Plant based weight loss

ssbmacdaddy

Hi everyone
I have changes my diet to a plant based one 3 years ago. I did it for health, family, sustainability, etc. my question though is more related to how to loose weight as originally using my fitness pal and paleo diet and too much exercise I went from 258 lbs to 168 lbs. I got injured and still am in physical therapy. Slowly getting to a healthier exercise regimen ( back stenosis and 20 herniated disks). Anyway the weight has come back on and now 225. I have not been as good with documenting my calories and get home after 9 pm from work and eat. Crazy stressful sole owner of business. Now want to hear how people have lost weight and advise on how to do it with plant based and macro break down. I have read mcdougal, watched YouTube tutorials, watched plant based doctors. Tried the keto, carbo, vegan, sweet potato diet, intermittent fasting. No sustainable weight loss. Any positive advise would be much appreciated.

BarbaraHelen2013

It doesn’t matter what you call your eating plan (plant based, vegan, vegetarian, paleo, Keto, carnivore, flexitarian, pescatarian etc etc) nor whether you’re following a set ‘plan’ like ‘sweet potato diet’, ‘egg diet’ etc...

What matters is that you’re in a calorie deficit - meaning you ingest fewer calories than you burn in a day through being alive, moving through your day and any intentional exercise.

If you follow the set up process on MFP and enter your current weight, height etc and select a reasonable rate for loss (I’d suggest no more than a pound a week, as you’re already stressed by work commitments and putting extra pressure on yourself through a substantial deficit may be self-defeating). You’ll be given a calorie target that you should aim at on a daily basis.

After that, eat whatever food you like, in portions that keep you within that goal. Try that for a month or so, and see where you are.

MaltedTea

Yes, and as an entrepreneur, it sounds like you have an understandable time management issue. Have you considered meal planning? That way, you can sit down for a couple of minutes (once a week) to log EVERYTHING you're going to eat that week...in advance. If you get bento-type containers, you can have pre-packaged meals (of whatever eating regime you've decided to stick with) done relatively quickly as opposed to figuring out what to eat every single day.

kshama2001

I agree with the first two posters who responded: 1. calorie deficit and 2. time management/planning.

I've eaten mostly plant based and while the way I did it took more prep time than other ways of eating would, it's certainly doable with planning.

When I have morning or evening meetings, I plan to have breakfasts or dinners that take a lot less time/thought/effort.

While I am an omnivore, I am interested in reducing my meat consumption for ethical and environmental reasons. I've been experimenting with making my own seitan recently and love it as a snack either alone or with 1/3 banana and a few almonds. But you can certainly buy it premade.

The bigger supermarkets near me have it with the tofu, and I see it is available at Target, Walmart, and of course Whole Foods.

I have no experience with this particular brand; it was high in search and has a great description:

Upton's Naturals Traditional Seitan

This highly versatile variety of Seitan comes in minimally seasoned larger chunks just waiting for your culinary creativity. It goes great on sandwiches, in salads, served over rice, or in a wrap.Seitan is a traditional Japanese food made by rinsing the starch away from wheat and retaining the protein. With an impressively meat-like texture and robust flavor, seitan is both high in protein and low in fat without the cholesterol associated with meat.