Vegan and fat

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elyvegan
elyvegan Posts: 19 Member
edited April 2017 in Health and Weight Loss
It's been 4 months since i decided to go full vegan (because a lot of reasons). I have already lost 30 pounds since then. But, I got some concerns about this calorie counting and veganism.

A lot of vegan gurus says that you dont need calories counting.

Jeje! HONESTLY! In my experience, veganism has "junk food" too! I have this sweet tooth, so yes, I dont eat animal products but still Im struggling with cookies and empty carbs. That's why I think that I need to count calories because:

1. I need to make sure that Im getting all the calories and nutrients that I need.
2. Vegan Junk food makes me fat anyways! And prevents me from losing weight

My second concern is that the myfitnesspal chart has this "nutrient suggestions" and Im always high in carbs because obviously i eat lots of greens and wholes. But overall I feel great and more active. Why myfitnesspal has to suggest so few carbs? Can I change my carbs goals :| anybody? 1xjc1fgvdxox.jpeg

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Replies

  • elyvegan
    elyvegan Posts: 19 Member
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    kshama2001 wrote: »
    You can change your macros here: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/account/my_goals/daily_nutrition_goals

    I've seen several vegans here eat about 60:20:20.

    My (healthy & fit) vegan friends certainly eat more carbs than I do, with no ill effects. However, they focus on legumes, not Oreos ;)


    Jjejeje of course. Thank you
  • janejellyroll
    janejellyroll Posts: 25,763 Member
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    I'm vegan and I changed my carbohydrate goal to 60% when I was losing weight (I lost 42 pounds). Most of my carbohydrates came from beans, grains (both whole and refined), vegetables, and fruit. I didn't intentionally limit things like cookies or other sweet things, I just didn't always find them worth the calories when I was restricting.

    Cute dog!
  • wellthenwhat
    wellthenwhat Posts: 526 Member
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    Off track, but I love your hair!
  • kmac2012
    kmac2012 Posts: 1 Member
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    Remember that the type of carbs are more important when you are vegan; you are eating whole foods (hopefully) and not just processed vegan sweets (which are, sigh, incredibly yummy!). Don't focus too much on your carb count unless you notice that most of them are coming from processed vegan foods. There are some low-carb cookbooks for vegans that are out there.
  • DanyellMcGinnis
    DanyellMcGinnis Posts: 315 Member
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    I'm not vegan, but I am vegetarian. For weight loss, a high carb, low fat diet worked best for me. For one thing, it is easier to achieve on a vegetarian or vegan diet (whole grains, beans, etc. are high in carbs, but they are quality carbs and are non-processed). For another, I am just one of those people who feels more full when I eat bulky stuff (protein and fat are more calorie dense and less filling for me).

    But yeah, there is junk food that is vegan and vegetarian for sure. Like potato chips, cakes/cookies, ice cream (made with non-dairy milk for vegans, of course), etc.

    As for macros, I just don't pay attention to them. They didn't matter for weight loss for me, anyway. (Once I moved into maintenance I added a little fat back, deliberately, because I was having issues like dry skin and such. But I am not tracking macros, still.)
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,874 Member
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    Macros have to default to something...there's nothing magic about MFP's default macros, you can change them to whatever you wish.
  • yellingkimber
    yellingkimber Posts: 229 Member
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    I was a vegetarian for a year and vegan for two and I totally get what you mean about vegan junk food! It's so good. And fortified processed vegan foods are really good for getting B12.

    Once you hit the 6-month mark, I'd head to the doctor to get bloodwork done to check your B12. That's about when any of my vegan friends that had B12 problems started having problems.
  • Fat_Larissa
    Fat_Larissa Posts: 1 Member
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    Well I am a vegetarian, not vegan. I do eat milk base products and eggs and once per week a fish dies for the enjoyment of my belly. However i cant eat meat. I just started to sick me last summer. No political, emotional or any believes i just feel bad eating it. So my food is based a lot in carbs. At the beginning it was very easy and lost over 12kg whiteout counting calories. However due to medical reason i started taking meds that open my appetite.... A LOT. So yes vegan junk food is awesome. Is the most delicious thing on earth. So i don't really look at macros while dieting specially i just want to change my bmi to fat to not so fat.
    I just wanted to share that vegan junk food is awesome.
  • menotyou56
    menotyou56 Posts: 178 Member
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    It's funny because I'm on a keto diet, total opposite of your vegan diet and all the experts say you don't have to count calories on this WOE either!

    Well in my case anyway that's bunk because the weight loss stalled right out on me after six or seven weeks. So I stayed keto but also started up the old CICO here on MFP and guess what? Killed the stall and got back to losing weight again! Yay! And today I did the first C25K workout as well so regular exercise is coming too.
  • BoxerBrawler
    BoxerBrawler Posts: 2,032 Member
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    I calculated my macros on IIFYM and then manually put them here on MFP. I did a vegan challenge for 30 days and avoided all processed vegan foods and vegan replacements foods. It was wonderful and I definitely lost weight but ended up with severe anemia by the end. Being carb heavy is absolutely fine... carbs don't make you fat, eating too much food does. Just make sure your carbs are whole foods :smile:
  • janejellyroll
    janejellyroll Posts: 25,763 Member
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    cushman5279 wrote: »
    I calculated my macros on IIFYM and then manually put them here on MFP. I did a vegan challenge for 30 days and avoided all processed vegan foods and vegan replacements foods. It was wonderful and I definitely lost weight but ended up with severe anemia by the end. Being carb heavy is absolutely fine... carbs don't make you fat, eating too much food does. Just make sure your carbs are whole foods :smile:

    Not discouraging anyone from eating whole foods (I eat some myself), but it's totally possible to lose weight and meet nutritional needs as a vegan while also including some non-whole foods in the diet.
  • Lavelle1980
    Lavelle1980 Posts: 367 Member
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    I'm about 95-99% vegan. 100% from Monday - Friday and weekends, sometimes get the best of me. However, I have went for amost a year of vegan only. I don't count carbs, for the HCLF tends to be geared towards maxing out your carbs. I have tons of energy and focus. I still lost the weight by using the MFP app to control my calories.

    If you have a cookie, just grab one and make sure it's under the calorie mark. I've done that before and was fine.
  • VeganAmandaJ
    VeganAmandaJ Posts: 234 Member
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    Haha, perhaps you don't know many vegans then because all of the vegans I know or have seen online know that there's tons of vegan junk food and encourage plant based whole foods. I haven't heard any vegans saying you can eat whatever you want as long as it's vegan..
    YalithKBK wrote: »
    OMG! Can I shake your hand??? You are like, the only vegan I have ever heard of that doesn't think vegan diets are automatically healthy and you can eat whatever you want. I don't really have any advice on macros (sorry) just wanted to say thanks for being realistic!

  • MarziPanda95
    MarziPanda95 Posts: 1,326 Member
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    You can eat as many carbs as you want, as long as it works for you and you're getting the minimum levels of protein and fats. I think absolute minimum for women when it comes to protein is 50g, but I'm not sure about minimum fats.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,874 Member
    edited April 2017
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    WorkoutAmandala wrote: »
    Haha, perhaps you don't know many vegans then because all of the vegans I know or have seen online know that there's tons of vegan junk food and encourage plant based whole foods. I haven't heard any vegans saying you can eat whatever you want as long as it's vegan..
    YalithKBK wrote: »
    OMG! Can I shake your hand??? You are like, the only vegan I have ever heard of that doesn't think vegan diets are automatically healthy and you can eat whatever you want. I don't really have any advice on macros (sorry) just wanted to say thanks for being realistic!

    There are many such posts on MFP...there are a lot of people here who think going vegan will default to weight loss and automatic health and specifically are wanting to convert for weight loss purposes without any actual knowledge of how to eat nutritionally and meet nutritional requirements with a strict vegan diet.

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