How do you lose weight if you're vegetarian?

Question

I don't eat meat, fish or eggs and am fussy about animal ingredients, ie. gelatine. Most of my diet is based on pasta, bread and potatoes- all of the things we are told to cut down on. I do eat beans, pulses and nuts but struggle to know how to make proper meals of them without including pasta, potatoes and bread. Does anyone have a good answer to this surprisingly difficult question?

Answer 1

Don't eat sweets, chocolate, crisps and all the other junk food veggies can eat also I find a little exercise works wonders.

Answer 2

The best thing I can think of is try to cut out all the starch, if you still want to eat bread (it is so convenient i know) then try a spelt flour or rye based bread, I have a bread maker and only use spelt flour which breaks down a lot slower in your body so you are fuller for a lot longer.

I am a vegan and do not particularly like a lot of pasta or bread so I tend to eat a lot of stir fry, curry and raw salads.

Try cooking curry and having a onion and tomato salad on the side (which goes really well) instead of rice or naan. When cooking stir fry or something similar, eat it out of a bowl and include lots of vegetables and not that much sauce, you wont miss the pasta or rice that usually goes with it.

My main bit of advice is to learn how to use herbs and spices, vegetarian and vegan cookery can get very boring if there is no interesting flavours.

Answer 3

Don't skip meals. Some people skip breakfast but this can make you put on weight. Your body thinks oh no we're not eating as much we'll need to store some of this food incase we starve. So your body slows your metabolic rate which burns less calories and gives you a fatter belly. Make sure you eat regular meals as this will keep your metabolism up thus burning more calories.
And yes, cut down on your carbs and eat a more balanced diet ie; a third veg, a third carbs, a third protein ( soya, cheese, eggs, milk, beans etc)

Answer 4

That one is easy. From your description, you are not eating any green vegetables - or red ones, or yellow ones. A bowl of microwaved summer squash with olive oil is to die for. Who needs all those carbohydrates?

You will want to balance your meals - and this is particularly important for vegetarians, and even more so for vegans. Becoming vegetarian usually involves more that not eating meat. Ensure that your meals include all of the necessaries.

For example, one of my favourite vegetarian meals is pasta with Greek feta cheese and black olives stirred in after draining the pasta. This is served with a fresh salad - even if it is just lettuce. It requires no bread, no potatoes, and you can limit the amount of pasta you put into it.

You might calculate the amount of meat you are avoiding, and subtract that from any "healthy eating advice" -

Mostly, if you are conscious of what you eat and drink, and you make sure you are drinking enough water and eating enough fresh veg, then you are doing fine. Oh, but do try couscous, with garlic marinated in olive oil, and mixed seeds, plus a salad. Scrumptious!

Answer 5

start by making your vegetable and pulse section of your meal large and the carbs part small. same meals, just diff balance. Eventually you will find you can happily have some meals without any pasta, bread, etc. I am not vegetarian but can happily eat meals with no pots, pasta, bread etc and no meat. They are some of my more enjoyable meals. Try making soups and big salads. you can put your pulses and nuts with salads. Beans go with everything!! I wouldnt put the pasta etc with the beans pulses and nuts very often. keep them seperate but have veg and fruit with anything you like.

Answer 6

It's a myth that cutting down on pasta, bread, and potatoes will help you lose weight. The only bad things for vegetarians to avoid are vegetable shortenings with trans fats and high-fructose corn syrup. The best way to lose weight on any diet is to exercise more.

Answer 7

I'm vegan as well. The carbs you mention are easy "fillers" for the vegetarian diet, but, as you said, they don't promote weight loss. There are a few things you can try:

- drink a lot of vegetarian soups
- when eating bread, use whole grain as often as possible
- cut down on potatoes and pasta altogether
- eat more brown rice (or rice in general)
- create dishes where the carbs are sides to the veggies

Check out http://vegetarian.allrecipes.com/directory/1675.asp for food ideas.

Good luck!

Answer 8

Eat only watermelon for 3 weeks.

or stop eating.
If you water fast you burn more muscle than fat.
If juice fast, then you're good.

Stay away from salt and fats and you're body will metabolize fat whether you exercise or not. It's just not easy to cultivate the willpower. But after the 3rd day, you no longer crave solid food. It becomes automatic. It's not bad as long as you take it easy and know what you're doing.

yah~ guy below me is right, eat a piece of fruit in the morning and you'll increase your metabolism so much you'll burn quadruple the 100 calorie meal by the time you get hungry enough for lunch.

Answer 9

Silly child! The key word is vegetarian. The key ingredient is vegetables. You can do alot with them. Remember to include rice and beans in order to get the important proteins. These can be made into sandwich spreads, loafs, and casseroles. My suggestion is to get a good, easy vegie cookbook. Don't buy anything with exotic ingredients in the recipes. Keep it simple. Additionally, there are some great frozen products out there. Try Boca or Gardenburger in your freezer section. Be creative!

Answer 10

Okay, well I am no vegetarian or vegan, so what I would do is just eat smaller portions of your pastas and breads. I know how it's like. I loooovveeee pasta. BUT MOSLTY BREAD!! Anyway, don't drink pop or something unhealthy. Instead, try propel, water or milk. Sorry if this didnt help=[ but what I would do is just eat smaller portions of your food. I hope my advice helped [some] atleast! Mwah! =)

Answer 11

I love carbs too. You can eat pasta and bread but limit it to a few times a week and also make it whole wheat or whole grain ONLY. You also need to do at least 30 mins of moderate to vigorous exercise a day.