Hi everyone!

I've been a lacto/ovo/pesco vegetarian for 10 years now (caused by an attempt at weight loss, but the vegetarianism just kinda stuck with me). After I became a vegetarian, I dropped weight fairly quickly and went from 240 pounds down to 160 in a matter of 9 months, but as with all fast moving diets, the pounds eventually came back.

I have been working on my current lifestyle change since October. I started at 281 and I'm now hovering around 261-264. I have also recently (finally) been placed on thyroid medication for a slow moving thyroid.

My current food intake is approximately 2,000 calories per day, which should give me 800 calories of deficit per day (on my non-workout days) and about a pound loss every 4 days or so.

I've noticed that I have a bad habit, though, and I think it has been caused by my vegetarianism... I love carbs way too much. Nearly everything I love to eat has a LOT of carbs from sugars or fibers or whatnot.

Should I be concentrating on my carb intake as well as my calorie intake? Could I be overdoing the carbs because of eating meat alternatives?

Hi IguanaGrrl!

I'm not an expert but I have noticed that a lot of vegetarian recipes have cheese and pasta or rice in them. My dad complains about that a lot.

Switching to wholewheat bread and wholewheat pasta and experimenting with wholewheat couscous and bulger might help and cutting out the sugars would be a good idea.

I find that eating fresh foods rather than processed foods helped me too.

What types of food do you normally eat?

My most recent addiction is trail mix, which while the nuts and fruits are good for me, they are also rather high in carbohydrates. I also eat a lot of soy based products, veggie burgers and the like.

I have a major weakness for fruit juices, though. Scratch that... fruit in general. :P

I'm just wondering if carbohydrates is something I should be watching out for or if I should ignore them and stick to my calorie watching only.

What I've noticed is that as long as you're not exceeding your calorie intake, you should be fine. Trail mix is high is carbs but it's very high in calories too. Same with fruit juices. But the bottom line is, if you only eat 1800 calories of trailmix and fruit juice. You'll lose weight. (I didn't say it was good for you!).

HOWEVER, the big problem is that sugar never gives you the satisfied feeling. It boogles the mind but clinically, it's been proven that you will never get full on sugar and, if you're like me, eating it causes you to crave it like crazy!!

So, I wouldn't worry about carbs as much as overly processed carbs. Stick with whole foods (whole grains, veggies, fruits, etc) and keep an eye on your calories and I think you'll see the pounds drops off.

I agree with Jessica....you should be okay with calorie countie alone.

There is a lot of sugar in fruit juice, you are better off eating fresh fruit and drinking water. I like trail mix too but don't eat it often as it is high in fat and calories. Maybe if you eat it as an occasional treat that would help. And read your labels to check for sugar content. I have been trying to cut back on sugar and I was surprised at the amount of hidden sugars in food products

Using soy cheese or lowfat cheese in recipes would help reduce the fat intake too.

Are you exercising as well as eating vegetarian?

Yep, minimum of 2-3 days at the gym per week. I'll do 20-30 minutes of cardio (knee issues permitting) and then 35-45 minutes of weights. I think that has contributed to my lack of weight loss recently, since I've been gaining lots of muscle.

I think I'll start watching a bit more closely on my sugars and hopefully that will help to cure the problem. I have issues with remembering to bring a breakfast and lunch from home, so if I can get over that, I can bring better food from home instead of buying a thing of trail mix and just munching on that all day.

Thanks for the advice!

You're welcome

Other people might need this thread too.
I've been under 2000 calories for a while now (looking at my diet right now with minor changes, I can't see that I really ever hit 2000 calories) and working out, somehow I'm managing to gain weight. I've also noticed that my carb intake is SUPER high. I've been eating more fresh fruit and veggies when they're available, but how can I cut out the carbs and still get fiber?