Vegan -- Can't Lose Weight!

jenbcp
jenbcp Posts: 11 Member
edited November 2024 in Health and Weight Loss
Hi, all! I am a former Paleo enthusiast who lost roughly 60 pounds on that diet. For ethical and environmental reasons, I've gone Vegan. I love the way I feel, and it has definitely helped lower blood pressure, I sleep better, my skin is clear, etc. My only issue is that I cannot lose weight. I've been at this for 2 months and haven't lost a single pound (and my clothes still fit the same).

I consulted a plant-based nutritionist and am following a meal plan she outlined so I'm definitely getting the right macros. I hike or do HIIT training 5 times a week. Nothing has changed in my lifestyle other than becoming vegan.

Is it possible that I'm just one of those people who needs a high fat, low carb diet to lose weight? I really want to continue this lifestyle, but losing weight is obviously important to me too. Any advice/help is appreciated!

Replies

  • laurabadams
    laurabadams Posts: 201 Member
    How are you measuring & tracking your foods?
  • HeliumIsNoble
    HeliumIsNoble Posts: 1,213 Member
    Weigh your food. I can lose weight, maintain, and gain weight, all on a 100% vegan diet. It depends on how much I eat
  • kimny72
    kimny72 Posts: 16,011 Member
    You didn't mention calories in your OP. Whether you are vegan, Keto, SAD, or anything else, eating less calories than you burn is what makes you lose weight.

    Log accurately and consistently using a food scale and go from there. Good luck!
  • belleflop
    belleflop Posts: 154 Member
    A vegan diet isn't magical, just like ALL other diets. You can't eat all the leaves you want and lose. Accurately track your energy intake, accurately calculate your energy expenditure. Ensure your intake is lower than your expenditure. Lose weight. If that formula doesn't work visit a doctor to identify potential underlining issues preventing weight loss.
  • fiddletime
    fiddletime Posts: 1,868 Member
    It's simple. Eat less calories than you burn. I'm vegan and need to count calories, log food, etc. It isn't magic and I've found, since going vegan, I have to be more careful than ever since the calories in lean turkey were easy to calculate and the alternatives are often higher in calories.
  • nowine4me
    nowine4me Posts: 3,985 Member
    I'm vegetarian, not vegan, but the calories in black bean burgers and brown rice add up just like meat and potatoes. I still weigh, measure and track everything -- and can easily get in a 3000 calorie binge on purely vegan foods pretty easily.
  • creatureofchaos
    creatureofchaos Posts: 65 Member
    Without information about how many calories you're eating and what those macros are, it's hard to give any advice. Vegan food tends to be very heavy in fats - eat an extra handful of cashews every day and there goes any hope of weight loss.
  • timtam163
    timtam163 Posts: 500 Member
    I had the same exact problem. If you're anything like me, my guess is you're overdoing it on the fats. Track your macros and look to see what percentage of your calories are coming from fat: you may not be getting enough carbs (especially if you're still carb-phobic from your paleo days) and protein, and fat (though it is important yadda ya) doesn't fill you up nearly as much as other macros. It's also really easy to eat an extra few hundred calories from fat, while it's harder to do so with other macros. It's hard to overeat broccoli, or rice and beans, or bread with hummus, or mushrooms, or potatoes... but if you are a bit heavy handed with the olive oil, or if you're eating peanut butter out of the jar (what? me? never! *hides jar with spoon in it*) you'll find yourself going over pretty darn easily.

    Also, track your calories in general. Being vegan is NOT the same as volumetric eating, though it might look like it from the marketing.

    Lastly, in general, "slow metabolism" is a myth: some people are more active during their day than others, but unless you have signs of malnutrition/malabsorption/hypothyroidism (such as unexplained tiredness, weight fluctuation unexplained by diet, digestive problems, hair loss, etc) your metabolism is probably fine. I'm speaking as someone who has trouble losing weight: I KNOW why I struggle to lose weight: inconsistent/inaccurate tracking, exercising less than I think I am, eating too much fat... It's a process. I'm also petite so I do burn less than normal-sized humans. But it's no fault of my metabolism. That's not to say that I know everything about your metabolism; I don't. But please rule out other factors before you chalk it up to a slow metabolism.
  • kommodevaran
    kommodevaran Posts: 17,890 Member
    lindaharvey320 wrote: »
    Well - I can't lose either - I have a slow metabolism!
    But I cheat - saying I will eat this now and get back on food plan tomorrow.
    Then I have got into the habit of eyeballing the measurements. It all is a struggle to change.
    This sounds like a parody, to outline how weight management becomes a struggle. The sad thing is that it's most likely genuine.
    Believing in all kinds of hypes, excuses, not taking personal responsibility, not being patient and consistent, not educating oneself enough to be able to trust the process, setting urealistic goals, not understanding cause and effect, that's what makes up the struggle.
  • ugofatcat
    ugofatcat Posts: 385 Member
    evileen99 wrote: »
    lindaharvey320 wrote: »
    Well - I can't lose either - I have a slow metabolism!
    But I cheat - saying I will eat this now and get back on food plan tomorrow.
    Then I have got into the habit of eyeballing the measurements. It all is a struggle to change.

    I used to do metabolic testing in a hospital, and unless you have a real, diagnosed metabolic disease, you *don't* have a slow metabolism. I saw hundreds of disappointed people, who had convinced themselves they couldn't lose weight because of their metabolism, actually find out that because of their weight, their BMR was higher than a thin person's and their problem was how much they were eating.

    This makes no sense to me. Why would you be disappointed you don't have a metabolic disease? The test means they can lose weight (if they eat less). Where they disappointed because they realized they now had to take responsibility and no longer had any excuses?
  • cerise_noir
    cerise_noir Posts: 5,468 Member
    ugofatcat wrote: »
    evileen99 wrote: »
    lindaharvey320 wrote: »
    Well - I can't lose either - I have a slow metabolism!
    But I cheat - saying I will eat this now and get back on food plan tomorrow.
    Then I have got into the habit of eyeballing the measurements. It all is a struggle to change.

    I used to do metabolic testing in a hospital, and unless you have a real, diagnosed metabolic disease, you *don't* have a slow metabolism. I saw hundreds of disappointed people, who had convinced themselves they couldn't lose weight because of their metabolism, actually find out that because of their weight, their BMR was higher than a thin person's and their problem was how much they were eating.

    This makes no sense to me. Why would you be disappointed you don't have a metabolic disease? The test means they can lose weight (if they eat less). Where they disappointed because they realized they now had to take responsibility and no longer had any excuses?

    There is nothing to place blame on their being overweight other their own habits. Some like finding excuses for why they cannot lose weight and get disappointed when they cannot blame it on xx condition.
  • dragon_girl26
    dragon_girl26 Posts: 2,187 Member
    kimny72 wrote: »
    You didn't mention calories in your OP. Whether you are vegan, Keto, SAD, or anything else, eating less calories than you burn is what makes you lose weight.

    Log accurately and consistently using a food scale and go from there. Good luck!

    ^^this

    Hitting your macros may be important for satiety, and it's always good especially to hit your protein goal, but macros aren't what matter for weight loss. Calories are. How many calories do you eat per day, and how do you measure your intake (weigh foods vs eyeballing portions, etc?) Also, how do you track your calories out? Sometimes people can overestimate that number as well.
  • Lounmoun
    Lounmoun Posts: 8,423 Member

    Look at the calories you are consuming. Everyone needs a calorie deficit to lose weight no matter what diet they follow.
    If you are not losing than you are eating at your maintenance level. You need to reduce calorie intake, increase calorie burn or both.
    Are you tracking your food intake? Use a food scale to make sure your portions sizes are not off.
  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 28,053 Member
    thetonic wrote: »
    Hi, all! I am a former Paleo enthusiast who lost roughly 60 pounds on that diet. For ethical and environmental reasons, I've gone Vegan. I love the way I feel, and it has definitely helped lower blood pressure, I sleep better, my skin is clear, etc. My only issue is that I cannot lose weight. I've been at this for 2 months and haven't lost a single pound (and my clothes still fit the same).

    I consulted a plant-based nutritionist and am following a meal plan she outlined so I'm definitely getting the right macros. I hike or do HIIT training 5 times a week. Nothing has changed in my lifestyle other than becoming vegan.

    Is it possible that I'm just one of those people who needs a high fat, low carb diet to lose weight? I really want to continue this lifestyle, but losing weight is obviously important to me too. Any advice/help is appreciated!

    There are mistakes that people commonly make that cause them to not lose weight that we might be able to spot if you change your Diary Sharing settings to Public: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/account/diary_settings
  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 28,053 Member
    ugofatcat wrote: »
    evileen99 wrote: »
    lindaharvey320 wrote: »
    Well - I can't lose either - I have a slow metabolism!
    But I cheat - saying I will eat this now and get back on food plan tomorrow.
    Then I have got into the habit of eyeballing the measurements. It all is a struggle to change.

    I used to do metabolic testing in a hospital, and unless you have a real, diagnosed metabolic disease, you *don't* have a slow metabolism. I saw hundreds of disappointed people, who had convinced themselves they couldn't lose weight because of their metabolism, actually find out that because of their weight, their BMR was higher than a thin person's and their problem was how much they were eating.

    This makes no sense to me. Why would you be disappointed you don't have a metabolic disease? The test means they can lose weight (if they eat less). Were they disappointed because they realized they now had to take responsibility and no longer had any excuses?

    Yes.
  • janejellyroll
    janejellyroll Posts: 25,763 Member
    Hey, OP. I lost 40+ as a vegan by counting calories. If you aren't already logging and hitting a calorie goal, this is a great time to begin. If you are and still aren't losing weight, open your diary and we may be able to help you spot the issue.
  • evileen99
    evileen99 Posts: 1,564 Member
    ugofatcat wrote: »
    evileen99 wrote: »
    lindaharvey320 wrote: »
    Well - I can't lose either - I have a slow metabolism!
    But I cheat - saying I will eat this now and get back on food plan tomorrow.
    Then I have got into the habit of eyeballing the measurements. It all is a struggle to change.

    I used to do metabolic testing in a hospital, and unless you have a real, diagnosed metabolic disease, you *don't* have a slow metabolism. I saw hundreds of disappointed people, who had convinced themselves they couldn't lose weight because of their metabolism, actually find out that because of their weight, their BMR was higher than a thin person's and their problem was how much they were eating.

    This makes no sense to me. Why would you be disappointed you don't have a metabolic disease? The test means they can lose weight (if they eat less). Where they disappointed because they realized they now had to take responsibility and no longer had any excuses?

    As a couple of other posters said, yes, they were disappointed because now they had no excuse for why they couldn't lose weight. It was all about calories in, calories out, and they didn't want to decrease the "calories in" part.
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