Vegans Did You Lose Weight?

[WendySmiling]

Hi all, I'm a new vegan (day 4). Can you pretty much eat what you want if your vegan diet is primarily unprocessed whole foods? I'm not a raw vegan, but I don't eat simple sugars often. I try not to at all. Just curious as my uncle is 3 years vegan and he said I would never have to think about my weight again if I went vegan.

To clarify....that's not my purpose for eating vegan, but I would certainly like to be thinner. :D

[Brandon]

I went vegan from being a long-time l/o vegetarian so I can't say I lost a significant amount of weight. I did lose 3-4 pounds perhaps when I gave up cheese and egg ingredients.

Not to discourage at all. :)

[greenrunner]

I gained weight :) I had a very stationary job and was not active! Balance is important.

[hoodedclawjen]

i didn't loose any weight.

its all about calories in vs calories out, innit?

if i ate peanut butter, avocado, coconut oil and banana smoothies all day i bet i could gain plenty as a vegan.

[RoboMonkey]

I lost 10 pounds due to a B12 deficiency I think, which I gained back when I started taking a multivitamin. Other than that I didn't lose any weight.

[starling]

I lost at least 5 pounds upon going vegan. It probably wouldn't have bothered me if I didn't have such a small frame already. I had to make a conscious effort to put weight back on.

[Tofu-N-Sprouts]

if i ate peanut butter, avocado, coconut oil and banana smoothies all day i bet i could gain plenty as a vegan.

...and hummus, and coconut-milk curries, and vegan chocolate, and date-nut tortes, and cashew cream sauce, and tofu lasagna, and....

Not that I would know or anything.:surprised Just sayin'

[codemonkey]

I've lost about 15 pounds but it was combined with exercising like a crazy person. I need to lose about 10 more. When I stop exercising, I stop losing. When I eat too many treats or if I slip off the vegan wagon and eat something with dairy in it, I start gaining.

[lobsteriffic]

I lost about 10 lbs.

[eggplant]

I lost weight (35 pounds), but then I started exercising regularly and watching my portion sizes around the same time I became vegan. It's possible to be vegan and obese if you eat lots of high calorie foods and you don't burn enough calories with exercise. Even whole foods are not always low calorie.

[Cedre]

Hi all, I'm a new vegan (day 4). Can you pretty much eat what you want if your vegan diet is primarily unprocessed whole foods? I'm not a raw vegan, but I don't eat simple sugars often. I try not to at all. Just curious as my uncle is 3 years vegan and he said I would never have to think about my weight again if I went vegan.

To clarify....that's not my purpose for eating vegan, but I would certainly like to be thinner. :D

I've lost weight since I became vegetarian. I wasn't fully vegan, but I had stopped eating cheese and milk. Now that I'm fully vegan I am still losing weight. In fact I am thinking about eating more fatty stuff like avocado to gain back some weight! I think also the way I've been eating has contributed to that. I've been eating small portions but more often. The other thing that's changed is that now I don't eat sugary crap as much. When there's donuts or cake or whatever at work, I don't grab any...or when I go to starbucks I don't get any of their cakes. Instead I have my home made muffins which are much less in calories. So I think all of this has contributed to the weight loss.

[KC_VeganVixen]

I gained a little weight, because of the simple fact that I've been eating more than when I was a meat-eater.
Vegan food is just more appetizing, I guess. :hungry:

[Shamandura]

I initially lost weight going vegetarian, but gained it all back. When I went vegan I noticed no change.

[chryssiie718]

I have lost around 15 lbs since becoming vegan. (around Sept 1) This is actually without much work on my part. If I had actually TRIED to lose, I probably would have lost more.

[ksfc]

It's very possible to have an unhealthy high fat vegan diet that prevents weight loss and even causes weight gain, even if it's whole foods. Some of those foods were listed earlier... Sometimes people go overboard on high fat plant foods thinking that they are a required staple in a vegan diet and so eat them several times a day instead of as occasional treats. If you keep to an average of around 10-15% fat (by calories, not by weight) and a mostly whole food diet you can probably eat about as much as you want and get to and/or maintain a healthy weight. The second reason that sometimes people gain weight (or don't lose it) aside from the amount of fat is that they eat lots of refined foods like bread and pasta and vegetarian junk food meat/dairy analogs - which you've said you don't really do.

Exercise is also important for health and weight. But you probably already knew that one! :-)

[felishi]

I gained 10 pounds.

[Mandy_Sav]

I gained weight. It has nothing to do with being vegan though. It has to do with my food choices and the fact that I don't exercise at all.

[Misty]

Since going vegetarian Jan 2006 and then vegan July 2007, I have lost over 20kg (44 lbs) I didn't change my exercise habits, but I did become more conscious of what I was feeding my body.

[Earthly Delight]

i gained a tad, but i went from eating disorder to eating so... i only gained like 3 pounds anyway, and now that its the summer and im running a lot i cant see it staying on. :P

[IntheFlesh?]

I lost about 10lbs overall I'd say.
I have dropped lower while vegan but that was due to not eating! I think the fact that you can't buy/accept cake, milk chocolate or what have you from people makes the biggest difference... but I compensate for that now by baking for myself and buying vegan junk food...

[Bells]

No, I have not lost weight, but that's a good thing because I'm underweight already.

[paganveg]

I have lost about 10 pounds, but it's entirely intentional. I have started exercising and watching what I eat (most of the time). :)

[Pinkmama]

I've lost about 7lbs...(in addition to the 35lbs I lost after birth) without trying, that will partly be to do with nursing Len though. More impressive is that I have managed to actually keep it all off....which I do credit veganism for, even when I'm having a bad week and eating vegan junk food I don't put any weight on!

Clarexxx

[derwenna]

I lost quite a bit of weight at first (not sure how much cos I don't weigh myself), although it was around the same time as getting a new job where I'm on my feet all day. Have put a bit back on now which is a bit annoying, but I'm still a clothes size smaller than I was when I was lacto-ovo.

[Teresa]

I'm over weight and my weigh fluctuates. I have been vegan 2 1/2 years. I've probably kept a little more weight off. I eat way less sweets than I used to by conscious choice. That helps. But I love potato and tortilla chips etc.

I don't think being vegan is an automatic you will be skinny way of eating. I don't exercise as I should. I'm on my feet so much at work, when I'm off I just want to be off my feet.