Haaaalp i want to be vegan !
Dandeliiondreams
Posts: 116 Member
So I’m nowhere near vegan, but I try. I’m currently just starting over all together. I need help with meals, I don’t like the ‘vegan meat’ replacement type foods. I just really don’t know what my macros should be and what to actually eat. I do need to continue losing weight, so that’s another obstacle with nutrition. Any help appreciated !!! 
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Macros are so individual. What works for one person won’t work well for another. Our exercise routines (or lack thereof) would affect macros. Chart every bite, and those logbooks will help you learn what works for your own individual body. We are all our own science project. 😉 I’ve found a couple cookbooks I rely on frequently, loaded them into mfp for ease of logging, then I batch cook whenever possible. Meat analogs are pretty sodium-heavy, which is my downfall, so when I’m eating on-point I don’t eat them. For me it’s legumes, tofu, tempeh, and carefully weighed nuts. My favorite beans are Black Soy Beans and Aduki Beans. I get them by mail, because not all stores carry them, and duh: pandemic-days. Mail order vegan foods for the win! I use an online health food store.
Good luck!0 -
You don't need any specific macro goals to be vegan. There are high carbohydrate vegans, low carbohydrate vegans, vegans who eat a lot of protein, etc. You just need to make sure you get sufficient protein and fat. Personally, I usually get about 60% of my calories from carbohydrates, 15-20% protein, and the rest is fat. This is what I know works well for me.
If you don't want meat substitutes, you don't have to eat them. You can get plenty of protein from things like beans, tofu, and tempeh, rounded out with the protein found in vegetables, grains, and nuts/seeds. If it's just commercial meat substitutes you don't like, you can also experiment with making your own seitan. Many people find when they can control the ingredients, they enjoy it more than the stuff you can purchase.
As to what you'll eat: there are an amazing array of vegan eating patterns. You can poke around on a site like Pinterest to get an idea of the amazing diversity of our lifestyle. You can find raw vegans, vegans who are set on replicating familiar non-vegan foods, people who are veganizing traditional cuisines, vegans who only eat whole or unprocessed foods (however they define that), and people like me who just eat food without feeling the need for additional descriptions. If there is a traditional style of food that you like, it's likely there is a vegan cookbook for it. I often recommend that as a good place to start - for example, if you love Italian food, why not get a cookbook centered on that? Or if tacos are your thing, there are at least two cookbooks dedicated specifically to vegan tacos. If you want fast or one-dish meals, there are cookbooks for that. There are cookbooks that call for ingredients you've never heard of, as well as cookbooks dedicated specifically to stuff you can get just shopping at "regular" stores.
What I eat: mostly stuff I cook at home (I ate out once or twice a week pre-COVID), lots and lots of vegetables and beans, tofu and tempeh a few times a week, lots of soup (I use my Instant Pot a lot). I'll sometimes buy stuff like vegan cheese and ice cream, but I don't have them all the time. I like to bake too, I usually have muffins or cupcakes in the freezer so I can control the calories a little better and not have to eat them all in a couple of days. Some favorite cuisines are Indian, Thai, Italian, and Mexican: I've found that vegan versions of these foods often work really well.1 -
Dandeliiondreams wrote: »So I’m nowhere near vegan, but I try. I’m currently just starting over altogether. I need help with meals, I don’t like the ‘vegan meat’ replacement type foods. I just really don’t know what my macros should be and what to eat. I do need to continue losing weight, so that’s another obstacle with nutrition. Any help appreciated !!!
Going to a vegan diet will not ensure a shortcut to lose some weight. Maybe you can increase your weight if you don't watch your calorie intake. All you need is control your calorie intake (same as a no vegan diet), do some strength exercise, and drink a lot of water.
It's very tricky coz when you are trying to get enough plant-based proteins without the proper knowledge about this, you can exceed your carbs goal and also eat too many calories, that means you will gain more weight.
Go vegan it is not just to eat vegetables and leaves. It required a lot of self-learning and some hours of reading about nutrition.
Another thing, now vegan is a trend, and now all supermarkets if offering a lot of vegan food, cheese, bread, milk, pasta, vegan burgers, etc. Personally I avoid this kind of food, and try to get everything homemade. Avoid processed food.0
