Vegan and fat

Off track, but I love your hair!

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.)

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.

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.

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

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.

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!

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.

Congrats on going fully vegan and losing 30 lbs! That is great!

You're right, I see many saying this, many of which are ALREADY in good health/fitness/not overweight or in need of losing weight/fat.

Vegan foods can be junky for sure! That's why I want to focus on WFPB (whole foods plant based) instead of just going "vegan".. still working on it.

I think counting calories can be a great thing even for vegans who do WFPB because you could for sure overeat the healthy food easily. For me, I can easily overeat and eat large quantities so even if I were to strictly follow WFPB veganism and do NO processed foods at all, I would still count calories. Over time you can guess on calories/macros so may not have to be as strict with counting and eventually perhaps not have to count as much.

As far as macros and being high in carbs, as long as they're mostly nutritious WFPB then I don't think you should have to worry. I'm still in the beginning stages and notice I tend to have high carbs when I eat this way and fat and protein are similar though I would prefer higher protein and lower fat. You can adjust your goals as stated above.

Wish you the best and hope you continue doing well and feeling good!

elyvegan wrote: »

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?

elyvegan wrote: »

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

Eh... Who are these vegan gurus? Was there an election? I never received a ballot slip...

Anyway, back to the thread. Do vegans need to calorie count, and why would someone say they didn't?


Step back from veganism for a minute. Does everyone on the standard American diet need to count calories? Obviously, the answer is no. There are plenty of people who stay at their happy healthy weight without calorie counting. For example, some of them are simply so active they can eat whatever they like, so their calories in=calories out; and some of them eat everything in appropriate moderation, which means calories in=calories out. There are even people who successfully resolve unwelcome weight gain without calorie counting, simply by making lifestyle changes, like eating everything in moderation from then on.

This is relevant, because as a vegan, moderation is somewhat forced on you. Let's consider ice-cream. There are two shops in my town that each sell five varieties of dairy-free vegan ice-cream. To me, used to there being only one brand of dairy-free vanilla, this is a magnificent range. To my husband who is a vegetarian, five varieties of ice-cream is the bare minimum that he would expect of a tiny corner shop, and in a supermarket he expects to see an entire aisle of choices.

So, with that in mind, if you challenged a vegetarian/someone on the standard American diet and a vegan to eat a bowl of ice-cream/dairy-free ice-cream (as appropriate) every night for as long as they could stand it, which one would get sick of ice-cream first? Generally the vegan.

Similarly, someone without dietary restrictions can go way over their calories by going to McDonalds every day for a week without getting bored. If you're a vegan however, it's basically just the fries and the garden salad.

So, statistically, at the population-level, I expect that a higher proportion of vegans will find they don't need to calorie count, and many people report that going vegan helped them lose weight without calorie counting.

This is the origin of propaganda like "vegans don't need to calorie count".

However, it's propaganda. It's not true that no vegan ever needs to calorie count, and it's inaccurate for anyone to declare that veganism entirely eliminates any need for it.

It has always been possible to eat too much as a vegan- simply eating too big portions will do it. Now, of course, it's getting easier to be an overweight vegan all the time, as manufacturers spot the gap in the market for dairy-free, egg-free confectionery.

Being vegan doesn't necessarily lead to weight loss. Doesn't matter what we eat, we must eat less than we burn or we wont lose.

Just stopping in to say adorable puppers.

janejellyroll wrote: »

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

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.

Of course it is! Hell, you could lose weight eating Twinkies and Cheerios all day long as long as you're burning more than you're eating.

I was just mentioning the whole foods thing because there are so many Vegan replacements that are just awful and full of chemicals!! I know that a lot of new Vegans tend to rely on these types of foods so they're not really meeting their nutrient requirements on a reduced calorie Vegan diet.