Just started a vegetarian diet.. weight loss questions.

ceimi
ceimi Posts: 25
edited November 8 in Food and Nutrition
Hey guys, how is your morning?

I just started a vegetarian diet(read: no meat or fish, eggs and diary products ok) and today is day 4. I didn't weigh myself the day I started which I'm sort of regretting now but I did weigh myself the day before. I came in at a whopping 181.6 lbs. I finally got around to weighting myself since i changed my diet and the scale now reads 175.5. Is this normal? I normally drink 2L of water a day but have been lacking a bit recently and have only been getting in maybe 1L a day if that. I don't think it's anything to do with BM either since not much has changed in that section. Do you think it's just water loss? I'm sticking at around ~1400 net calories consumed depending on how much I exercise.

Did anyone else have a drastic weight loss in the first few days they switched to a vegetarian diet?

Replies

  • biorobotics
    biorobotics Posts: 38
    any drastic change to your diet will have your body confused for a little while. i lost ~15lbs when i first went vegetarian. don't worry about it?
  • ceimi
    ceimi Posts: 25
    Alright, thanks! I'll just make sure to up my water intake. I've been eating pretty balanced I think. I guess my body was just use to me eating crap.
  • leggup
    leggup Posts: 2,942 Member
    So.. 6 lbs lost in 6 days? Yeah, that wasn't fat loss. That was mostly water retention you lost. Depending on how overweight you are and how big a deficit you ate at, anywere from .25-2 lbs of that loss could have been fat.

    Also, a little FYI... I've been a vegetarian for 14+ years now. I have lost a lot of weight as a vegetarian. I have also gained a lot of weight as a vegetarian. I hit my highest weight ever in January of this year, still a vegetarian.
  • ceimi
    ceimi Posts: 25
    Thanks for the reply. I always that a high carb diet made you retain water not lose it! I went on a SLCD last year and ended up losing a lot of weight the first week as well. Thanks for the reply again! I look forward to balancing out and starting to lose weight more gradually and steady.
  • roz112
    roz112 Posts: 77 Member
    I actually gained weight when i went vegetarian. I used to eat a lot of meat protein and barely any carbs and would sometimes feel faint, but now i would say im more balanced.
  • willrun4bagels
    willrun4bagels Posts: 838 Member
    Did you go vegetarian as a method of weight loss? I'm confused by your question. Caloric deficit equals weight loss, not eating meat vs. not eating meat.
  • Jeneba
    Jeneba Posts: 699 Member
    Being a vegetarian never caused me to lose weight.... A calorie may not ALWAYS be a calorie, but quite often it is.... More exercise, less calories..... Good luck & congratulations on your choices!
  • ayanafuentes9
    ayanafuentes9 Posts: 3 Member
    I recently went Vegan a month ago and I love it. I have lost only a few pounds in a month but I will take it. I still watch my calories however but I do notice I can eat a lot of this way of eating. :smile:
  • ceimi
    ceimi Posts: 25
    Hi Roz! Even before going vegetarian I wasn't a big meat eater. I haven't had red meat in probably 4 months or so, and I normally stuck to poultry and bacon. I ate meat around 3 times per week, but that was mainly due to me not really having any money for actual food and I just ate whatever I could get my hands on at the time.
  • ceimi
    ceimi Posts: 25
    @willrun4bagels, I just wanted to know if anyone else dropped a considerable amount of weight in the first week or two when starting a vegetarian diet. I understand how to lose weight, no need to school me in that I'm well versed. Was just curious if people experienced excess weight loss when starting out due to water loss or something!
  • willrun4bagels
    willrun4bagels Posts: 838 Member
    ceimi wrote: »
    @willrun4bagels, I just wanted to know if anyone else dropped a considerable amount of weight in the first week or two when starting a vegetarian diet. I understand how to lose weight, no need to school me in that I'm well versed. Was just curious if people experienced excess weight loss when starting out due to water loss or something!

    Ok...

    Water loss would come from eating at a caloric deficit, not switching from eating X number of calories a day of foods with meat to the same number of calories a day of foods not containing meat. Switching to a vegetarian diet of the same daily calories as previously eaten does not equal weight loss.
  • _HeartsOnFire_
    _HeartsOnFire_ Posts: 5,304 Member
    willrun4bagels wrote: »
    ceimi wrote: »
    @willrun4bagels, I just wanted to know if anyone else dropped a considerable amount of weight in the first week or two when starting a vegetarian diet. I understand how to lose weight, no need to school me in that I'm well versed. Was just curious if people experienced excess weight loss when starting out due to water loss or something!

    Ok...

    Water loss would come from eating at a caloric deficit, not switching from eating X number of calories a day of foods with meat to the same number of calories a day of foods not containing meat. Switching to a vegetarian diet of the same daily calories as previously eaten does not equal weight loss.

    Too add to this...I'm a vegetarian of 24 years. I'm overweight. Becoming vegetarian doesn't mean you'll lose weight. I've known vegans who were obese. One has nothing to do with the other.

  • ceimi
    ceimi Posts: 25
    @Ayana, congrats! I don't think I would ever be able to go full vegan, but props to you! :) Thanks for the reply!
  • AliceDark
    AliceDark Posts: 3,886 Member
    I've been a vegetarian since I was 11, and I spend an insane amount of time trying to find protein. You can be a healthy vegetarian with some effort, but you can also very easily be an unhealthy vegetarian. Any time you cut out food groups, it makes balancing your diet more difficult.
  • bajoyba
    bajoyba Posts: 1,153 Member
    misskittyninja wrote: »
    _HeartsOnFire_ wrote: »
    willrun4bagels wrote: »
    ceimi wrote: »
    @willrun4bagels, I just wanted to know if anyone else dropped a considerable amount of weight in the first week or two when starting a vegetarian diet. I understand how to lose weight, no need to school me in that I'm well versed. Was just curious if people experienced excess weight loss when starting out due to water loss or something!

    Ok...

    Water loss would come from eating at a caloric deficit, not switching from eating X number of calories a day of foods with meat to the same number of calories a day of foods not containing meat. Switching to a vegetarian diet of the same daily calories as previously eaten does not equal weight loss.

    Too add to this...I'm a vegetarian of 24 years. I'm overweight. Becoming vegetarian doesn't mean you'll lose weight. I've known vegans who were obese. One has nothing to do with the other.


    ^ Mhmm. If you enjoy meat. Eat meat, it's not going to make you fat. If you generally want to be vegetarian, do that.

    I was vegetarian for a little over a year.. I became obese, also anaemic as I didn't eat right. I ate more calories than i should have. Dad was vegetarian for 30 years. He's obese and now he's trying to lose weight too. Make sure you stay at a caloric deficit. =) That is the key. All the best.

    Agree. I've been a vegetarian for 5 years now... definitely didn't lose any weight when I changed my diet! I probably put on about 15-20 pounds the first couple of years after I dropped the meat. After I dropped the calories, it all came off and then some. :)

  • ceimi
    ceimi Posts: 25
    @misskitty I know! :) I've made sure to do my research and set nutrition goals to make sure that I'm getting a well rounded diet, just minus the meat. I decided to go vegetarian because lately meat has been tasting very off for me, it's also pretty expensive and as a college student I find fruits and veggies to last me much longer. :pensive:
  • itsHealthy
    itsHealthy Posts: 119 Member
    Hi OP- It looks like you are going vegetarian bcos you want to and not solely for weight loss...that's good and yes. the weight loss is probably due to suddenc hnage in the diet.
    Take it from a life long vegeterian- it has nothing to do with weight loss which u already seem to know anyway!!
  • KylaDenay
    KylaDenay Posts: 1,585 Member
    Yes it seems that it was water loss. It all comes back to CICO. You ate less than you ate prior to becoming a vegetarian.
  • KylaDenay
    KylaDenay Posts: 1,585 Member
    ceimi wrote: »
    @misskitty I know! :) I've made sure to do my research and set nutrition goals to make sure that I'm getting a well rounded diet, just minus the meat. I decided to go vegetarian because lately meat has been tasting very off for me, it's also pretty expensive and as a college student I find fruits and veggies to last me much longer. :pensive:
    I can understand this part. Although I eat meat, I have been eating less of it. It is weird to me though, because I am a beef eater big time. I eat it every day. All of a sudden poultry just grosses me out and I do not want it. My doctor has told me not to eat red meat or pork along with many other things. I do not listen, I eat everything and then I am sick all the time.

    Now I am thinking about going vegetarian, cause I just do not care for chicken or turkey that much and cannot have red meat or pork. I do not like seafood at all....soooo yeah vegetarian it might be. Some people are just like that.

    .....but I do not expect it to cause weight loss unless I am still eating in a calorie deficit.
  • ceimi
    ceimi Posts: 25
    @itsHealthy Thanks for the input! Indeed, I'm mainly going vegetarian because I've always had a rough time with diet. I was anemic and always dizzy all the time because I just ate whatever was around the house(which was mainly packaged processed food).
  • ceimi
    ceimi Posts: 25
    edited November 2014
    @Kyla So far I love it. I made sure to seek out some recipes to make for when I started. For me, chicken started tasting like (GASP) wet dog! At least, imagine tasting that awful smell I've never ACTUALLY ate wet dog haha! I just found the weight loss weird since I was eating roughly the same amount of calories I ate before, I just changed the type of food I ate. :)
  • Miss_Mabee
    Miss_Mabee Posts: 119 Member
    Hey! First off congrats on the change! I eat minimal meat but I have some backyard chickens so I still eat a lot of eggs.

    As far as you consuming less water lately that is probably due to the amount of water you are taking in from fruits and veggies. It is very possible to get a majority of your daily water intake from foods. This is assuming your vegetarian diet isn't all pasta and rice ;)

    It certainly makes sense to lose weight by becoming vegetarian. Especially if meat was causing inflammation for you. I'm no expert but I notice a clear difference (loss) in my weight on weeks I am meatless.
  • ceimi
    ceimi Posts: 25
    @Miss_Mabee Thanks! I haven't had any eggs yet since I started since I'm still pretty stocked on bananas, but once they run out that will be my go-to breakfast until I can get some more haha! As much as I enjoy the weight loss, I've always come to believe that you should aim to lose no more then ~2.5 lbs depending on how much a person weighs, so it just threw me off guard a bit. :)
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