Veganish lol (part 2) Becoming a vegetarian

So, yesterday I posted a question regarding a “vegan style” diet that I was trying to start. I wanted recipes and encouragement to stay committed. To be clear not a vegan lifestyle which I’m aware is very serious for those who follow it and consists of not only not eating meat, dairy, or eggs (any meat or animal by-products) but refraining from buying any product which consists of animal products, specifically, items like leather. What I was interested in was just the DIET portion, being fruits, veggies, grains, beans, and nuts. I refer to this as vegan since there are AT LEAST A FEW different types of vegetarian diets and I wanted to be clear on what I meant in regards to diet and post my question quickly without having to do any research on what specific vegetarian diet I was referring to. I got a lot of responses and I’m sure I’m still getting some (which I will read after I finish this new post.) I even got a few private messages with advice and encouragement. Unfortunately I did get a bunch of “troll” type comments saying everything from “I don’t know what I’m talking about” to “you have to eat meat because, blah, blah, blah”, etc. So, I figured I would repost my question (with the same title for different reasons) giving more specific information so that I can get better feedback from the community. So here it goes…. (it’s gonna be a long post)


Hello Everyone,

I am a 330lb, 27 year old white male who stands at 5’10”. I am a pretty stalky guy (wide shoulders) but regardless I still need to lose 100+lbs prob even closer to the 150lb neighborhood. I’ve struggled with my weight pretty much my whole life (at least since I was about 12, so the last 15 years.) In high school I was like 225lb and then started getting heavier to about 300lb when I graduated, the in college I slimmed down a little bit prob to about 240-250lbs and then since I graduated college I gained weight all the way up to 350lb and now am at 330lb. So I’ve been all over the board from, overweight to FAT to obese and unhealthy. I’ve tried a couple different diets, primarily Atkins and weight watchers. Both of which I’ve tried a couple times each. Atkins always starts out well, I end up losing like 15lbs but I end up feeling like crap because I’ve been eating just meat and cheese for the past two weeks (duh). I know that you are supposed to eat the “foundation” veggies but it’s hard when you’re not really allowed to have salad dressings or make green smoothies with fruit and spinach etc. So I end up quitting because I feel like crap. Weight watchers is a decent program but I always feel like I am eating too much if that makes sense because fruits and vegetables are 0 points, so if you throw in a couple fruit based green smoothies and a couple bananas, you could easily be eating an additional 500 calories over your daily caloric need and not lose weight. On top of the fact that you have to pay for it and there are great free options like myfitnesspal. The meetings are good and bad, it’s nice to get weighed in by someone else once a week, same day, same time, on a quality scale. The bad part is that I feel out of place being at a meeting with 40+ ppl and I am one of three men, the other two being twice my age.

So, I’ve been doing some independent research and getting info from friends, family and coworkers, just basically trying to be a sponge. So the only way to lose weight is to have a daily caloric deficit, which means you exercise more or eat less or both. I am trying to stick with a regular vegetarian diet consisting of ONLY fruits, veggies, grains, beans, and nuts. No eggs, no fish, no dairy, no chicken, and obviously no red meat. I’m also trying to stay away from processed foods. I’m a compulsive, emotional eater and I find that it will be pretty hard to go overboard on grapes and carrots etc. I’m the type of person who cannot handle having just three cookies or one piece of pizza. It’s all or nothing with me. I know that this sounds a little extreme to some and it is. I believe desperate times call for desperate measures. I am close to my 30’s and I would like to live them all out fit and healthy. At my current size, there is a possibility that I could be “middle aged.” I do work a desk job and I know that I need to exercise more (that’s obvious), which I’m trying to do but right now I just want to concentrate on the diet portion. I’m not planning on staying a vegetarian, maybe just until I lose 50, 75 or even 100lbs but who knows I might become vegan.

So the information that I am looking for is everything from quick (20 min) recipes, like stir fry type dishes, to individual struggles from ppl who are on a plant based diet and ppl who have successfully lost over 100lbs. ALL comments are welcome and thanks for sticking through all that.