Haha, I consider myself vegetarian with vegan tendencies. And a vegetarian that eats fish is a pescatarian. Some people get really offended when you use the wrong label. Just sayin'. I personally don't care. But the veg forum I go to, it can be a BIG deal lol.

Just found this thread. Like many here, I have also been overweight all of my life, whether vegetarian or vegan or whatever. In 2008, after hitting my goal weight and losing 35 pounds on a meat-heavy low carb diet, I decided to become vegetarian again (I had been vegetarian for about 5 or 6 years as a teenager). Then I started reading books like "Diet For A New America" and "The China Study" and decided I wanted to go vegan for health, animals, and the environment. Since then, I have gained not only the 35 pounds I lost but another 30 pounds besides (though have so far lost 15 of those pounds).

However, like someone said in this thread, it wasn't because of going vegan - it was because of binge eating episodes (which I've had issues with especially during times of stress and the 3 years since going vegan have been very stressful). In fact, my weight gain was mainly due to the non-vegan (but vegetarian - once I gave up meat I had no cravings for it) food I was eating.

When I came here last year (Israel, where I'm originally from), I went to see a doctor and get blood work done for the first time in years and years. I was nearly 190 pounds, the highest I've ever been (and I am 5'1" - not good!) There is already a history in my family with heart disease and high cholesterol, so I think my doctor (who is a family friend) expected the worst. When my blood work came back, everything was normal, which impressed my doctor greatly. I owe all of that to being vegan, and I wasn't even vegan continuously - more on than off, but definitely periods of being off.

I am now back to being all vegan and doing the McDougall and similar type plan (i.e., low fat vegan) and am enjoying it. I don't ever want to go back!

Tam

I recently became vegetarian about 8 months ago and went from 108 to my current 120lbs, blahhh, I blame bread, delicious fluffy bread.
I feel better overall but this extra weight is really getting me down.

it is so easy to gain weight as a vegetarian. i think, in my case, i'm more likely to binge. i've been a semi-vegetarian for over 8 years (semi since I still eat the following animal products are fish, dairy and eggs). over that time i've had several love affairs with vegetarian substitute food. anyone else over do it on beans? nuts? nut butters? i did! I finally got smart or at least a little smarter and started to limit these protein sources and use other sources more such as tofu and quinao. since i still eat fish, I can get my protein that way too. i noticed if I miss my protein i will start to crave and that is when all h*ll breaks loose. so, yeah, vegetarians have their challenges. i have to say i've never seen an overweight vegan either. i just can't bring myself to limit that much. i want to enjoy life a little ya know?

I guess it all depends on what it takes to enjoy life. Personally I am loving feeling lighting and being able to move. I can fit into airline seats again. I'm not spilling out over folding chairs now. I'm enjoying my health being restored too. Love that. I feel so much younger. I enjoy my rice and veggies and get plenty full. But everyone is different.

I stopped eating meat a couple of years ago and put on weight as well. I ended up reaching for french fries and vegan 'chick'n' nuggets as my usual meals. This time I'm slowly cutting out meat to acheive a healthier diet (we still use a lot of veg/vegan staples such as veggie ground round, So Delicious Coconut milk, Daiya cheese, etc), so that we're being HEALTHY instead of just being vegetarian. We still eat a little bit of meat, but it's much less and organic, and free-range or grass-fed. I think there's definately a 'wrong' way to go about it, like I did, and I believe a organic chicken breast or ocean-caught sustainably fished salmon are better options than french fries and breaded nuggets any day. Animal rights is definately another argument. I would love to go at LEAST vegetarian and healthily but we live in rural canada, and wide spread organic groceries haven't exactly made it this far

ive never had this stereotype when i think of vegetarians or vegans, the biggest person i know and hes huge, not to be rude, but hes a big man, and hes vegan, not even vegetarian, but vegan, and every vegan or vegetarian i know is very very obese not even overweight but obese and many have heart problems and breathing problems, thats the extent of their obesity. so yea im at least one person that will never be shocked by it :P

i think its those vegan chips at the grocer, thats a very busy aisle. also alot of my vegan/vegetarian friends have this thing were they say oh its not meat so instead of one 'chik'in' or faux beef burger ill have 4 cause its still good for me than they smother it in cheese or whatever vegans use, sorry i dont know the names, and a tonne of ketchup lol its like they think they need to overcompensate cause its not real meat? one of them baked a dozen of these awesome vegan cupcakes and than..ate the dozen, but said it was ok..cause it was vegan. just a theory lol

what im saying is its easy to make the wrong food choices regardless of what type of ..eater? you are. whether youre omnivore or herbivore, carnivore lol you can still make a lot of bad choices. but alot of ppl think theres magic or trick involved in being healthy and slim so there always must be one little reason that someone else is thin and they arent, so its easy to say oh sally is so thin but shes one of those vegan ppl (ive actually heard ppl say this lol), than it is to say wow sallys thin i wonder how she manages to stick to a healthy diet and regular exercise, cause than its work and not something you can excuse away. just another theory XD

Lol this reminds me of something, we have this friend in our circle who says shes vegetarian to the point where if we invite her over for bbq she wont go outside because she says she will 'taint' herself with meat smell and we have to cook her food after we remove our food from the bbqer and wash it down like three times over and then cook her food all by itself. we do this for her , whatever right, shes a friend, we respect her choices, but than one bbq she brings in salmon and still wants us to do all these things, close all the windows and doors to keep the meat smell out, and clean and seperate, and im like you know salmons a meat right and she tells me its not cause she doesnt eat meat being a vegetarian bordering on vegan and all and im like ok..but thats a fish. fish is meat, and than she says she can eat chicken too cause thats also not meat so than i just gave up. it just seemed so silly that she doesnt want her fish and chicken tainted by 'meat' O___O cause its wrong to kill animals..but isnt a fish and chicken living creatures too. we also made potatos with cheese and veggie bacon? i forget the name, its veggie bacon i dont think there was a brand really anyways, we used veggie bacon cause we knew she was coming and she said she cant eat veggie bacon cause its meat..O_O we dont mind shes a good friend it just boggles my mind sometimes the things she says dont make sense lol

Yeah... that is one confused "vegetarian." I think it is a very personal journey to switch from one eating lifestyle to another. switching from a meat and potato family to a semi-vegetarian household was a wild ride for me. I loved researching new foods and trying out tofu and I'll never regret the choice to limit my animal products. It's made a big impact on my overall health (less digestion problems, better skin, etc) and it has made me more aware of my diet as well as how I impact the environment/marketplace. I've teetered between pretty strict (to the point that cross contamination on the bbq would freak me out too; to pretty lenient ... "say that looks like chicken in my soup. oh well, I'm eating it." So, it's all in the personality of the eater what their diet ends up "looking" like and I bet most people customize their choices. I'm more toward lenient these days but I have a wish to eat more raw foods, more power foods and more organic foods. That's in addition to being semi-vegetarian. Mix in the fact that my husband can't have gluten and we have a pretty unique food situation.

ferretsr1, you are so right! For me it is a love affair with a few choice foods that keep me from being vegan. Dairy and eggs are big for me. I gave up dairy for a while but the substitutes were so expensive that I ended up re-introducing several dairy products back into my diet. For instance... i used to pay for the Veggie Cheese slices which were like 24 slices for 6.00 and now if I want cheese, I just get the deli cheese. I also used to get tofutti cream cheese and paid twice as much as regular or low fat cream cheese. So, I limit the cheese because it is so calorie and fat dense but I still like to have a little here and there... hence my switch back. I still do not drink milk. I've maintained this dairy restriction at least. We buy soy, almond or hemp milk (whatever is on sale). I also tried to give up eggs for a while and bought the egg substitute powder for baking. That was okay... but eggs are such a protein powerhouse and so easy to make that I went back to eggs pretty fast. As for the fish... I could live with out it too but there is just another great protein source that is so available (whether eating our or buying groceries at a local market). We live in the city but it still takes 20 minutes to drive to the closest co-op. So, being that I've tried the more extreme end of things but still settled in the middle with a compromise i'm probably not the best person to chat to about strict vegan and vegetarian lifestyles. But I've had a great journey along the way... so if you think your story is like mine we can share notes! Thanks for reading.

I had been a vegetarian when I was about 17-18 years old. It didn't last long because I wasn't in to cooking back then and I ended up caving to whatever my mom was cooking. I went back to an unhealthy diet and stayed my lovely, chubby self. Fast forward 11 years and I decided to become vegetarian again, for ethical and health reasons. I read the China Study and it all made sense. Now, I'm 250 lbs, so when I went to my first family cookout and politely refused a burger I was asked what's the problem. I replied, 'I'm a vegetarian.' My cousin's response was, 'You don't look like one.' I've been a vegetarian for the last 4 years (actually it will be 4 years in April) and I have maintained the same weight. My problem is that I can't seem to commit to a single way of eating. AND I don't seem to want to give up the foods that are detrimental to my health. I was diagnosed with PCOS and giving up meat has allowed me to control my cycles without birth control pills. TMI, but I had never had a regular cycle without birth control pills and now they're like clockwork. It was easy to give up meat once I saw the positive effect. This, however has not stopped me from giving up sugar and chips and other yucky foods that are keeping me fat. While I LOVE veggies, and even when I was a meat eater I would choose veggie options or push the chicken to the side of the plate, I have never been known to pass over a bread basket.

Doritos are vegetarian and so are Oreos - and I like them both. And unfortunately they're everywhere.

I know I'm joining this party late, but want to add my 2 cents. I enjoyed raw vegan for a couple of weeks, but couldn't sustain it on my own ( if I had someone to food prep for me ...) Must say I looked the best skin & face-wise during those 2 weeks. Vegetarian as such doesn't work for me 'cause I go dairy-crazy. I'd rather eat small quantities of meat health-wise but feel bad about the source! I tried Eat to Live, did well initially, but again so restrictive. I believe that a plant based whole food diet is the most healthful, so I'm now focusing on getting in a large salad w/cooked veggies every day, beans & legumes mixed in with my meat on meat days, and quiona for my grainy thing. Little fruit. If I get in enough of these foods I'm ok. The danger is on days when I try to Diet' and end up eating fatty sweets because I haven't eaten enough of the good stuff. I am still very much a 'work in progresss' but think this will work best for me. Good luck to everyone out there,'cause this stuff can get tough!

Me me me!!! I've been vegetarian for about 5 years and so many people always act shocked by my weight. And all the other vegetarians I know are skinny so that makes me sad lol

I've always thought the same thing, I have a co worker who is a vegetarian and she is still overweight and in the beginning it discouraged me to become one. but then I thought about the real reason which is my love for animals , I am on my third week and I dont miss meat at all, I see a difference in my appearence , feelings and over all being. I am also soooo surprised at how many wonderful substitues are out there! but for the most part I have never really seen an overweight vegan or vegetarian but I think processed foods can be to blame. Some people think just because the eat meat they can eat anything else and they turn to junk and junk=pounds. so Ive been staying away from sweets but when I need a splurge I so to so delicious products! they make a banging dairy free cookie dough ice cream ;-)

I have only met one seriously overweight vegan, but MANY obese vegetarians. The dairy, especially cheese, is not healthful.

It used to be so hard for vegans to find delicious food. It was basically whatever you made yourself. But nowadays, there are so many tasty options that I think I could stay obese as a vegan if that was my only strategy.