutrients that I am at risk of under-doing (Omegas, Calcium, and a general multivitamin). Just wondering...I know that the best option is to get the nutrients from foods, but sometimes it just isn't possible due to bugets/time/etc.