Loosing weight as a vegetarian

Originally Posted by Time

But cutting sugar out of your diet is more harmful then eating it. You need sugar. The bad ones are proessed sugars, or to much. Bananas are super high in potasium and vitimins, and are recommended to be eated before and after a workout.

Not getting the nutrients you need, can cause you to gain weight as well. Its a matter of protions, and natural sugars.

Then again, if your diebetic thats totaly different....

You don't need sugar in your diet. Avocados are higher in potassium than bananas are.

Vegetarians don't usually lack protein if they are mixing it up with the beans, grains, lentils, vegetables, mushrooms and even blueberries have some protein.....the weight loss is more likely from no longer indulging in the high fat meats and if you're a vegan, than from the absence altogether of cheese and milk and eggs as well.....Take the excess fat out of ones diet and weight loss is a likely result.

And becoming a vegan doesn't mean you need to see all those specialists every few months. It only means doing some personal education into what foods provide which nutrients and then learning how to use those foods in new and exciting recipes. I've been a vegan for 4 years, vegetarian for 15 and my doctors never see me for health issues other than an occasional checkup. As a vegan, I'm far more aware of what is in what I eat than I ever was when I took it for granted that you just slap a chunk of meat in the frying pan and that was the basis of a dinner where everything else was secondary.

Originally Posted by autumn

You don't need sugar in your diet. Avocados are higher in potassium than bananas are.

On the other hand if you're concerned about weight loss, avocados are high in fat, so......?

I was a vegetarian for three years, and I gained weight because I ate carbs in place of animal protein I eventually had to return to eating meat, because when I gave my body no cholesterol, it kicked into over-drive manufacturing it! Some people are genetically predisposed for that to occur, while others are not. Unfortunately, I could not remain vegetarian and control my cholesterol too. When I quit eating meat, it was not for health purposes so much as spurred by my love for animals. I had a bumper sticker on my car that read "I love animals.... I don't EAT them!!" It still bothers me to consume animal flesh. I try to mitigate some of that guilt by blessing the spirit of the animal that gave it's life for me, but I still struggle with the whole issue.

Believe it or not, coconut oil is useful in weight loss. It is a medium-chained-fatty acid that helps improve your metabolism. Cook with it, use it in the place of margarine (which you shouldn't be eating anyway -- it is unhealthy), stir it in your oatmeal, soup, coffee, etc...

Originally Posted by iolite

Believe it or not, coconut oil is useful in weight loss. It is a medium-chained-fatty acid that helps improve your metabolism. Cook with it, use it in the place of margarine (which you shouldn't be eating anyway -- it is unhealthy), stir it in your oatmeal, soup, coffee, etc...

I read that coconut oil is better to use if you are going to heat it as it has a higher smoking point. Olive oil on the other hand is changed by heating and is actually not so good for you because of the heating process. I think the article said olive oil is better for you in salad dressings.

[Lightspirit]

Stir frys are a great weight reducer as a meal. A stir fry with tofu if you want

Weight loss is normal, nothing to worry about. If you eat more than 3 vegetarian meals, you will even experience weight gain. After a while, the weight should stabalize if your diet has settle down to the vegetarian routine.

There's another episode of weight loss when you move from vegetarian to vegan and again, when your body adjusted to your diet and exercise routine, it should settle down to a stable, and lean weight.. I've seen this happen to my vegan friends as well.

I haven't eaten any meat of any kind for 4 months now. I've only experienced about 3% loss in weight and I feel pretty healthy. I was worried a bit about weight loss at first since I was lean to begin with. No worries now.

Heres something funny. We get fat because we dont eat proper fats!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Some vegetarians also gain weight because all grains protiens are covered by cellulose ( our bodies cant break this down at all, but eating meat can aid in the digestion). So this means your body isnt getting enough fat. So every little bit of fat you eat, is stored, as fat deposits ( those awsome love handles :( ).

80% of our brain is fat. If it wasnt from grass fed animal fats, our brains woudlnt have developed so large.

The thing about grains, and grain fed meat, is that not many animals are adapted to ONLY eat grains ( think of how much we actualy eat, flour, corn, rice etc). Many of our farm animals cant eat grain exclusivly. IT forces them to get fat, and grow fast, which leads to sickly animals ( hence all the meds our meat is fed).

You wanna loose weight? Animal fats ( grass fed), coconut oil, butter, olive oil, and others are a great way to add fat to your diet, proper fats that is...

Vegitable fats are ALL trans fat. WHile we need some, we still cant use lots of the minerals and what not in the vege oils, because once again, our bodies CANT brak down the cellulose.

Just to be safe, go see a dr, and get your mineral/vitamin levels checked. Vegetarians/vegans tend to have deficiantcies in iron, protien, cholestrol, and vitamins A, K, and B (12) ( the vitamins are NOT found naturaly in any vegitable, they are only from meat, and animal fat sources)