I was wondering if there was a connection? I'm curious because I stopped eating meat probably about two months ago and have lost weight.

Anyone else experience this as well and if so, why do you think this is?

I wouldn't necessarily say there's a connection. Do you "need" to lose weight or do you think you're becoming thinner than you should be? I know plenty of overweight vegetarians, I'm one of them. Part of it depends on what you're eating. If you're eating a lot of fruits and vegetables it'd make sense that you'd lose weight vs. eating cheese pizza and chips. It would probably help to post what you eat in a typical day or days.

i've experienced the same thing, still finding it hard to put on weight, maybe because of my metabolism. but yeah i'm eating plenty of fairly high calorie foods and still feel a little skinny.

I don't think the meat alone will cause that much of a loss unless it was alot of high fats. If not in proper balance, weight can still be a problem due to simplex carbs.

No, I'm not trying to lose weight, I was just curious if there was some connection I didn't know about. :bow:

Hi,

I started eating a totally vegan diet about 6 weeks ago, and am losing excess weight pretty quickly. In my case, I don't think it's what I "gave up" so much as what I've "added" -- lots and lots of veggies, tofu and other relatively low-cal, high-bulk/fiber foods.

I saw a nutritionist a week or so into eating this way, and told her exactly what a typical day's food looked like. She was really impressed -- said that I was eating what I need to from a nutritional standpoint. She did say, however, that I needed to add a few hundred calories to my plan. Wow -- nobody's ever told me to eat more before! :)

I came from pretty big numbers (217 lbs.), which I got rid of over the course of several years. Have been sitting around 185 for quite a while. Since I "went veg," I've gotten down to 177.5, and I suspect the weight loss will continue until I get where I'm suppossed to be. I even added in a relatively "sexy" carb, carob-coated raisins (dairy free, etc.) because I was having trouble meeting my daily calorie quota (set by the nutritionist) of 1600 to 1800.

IMHO, this food plan ROCKS! I don't intend on ever eating meat, chicken or fish again. (I've been dairy free for a long time, and don't much like eggs, so giving them up was no biggie.)

Before I started restricting animal products, I was slightly overweight at 195. When I went vegetarian, I lost about 10 pounds, it put me at 185. I still ate a bunch of junk food like ice cream, chocolate, etc. Ever since going vegan, I'm at 155 and still losing. When I was in my meat eating days, I ate junk food all the time, fast food at least twice a week, etc. I don't really eat any junk food at all now, except when I have the occasional soda. Excluding the soda, everything I eat has some kind of nutional value, and overall, I'm more health conscious....

Well, there's no direct link, but on a vegan diet you avoid a lot of fatty foods. I went vegan a little over a month ago and have been living a fairly sedentary lifestyle since, but I've still lost somewhere in the ballpark of 5-10 pounds just because I eat so much healthier now.

I lost a lot of weight when I went vegetarian.
Gained it all back when I went vegan. Still trying to figure that one out to this day, as I continue to gain weight no matter what diet/exercise I do.

I am probably not a good example.

i didn't lose any weight when i went veggie, but lost 20 pounds after going to a vegan diet. although it's no surprise as veggie cookbooks back then tended to be very cheese heavy. horn of the moon cookbook is a good example. and losing those 20 pounds wasn't an accident. it was a result i was looking for. as long as whole foods keeps making those vegan chocolate chip cookies, i'm in no danger of being underweight. ;-)

When I was first tried to go veggie (last year), I lost weight. I wasn't trying to. I didn't really know what to eat so I was eating little. Plus, I was working in a gas station so I was running all around cleaning and helping people. So all the running around combined with the food I was eating made me lose weight. I was glad to lose it, but I wasn't trying to.

Monika

My body went through some serious changes when I went vegetarian (but I jumped to near-vegan pretty fast)...
I think they were good changes, but they scared me a little. As for weight, I dropped maybe 5 lb, which was a lot since I was only about 111 lb. I was still eating the same amount of calories daily, but I think it was the meat and dairy that weren't suiting my body, so once I dropped them, my body changed. I heard that it could be bc your body kind of goes through this detoxing, especially without the toxins that come with meat usually. Maybe your body is letting go of bad things that might've been lingering around...sometimes they can account for surprising amounts of weight.

For the most part, I eat pretty healthy and avoid processed foods, but my weakpoint is sweets and ice cream (the reason I'm not a full vegan yet). I can still eat my bad foods and stay at a low weight. Maybe it's a vegetarian phenomenon =P