has anybody lost weight by cutting out meat?

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Replies

  • dirtybadgermtb
    dirtybadgermtb Posts: 140 Member
    I have tried many fad diets. South Beach, Atkins , Paleo, Weight Watcher, and 3 months vegetarian. The cold hard truth was that until I started balancing my calories in vs calories out, I made no sustainable progress. All I did was cut out lots of variety with each of the above listed diets. Now I don't limit any type of food and have lost and kept off the excess fat by initially spending more than I took in and am now currently sustaining by matching what goes in and what gets burned. No need to suffer a life without meat (that is assuming you enjoy it on occasion)
  • dgljones
    dgljones Posts: 89
    Also for those complaining in general about the price of organic food, if you have any sort of land try growing some of your own, it can actually be an enjoyable hobby and give you some nice outdoors exercise as the weather warms up. Or combine it with befriending the farmer next door and get baskets of free food all summer long. Worked great for me, only just finished up the frozen bags of chopped tomatoes and peppers.
  • n_unocero
    n_unocero Posts: 445 Member
    I went vegetarian for 6 months and lost a little bit of weight (about 7-9lbs). It worked for me because most of the unhealty junk food i eat is meat (chicken wings, hamburgers, gyros) so it helped me stay away from those temptations which lead me to make better choices. I've actually thought about going back meatless to help my eating get on track.
  • ExRelaySprinter
    ExRelaySprinter Posts: 874 Member
    Hi, because of the Horsemeat scare over here in the UK,..i've cut out eating Beef and Lamb but still eat Fish, Chicken and some Pork .
    Plus i've really cut down on eating processed Meats too (i.e Sausages, Bacon, Frankfurters...that type of thing).
    I believed it would help with my weightloss, but no luck i'm afraid.
    I'm probably a bit more healthier [for eating less of the processed stuff] - but sadly it hasn't helped with my weightloss at all, which is a bit disappointing. :/
    But thinking about it, i guess it's because i was never a big Red Meat eater in the first place.
  • Fibergurl
    Fibergurl Posts: 44
    No meat and loving it!
  • paxbfl
    paxbfl Posts: 391 Member
    Muscle helps boost your metabolism, and protein helps you build muscle. So go meatless if you wish, but make sure you find good protein sources and incorporate lifting into your workout.

    It's not impossible but it's going to be more difficult than just grilling a chicken breast as I typically do.
  • theCarlton
    theCarlton Posts: 1,344 Member
    What shapes are you looking to make your meat cut-outs? Sounds pretty, but a little laborious.
  • susanswan
    susanswan Posts: 1,194 Member
    I cut out most animal products and packed my diet with mainly fresh veggies, fruits, nuts, and beans. Feel the best I've ever felt with more energy, too. I did this for health reasons. No major health issues, just not interested in getting any! I lost my last 10 pounds going 80% vegan quicker than the first 10 by "everything in moderation" including the elimination of junk food and refined grains. If interested check out www.drfuhrman.com for the Eat To Live approach.
  • bcattoes
    bcattoes Posts: 17,299 Member
    I cut out red meat in July of last year. Mostly, it was to give myself a challenge and something to focus on besides "losing weight". It gave me a small victory each day in order keep myself charged up. I agree with the earlier poster, that it comes down to calories. I think 100 calories of chicken and 100 calories of steak, are 100 calories.

    100 calories of chicken and 100 calories of steak are both still 100 calories of meat. But 100 calories of beans is different. Not calorie wise, but nutrient content wise.
  • jacksonpt
    jacksonpt Posts: 10,413 Member
    I cut out red meat in July of last year. Mostly, it was to give myself a challenge and something to focus on besides "losing weight". It gave me a small victory each day in order keep myself charged up. I agree with the earlier poster, that it comes down to calories. I think 100 calories of chicken and 100 calories of steak, are 100 calories.

    100 calories of chicken and 100 calories of steak are both still 100 calories of meat. But 100 calories of beans is different. Not calorie wise, but nutrient content wise.

    Nutrient wise steak and chicken is fairly different too. Where do you draw the line?

    Look at 8oz of beef tenderloin vs 8oz of boneless/skinless chicken breast.
  • daniellealys
    daniellealys Posts: 301 Member
    i gained 20lbs over a few years after becoming a vegetarian. sounds silly but i got fat. I dont recommend it. I am now paleo for 4 months and have lost 40lbs!
  • bcattoes
    bcattoes Posts: 17,299 Member
    I cut out red meat in July of last year. Mostly, it was to give myself a challenge and something to focus on besides "losing weight". It gave me a small victory each day in order keep myself charged up. I agree with the earlier poster, that it comes down to calories. I think 100 calories of chicken and 100 calories of steak, are 100 calories.

    100 calories of chicken and 100 calories of steak are both still 100 calories of meat. But 100 calories of beans is different. Not calorie wise, but nutrient content wise.

    Nutrient wise steak and chicken is fairly different too. Where do you draw the line?

    Look at 8oz of beef tenderloin vs 8oz of boneless/skinless chicken breast.

    Draw what line? The line between meat and veggies is pretty clear, I think.
  • spirit80
    spirit80 Posts: 327 Member
    Meat everyday. Bacon, steak, chicken, pork, and turkey. I like Variety!
  • belgerian
    belgerian Posts: 1,059 Member
    I have not cut out meat I just dont eat it all that much any more becouse of all the processing that goes on, I still enjoy a nice steak or hamburger every now and then just more often then than now. My weight loss had to do with a calorie deficit by eating healthier and excercise.
  • jadedone
    jadedone Posts: 2,446 Member
    I don't think it is the most practical choice. I find if I don't have meat, I tend to replace it with the wrong items.

    I feel better with a certain balance of macros. If I go too far off, I don't fell satiated. And that includes the protein target.

    Play around with your macros and portions for a 3 week period and monitor how you feel.

    Personally, I have problems keeping up my iron, so going vegan would be pretty hard. My body actually starts craving red meat when I am low on iron.

    I tend towards chicken and fish when cooking at home. And beef and pork when I go out. But I totally hear you on the chemical laden conventional meat, I stick with free range/organic/grassfed etc as much as possible. I am lucky, since where I live, this is even common in the takeout places!
  • lithezebra
    lithezebra Posts: 3,670 Member
    I lost weight by putting meat back in my diet, and not only fish, but chicken and beef too. I mostly buy organic, or free range at least.
  • BellehavenfarmDawn
    BellehavenfarmDawn Posts: 248 Member
    I don't eat any meat fish or dairy. Like others I am following Eat To Live. Just today my doctor Halved pressure meds. My healthy eating did that! a month ago I stopped taking any thing of arthritis because I feel great.

    I have lost 20 lbs in 3 months, but only the last three weeks has been healthy plant based. In the months before I was eliminating craving drinks and foods, one by one.

    I am never hungry. Big change was having a cup or more of beans, eating way more veg...raw and cooked.

    the exciting part is that this is so good for you. when I first read the book I thought I couldn't do it but now it is easy. Dr. Fuhrman also wrote Health for Life which details a step by step approach. I haven't read it.

    also organic or not, most animals don't have a decent life nor a humane death. that's an issue for me but I know not for everyone.

    forks over Knives movie on Netflix was educational for me.

    We have a group here is you are interested in learning more. best wishes!

    Dawn
  • judydelo1
    judydelo1 Posts: 281 Member
    I was put on a vegan diet in August by my health practitioner for health reasons and I lost 10 lbs in roughly 5 months without counting calories or exercising.

    I feel so much better and now I have the incentive to keep going. So I'm counting cals and I've began exercising.

    If you decide to go vegetarian or vegan . . . just don't become a junk food vegetarian. I know a vegetarian that doesn't eat ANY vegetables except for french fries. Now THAT'S not healthy.
  • judydelo1
    judydelo1 Posts: 281 Member
    I don't eat any meat fish or dairy. Like others I am following Eat To Live. Just today my doctor Halved pressure meds. My healthy eating did that! a month ago I stopped taking any thing of arthritis because I feel great.

    I have lost 20 lbs in 3 months, but only the last three weeks has been healthy plant based. In the months before I was eliminating craving drinks and foods, one by one.

    I am never hungry. Big change was having a cup or more of beans, eating way more veg...raw and cooked.

    the exciting part is that this is so good for you. when I first read the book I thought I couldn't do it but now it is easy. Dr. Fuhrman also wrote Health for Life which details a step by step approach. I haven't read it.

    also organic or not, most animals don't have a decent life nor a humane death. that's an issue for me but I know not for everyone.

    forks over Knives movie on Netflix was educational for me.

    We have a group here is you are interested in learning more. best wishes!

    Dawn

    Hi . . .do you mind me asking . . . what's the group you're referring to?
  • zillah73
    zillah73 Posts: 505 Member
    i gained 20lbs over a few years after becoming a vegetarian. sounds silly but i got fat. I dont recommend it. I am now paleo for 4 months and have lost 40lbs!

    Doesn't sound silly to me. I have a friend who has been a vegetarian as long as I have known her and far longer than me and she is quite heavy. She is probably the pickiest eater I have ever seen and pretty much subsists off white pasta, bread, cheese and a small array of other orange/tan foods. I am not remotely surprised she struggles with weight and feeling crappy. It isn't about the meat, it's about the quality and variety of food, nutrients, calorie intake, etc. Whether you eat meat or not, you gotta sometimes eat the yummy green stuff. :laugh:
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  • keegalie
    keegalie Posts: 82
    cosby_weiner.gif

    bwahaha omg that made my night
  • rm7161
    rm7161 Posts: 505
    Lost 60 lbs without cutting out meat. Heck I even eat the skin on the chicken :)

    If you feel you want to be vegetarian for ethical reasons... that's fine. But you don't have to cut out anything really in order to lose weight, just eat less overall maintaining a calorie deficit will do the trick.
  • theskinnylist
    theskinnylist Posts: 286 Member
    I lost 68 lbs going vegan.
  • justal313
    justal313 Posts: 1,375 Member
    Are you going to not eat meat for the rest of your life. When I was 27 I weighed 263 pounds and I cut all meat out of my diet (and a LOT of the fat) and lost over 80 pounds. 2 years after I lost all the weight I had fish and then fish became chicken and chicken became beef and pork. I put all the weight back.

    All I am doing now is exercising and eating sensible portions. I've lost 97 pounds, I'm 3 pounds away from my goal and the ONLY thing I've stopped eating is potato chips inside my tuna sandwiches. I drink beer just not as much, I have dessert, just not as much and I exercise.

    But yes, you can lose weight by cutting out meat as long as you dont replace the meat with crap, but this would totally be because you stopped eating 20oz of fat laden beef at the drop of a hat. Meat in and of itself isn't specifially bad, just some cuts of meat are more calorically dense.

    My biggest piece of advice is not to buy meat replacements that supposedly taste like meat. A black bean veggie burger is awesome. A "hamburger" flavored boca burger is awful.

    Just make sure you are eating vegetarian because you don't want to eat meat not because you want to lose weight, that won't last forever.
  • rm7161
    rm7161 Posts: 505
    Just make sure you are eating vegetarian because you don't want to eat meat not because you want to lose weight, that won't last forever.

    Exactly. Cutting out various foods is not a silver bullet to weight loss. However you create that calorie deficit, is how it is done. People mainly go vegetarian because this is their ethical viewpoint, it's far more than just a diet to lose weight for most. You can be an overweight vegetarian as easily as an overweight meat eater... it's all about overeating.
  • jennaworksout
    jennaworksout Posts: 1,739 Member
    my friend is a vegetarian, and she has gained weight so depends on what you eat even thought its not meat.
  • andybuzzo
    andybuzzo Posts: 2
    I lost 20lbs by cutting out meat. in less than 2 months no exorcise
  • RjoyD
    RjoyD Posts: 2
    I always gain weight and feel horrible when I don't eat some type of meat, but then again it might actually equate with the level of protein my body needs as well.

    Perhaps if you try eating more organic types of protein?
    I realize they can be more expensive ,but if you buy sale items or just less when it comes to meat products and then fill in nutrition gaps with vegetarian type proteins (they seem to be cheaper) and/or fish(I know, also meat) you can still have healthy meat in your meals and not make yourself poor while doing it.
    ...Just a thought is all :-) ....
  • denizfindigi
    denizfindigi Posts: 41
    For about a year I was only consuming fish (in the meat category) and for me it was really really hard to lose weight. The main reason is that fish is not the easiest thing to cook at home (I mean you cook it on the oven and on the stove for a couple of times but then it gets super boring and you do not feel like eating it any longer) and there are not many options to eat when you are eating out (after a while the grilled salmon makes you BORED - so bored that you do not feel like eating anything..)

    I would always describe myself as someone who adored fish but there came a moment I realized that if this was what I was going to do for a lifetime, I was probably not going to be able to eat fish at all after a while because it started to lose all it's taste for me. So I started to eat poultry again and I am doing A LOT BETTER at losing weight.
    (this may all be because I hate eggs and I was getting most of my proteins from fish which made me eat too much fish)

    So.. this is my personal experience with it. I am wishing you the best but remember that it is not as easy as it feels like in the beginning.

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