Anyone gone vegetarian/vegan or gone back to v/v to lose weight. How successful were/have you been?
I've been wanting to go at least vegetarian, possibly vegan for many many years. I seem to have a short stint with the lifestyle every year but not for any legth of time worth mentioning. Most recently I went on a "retreat" for a couple days, and was able to be vegetarian while there, and even read a book about being a raw foodist, also one of my interests, and I did that for a few days. But then I went home, back to two kids, and a very meat loving spouse, and I didn't last long. Anyway, I do need to lose weight. I enjoyed my brief stint with vegetarianism, especially the raw food days. I'm wondering if this would be a route worth traveling to lose the weight, or if maybe I should try that part after losing the weight.
I am going "flexitarian" - i will eat vegetarian/vegan as much as possible, but eat meat maybe 2-3 times a week total (instead of twice a day). A great book with good recipes is Dawn Jackson-Blatner's "The Flexitarian Diet" -- i got it for Christmas and have read it cover to cover. Most of her recipes have an option to add meat or beans/tofu or another vegetarian protein source. So you could make it half veg for you and half non-veg for your husband.
I also recommend watching Food, Inc. It'll change your views on eating, it inspired me to go vegetarian.
I would love to hear from other folks if they found success and what they did!
A few months ago, I transitioned from ovo-lacto vegetarian to vegan. I lost 12 pounds. My problem is that vegan doesn’t always mean healthy and low calorie. It seems I have hit a plateau in my weight loss journey.
I am not on a raw diet but I have tried a few raw recipes that are ok. I have heard of people losing weight on that diet.
I gained weight when I went vegetarian. I substituted way too much with grains, pasta, eggs, cheese, etc. But some people lose weight by doing it. It just boils down to what's in your new menu.
I had a significant weight loss on WW. Due to health issues I became Vegan trying to find the source of my problem. I didn't lose weight but I was able to fuel some amazing workouts and never felt stronger or looked better. But I would not recommend going Veg / Vegan to lose weight because it is actually quite hard to do. It is hard enough to stay nutritionally balanced with no meat products but to lose weight is almost impossible. I used to think I needed to draw a hard line and be this or that and try to label myself and my nutritional needs. But that doesnt work for me. Some days I need veggies, some days my body needs a chicken breast or a piece of fish. Feed your body and lose the labels.
Vegetarian here, just north of 170 pounds lost so far! I consume very little dairy, and even fewer eggs, and my diet is getting closer to vegan all the time. It absolutely can be done, but it's no magic bullet; as others have said, there's plenty of fattening food that's vegetarian or vegan, and you have to be as careful with portions as an omnivorous dieter. I'm a whole fooder, too, which helps.
When I first went vegan a a number of years ago, I had lost around 60 pounds and kept it off for a while. It was pretty amazing, looking back.
I learned how to bake and cook and turned into such a good little vegan chef that it became my downfall, and I gained back most of the weight.
I think it's really important to watch sugar and carbs on a vegan diet. I had gotten into this strange psychological rut where I believed since I was being careful not to eat so many different foods, that I could relax and eat whatever I wanted in the vegan realm. Totally backfired.
I did Phase One of the Fat Smash Diet, which is vegetarian, and lost weight immediately. That was last summer ... since then I have slacked off, and have restarted today after experiencing an unhappy amount of weight gain.
I went vegan for the ethical reasons, and I lost weight cuz I jumped into it head first and I had no idea what I could eat. It was salads, salads, and more salads. Over the next 7 years I learned all the awesome things that are vegan, and I put on the pounds, about 30 of them!
It totally depends on what kinds of vegan food are eating. If you stay away from the processed stuff and get plenty of fruits and veggies, you probably will lose weight going vegan...
vegetarian weightloss success?
I substituted way too much with grains, pasta, eggs, cheese, etc. But some people lose weight by doing it. It just boils down to what's in your new menu.
