How should I adust my food goals for a vegan diet?

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misslauren88
misslauren88 Posts: 34 Member
in Food and Nutrition
Hi, I've been vegan for the last three years. I love eating vegan, it makes me feel incredible. It's helped me lose the first 5-10 lbs without much exercise. But now I'd like to get into proper portion control and exercise so that maybe I can lose a bit more. I'm pretty happy with how I am at the moment. Of course I do have my down days, I'm maybe a tad overweight, but then that's the downside of having a love affair with food for 27 years. I've never been afraid to go up for seconds. I'm seeing that no matter what I eat I'm constantly going over on carbs, especially sugar. I'm wondering what any other vegans out there have set their daily goals at to counter their larger fruit/veg intake?

Please don't comment any anti vegan BS. I know what I'm doing nutrient-wise, I just don't like this program penalising me for eating too much fruit.

Replies

  • MichaelRobinson1994
    MichaelRobinson1994 Posts: 83 Member
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    i'm not a vegan, however my friend has recently became Vegan and i've agreed to go vegan for a week to help support her.

    Carbs are probably going to always be a huge part of your diet - that's just how Veganism is as far as I can see.
    For your Sugar, I wouldn't worry if it's mostly from fruits and veg - if it's from sweets then all you can do there is cut down.

    I'm way over on fat today (had 2 days not logging properly before that) as i've had a rather sizable serving on nuts and seeds, but generally - my goals are 65% carbs, 15 fat and 20 protein- and that seems to be okay for me on a normally very low meat diet.

    Would you take protein suppliments? I use a soy-based protein powder from myprotein.com as I am Lactose-intolerant and that helps me boost my protein without adding carbs or fat (a 30g serving contains 27g of protein).

    Aside from that, you could look at meat-alternatives, although I don't know how their carb count is, I'm just assuming there will be more fat in them and less carbs!
  • DaddieCat
    DaddieCat Posts: 3,643 Member
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    As a long time vegan, I don't feel the need to alter my macro ratio from my personal settings.

    As for carbs, they aren't bad at all, it's overall calorie count that will get you.

    The only advice that I can suggest is to make sure that you get and consistently hit your protein and fat macros. Those will be more important in the long run depending on your exercise routines.

    Fat is necessary and harder to get in general unless you consciously add it in.

    Protein is not hard at all depending on what foods you eat.

    If you would like to talk more (I'm at work) feel free to add me and send me a message. I'm happy to help with food suggestions or anything like that.
  • rosebarnalice
    rosebarnalice Posts: 3,488 Member
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    your general ratios of fat, protein, and carbs should be about the same. With regard to sugars, I notice from your diary that you've got quite a bit of fruit and grains, but not that many green veggies.

    Because diabetes tends to run in my family (although I don't have it), a nutritionist suggested that I emphasize fruits and veggies with a low glycemic index (below abotu 50. That might be something worth considering if you're trying to watch your sugar. See http://www.health.harvard.edu/healthy-eating/glycemic_index_and_glycemic_load_for_100_foods and http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tname=faq&dbid=32
  • janejellyroll
    janejellyroll Posts: 25,763 Member
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    I eat about 60% carbohydrates, 25% fat, and 15% protein -- this is balanced out over a week, within a given day I may eat differently. Over a week it's very consistent though. I ignore the sugar counts. As BecomingBane says, it's the calories that will count for weight loss, but protein and fat play an important role in our health (and, for some of us, they also help us feel sated).

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