Vegetarian weight loss diet plan?

Cianos

Hey,
I am mid way between Target weight and Overweight in comparison to my height.

I have been vegetarian for a while but I have been eating a lot of cheese and other things that would contribute to gaining weight.

So, I'm looking for a good vegetarian weight loss diet plan? If anyone could recommend some good recipes I could follow that'd be great.

Slaphead07

I don't want to sound like I'm taking the high moral ground here but a sensible diet (veggie or otherwise) is the best way to lose weight and keep it off.
<cliché alert> Diets don't work </cliché alert> If you're a recent convert to veggiedom then it's a good time to develop good habits, low fat cheeses are available but in a balanced diet it's not such an issue. Chips, crisps, sweets and fatty foods can all be vegetarian but obviously not good for you....

That said I'm overweight myself but that's down to a bit too much junk and too little exercise!

neuro-praxis

How about this as a sample:

Porridge for breakfast, made with skimmed milk, and eaten with fresh fruit and some seeds.

Lunch consisting of hard boiled eggs with loads of fresh dressed salad vegetables.

For dinner have bean soup with wholewheat pitta and a spicy vegetable stir-fry.

Get yourself a good cook-cook and just go easy on the cheese and oil. Realistically it's probably sweets, takeaways, drinking etc. that will cause weight-gain rather than a bit of cheese in your sambo at lunch time.

Cianos

Thanks for the replies,

Right now I usually have weetabix for breakfast with Soy Milk

For lunch it'd usually be a cheese sandwich, or maybe eggs - which I'm poaching now instead of frying. I'd usually have some brown bread with both.

For dinner, hmmm, pasta quite often, could be tortelloni and pesto, spaghetti with fried vegetables, peppers and mushrooms etc. Gonna try and eat more brown rice. I've cut down on the amount of pizzas and falafels I'm eating as I've moved away from an area with plenty of take aways to an area with a nice supermarket really close

I find myself craving sweet things quite often. So I want to up the amount of fruit I'm eating.

And I think I'm going to cut down on drinking beer and if I want to have a drink, have some whiskey instead.

How does this all sound?

t-ha

Have a look at the diet sticky from the fitness forum, most of the advice will apply besides specific recipes involving meat;
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2054886861

Having a carb-up like a big pasta dish in the evening is often not the best thing unless you're quite active in the evenings. Also if you want to cut your craving for sweet things you probably need to get your blood-sugar under control. Low sugar, high fibre diets are the way to go (i.e. I don't want to tell people not to eat fruit, but more veg would probably be better at banishing those cravings).

I can't recommend www.sparkpeople.com enough, it is a fitness and nutriton planner/tracker and motivational tool.
It will calculate how many calories you personally require, and will then tailor meal plans to your needs, and generate a weekly shopping list and give you cooking instructions.
You can chose your meals, you can add recipes you found in sparkrecipes to your planner, or you can use it simply as a claorie counter. It is totally flexible and can be used with any eating plan.
You can use it to monitor your intake of nutrients and highlights any deficenies.
The fitness planner is similar.
There are large vegetarian and vegan teams who provide support and information through boards and social networking pages.

By the way, fortified breakfast cereals is thee best food source of many nutrients for a vegetarian.
Iron, Zinc, B 12.
I think switching to porridge would be misguided.

Apparently Zinc is added to Irish cereal.
I have whooped my calcium into shape.
Have no idea where I am going to get my zinc from.
I can't remember to take pills.

Tar.Aldarion

I think it is in pumpkin, sunflower seeds, sesame seeds/tahini, lentils, wholegrains, cheese (for vegetarians), almonds and tofu.

Tar.Aldarion

Tar.Aldarion wrote: »

I think it is in pumpkin, sunflower seeds, sesame seeds/tahini, lentils, wholegrains, cheese (for vegetarians), almonds and tofu.

Thanks, I do eat at least two servings from these a day, but obviously that isn't enough.
I'm going to try a supplement.

Macha

Here are some low-carb recipies from 101cookbooks.com.

http://www.101cookbooks.com/low_carb_recipes/

Also, www.whfoods.com is good for finding out the best source of a vitamin or mineral

Here are the best sources of zinc:

http://whfoods.com/genpage.php?tname=nutrient&dbid=115

Thanks taconnel I am familar with whfoods, it is a great website.

Apparently irish soil is natural high in zinc.
I think I'm going to try growing my own veg this summer.
I'm obsessed with meeting my rda in all my v and m for a few months to see if I feel different.

sweet-rasmus

as mentioned, a large heavy meal in the evening isn't the best plan for weight loss. if you are able; a large lunch and a smaller dinner would be good. obv never skip meals (you need to keep your metabolism going). and exercise can help a larger portion of veg in comparison to carbs (pasta/rice/potatoes) on your dinner plate will fill you up indeed!

Moonbaby - i'd love to grow veg too, but i fear it'll be too much hard work! what with watching the slugs eat it all before you and all

I was planning on calling on my dad to do...I mean help me out.;)