Hi everyone! And are there any vegetarians in the house?

kissinthedark

Okay, first and foremost I want to introduce myself... I'm new to this site, just started it today, but it looks like it'll be a BIG help to me. My name is Dorie. I'm married & the mom of a two-year-old. When I was pregnant with my little guy I had some pregnancy problems (high blood pressure for example) and was put on bed rest for most of the pregnancy. In addition, since it was my first pregnancy, I thought I could eat whatever I wanted, whenever I wanted since I was "eating for two". Boy, was I wrong! Between the uber high calorie diet and my complete lack of exercise, I managed to gain 120 lbs between my first prenatal visit and the day my son was born. After the pregnancy, I was convinced it would come off naturally. Ha! Two years later, I'm just barely over 50lbs less than what I was when I gave birth. So yesterday I made a pact with my husband that I was going to lose the weight I need to get back to my pre-pregnancy weight and that I will do it in a healthy way. Which puts me here. Now, last year I became a vegetarian for personal reasons. A little part of me was also hoping that following a vegetarian diet would help me lose weight but I forgot one little thing: a vegetarian can still eat cookies, cake, ice cream, cheese, pasta, all sorts of high-calorie foods! So my question is: are there any vegetarians on these forums? If so, do you have any helpful hints or secrets to share with me about how I can set up my diet to get all the nutrients I need, lose weight, and still be able to stay a vegetarian? I will take any advice you have for me, whether it's about losing weight as a vegetarian or just simple weight-loss advice that could apply to anyone. Thanks!

robbienjill

Hi Dorie
I am a vegetarian, and yes u right about the cookie situation. I try to eat as many organic and fresh veg. as possible. U may want to do some reseach on clean eating, as there are several magazines out. I try to drink organic milk and use it in my recipes. Also there are tons of really great, and healthy recipes on line. U will however need to get in all of the correct vitamins and nutrients u need...including:flowerforyou: protein. I eat alot of black beans on tacos 4 example, peanut butter, nuts, and stuff like that. Good luck and congrats.

akivi73

Hi! I have been differing types or levels of a vegetarian for about ten years: pescetarian, pollo-pescetarian, vegan, ovo-lacto vegetarian, etc. Now I am back to eating seafood, poultry, eggs, and dairy (I do not call myself a vegetarian anymore). I won't tell you that you have to eat meat (I know how irritating that is!), but I needed to do so because I fell into the same sort of trap that you're trying to avoid and I believe that is what helped me put on 10-15lbs. You need to do your homework as far as getting enough nutrients (we all do) and avoid substituting things like cheese for meat. I've read, and it was also my habit, that many vegetarians do this because the cheese will satiate you much like meat. Only the cheese has much more fat and calories!

I hope this helps a little.

kokonutmama

I've been mostly vegan (ok, "beegan") for 16 years. My 4 yo son has been mostly beegan since conception

Yeah, being veg doesn't have much to do with eating right, I've been too fat, too thin, and everything in between while being vegan.

My "advice" is just that you follow the same rules as everybody else: fewer, higher quality calories, whole foods, plenty of fiber, plenty of exercise, plenty of water, etc. MFP is great because it will track things like iron intake, so if you see that you don't get enough from your food, you can take the right level of supplement.

april_mesk

I am not a vegetarian but, I do have to say that I gained a lot of weigh with both pregnancies. My son who is 17 now, I gained 65 lbs. and thought the same thing that I could eat whatever I wanted. I was 17 when I got pregnant and I got all of that weight off. However, I just had another baby (why after 17 years?)...I found the right guy and are happily married and he wanted one child so, lss, I gained 72 lbs. with my baby girl. Yeah, not good. I have lost 63 lbs. of it so far and have about 10 lbs. to go for pre-preg. You can do this and don't let anyone tell you that you can't!!!! Good luck and welcome to the best web site ever!!!!

nehptune

Hello!

I have been a vegetarian for ~18 years and have managed to go through all sorts of eating fads in the process.

I think that one of the biggest pit-falls, as mentioned by a bunch of people already, is substituting dairy products for meat protein. There are plenty of vegetables with good protein content, and beans are real superfoods packed with protein. Tofu is great, as well as other "meat-substitutes" like Quorn. And don't forget nuts... you don't need much, but a couple of tablespoons of peanut butter will give you a good protein boosts and some good fats too.

You can DEFINITELY have a healthy diet with enough of all the essentials being a vegetarian, it just involves thinking outside of the "meat and two veg" box. It's a great opportunity to experiment with new foods and recipes (Japanese food has some pretty neat healthy recipes like shabu-shabu).

A book you might want to check out is:
"The Thrive Diet"
written by a vegan world champion triathlete... it may be a bit of an extreme change to take it all onboard, but there are certainly some great ideas you could incorporate into your daily routine and lots of useful information.

So... don't give up on being vegetarian! The main thing is to keep an eye on portion sizes and not load up on fatty foods as meat substitutes.

Good luck!
:happy: