Weight loss and veganism
Do any of you have stories to share of bringing your weight down to a healthy level with veganism?
I ask this because I have several omni friends whose lives or health are in serious danger because of bad weight issues and/or gastric bypass (one friend died from complications of gastric bypass), and I feel like we could help so much with a thread discussing this. I feel like I could help them so much, but alone, I am just some weird fluke - they think they could never lose weight as I have - but if there are several stories here, maybe it will encourage people with this healthy issue to give veganism a try.
I am not talking about "beauty" or body image issues, but health issues. I want to emphasize that I am absolutely against our cultural tendancy to value a person based on weight - I hate that. I prefer that when old friends see me, they don't even comment on my weight change - because it is not about beauty or social pressures, but it is about health and feeling well.
This is my experience:
I always had a struggle with my weight, I went vegetarian (ovo-lacto) and the problem didn't really improve because I was a proverbial "Haagen-daaz-and-cheese-pizza-and-chocolate" vegetarian. My body mass index was 36 (obese). I decided that I was genetically pre-determined to be overweight, and just gave up hope trying. I had constant cravings for unhealthy foods - especially sweets. And the more I ate, the more I felt compelled to eat. I would binge on entire pans full or bags full of desserts or sweets. I felt like it was uncontrollable. I had tried all sorts of weight loss diets, and they had all failed - I just felt hungry on them, not healthy, and then I would rebound and gain more than I had lost.
Around the time my Mom had heart surgery, I decided that I might not ever be thin, or loose weight, but I would try to be a healthy fat person! I read Diet for A New America, and began following a nearly-vegan diet with an emphasis on whole foods, and trying to keep sweets and very high fat foods to a reasonable quantity, and when I ate sweets, I tried to eat the unrefined ones. Now that I was eating healthy foods, eating a reasonable portion of a dessert became possible for me. I lost 60 pounds, bringing my BMI down to 25. 24.9 is normal, so I was still just barely overweight, but no longer obese - for me that was a huge victory. I have largely kept that weight off for 7 years. I don't suffer from food cravings as long as I eat a balanced vegan diet - following the four vegan food groups (fruits, vegetables, whole grains, legumes). I don't have to watch portions or go hungry - I can eat normal meals, and eat until I am satisfied or even full- my appetite is large, but no longer destructively so. I'll never be tiny, but I am healthy, a fairly normal weight, and I feel good.
About a year ago, I started eating lacto-ovo more, and gained about 20 pounds - then I went back to near-vegan and have lost 14 pounds -effortlessly. I am not going hungry or missing out on good, healthy foods. Best of all (for me, anyway) I don't feel like a prisoner of my food cravings- they disappear almost completely when I eat this way. Last night at dinner, a vegan dessert was offered, and a dairy dessert. The dairy dessert was one that I used to consume uncontrollably by the plateful. I wasn't even tempted by the dairy dessert, enjoyed the vegan dessert, and best of all, woke up this morning without craving more (as I would have done in the past).
I suspect that a lot of you have similar stories - please share here!
I don't have a weight loss story, but a health one. A year or so ago, I was really eating what most people would consider to be healthy: vegetables, small amounts of lean chicken and fish, nonfat milk, complex carbohydrates, no sugar, etc. I was 29, in good health, fairly active, never was overweight, and no family history of high cholesterol. But I got my cholesterol tested, and it was on the brink of being high--by about a couple of points. I have since gone vegan (for many reasons), my LDL is way down, my HDL is way up, and my total cholesterol is great. The dairy, eggs, and small amount of meat I ate must have been the culprit. If I had been eating a bunch of hamburgers too, who knows what might have happened...
As for the weight thing, like I said, I've always been a healthy weight, but that is because I've always watched it. I have noticed since going vegan, that I don't really have to keep an eye on it anymore. It kind of takes care of itself!
I don't have a dramatic weight loss story as you do, Anna, but I share other things in common. When I eat whole foods and plenty of fruits and veggies, the cravings for sugar go away. I can take them or leave them at this point and if I partake, I know it is an emotional issue. I hate to start because once started, I just want more and more.
I am in my mid to late 40s and blessed with genes for good health, lose cholesterol and strong, heavy bones. I do not watch what I eat, as long as it is vegan and not high in fat or sugar. I freely partake of avocados in season and I feel that a little EVOO makes food taste rich, and I never say no to nuts...all healthy fats. This, in part, explains my cholesterol of about 130, mostly HDL. As a weight watching omni, I shunned bread, even whole wheat. Today, I eat a fair amount of 100% whole wheat bread without guilt and without the need to eat entire loaves at one sitting (something I used to do with French bread). I would not have given a second thought to my weight, which could be lower, except that I have lost about 30 lbs since last fall. Like you, Anna, portions were ignored, but content was not.
You know, lean foods like whole grains, legumes, fruits and veggies are not particularly high calorie in themselves, though you can really pile on high calorie stuff with them (thinking of cheese with cauliflower, sour cream on potatoes, fatty salad dressings, etc.). If you eliminate dairy most of the gaudy rich dairy fats are out of the plan and you learn to LOVE the subtle flavors of real food.
Thank you for bringing this up. Please be proud when others compliment your weight loss, you HAVE worked for it. Your work was done for health, being thinner was a byproduct. When someone says something to me, I sometimes remark on the benefits of a vegan diet and how much better I feel...the weight loss is just window dressing on a healthy lifestyle.
HOORAH FOR YOU!
I would not have given a second thought to my weight, which could be lower, except that I have lost about 30 lbs since last fall. Like you, Anna, portions were ignored, but content was not.
Thirty pounds without limiting portion size is great! How many "weight loss" diets can claim that? Congratulations! :)
My quest to lose weight and get off the blood pressure meds was what caused me to go vegetarian in the first place. With the trouble I'm having with my thyroid, I really believe that if I was still eating meat, I would weigh 300 pounds now, instead of having lost 50 since last March. I've only been meatless since January so most of that was lost due to a very hard struggle and going hungry a lot of the time. Now that I'm vegetarian and trying to eat no dairy or eggs, but accepting that I can't be perfect right now, I think I'm doing a lot better. I don't stay hungry all the time.
I think whether you're vegan, veg or omni, if you don't eat as many packaged, processed empty-calorie junk foods and consume more nutrient-dense whole foods you'll be healthier and lose any extra weight. And if you add exercise to that you'll be even better off!
I think whether you're vegan, veg or omni, if you don't eat as many packaged, processed empty-calorie junk foods and consume more nutrient-dense whole foods you'll be healthier and lose any extra weight. And if you add exercise to that you'll be even better off!
Although I have also heard this about an omni wholefoods diet, and tried it back in my pre-veggie days, it never worked for me - and I haven't heard of anyone with a substantial weight problem having success that way - altho I imagine some have.
It is my (admittedly unproven, but not without support) theory that for people with severe weight problems, their bodies have a reaction to something in the animal products - perhaps the growth hormones - that makes the appetite go haywire. Of course, the hormones concentrate in the animal's fat, so cheese gives a high dietary concentration of those hormones. Even now, if I eat cheese or dairy chocolate, it becomes very difficult, if not impossible, to control my appetite. When I eat a vegan diet, then my appetite is fairly normal and healthy and I can enjoy really good food without overindulging and without wanting to overindulge. It could be that some people react this way to animal products and some don't.
When I see so many severly obese people in society, I cannot help but think that the chemicals used in the meat and dairy industries are having this effect on a lot of people - perhaps more on those people who have a sensitivity to it.
Interestingly, I have some omni immigrant friends who say that their weight began shooting up when they ate American chemically and hormonally enhanced foods - even tho they eat the same (largely wholefoods) diet here that they did at home, the foods here have more chemicals and hormones, and the pounds have been packing on.
Wow, that's scary! And fascinating!
Anna, my daughter decided to become veg, then vegan in December of 2006 and altho I wasn't planning to join her at first, after researching recipes for her and fixing them and finding so many amazing vegan food choices, I find myself to be vegan to the best of my ability, also. I am loving it. I started in January of this year and have lost a lot of weight without trying. I don't know how much because I don't have a scale, but I can see parts of my body that I couldn't see before and I am wearing jeans again! (I used to only wear sweats, and stretch pants because jeans were uncomfortable) And I have noticed that my arms actually look pretty slim, so I won't mind wearing sleeveless shirts this summer! My daughter says I'll be in a bikini by then, too... LOL!!! I'd guess I've lost about 30 pounds (I was about 175 last time I was weighed...before becoming vegan so another 15 pounds and I'll be at my ideal weight!) A large t-shirt fits loosely now which would have been skin tight if it fit at all, before...
This weight loss has been with no exercise and as others have said, was not intentional. I ate what I wanted (within the vegan framework) when I wanted it. I am now back to exercising moderately, so it will be interesting to see what happens next!!! Oh, I am an "apple" in shape. I store most of my fat in my belly. I used to look like I was carrying triplets, now I look like I'm maybe 4 months preg... I don't know if shape makes a dif or not....
I was a confirmed carni and thought there was no way I could be happy never eating a steak again, and I have to say, I LOVE BEING VEGAN!! I feel so much better, have more energy, and am much less depressed than I was (with no medication) And my carni sister and her boys are interested in joining us after trying the yummy foods I have been making!!! I hope this helps your friends! I don't have any health stats, yet, cause I haven't been to the doctor since making this change.
I think you might have success the same way I am with my sister, by sharing the yummy things you cook with them so they can see that they don't need to feel deprived. And urge them to start by having a vegan meal once a week then twice, etc. As they get used to it, start giving them some of the info from PETA and others about stuff like the amount of mucus allowed in milk and all the toxins in meat, and the torture animals go through in factory farms. I bet they'll do like I did and be happy to be vegan. Even if they don't want to be vegan, eating vegan some or most of the time would help their health and every vegan meal helps the environment as well! And def share this site with them!!! Good luck to you and your Friends!
I went vegan overnight. I did eat eggs and drink milk for about a week until I researched and found more information and reasons to cut out dairy too.
I am only 5' tall and at that time I weighed 129 - much more than I wanted to. I have dropped 2 pants sizes. At the time I wanted to weigh less but just didn't know how because I was always hungry. I determined later, a great deal of "will power" will come to you when you stop eating so much sugar. Still, for me, that was not exactly the reason I began to lose weight. I didn't even try, and I still don't know why I lost the weight. It was not a conscious effort. I lost 19 lbs. in a few short months.
It just seems to follow that not eating meat, eggs, etc. will naturally have you turn to more vegetables, fruits, grains and nuts. This still doesn't explain my situation - my weight loss. I didn't watch portions or exercise any more than usual. Something is just different because I still eat a very satisfying amount of food and never feel deprived. Actually, I feel so free now to eat anything I want as long as it is vegan. I don't have to agonize over what I eat.
I have not gained that weight back, it's been a year. I have been through holidays, family celebrations and other get togethers. I didn't partake of the usual fare and usually brought my own food. This was no sacrifice for me when I thought of the health benefits and exactly what I wasn't eating and why.
Best of all, as a vegan, I now have more energy and feel great. I have had high cholesterol for years. The Dr. says my body just makes more that I need and I have always had to try to control imy levels with my dietary intake. This has been hard for me especially because I ate meat and eggs.
I am excited because I am going to have a cholesterol test on Monday and I feel like the numbers are going to be so much healthier. My Mom had heart disease and I am hoping to avoid that problem. Also, I feel that being vegan has controlled my IBS and diverticulitis. All that wonderful fiber!
When I talk with others about a vegan lifestyle, I always emphatize the health benefits and don't mention the "cruelty to animals" aspect of it. Some people just don't want to know this, but I feel that sooner or later they will realize all the reasons for going vegan, including saving the planet.
I got a late start (I'm 68!), but I am proud to say that I have reaped many health benefits in the last year.
I didn't mention my daughter's experience above... She is a model and has really had to watch what she ate and deprive herself of lots of her comfort foods to maintain a slim body Since becoming vegan, she eats what and when she wants (and quite a bit, too, lots more than I eat..
;D and she is staying slim effortlessly. (in a healthy way, she is very health concious) No more counting calories!!!
Another bonus, at least for me, is that having cooked for many decades ::) I was pretty bored with it. Now cooking is an adventure again! I can't wait to try new vegan recipes and experiment and research! It's great!!! A new adventure!!! :)
Since going vegan 4 years ago, I have been very pleased with my body, in the way I no longer fluctuate up and down depending on what I ate. It seems that no matter how much or what food I eat, processed or not, I can't be weighed down and extremely full or sick from eating. I see my omni boyfriend become so bloated and dull after eating a big meal, I remember that feeling and I never have it anymore, it's awesome.
For anyone trying to gain control over their bodies, and are sensitive to weight gain in a short amount of time, and looking for a way to stabilize without extreme calorie counting diets, the vegan diet is pure stress relief - at least for me. I don't exercise much or regulate portions, and I have only ever lost weight as a vegan.
I think whether you're vegan, veg or omni, if you don't eat as many packaged, processed empty-calorie junk foods and consume more nutrient-dense whole foods you'll be healthier and lose any extra weight. And if you add exercise to that you'll be even better off!
This is so true. I am vegan and haven't lost any weight...I wish I had! But I also know I don't eat healthy because of a compulsive eating disorder.
i have GAINED weight since becoming vegan, though i'm sure it has almost nothing to with my diet and everything to do with the fact that i don't even do 30% of the exercise i was doing on my ovo-lacto diet. i got a car, so now i'm driving everywhere instead of walking. i go to the gym once a week, but it's just not enough sometimes. i get home really late from work (which is often stressful and break-free) and i'm famished, so i cook something to eat and then go to bed half an hour later. i just need to find more time to get to the gym