Is weight gain ever associated with going vegan?

freethink3r

Long story short, I've gained a stone in the last year without anything changing but going vegan. I had my bloods done and my the doctor told me my thyroid is fine.

Is there any possible way that going vegan could affect my metabolism or lead to weight gain? I've been really careful for the last 2 months, making sure I didn't eat more than 2,000 calories and exercising moderately to vigorously 5 hours a week consistently. Obviously, a bit of weight gain wouldn't make me go back over my decision to go vegan, but it's still very annoying and makes me uncomfortable in my own body. I've never ever had a weight problem before the last year.

Just Like Heaven

It could well do, depending on what you mean by 'going vegan', maybe somebody can help you if you list a typical day's food and general eating habits.

freethink3r

I'll try be honest and not leave out the junk I eat...

Breakfast is always either muesli, porridge (made with water) or cornflakes with 4 or 5 teaspoons of sugar, one cup soy milk.

Lunch is generally something salady or beany. Maybe a wrap with half a tin of refried beans and some salad with mustard. And I often have smoothies or protein shakes.

Dinner... I eat a lot of stir fries. Like half a bag of the stir fry vegetables you get in any supermarket. Usually with Fry's brand chicken pieces. I also like their burgers.

Most days I'll have lots of sweet things. I love Booja Booja icecream and chocolates. The icecream is in a little personal sized tub and is just under 200 calories. The chocolates are about 65 each I think. And I love Nakd bars. I DO definitely eat plenty of crap but always sort of have.

Today I had: cornflakes with sugar and soy milk, orange juice, 3 figrolls, a hotdog with ketchup on a white bun, vegan cheese (some new brand, can't remember) and tomatoes grilled on some bread, a packet of starburst.

I was sort of depressed so I ate bad food. Which is what I tend to do when I'm depressed. Other days I'll drink Spirulina and eat fresh fruit and sweet potatoes. Maybe it's worse to eat badly when you're vegan though.

Just Like Heaven

Not that I would actually really know, but somebody might! Obviously you've made changes to your diet, so perhaps your macro-nutrient ratios have changed even though your caloric intake hasn't.

Some people tend to go hard on oily processed fake meats, soymilk, bread and vegan pasta initially which might make it difficult to lose weight and indeed get the nutrients you need. I saw a lecture recently in which it was put forward that studies with successful results for vegan or plant based diets all seemed to be more successful for weight loss/general health once the fat percentage of the caloric ratio dropped below 10-15%, this was just something the best ones had in common.

freethink3r

Just Like Heaven wrote: »

Not that I would actually really know, but somebody might! Obviously you've made changes to your diet, so perhaps your macro-nutrient ratios have changed even though your caloric intake hasn't.

Some people tend to go hard on oily processed fake meats, soymilk, bread and vegan pasta initially which might make it difficult to lose weight and indeed get the nutrients you need. I saw a lecture recently in which it was put forward that studies with successful results for vegan or plant based diets all seemed to be more successful for weight loss/general health once the fat percentage of the caloric ratio dropped below 10-15%, this was just something the best ones had in common.

Thanks for the suggestion, I definitely do some of those things. Soymilk I really TRY to have a lot of, to make sure I get the calcium. Fake meats I'd have maybe 5 out of 7 days. Bread, every day. Pasta, rarely. I'll definitely try to avoid so much processed junk. I'm probably focusing too much on calories being the be all and end all. Have you had any changes in weight since going vegan (or maybe you're a vegetarian?)?

Just Like Heaven

freethink3r wrote: »

I'll try be honest and not leave out the junk I eat...

Breakfast is always either muesli, porridge (made with water) or cornflakes with 4 or 5 teaspoons of sugar, one cup soy milk.

Lunch is generally something salady or beany. Maybe a wrap with half a tin of refried beans and some salad with mustard. And I often have smoothies or protein shakes.

Dinner... I eat a lot of stir fries. Like half a bag of the stir fry vegetables you get in any supermarket. Usually with Fry's brand chicken pieces. I also like their burgers.

Most days I'll have lots of sweet things. I love Booja Booja icecream and chocolates. The icecream is in a little personal sized tub and is just under 200 calories. The chocolates are about 65 each I think. And I love Nakd bars. I DO definitely eat plenty of crap but always sort of have.

Today I had: cornflakes with sugar and soy milk, orange juice, 3 figrolls, a hotdog with ketchup on a white bun, vegan cheese (some new brand, can't remember) and tomatoes grilled on some bread, a packet of starburst.

I was sort of depressed so I ate bad food. Which is what I tend to do when I'm depressed. Other days I'll drink Spirulina and eat fresh fruit and sweet potatoes. Maybe it's worse to eat badly when you're vegan though.

Hopefully somebody can help you. I'm sure maybe if you just give it a google there will be plenty of similarly frustrated people out there, there's no shortage of vegan blogs and personal experiences.

I think you could be right about the vegan junk being even worse in some circumstances, worst part is you don't feel guilty

Just Like Heaven

I'm a vegan for a few months now and in that time I think my weight has gone from 136 to 130 lbs (I'm a 20 year old male who wasn't trying to lose weight), and that's started to creep up again over the last few weeks as I've started intentionally trying to sort of build a bit of muscle/tone a bit.

To give you an example of my day though it's more;

Fruit usually for breakfast something like a whole melon and a 2/3 bananas/clementines/peaches. Or if I'm lazy a couple of bagels covered in jam Oh and I always take a couple of handfuls of nuts and seeds everyday, I usually take this after breakfast.

Rice and steamed veg/sweet potato OR soup at like lunch timeish.

More veg with lentils/potatos or beans or rice for dinner. Or sometimes all of those things.

And then usually a fourth meal before or after dinner depending on what time I eat dinner. It'll be either a salad or another bowl of fruit or a pretty big fruit smoothie.

I don't really eat much processed stuff, I suppose, now that I'm living at home again for the Summer if my Mum makes me a cup of tea in the evenings with soymilk I generally end up eating half a pack of ginger nut biscuits as well But that's just moreso out of habit cause I'm lounging around in front of the TV here in the evenings, I would never even buy those and bring them home for myself. I drink a lot of water and green tea too.

I don't know if that's any use to you but maybe you can use it for comparison after doing some research, that's a pretty honest account of what I eat and I've never had an issue with gaining weight anyway. But, there are so many variables, the amount of calories I eat probably isn't that consistent because I've never really tracked it, I'm active enough, my metabolism might be working differently being male and maybe my age is different. But no in short I haven't personally had an issue with weight, but that's not to say vegans don't!

freethink3r

Wow, you're SO freakin' healthy. I'm going to pay more attention to fruits and veg. I just get kind of hungry if I don't have something starchy with most meals. And if I have a sandwich I'll probably slap loads of hummus and salad on it and after that I'll feel like it's too much to have fruit with it so I end up eating mostly starchy food. Rice and potatoes go with vegetables. You wouldn't really pair potato waffles or wedges or hotdogs with vegetables. It's not like I don't like vegetables anyway I love vegetables. I did eat much better a few weeks ago but once my weight started bothering me I started eating only comfort foods so that I wasn't "wasting" the calories on non comfort food. I'm 24 and a girl though, so I wouldn't need as much as you.

Thanks, Just Like Heaven.

ch750536

5 spoonfulls of sugar! We don't even have any sugar in our house. We're about 60% wholefood which helps but we avoid any added sugars where possible.

Today I had: cornflakes with sugar and soy milk, orange juice, 3 figrolls, a hotdog with ketchup on a white bun, vegan cheese (some new brand, can't remember) and tomatoes grilled on some bread, a packet of starburst.

Cornflakes (carbs) with sugar (carbs) and soy milk (sweetened?), orange juice (good natural sugars), 3 fig rolls (loads of added sugars), hotdog (added sugars), white bun (added sugars) etc etc. I think added sugars are your issue.

Typical day here (today)

Home made smoothie with apples, pears, peaches, grapes, blueberries & soy milk for breakfast.
Baked beans on toast for lunch ( 3 rounds)
Home made spicy cous cous, salad & mushrooms fried in coconut oil for dinner.
Plenty of water.

My food in detail

ch750536

freethink3r wrote: »

Wow, you're SO freakin' healthy. I'm going to pay more attention to fruits and veg. I just get kind of hungry if I don't have something starchy with most meals. And if I have a sandwich I'll probably slap loads of hummus and salad on it and after that I'll feel like it's too much to have fruit with it so I end up eating mostly starchy food. Rice and potatoes go with vegetables. You wouldn't really pair potato waffles or wedges or hotdogs with vegetables. It's not like I don't like vegetables anyway I love vegetables. I did eat much better a few weeks ago but once my weight started bothering me I started eating only comfort foods so that I wasn't "wasting" the calories on non comfort food. I'm 24 and a girl though, so I wouldn't need as much as you.

Thanks, Just Like Heaven.

It's just a moment. Tomorrow is another great day where you will be in control of what you eat.

BMJD

what kind of exercise are you doing?

there seems to be quite a lot of sugar and processed foods in your diet

as a previous poster said, fresh fruit does amazing things that sugary processed foods won't

try out some new recipes instead of buying in fake meats

freethink3r

ch750536 wrote: »

5 spoonfulls of sugar! We don't even have any sugar in our house. We're about 60% wholefood which helps but we avoid any added sugars where possible.


Cornflakes (carbs) with sugar (carbs) and soy milk (sweetened?), orange juice (good natural sugars), 3 fig rolls (loads of added sugars), hotdog (added sugars), white bun (added sugars) etc etc. I think added sugars are your issue.

Typical day here (today)

Home made smoothie with apples, pears, peaches, grapes, blueberries & soy milk for breakfast.
Baked beans on toast for lunch ( 3 rounds)
Home made spicy cous cous, salad & mushrooms fried in coconut oil for dinner.
Plenty of water.

My food in detail

Don't you get hungry for heavier things at breakfast? I had spinach, apple and lime smoothies for breakfast for a few weeks and even though I loved them I felt like they weren't heavy enough or stodgy enough or something. The mushrooms and cous cous sound delicious. I'm an awful cook. The best I can currently cook is stir fried vegetables and quinoa. And I can make vegan pancakes (though I wish I hadn't learned!)

padma

Id echo the poster who pointed out the sugar in your diet...work on it and be a bit more conscious in the morning..for muesli..lidl have a good swiss muesli brand with no added sugar..its quite tasty..i go for plain rice milk..if you replace the added sugar with fruit, your body will prefer it..for a snack or lunch..have rice cakes with avocado and black pepper and some green leaves..maybe put a slice or two of the vegan cheese.. avocado is good for your health..

There was a chap I worked with years ago who was vegan...at lunchtime he pulled out mars bars..snickers and bags of taytos..

So work on the tasty options out there..grapefruits..strawberry..raspberry grapes..bananas..orange..apple..are great when the desire for binging overcomes you...

Treat yourself then to a slice or three of dark chocolate.

freethink3r

BMJD wrote: »

what kind of exercise are you doing?

there seems to be quite a lot of sugar and processed foods in your diet

as a previous poster said, fresh fruit does amazing things that sugary processed foods won't

try out some new recipes instead of buying in fake meats

What sort of things do you eat to replace the meaty/chewy aspect of a meal? What's wrong with the fake meats? I kinda figured they must be better than real meat. They probably have a fair bit of protein and at least they don't contain cholesterol. My parents don't like me having them but I never saw anything wrong with them.

Oh, and I do a lot of circuit training mostly. And cardio kick boxing. I like most Jillian Michaels DVDs and Bob Harper stuff. And some days I swim, but mostly circuit training. I'm not very good at sports.

TheMilkyPirate

5 teaspoons of sugar on your cereal!!

padma

freethink3r wrote: »

What sort of things do you eat to replace the meaty/chewy aspect of a meal? What's wrong with the fake meats? I kinda figured they must be better than real meat. They probably have a fair bit of protein and at least they don't contain cholesterol. My parents don't like me having them but I never saw anything wrong with them.

Beans..pulses...cashew nuts...personally I find the fake meats vile..but..It was a year or two in to not eating meat before I dropped it. Others may have a homemade recipe for more healthier options in making mock meat substitute..

strandroad

As someone said, your diet is very carby, lots of sugar and processed foods. Try eating more fresh fruit & veg, cooking from scratch, eating brown rice/wholegrain/nuts/beans instead of processed carbs.

freethink3r

TheMilkyPirate wrote: »

5 teaspoons of sugar on your cereal!!

I'D SELL MY SOUL FOR SWEET SWEET SUGAR.

freethink3r

padma wrote: »

Beans..pulses...cashew nuts...personally I find the fake meats vile..but..It was a year or two in to not eating meat before I dropped it. Others may have a homemade recipe for more healthier options in making mock meat substitute..

I'd love to make seitan! Is it healthy, or is there something better you'd recommend?

padma

Ive never tried it to be honest, or at least, don't think I have, My current attitude towards food is I love veg, and a big plate full of it with mashed potatoes and gravy does me the finest, simple fare, nothing fancy, I steer clear of Pasta, cos I just don't enjoy eating it, I like a vegetable morrocan medley with cous cous from time to time, but it's simple easy meals, lentil soups, pearl barley soups and basic Irish meals minus the meat.

Tar.Aldarion

Weight is associated with having more calories than you should heh. The main problem is all the biscuits and sugar that people are saying. I find it much easier to lose weight on a vegan diet than vegetarian, no cheese, cream etc, and teh fact I can't eat most the bad things in Tesco.
I don't even own sugar, you shouldn't buy a cereal you want to add sugar to like cornflakes, I used to add more sugar than you to those and rice crispies, it's madness.
Get something healthier you can eat, doesn't need to be low in calories, just no wasted sugar added. A common nice one is bana smoother with peanut butter, I have that at the weekends, during the week I have muesli without any added sugar. You can also have the likes of oatmeal etc.

Protein shakes seem evrey calorific unless you are working out to gain muscle. The main issue though it the likes of icecream and bars, if you don't have them in the house you won't eat them, simple as that. You have to be stricter in the shop I find, or I'll eat everything I have. Get fruit and nuts to snack on, I have unsalted pistachios, apples, bananas and grapes in work for this. Gnerally the more fuit/veg you eat the less other bad things you eat. Nothing wrong with fake meat, it's definitely not the main cause of anything weight based here.
Look at things like bread and biscuits, sugar...these are basically nothing to your body, empty calories that don't keep you full or provide vitamins. Some light exercise is important too but if you haven't been doing any start off slow, I found when I wanted to eat things at night, I went for a jog, came back and food definitely wasn't on my mind. I have lots more weight to lose but this helped me lose 10 pounds in the last two months.

Seitan is pretty good for a fake meat, just have some now and again with a meal.
Per 100g:
75g protein!!
Calories 370
It has calcium, iron, magnesium.
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=88320675
it's just you have to order the flour to make it, or you can buy it in nourish.

Just Like Heaven

Tar's point about not buying a cereal you're going to add salt to is a good one, I don't know much about its effect on weight gain but 5 spoons of sugar just seems like a bad habit regardless.

If you prefer starchy things to fill you up then eat them, boiled potatoes are the highest rating food on the satiety scale. Also people don't realise how much salad they can eat if they're eating it as a meal, as opposed to a bedding for a chicken fillet with goat's cheese. Some things like tomatoes are almost devoid of calories.

And if that's true about figrolls being vegan I'm going to stuff myself later

Tar.Aldarion

What cereals do you add salt to? ;pac: Figrolls are vegan yep. So are oreos...I'm not sure if I'm helping

--LOS--

I don't know about you personally but weight gain or loss is usually not much of a mystery if you are truly honest with yourself. It could be you're miscalculating your typical daily calories. Start writing down everything you eat, everything, for maybe a week and have a look. I know people tend to associate veganism with skinny vegans but it definitely is not hard to put on weight on a vegan diet either, sugar, oil and carbs are probably the biggest culprits. And also all the processed foods that are available as alternative protein sources, people have already mentioned that. I've been vegan for less than a year and a half now, I've lost about a stone in that time.

Maybe try something else for breakfast? 5 spoons of sugar in cereal is a lot, I only use sugar for baking really and if I have a pack of sugar in the house it will be there for months! Sugar is a thing that you just get used to, when you stop eating it, you stop craving it, I've definitely found that.

Breakfast for me is typically banana smoothie: one banana, soy milk, big spoon of peanut butter blended, spoon of chia stirred in afterwards, that's still sweet but still a substantial breakfast, it's not just empty calories. I really hate when I see these types of pictures on facebook relating the sugar in fruit etc to the sugar in something like a bottle of coke. If people cared more about the nutritional value of food instead of the calorific value then you're going to feel satisfied from what you eat and your body will sort itself out.

I think most people know what's healthy and what isn't so there isn't a need to overthink it. I find if you cook for yourself, make your own sauces etc, you can see how much oil or sugar you're adding, these are disguised in ready-made stuff. Don't use carbs to fill yourself up! You should be filling yourself up on the good stuff; fruit, veggies, proteins sources. Don't eat carbs on their own, have a protein source with them. Toast or sugary cereals for breakfast has little value. Toast with scrambled tofu, toast with sliced avocado on top, at least there's value in that food.

I think if you just changed your breakfast for now, that will affect what you eat later in the day. Nice filling, healthy brekkie, it really is the most important meal of the day.

henryporter

Tar.Aldarion wrote: »

What cereals do you add salt to? ;pac: Figrolls are vegan yep. So are oreos...I'm not sure if I'm helping

Figrolls are vegan After eating all the Oreos in the vending machine at work (over several weeks mind) so time to broaden my biscuit palate :pac:

Tar.Aldarion

Unfortunately I'm provided 4/5 types of vegan biscuits free at work, tempting me there every day!

Just Like Heaven

Also you probably don't want to stop eating cereal because it gets more soymilk into you and as you say soymilk has added calcium. So if you don't seem to be getting enough then look at other easy sources dark green leafy veg etc. the great thing is those are also full of other vitamins and minerals.

I guess drinking a glass of fortified soymilk a day though is a good habit if you don't take a B12 supplement.

Tar.Aldarion

Ye need to drink like 650ml per day of fortified soya milk so ideally people need to find other fortified foods or tablets.

henryporter

Tofu made with calcium sulfate is a good option - also spinach, kale, okra have calcium.

wonderboysam

I know that since giving up fish in January and going straight veggie I've gained weight. Initially when I gave up meat(excluding tuna) I lost weight but have now gained it since. I find I eat a lot more junk food these days though to fill the void ~:(

PyramidHead

The diet part of being vegan is what you make of it, same as if you were omni/ veggie. Make sure you're getting all your body needs. My rule was rather than replace food quantity-wise, I replaced it nutritionally (if that makes sense?). So rather than saying I'm not having meat (or whatever), so I'll have more of that I would think what was it that that food was giving me nutritionally and where else can I get it? If you're gaining you need to look at where your diet has changed and what you're subbing food you ate before with.

When I went veggie I made a conscious decision to not rely too much on bread, potatoes and pasta mostly because most vegetarians I personally knew (I'm sure I've met many who don't fall into this but I'm talking about close family/ friends) have diets where they exist on those and dairy. I dropped a bit of weight, not noticeable and certainly not the goal, I think it also helped that I'm not a cheese lover, if it was there and inoffensive I'd deal with it but would rather go without.

So when I became vegan I had picked up good habits of making sure my plate was mostly green with other colours as they're the vegetables I love. I don't eat bread often (maybe once a fortnight I'll have toast) because I have nothing that I like to put on it (I've never tried fake meats as they've never particularly appealed to me) and I've had pasta twice in the last year. In the space of about 7 months I lost over 30lbs without really realising and I put that down to two things a) I'm a grazer/ picker but I no longer can pick off everyone else's plate! and b) I wanted this to be a change for life and so am really conscious of looking at meals as a source of sustainability and health. Every now and then I'll live off chips and junk food but then I remember when I was omni, I ate that plus meals (probably of crap but still a meal with some nutritional value) whereas if I'm having an off day and eating junk the last thing I want to be eating is a salad or vegetables so will leave it at that. So I find that as a vegan I'm very conscious of what I eat.

Also if you've recently went vegan, not sure if anyone else ever experienced this, but after a couple of weeks I experienced a 'wall' of exhaustion. It passed after a couple of weeks and after I felt great but I know that during that time I was eating to give me quick energy (sugar, big meals) and a relative just went vegan a couple of weeks ago and experienced the same thing. After that I focused on everything I was saying above.

Good luck