any vegetarians out there?

You can have all the non-starchy vegetables you want each day, but you have to limit fruit to only 2 servings per day. You also need at least 1 hour of exercise a day for at least 5 days a week if you want to see real progress.

Why do you say she "needs" to limit fruit to 2 servings a day and "needs" to exercise 1 hours a day, 5 days a week?? Is that in some sort of rule book for vegetarians lol?!?

I've been veggie for 13 years now (wow I feel old) and recently have started to really cut back on eggs and dairy. Add me if you'd like

Hope it's ok for me to give you my story, I'm on day 2 of reintroducing chicken (eek- finding it very hard!). I had been veetarian for several years, but found my overconsumption of dairy and carbs to be detrimental to my weight loss endeavours. I just ate way too much of it. I fell into the trap of thinking that because I was vegetarian (and vegan for several months) I could eat as many calories as I liked!
As a vegetarian I would eat heaps of pasta, cheese, yoghurt etc. and when trialling vegan for 8 months I overindulged in nuts, avocado, coconut oil, dark choc! Simply way too many calories to create a defecit and lose weight.

I have since rentroduced lean protein into my diet but would really encourage you to try to remain plant-based- keep salad and vegetables as the main part of your meal, then use lugumes, tofu, quinoa, tempeh as your proteins.

Hommus is awesome!! I make mine without oil and use greek yoghurt instead. If you are eating dairy, of course eggs, greek yoghurt and cottage cheese are excellent sources. Best of luck.

I am an omnivore, but I eat a lot of vegetarian and vegan meals. Eggs, dried beans (as opposed to canned), and whole grains (e.g., oatmeal, brown rice, whole wheat cereal and pasta) are probably the least expensive ways of getting substantial amounts of vegetarian protein. You won't save much money substituting fake meat products (Morningstar, Boca, etc.) for meat., as yummy as some of those products are. (You did say you were broke.) Some veggies also have a fair amount of protein for the calories in them, but you're probably not going to want to eat enough of them for them to be a major contributor to your protein needs. Other choices that probably fall between eggs/beans/grain and convenience foods in terms of protein for your buck are nuts, seeds, and dairy.

I had about 55 grams of protein Thursday from vegetarian sources (plus roughly another 12 from the beef and beef broth in a large bowl of homemade beef-barley-vegetable soup): 11 g at breakfast from a slice of part whole grain bread and some pistachio butter; 21 at lunch from black beans, rice, sour cream, and veggies in a burrito bowl; 2 from the milk in my afternoon coffee; about 5 from the barley, corn, peas, and other veg in the soup at dinner; and 16 from an evening snack of pistachio butter, banana, and jelly sandwich on part whole grain bread and a some almond/coconut milk.

Not sure why you do not eat gluten. Do you have an intolerance. If not, I would reconsider as its a great source of protein.

You can find protein sources here, split between meat-eater, vegetarian, and vegan friendly.

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/926789-protein-sources

Not sure why you do not eat gluten. Do you have an intolerance. If not, I would reconsider as its a great source of protein.

You can find protein sources here, split between meat-eater, vegetarian, and vegan friendly.

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/926789-protein-sources

Just thought I would add these...

http://www.savvyvegetarian.com/articles/plant-food-protein-chart.pdf

http://www.22daysnutrition.com/blog/2013/05/01/15-vegan-sources-of-protein-soy-free-and-gluten-free-too/

Great plant based dietary group...

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/groups/home/45-happy-herbivores

I like that link to the chart - very informative.

Check out Christy Morgan- The Blissful Chef... she has an awesome cookbook out and she is super fun!!