New Vegan, but gaining weight :(

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edswife2010
edswife2010 Posts: 2 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Any vegans out there successfully losing fat? I have been gaining weight steadily since starting a vegan diet. I don't eat out a lot, and for the most part prepackaged foods are only about every other weekend. Any advice would be really helpful!

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  • justrollme
    justrollme Posts: 802 Member
    edited March 2016
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    Use a kitchen scale that weighs in grams and use MFP to log everything you eat. To lose weight, you need to consume less calories than you expend, whether or not your diet is vegan. :)

    ETA: Plug your stats into MFP and choose a reasonable and realistic weekly weight loss goal, that way you'll see your daily calorie goal. Log exercises, too. Many people suggest eating back half of your earned exercise calories (in addition to your daily calorie goal.)
  • Marilyn0924
    Marilyn0924 Posts: 797 Member
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    Regardless of your food/lifestyle choices, if you're gaining, you're eating more than you think. Weigh all solids using a digital food scale, measure all liquids. Use accurate database entries and only eat back a portion of your exercise calories (50-75%).
  • janejellyroll
    janejellyroll Posts: 25,763 Member
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    Weight gain for vegans is caused by the same thing that causes it for non-vegans -- eating more calories than you're burning.

    If you're gaining weight now, it's because you're eating more than you were before (or you're burning less).

    I lost 40+ pounds in 2015 as a vegan (weight that I gained as a vegan), so it can be done. Eating out and pre-packaged foods were pretty irrelevant -- you just need to consume less than you're burning.
  • Alyssa_Is_LosingIt
    Alyssa_Is_LosingIt Posts: 4,696 Member
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    edswife2010 wrote: »
    Any advice would be really helpful!

    Buy a digital food scale and track your calories. A vegan diet alone will not help you lose weight - it still comes down to CICO.
  • BekkiS1130
    BekkiS1130 Posts: 3 Member
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    It doesn't matter if you're vegan. You're gaining weight because you're consuming too many calories.
  • cerise_noir
    cerise_noir Posts: 5,468 Member
    edited March 2016
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    How long have you been vegan for?
    Alyssa_Is_LosingIt wrote: »
    edswife2010 wrote: »
    Any advice would be really helpful!

    Buy a digital food scale and track your calories. A vegan diet alone will not help you lose weight - it still comes down to CICO.
    This. Perfect answer.
    Weigh ALL the solids and semi solids that you consume in grams, and use a measuring cup for liquids only. Log accurately- choose accurate food items in the database by checking your food labels.

    Veganism or vegetarianism ≠ weight loss
  • honeyhiker
    honeyhiker Posts: 13 Member
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    Fill up on low calorie density foods like homemade vegetable soup and salads with a fat free dressing. Avoid or limit wheat, oils, processed and sugar.
  • Alyssa_Is_LosingIt
    Alyssa_Is_LosingIt Posts: 4,696 Member
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    honeyhiker wrote: »
    Fill up on low calorie density foods like homemade vegetable soup and salads with a fat free dressing. Avoid or limit wheat, oils, processed and sugar.

    Why?
  • cerise_noir
    cerise_noir Posts: 5,468 Member
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    honeyhiker wrote: »
    Fill up on low calorie density foods like homemade vegetable soup and salads with a fat free dressing. Avoid or limit wheat, oils, processed and sugar.
    honeyhiker wrote: »
    Fill up on low calorie density foods like homemade vegetable soup and salads with a fat free dressing. Avoid or limit wheat, oils, processed and sugar.
    I also want to know why? Why are these bad?
  • janejellyroll
    janejellyroll Posts: 25,763 Member
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    honeyhiker wrote: »
    Fill up on low calorie density foods like homemade vegetable soup and salads with a fat free dressing. Avoid or limit wheat, oils, processed and sugar.

    I ate wheat, oil, processed foods, and sugar the entire time I was losing weight and I continue to eat them while maintaining weight loss. As long as one is logging the calories and meeting calorie goals (same as any food), you can lose weight while eating these foods.
  • melonaulait
    melonaulait Posts: 769 Member
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    Hopefully OP starts calorie counting!
  • amymariajames
    amymariajames Posts: 30 Member
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    I am a vegan for 2 months
    All I can tell is check ur calories and workout.
  • jacklifts
    jacklifts Posts: 396 Member
    edited March 2016
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    There are years where I'm vegan for Lent and I lose weight and other years where I gain weight. I can easily put down a dinner of 1000 calories of pasta and veggies in tomato sauce, with 300 calories of oreos for dessert. That's after eating 2000 calories throughout the day of oatmeal, beans and other legumes, bananas and other fruits, rice, bread, jam, peanut butter. All vegan. It doesn't matter if vegan or not; if you eat a *kitten* ton, you'll gain weight.

    Learn about nutrition. Weigh your food. Track your calories.

    Good luck!
  • Selkie_Runner
    Selkie_Runner Posts: 41 Member
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    edswife2010 wrote: »
    Any vegans out there successfully losing fat? I have been gaining weight steadily since starting a vegan diet. I don't eat out a lot, and for the most part prepackaged foods are only about every other weekend. Any advice would be really helpful!

    If you're eating more calories than you need you'll gain weight no matter what. I'm a 20 year plus vegan at one point I was a 333 pound Vegan. Being Vegan doesn't automatically mean you lose weight. If you're not counting calories and stick to wholefoods you are more likely to lose weight because generally fruits and veggies are lower in calories (unless you eat a ton of Avocado). However you can still gain weight if you're not in a Calorie deficit. Vegan 'Junk' and Processed food is more widely available than when I first became Vegan so it's far easier to get high calorie poor nutritional content food on a Vegan diet that it has ever been. Great as an occasional treat but I wouldn't have that as a mainstay of my diet.

    Basically you need to count your calories. Weigh everything on a Digital Scale and log it. Try to stick to more wholefoods and fresh fruit and Veg and remember Variety. Good Luck
  • edswife2010
    edswife2010 Posts: 2 Member
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    Thanks for all the replies . . . I see the consensus is digital scale and calorie counting. I'll give it a go!

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