My struggle with a plant based diet

Look at the calorie dense food list in the nutrition sub forum.
Also, drink some of your calories. Full fat milk for example is a calorie rich "healthy" bevarage.

Also, it sounds that your normal calorie intake is already on the low side. Track your food properly to see what you need to adjust.
Also, nothing wrong with some ice cream, chocolate or cookies. As long as you fill your nutrient needs, it doesn't matter where the remaining calories come from.

1½ cup of raw oats mixed with a (frozen) banana, ½ tbsp cinnamon, ½ tbsp cacoa powder and 1 serving of cooked beans (Chickpeas or Pintobeans).
Blend it in a blender until it's smooth. Put it in the fridge for few hours.
Easy 500 calories. Drink it 2 times per day (it gives 1000 calories extra total per day). Between meals or after it.

What helps is uping your fat intake and eating more calories dense food like loads of rice, potatoes, etc. Just make sure you're eating enough cause I don't know exactly what you're eating. Definitely eating more then you more will for sure make you gain weight. If you want any help just message me, I have loads of experience with that this topic.

Pinnacle_IAO wrote: »

Serena795 wrote: »

Eat calorically dense foods like tahini, chickpeas, beans, and nut butters. These are also good sources of protein and will guard against muscle loss if you have lost weight.

Well said!
Also, snacking on almonds and other nuts is good too as well as avocados.

Unfortunately you may be losing a lot of muscle if you lose very rapidly. And it seems like your diet does not have enough protein. Of course, it depends on what kind of exercise you do (doing yoga, you may not need as much protein as weight-training or high-intensity exercise, for instance). Try increasing your protein a bit. I used to eat only a plant-based diet. I know it is very possible to get the calories and protein you need from a plant-based diet. However, with my personal current goals of building more muscle, I have incorporated white meat and fish as well to hit my macro goals (I find I eat too much fat and carbs in relation to protein if I only do plant-based protein like nuts or beans). Can't do red meat though (nope it grosses me out still lol). Anyways, it all depends on your goals. Play around with your nutrients breakdown and maybe increase weight-based exercises as well and don't do too much cardio.

Look up bee pollen that might help with your protein intake and overall health as well.

I love avocado toast! 1/3 or 1/2 an avocado on ezekial (or other whole grain bread) with zit the salt and garlic powder. Also, the smoothie above sounds helpful.