Mystery of the fat vegan

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  • Slrajr
    Slrajr Posts: 438 Member
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    Potato chips
  • aimforhealthy
    aimforhealthy Posts: 449 Member
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    I can one better! I was a fat RAW VEGAN! I know people would look at me strange and not believe that I was overweight when all I ate was salad, fruit, and nuts. That's right...fat on salad. It can be done. I test logged in what I was eating on my salad's (gobs of tahini dressing and avocado's) and overindulging on spoonful after spoonful of PB and I was eating close to 3000 a day just eating 3-4 salads, nuts, and some PB!

    I'm no longer eating raw, I'm mostly vegan, but tracking my calories and losing when eating more variety of foods than I was before...because of the calorie content. It is possible to be an overweight vegan, for sure!
    I believe this. I like salads and nuts so I've tried to make a lot of raw recipes before. They're VERY high in calories a lot. When you have raw vegan "versions" of non-raw food, they can be even higher in calories than their traditional counterparts. I've seen raw vegan cheesecake that had more calories per slice than what they serve at the Cheesecake factory.
  • jojorocksforeva
    jojorocksforeva Posts: 303 Member
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    No such Thing as being a fat VEGAN unless your getting to many calories or to many fats Which is hard to do on a vegan diet. Hmm their is a big difference between Vegan and vegetarian Dont get those two mixed up. Vegetarian CAN eat just as bad as someone who eats meat all kinds of junk, A vegan eats mainly just fruit and veggies.
  • NiikouruDesu
    NiikouruDesu Posts: 100
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    Disagree.
    "Emotional eating" is a result of lack of fuel in the body, lack of sleep and lack of water.
    If one were to fuel themselves with the right foods in the first place, they would not get "emotional", there would be no "emotional eating". It would just be "eating".
    Lol.
  • TidalFairy
    TidalFairy Posts: 1
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    No such Thing as being a fat VEGAN unless your getting to many calories or to many fats Which is hard to do on a vegan diet. Hmm their is a big difference between Vegan and vegetarian Dont get those two mixed up. Vegetarian CAN eat just as bad as someone who eats meat all kinds of junk, A vegan eats mainly just fruit and veggies.

    You're getting a raw food vegan diet mixed up with a traditional vegan diet. A traditional vegan diet also includes grains, soy foods, seeds, tofu, and nuts. Sure, a vegetarian can eat those foods, but none of those are animal by-products. They can also be fattening if you don't eat them in moderation. Contrary to popular belief, there are some overweight vegans out there.
  • fruttibiscotti
    fruttibiscotti Posts: 986 Member
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    Two unrelated friends of mine had been vegetarian all of their adult lives, one was plump and the other was of normal body weight. The only difference that I could see between them was portion control. Alas the thinner gal passed away from colon cancer. I puzzled over this for quite some time until I realized it was that she was not eating more veggies than anything else, she was eating cheese and pasta, and other highly processed foods including sugar. Only recently have I learned that these choices can be hazardous to one's health. Three of her siblings also passed away from cancer at young ages. How painful for her parents (also my friends).

    The key to healthy vegetarian/vegan-ism seems to be the plant based WHOLE foods, unprocessed is best. Portion control is also very important. Just because it is a fruit (natural sugar) or a vegetable is not a license to over-fuel your body. These marvelously resilient bodies weren't designed to handle all that we throw inside them.

    I am a newly vegan and making some adjustments by adding egg whites and possibly fish. If that makes me no longer vegan, so be it. I can live with that. Whole grains, 100% whole grains (only about 1/2 cup a DAY), and fresh whole veggies (read this as GREEN, purple, yellow and red) non-starchy veggies at that make up the bulk of my food pyramid. No processed sugar or flour period is my ultimate. Counting my calories and nutrients will be part of my life for EVER. Yes, I am passionate about the details.

    The rules are the same if you call yourself vegan, vegetarian, pescatarian or omnivore; watch your portions and food values hydrate properly and MOVE your body daily!

    Very interesting observation indeed...the ones you saw eating processed stuff (flour, pasta, sugar, etc) were the ones who got sick. I'm not surprised reading this.

    Why are you eating egg whites...don't the egg yolks contain wonderful nutrients? Especially if the eggs are free range and pastured. I get eggs that are, and the yolks are a beautiful dark orange...such a wonderful healthy whole food.
  • neanderthin
    neanderthin Posts: 10,021 Member
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    I say: Vive la Vegan-ish!!

    We live in an imperfect world, and we are all human. Being 'vegan at heart' even if you aren't hardcore vegan still makes a huge difference in so many ways. We need to back away from any illusions of perfectionism.

    Here's a GREAT read on the subject:

    http://www.carpevegan.com/?p=1923

    An imperfect vegan or "veganish diet" is a vegetarian. It is a clear black and white definition - no animal products of any kind. If you want to eggs fine, but then you're a vegetarian. You can't have your cake and eat it too. Likewise you're either a virgin or you're not. But when you start eating meat, that's so far away from being a vegan, it confuses meat eaters whom you tell that you are a vegan. She's just someone that eats some meatless meals.
    Tell that to every vegan who uses agave syrup then since it contains more concentrated fructose than HFCS.

    There's different kinds of agave syrup, you should really educate yourself before you jump on the bandwagon of one sensentional research study.
    Most of them do have much more fructose than HFCS, some as much as 90%.....instead of making yourself feel superior, why not site the ones that are less
  • MorgueBabe
    MorgueBabe Posts: 1,188 Member
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    I'm a fatish *I don't know what to call myself* (I don't eat meat, but I eat fish, but I don't eat any milk, butter or cheese but I DO eat eggs).
    But yeah the other day for dinner I blew through 600 calories of just Extra Virgin Olive Oil.
  • MorgueBabe
    MorgueBabe Posts: 1,188 Member
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    I'm a fat vegan who eats mostly whole foods. One of my biggest issues- BEER! Some vegans abstain from alcohol, but many do not. A lot of trendy, hipster-type places that serve yummy vegan food also serve yummy micro-brews that can reach 200 cals a glass. MFP helped me realize just how many calories I was wasting on beer specifically, and alcohol more generally.
    OMG I forgot about glorious glorious beer.
  • fruttibiscotti
    fruttibiscotti Posts: 986 Member
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    Well considering carbs come from non-animal sources this shouldn't be a surprise at all.

    ^^^ this

    I know MANY vegans and vegetarians who are obese

    This is what I see them eating:

    Potato chips
    Pasta
    Bread galor
    White rice
    Crackers
    All sorts of noodle packets where you just add water and eat
    Quick oatmeal with sugary ingredients and artificial flavours
    Cookies
    Potatoes and instant potato mash and french fries
    Things sweetened with agave, honey, fruit syrups, maple syrup, raw sugar, etc...it's all sugar! Same thing, not "healthier"
    Freaky processed munchees like weird looking sugar snap peas made from potato starch and dye and compressed into shapes
    Sugary drinks that come in funky looking drink containers
    Faux meats made with GMO soy by products
  • rachael1805
    rachael1805 Posts: 72 Member
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    Yep, I was vegetarian and jumped on the 'let's go vegan an lose weight' train. I stayed fat. I simply ate too many calories- nuts, avocado, pasta, pasta, pasta, bread, bread, bread, maple syrup, dark chocolate. All vegan, all high calories. It left me feeling lethargic and uncomfortably full alot of the time as I thought I had a 'free vegan pass' to eat however much I wanted. I've since reintroduced lean proteins and feel alot better physically (I'm still grappling with it emotionally though :/)
  • dawningrid
    dawningrid Posts: 7 Member
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    I was vegetarian for 15 years and struggled with my weight, went 80% raw vegan a year ago and lost some weight, as the level of raw food decreased I increased the amount of fats and regained most of the weigh back. I am mow trying to reduce the fat and increase the raw food again, the trouble is I feel hungry all the time when my fat intake is low. I am trying to deal with this by drinking lots of water. Giving myself a month to see if I will adjust to a low fat diet. I agree with the sentiment that there are a lot of vegan junk food and they are easier to go than the whole food stuff. You can get a bag of chips almost anywhere.
  • livingleanlivingclean
    livingleanlivingclean Posts: 11,751 Member
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    Fat raw vegan??????? I understand how you can be a fat vegan, very easily, but no idea if you're eating raw lol.
    There are plenty of good vegan cakes out there, plus you can still eat chips, dark chocolate, bread, vegan cream, vegan ice cream, oil, vegan cheese, pastry. I don't know how it could confuse anyone.

    Fat raw vegan is easy....besides using fat to make sauces, bases for pizza and tarts, and raw crackers are generally high fat. Then there are amazing sweets and cakes. Made with nuts, dates, oil, coconut, avocado, seeds,agave (or honey if they eat it) etc. then there's raw icecream.....it's not hard to overdo it :P
  • GayAmericanPants
    GayAmericanPants Posts: 1
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    I only looked through the first two pages of this thread, so I may have missed something. I couldn't help but notice people saying they couldn't be vegan because they couldn't give up things like cheese and butter. They have vegan forms of both of those things, and while I think the daiya vegan cheese tastes strange cold it tastes normal and delicious when melted! This is coming from a very picky vegan. The butter is also very tasty.
    On another note, when I tell people that I don't consume anything from an animal they say that must be why I'm so skinny. I actually didn't notice a decrease or increase in weight when I went vegan. I only notice changes in my weight based on my actual eating habits. I think that too many people just don't actually know the availability of vegan options out there, so they don't understand that vegans usually consume about the same amount of calories as everyone else.
  • ponsasinorum
    ponsasinorum Posts: 11 Member
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    Not a mystery to me! I have been a lacto-ovo vegetarian for years, but when I attempted to become vegan (twice... slow learner apparently :laugh: ) I rapidly put on 4 lbs, had intractable diarrhea (TMI sorry) and was hungry alllll the time. Now, clearly, I wasn't doing things correctly, but I finally reached the conclusion that the vegan lifestyle was not the best way for me. Kudos to those who can pull it off though!
  • fxg20
    fxg20 Posts: 61 Member
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    "No such Thing as being a fat VEGAN unless your getting to many calories"

    "There's such thing as being a fat HUMAN unless you're getting too many calories."
  • irenehb
    irenehb Posts: 236 Member
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    Potato chips
    This, well for me anyway.
    Though I am vegetarian so chocolate cheese and ice cream were a big factor too, especially the portions and frequency I ate them.
  • angel_of_harmony
    angel_of_harmony Posts: 188 Member
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    I lost 20 lbs the last time I went vegetarian; this time I gained 10 lbs. It really depends on what you are eating. The same applies for vegans. Just because you are not eating meat/dairy/animal byproducts doesn't mean that you are not consuming calories.
  • lisabinco
    lisabinco Posts: 1,016 Member
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    Going overboard as a calorie surplus will do that regardless of which manner of eating you follow. And considering that many plant-based foods are nutrient dense with a lot of calories, it can be pretty easy to gain weight quickly if you do not monitor and assess yourself on a regular basis.
    Though I disagree that "many plant-based foods are nutrient dense with a lot of calories" -- nutrient dense, yes, but not loaded with calories; I submit it is what we put ON the plant-based foods that make them "a lot of calories" -- the bottom line is I can't eat high-fat nuts and avocados all day without (a) gaining weight, or (b) exercising like a professional athlete. It absolutely depends on WHAT you eat. As a former fat vegetarian, and now a near-vegan (still eat limited dairy-based foods), I'm my own proof.
  • SFvegan
    SFvegan Posts: 1 Member
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    To everyone. I am an animal rights vegan. I have been 100% vegan since 1999 and was lacto ovo vegetarian then just lacto veg from 1976 (yes, 76!) to 1999. It's really important to keep terms legitimate. If you eat any dead flesh from any dead creature, you are NOT a vegetarian. You are an omnivore. Calling yourself vegetarian only ruins it for real vegetarians who are trying to make restaurants more vegetarian friendly. You can not say "I'd like the salmon because I'm vegetarian. No. You are not. If you never eat any mammal or fowl, and you only eat fish, do the vegetarians of the world a big favor and call yourself an omnivore or a pescatarian. Let's make this perfectly clear. If it's a dead animal, it's not vegetarian. Fish is not a vegetable or fruit. OK. Vegan. Vegans never, and I mean NEVER, eat animals or any of their byproducts and excretions. So, if you eat 95% plants and 5% dairy or eggs, you are not a vegan. You are a vegetarian. I realize I sound like the vegan police but the USA and much of the planet is getting much more vegetarian and vegan friendly and the words have gone mainstream. It's vital to have the words used correctly so that food manufacturers, cooks, chefs, and restaurants get it right. When we see the V on packaging, we want to know it's truly vegan. I know so many folks think it's hip/trendy to call themselves vegetarian or vegan but you either are or you are not. There are no shades of gray here. Just because I have taken a few anatomy and physiology classes does NOT make me a doctor. If you eat animals, be honest and call yourself an omnivore. If you eat only plant food plus excretions from undead animals, you're a vegetarian. Hooray. But don't call yourself a vegetarian or vegan until you are 100%. It undermines the cause and hurts those of us who are 100%. Big love. AmyVegan

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