Weight loss inspiration and motivation

[Bethany Barnett]

Hello, all! I'm new here hoping to connect with vegans with the same goals in mind. I've been vegan for about 2 years, originally transitioning from vegetarian for weight loss reasons. As you probably already know there are tons of reasons to be vegan and that's why I'm still a vegan. I did, however, lose about 25lbs over time just from cutting out dairy and eggs. However, I've been stuck at my current weight for over a year now and am trying to take healthy steps to lose the extra few pounds I'm carrying. I've been trying to eat more whole foods and work out, but was hoping I could find someone to help inspire me to keep going or someone on the same journey so that we could help motivate each other.
Hope to hear from you!

 

[Sally]

Hi Bethany

I too lost a lot of weight when I cut out the dairy, I'd been vegetarian for a few years before being vegan. But now the weight has stabilised and I'm still two stone overweight. I got it moving a bit when I started having porridge every morning, probably the extra water helped as well, I only make it with water. Before that I was having cereal with oat milk which is really high in calories, but I like it the best. Also I gave up hummus as that is also very fattening. Now I am slowly losing weight again, not a quickly as before, it was falling off me then, but it is moving. I just keep an eye on what I eat and try to have a varied diet and eat enough. I don't have to indulge much for the weight to stay the same, on the upside I haven't put any on. I thought I'd just carry on losing until I was a healthy weight, but not the case it seems. We do need to check those calories still.

 

[Jamie in Chile]

Do you eat any addictive foods like pringles or doritos, cakes and so on. If so, you could try cutting those out 100%. If you fill up on carrot sticks and fruit, you tend not to overeat. And you can go back to some junk food in moderation after reaching your desired weight.

Other option is just to eat less. Carefully make the portions just enough to take away hunger but not too much, and don't eat when not hungry and so on. You could try a few meals a week where you just eat 1 piece of fruit for breakfast or just a medium sized salad for dinner.

Different things work for different people. Anyway, that's what worked for me.

 

[Sally]

I think if you eat the same stuff all the time your body gets used to it. At Weight Watchers they used to say that a day of overindulgence would reassure the body that it was not necessary to store fat, and that it could let it go as it was not going to starve. So maybe now and again, not every day, just eat what you fancy and see if you lose a bit more. The other option is the 'eat what you want for five days and don't eat much at all on two days (they do not have to be consecutive)', diet. This suits some people. But exercise is good.

 

[kellyon]

I also want to lose some weight. For that purpose I go to the gym and run every morning.

 

[Mark Mywordz]

I do the 5:2 diet and/or the Indian Vegetarian GM diet whenever it's needed. Exercise has little or no effect on weight loss but it is good for you.