I am a 40 year old man who became a vegetarian 2 1/2 years ago, but have gained about 15-20 pounds?

Question

Does anyone have advice on specific diets for vegetarians? What should I avoid (other than meat)? Informed answers only please.

Answer 1

Same thing happened to me. Stay away from dairy, butter, most oils. Stay away from refined sugars, anything packaged, and carbs like white bread, regular spaghetti. Focus on greens steamed or lightly sauteed in olive oil. Kale, swiss chard, collards, spinach are best. Lotsa fruits. For protien I personally make a daily soy based protien powder shake. I use skim milk but have also used orange juice and chocolate protien powder. Almonds specifically are excellent for protien and all sorts of things. Sticking with the high veggie/greens diet also makes your blood more alkaline and less acid, which is reputed to starve potential cancerous cells (it is said cancer can not live in alkaline system, it needs sugars and acid.)

Answer 2

being vegetarian doesn't make you skinny.
For starters you are at the age your metabolism slows down significantly. To loose weight you will have to start to get excersize of some sort regularly, even if you didn't before. If you do not like formal excersize try bike riding, martial arts, playing sports, walking, or taking up a hobby that includes more physical work.

Also be sure to drink your 8 glasses of water a day, this fills you up but also helps your body expel tonins and function properly.

Also try and cut out the hidden foods that create a lot of weight gain that people don't generally think about.
these include
Eatting out frequently (even at sit down resturants)
Butter (whether on toast or cooking in your food)
Alcohol
Candy, cakes, and other sweets.
Dips and salad dressings.
Fake/Imitation meat (though these have less fat then meat itself they have much more fat then a salad or a healthy home cooked vegetable dish)
Chips, Popcorn, and other junk food.
Microwave/ pre-made boxed meals.

Replacing these with natural foods such as vegetables, fruits, juice, teas, and whole grains will have a big impact on weight gain.

Answer 3

Congratulations on becoming vegetarian.

Have you been taking any medication that may cause weight gain?

Do you eat a lot of beans or cheese for protein? Observe portion sizes, especially carbs. This will do you in, even when you're eating healthy foods. Also, be careful about eating sweets. Watch out for prepared, processed foods, too, even if they are vegetarian.

It's as hard for us to plan healthy, balanced meals as anyone else.

I have lost 2% body fat in the last year because I work out and do cardio 2 or 3x per week. If you don't work out, maybe you'll want to begin. My trainer encourages me to write down every single thing I eat, but I don't, even though I know I'd lose weight if I did.

Answer 4

Gaining or losing excess fat storage is all about metabolism.

Sure, you can eat less of this or that etc. and drop your fat. Basically, you'd have to eat less energy to lose fat; the old in-out balance.
Or you can do exercise, even out your screwed-up metabolism, and eat more. That's what I do. I love to exercise, and I love to eat, so I do both. Going on a calorie reduced diet just to lose excess fat -- that's for lazy people, plus that will screw-up your metabolism even more!

Get out there, enjoy life, do some more exercise, go hiking, skiing, cycling,... raise your metabolism at the same time and say goodbye to excess fat. Don't just jog, run! Throw away your bathroom scale and look in the mirror. You might even start to weigh more as you put on muscle, but your fat will be melting away. So, ditch those blocks of fat they call butter and cheese plus all other dairy products, as that will help too. Let your blood flow without being hindered by fat and cholesterol in the bloodstream. As you move along in life, focus on quality of your food: freshness, wholeness, natural, unprocessed, organic... and you'll see that with better quality, the less food you actually need. Perhaps join a local cycling or running club if you are a social exerciser. These are my very experienced suggestions.

Answer 5

Welcome to middle aged spread! We all do that at this age when our male metabolism starts to slow down(I know I sure did!) . Just so you know it was around that age that I started gaining weight (ended up over 100 lbs overweight). There is only one way to lose weight, burn more calories than you consume! It doesn't take massive amounts of exercise and you don't need to starve yourself either. If you either cut 100 calories a day or burn an additional 100 calories you will lose 10 lbs per year and more importantly you'll keep the weight off!! You have the freedom to choose whether you'd prefer to exercise a little more (something as simple as stairs instead of elevator) or change the calories you consume (soft tofu instead of cream cheese as an example). If you talk to a dietitian or nutritionist they'll tell you the same thing I just did since I'm nicely giving you the lecture I got from my cardiac nutritionist. I still eat chips, cakes and all that other wonderful high calorie junk food; but when I do it I don't eat an entire family size bag or whole cake like I used to. Just slightly smaller portions of the high calorie stuff and replacing higher fiber lower calorie food will do fine over time. You didn't gain the weight in a month so don't try to lose it all at once either!

And DON'T avoid things you like!! You'll start craving them and then pig out on a massive amount of whatever it is! While I was losing my flab I was also instructed to add a minimum of one avocado, 1/4th cup E.V. Olive oil and 1/4 cup E.V. Coconut oil per day to improve my HDL/LDL ratio for the health of my heart (I used to eat relatively low fat). Even with all the extra fat calories I still lost weight because I also increased my consumption of high bulk food (mainly salads with Olive oil dressing and Popcorn with the E.V. Coconut oil) so I was still full but my total calories were a little lower.

Just use a little common sense and you'll be fine. Email me if you'd like support from someone that's been there ;-)

Answer 6

Just being a vegetarian won't make you lose weight. I gain weight sometimes too, usually in the winter. But its usually when I'm not eating that great and not exercising as much as I should. Just make sure you are eating things that are healthy and not just convenient, drink lots of water, and exercise. I know you hear it all the time, but it really is all you need to do to lose weight. I park farther away from where I'm going, take the stairs, whatever I can to squeeze in more exercise when I'm busy. Keep it healthy!

Answer 7

yeah but how MUCH are you eating. Are you portion sizes really normal or the american version of normal (read: supersized).
Also are you sneaking in a lot of fat (fried foods), sugar (corn syrup in everything, sodas), and carbs (enriched white bread, potatoes)? Are you getting enough real vegetables (green ones.. not corn, potatoes and carrots which are starches) and enough protein (lentils, beans).
Plus even vegetarians have to exercise more as they get older and their metabolism slows.
Dairy (although has lots of fat) will actually help you lose weight because of the kind of calcium that is in there if you drink/eat the right serving sizes.

Answer 8

I was a veggie for 6 years and gained 60 lbs. I had never been overweight my entire life. I was a veggie for 6 years and my health suffered badly because of it. I don't think I was getting enough protien and unfortunately I don't like beans and tofu or other foods high in protein so it was difficult for me. I also occasionaly had bad reacations to soy. My doctor was worried about how much weight I gained after becoming a veggie due to my drop in protein but increase in bad carbs. The headaches, leg cramps, dizziness was terrible. There are times I feel bad about eating meat/chicken but it is the only diet mixed with good carbs that keeps my weight down.
If you look at the history of the hunter gatherers we have been eating meat and fish for ages. My brother-in- law has a funny saying when he sees veggies or salad, "That isn't food, that is what FOOD eats!" Terrible sense of humor he has! Good on all of you for being able to live this lifestye. I really admire you.

Answer 9

Being a vegetarian or vegan, doesn't, as many people assume, mean you are underweight. Do you have a lot of cheese or creamy based dishes? do you cook in butter or oils and not simply spray your pan with oil or steam fry? I love coconut milk and cream but know it will creep up on me weight wise, so I limit adding it until the end of cooking and just enough to flavour the dish not cook in it is it absorbs the whole dish. Fresh veges steamed with rice or non cream based pasta dishes, fresh fruits, nuts and pulses, tofu or tempeh, a good balance and regular exercise is what we all need. Good luck

Answer 10

Chances are that when you gave up meat, you started eating more carbs and starches. Look for complete proteins and cut back on your fat and cheese. Try using tofu products that are lower in fat and soy. Watch your portions! Just because it says vegetarian, doesn't mean that it doesn't contain fat. And, you're pretty much on schedule to start gaining the "male middle", so you need to watch your calories and exercise anyway! Good luck!