Hi there,

I'm thinking of becoming vegetarian. I don't eat much meat anyway, but I do eat fish. Are there any vegetarians that find it easier or more difficult to lose weight with their diet? I figure it'll help my diet to be vegetarian....perhaps?

Any thoughts please share!

Hey honey I am a veggie I stared on 2008 to lose weight for my wedding it really does help. I went back to meet in 2010 as I got ill and my nan (bless her) made me eat chicken, but since I have been back on a diet (Nov 2010) I havent touched meet except Tuna and I feel it really helps, just be careful you dont add cheese to everything like i did at 1st, Also look into vit supliments as you may need them until your body gets used to things

Good luck its worth it in the end

M

Hey there! I'm a vegan, used to be a vegetarian but took the next step about four years ago. It's such a great choice, not just for your body but for animals<3 Don't listen to those people that say you need meat for protein and iron. there are far more veggie sources of those nutrients that are way easier for your body to digest than animal tissue. xx

HI

I am vegetarian. Have been since I was 21 - so as I am now 51 (am I really, Gosh! Could have sworn I was still 21!!!!) that is 30 years!

I have found Slimming World to be good for veggies so I am going on that again.

If you do consider continuing to eat fish then you would be a pescatarian not a vegetarian. If you want to give up on fish as well - then look up the Vegetarian society (google them). THey have lots recipes. Otherwise of course you can continue to eat fish but as I say you should not then consider yourself 'vegetarian'. I don't mean to sound stroppy but I get fed up having to explain myself to waiters who have just had to deal with a 'vegetarian' who also eats fish, chicken and lamb (when there is a r in the month). No wonder people get confused!!!!

If you want to ask me anything - feel free!

Sorry had not really answered your question - well I am a fat vegetarian. I love sweets and crisps and all things wrong, that is why I am overweight. HOwever, years ago when I was looking at losing weight I found SLimming World to be better at catering to veggies than WW. The recipes suited me better. But I do stress that was years ago.

Only give up fish if you really want to. Fish is not really high in calories and you need not each much - white fish would be fine and tuna in water rather than oil.

Hello! I'm vegan myself. I was raised on a wholefoods diet and I'm a good cook, so the issue for me hasn't been when I turned vegetarian (age 11) or vegan (age 19), but rather that I ended up severely disabled, no exercise, and developed rather daft eating habits. Get yourself some good vegetarian cookbooks, there's a thread for recommending them in the veggie forum somewhere, that should help.

On the whole, vegetarians are slimmer than meat-eaters and have less trouble with heart disease and the like. So it's not a bad step to take. However, this isn't about averages, this is about you. I'm still new at this, but I think the first thing everyone needs to do is to work out why they're overweight and what habits they need to change. Then you need to adopt a diet and exercise plan you can stick to, something nicely balanced, and track your food and exercise (I use FitDay, it has its quirks but I like it).

If you're making a dietary change of this magnitude, and both dieting and cutting out meat are big changes, it's a good time to sit down and check that you're getting a balanced, nutritious diet. Some people start by eating a limited junk food diet, go veggie by simply cutting out the meat, and guess what, a limited diet becomes still more limited and they get ill. Other people, myself included, see it as a challenge and find that their cooking repertoire has actually expanded. I'm a far more creative and healthy cook as a vegan, even during that year I spent as a gluten-free vegan, than most of the omnivores I know. (Though the latter was not that good for my figure: I developed a fantastic chocolate prune cake that freezes beautifully and ended up eating it far too often. I still prefer it to the wheat flour version, it reheats better, but it is off the list until I get to my goal weight.)

I went vegetarian a year and a few months ago and with a really strict diet I've lost 145 pounds! I love how I feel not eating meat, more energetic and clean? Idk. Weird. It's great! Highly recommend!

I'm an ex-vegetarian and I was going to bring up the cheese thing but Marie81 already bought that up. haha!

I wouldn't become vegetarian solely for weight loss purposes (I know you won't but just stating that for anyone lurking who's considering it all vegetarians are slim is a myth!). In my experience I actually gained weight because I sort of switched from meat based meals to carb based meals. I was 17 at the time and didn't really think about balanced diet very much. As people have already said, you don't need to eat meat to get protein but you should concentrate on getting protein from a lot of different sources.

If you're worried about the transition there's always an option of becoming a pescatarian and eating only line caught non-farmed fish. If it's something you want to do then definitely do it, I still eat a lot of vegetarian food, it's amazing.

I became a vegetarian in April of 2009 and gained 8 ponds really quick. I traded in the beef,chicken, pork and fish for lots of carbs. Not a good idea! I'm really glad I did it(I mean going vegetarian not gaining the 8 lbs!) and eat lots of fruits and veggies and their are lots of great substitutions for all kinds of animal products. I'm a big fan of veggie burgers. Load them up with onions,tomatoes,lettuce a little cheese etc and you might not know the difference. IMO going vegan would be really extreme for me, but have considered trying it maybe 1 or 2 days a week.

Welcome! In case you haven't seen it, there's a Vegetarian forum here where you can meet other veggies: http://www.3fatchicks.com/forum/vegetarian-chicks-121/. May be helpful!

I fully turned veggie when I was 12 round the time of the BSE scare of '96. My mum says I'd been a 'funny' child all my life until then apparently ie would only eat chicken and fish.
So I was militant until just before my 19th birthday when I turned vegan. I was always tiny...never over 8 stone at this point however all the soya/tofu products made my boobs HUGE!
Anyway, I reverted to veggie again when I was 22...stayed that way until a number of family members died over a year ago...so I ate meat for a year and shot up by about 21lbs. Disgusted with myself!

So, I'm back being a veggie again, teetering on the edge of vegan. Certain that, combined with exercise, the weight will melt off in no time. (I hope!)

I have been a vegetarian all my life, and so perhaps saying it's easy to stick with is unfair,considering I've never tasted meat, but there are so many different possibilities with vegetarian food that I think meat eaters forget about. I definitely reccommend giving it a go; provided you plan your meals and aim for variety, I think it is a very healthy way of living.

Though of course, I am vegetarian,and I'm overweight,so I would liketo reiterate the cheese statement. I think with an unfamiliar meal, or smaller portion sizes there is a massive urge to coat everything in cheese, and I've found that when eating out it is hard to find cheese-less vegetarian sandwiches or meals. So watch out for that.

Personally I've cut out all cheese in my own cooking and will eat it only if there is no other option when I'm out, and this is suiting my weight-loss plans well

I definitely say you should give it a try,for ethical reasons as well as weight loss.