Going (mostly) veggie just to lose weight

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shakybabe
shakybabe Posts: 1,578 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Has anyone else found going vegetarian helped you lose weight faster?

I'd like to add more no-meat meals to my weekly menu, partly due to cost of meat and cuts in benefits, partly due to what I read about processed meats causing cancer as I ate alot of ham, sausage and bacon.

I also figured there'd be alot less calories in a meal such as cabbage rolls for etc if the meat was replaced with quorn or beans.

I plan to eat some white meat when I can afford it, like I got some chicken breasts cheap at shop cos of use by date so have frozen them and use them for sunday dinner only. And got couple of bags of Quorn mince cheap cos I think they found not many in our village eats quorn. I figured this would make chilli's etc much less calories than if I'd used lamb or beef mince?

I'm thinking of just rice and beans for some meals as when watching I'm a celebrity they seem to drop several stones in a few weeks after being on rice and beans for most of the 2 weeks.

I've got more fruit and things like dried apricot to nibble on instead of having a biscuit for example...have a fresh mango to have for breakfast tomorrow with a bit of natural yoghurt, planning on having small bowl of rice and beans for main meal (maybe a bit of chilli sauce on so its not as bland or cooking rice in tumeric water) and more fruit later to nibble on if get hungry.

I have to make do with tinned food in winter if its bad (snow) as food deliveries cancel and I can't get out. we also get powercuts so need things I can warm up on camping gas stove in 5 mins as each cartridge only lasts 1hr 10 mins, so getting fresh fruit and veg in and cooking something 'healthy' can be a challenge sometimes.

As I'm restricted physically for doing high energy activities that would burn loads of calories I figure my only chance of losing weight is small vegetarian meals no more than 300 cals and not over 1,000 per day.

Any ideas for 100 cal (or less) snacks? (not nuts I'm allergic to them) and light veggie meals?

Thanks


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Replies

  • elphie754
    elphie754 Posts: 7,574 Member
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    Unless you are supervised by a physician, under 1000 calories a day is a bad idea.
  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 27,902 Member
    edited December 2015
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    Well, since your ability to exercise is limited, I'm concerned about you losing muscle mass if you don't get enough protein.

    Why don't you put a few sample days into your diary and change your Sharing settings to Public: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/account/diary_settings

    Losing muscle mass is also a concern when one is losing weight too quickly. How tall are you?
  • Nikki10129
    Nikki10129 Posts: 292 Member
    edited December 2015
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    You should be getting a minimum of 1200 calories a day unless told otherwise by your physician.

    By all means, cut back on meat to save cost or whatever reason you'd like, but not eating meat isn't a magical way to lose weight. Meat is healthy for you and helps with protein levels, what is going to help you with weight loss is monitoring calories in, and make sure they don't exceed calories out

    edit: and in terms of the relationship to cancer, everything now-a-days is related to cancer, talking on a cell phone, eating burnt toast. Half of the reason we see an increase in cancer in recent years in my opinion, is due to the increase in life expectancy
  • blankiefinder
    blankiefinder Posts: 3,599 Member
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    I found that increasing my lean proteins and decreasing my servings of things like rice and carbs (not eliminating them, just reducing them to an actual serving by weight vs what most people eat which is much more than 1 serving) helped me to achieve my calorie and macros goals set out by myfitnesspal.
  • rbiss
    rbiss Posts: 422 Member
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    Just a warning. I went veggie about 10 years ago for ethical reasons. Initially I lost weight, but I worked out all the time and did triathlons. Life got busy with school and work, fast forward 6 years and I'm 100 lbs overweight at least. I replaced veggies for starches, I would get stressed and grab ice cream over cooking or pick up a pizza. A vegetarian diet will not help you loose weight faster than diet with meat. You need to watch what you eat, eat in moderation, and pick a lifestyle that is sustainable. If that is a vegetarian lifestyle, that's great, but make it sustainable.
  • MelaniaTrump
    MelaniaTrump Posts: 2,694 Member
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    Don't forget about canned soups. Ex: Lentil soup, barley, black bean and chicken, split pea. You can make some brown rice for "filler". You sound single and sometimes soups make life "easier".
    For your yogurt, could you get a hold of frozen blueberries or strawberries as toppings? And could you get some green salads at least once a week (salads helped me incredibly with low fat dressings).
  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
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    rbiss wrote: »
    Just a warning. I went veggie about 10 years ago for ethical reasons. Initially I lost weight, but I worked out all the time and did triathlons. Life got busy with school and work, fast forward 6 years and I'm 100 lbs overweight at least. I replaced veggies for starches, I would get stressed and grab ice cream over cooking or pick up a pizza. A vegetarian diet will not help you loose weight faster than diet with meat. You need to watch what you eat, eat in moderation, and pick a lifestyle that is sustainable. If that is a vegetarian lifestyle, that's great, but make it sustainable.

    I agree with this.

    I have flirted with vegetarianism from time to time and used to eat meatless on 3-4 days per week, with periods of time (Lent always) where I'd do no meat. When I decided to reduce my calories I found it was easier to eat more meat, and one of the things I am currently trying to do is keep with my calories and satisfying way of eating while reducing the meat again (I have made my ethical peace with meat-eating so long as I am conscious of the source, although I respect those who feel differently). So for me cutting out meat is not at all an easy way to cut calories. But then again, I eat lots of leaner meats and fish/shellfish and not a lot of fattier meats, so maybe that would make a difference.
  • shakybabe
    shakybabe Posts: 1,578 Member
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    blankiefinder wrote: »
    I found that increasing my lean proteins and decreasing my servings of things like rice and carbs (not eliminating them, just reducing them to an actual serving by weight vs what most people eat which is much more than 1 serving) helped me to achieve my calorie and macros goals set out by myfitnesspal.

    what do you class as 'lean protein'?
  • blankiefinder
    blankiefinder Posts: 3,599 Member
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    shakybabe wrote: »
    blankiefinder wrote: »
    I found that increasing my lean proteins and decreasing my servings of things like rice and carbs (not eliminating them, just reducing them to an actual serving by weight vs what most people eat which is much more than 1 serving) helped me to achieve my calorie and macros goals set out by myfitnesspal.

    what do you class as 'lean protein'?

    Sorry, that was a pretty vague term. My go to choices would be, in order, boneless skinless chicken breasts / turkey breast, fish, leaner cuts of pork such as tenderloin, and leaner cuts of beef. I mean, you can make anything work to fit your macros, but these are my go to's when I am dieting.
  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
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    gorymeraz wrote: »
    even lean proteins will make you gain more weight than a vegan diet eating the same amount of calories.

    That makes no sense. How does that work?
  • blankiefinder
    blankiefinder Posts: 3,599 Member
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    gorymeraz wrote: »
    even lean proteins will make you gain more weight than a vegan diet eating the same amount of calories.

    No. It won't. If you're in a deficit, you will lose. If you're in a surplus, you'll gain. Eat the way you want to eat, meet your macros for health.
  • Nikki10129
    Nikki10129 Posts: 292 Member
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    gorymeraz wrote: »
    even lean proteins will make you gain more weight than a vegan diet eating the same amount of calories.

    That is not possible, 1200 calories is 1200 calories no matter where it comes from, you just might have to eat more to reach 1200 calories from vegetables
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,874 Member
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    gorymeraz wrote: »
    even lean proteins will make you gain more weight than a vegan diet eating the same amount of calories.

    Now_e277b3_894842.jpg
  • tincanonastring
    tincanonastring Posts: 3,944 Member
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    1200 calories of herp will make you lose faster than 1200 calories of derp. I have that on good authority.
  • tincanonastring
    tincanonastring Posts: 3,944 Member
    edited December 2015
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    gorymeraz wrote: »

    if you put 2 people on a 2k diet, on of veggies and one on meat(deficit)

    the meat one will lose weight, yes, but he would lose weight slower than the one in the veggies diet.

    No.

    ETA: You are wrong.
  • Nikki10129
    Nikki10129 Posts: 292 Member
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    gorymeraz wrote: »
    wow, people is dense.

    if you put 2 people on a 2k diet, on of veggies and one on meat(deficit)

    the meat one will lose weight, yes, but he would lose weight slower than the one in the veggies diet.

    No, all things equal, if they eat 2000 calories they will lose similar amounts of weight at similar rates.

    But yes, people are dense, I do agree with you there ;)

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