Vegan and trying to diet.

[whiteroseredrose]

I'm moving towards being vegan after having been pescatarian for years. I'm still overweight however and want to do something about it.

In my pre vegan days I was in weight watchers and relied a lot on cottage cheese, 0% fat Greek yogurt, tuna in water and hard boiled eggs.

So what do I eat instead?

Eat the VEG in VEGan and stay cleat of all processed food.
Prepare big batches of soups, roasted veggies, have always at least 1kg of boiled green beans in the fridge, be careful with your rice/pasta.
Have 1/2 cup rolled oats + 1/2 cup grounded flaxseed with some berries for breakfast, a big mixed salad with lentils/chickpeas/tofu/tempeh for lunch and a big soup for dinner.

Clean your cupboards, bin or gift all processed food and replace it with seaweeds sheets (iodine) , almonds (1 cup max a day for calcium) , brown/black/red rice , black bread with smashed avocado for breakfast sometimes, no artificial sweeteners, plenty of frozen berries, a good selection of teas.

Don't use sauces or bottled condiment. Have Dijon mustard and extra virgin olive oil and vinegar instead. Buy fresh bunch of parsley, rosemary, dill and use them to out flavour and goodness. I keep chopped parsley in my freezer.

Aim at trying new veggies, so put fennel, artichokes, red cabbage, broccolini , endives, in your trolley. Try doing your own sauerkraut and have a table spoon with your lunch.
Stay aways from snack food. Have some almonds or male kale chips in the oven, but don't buy the rice cakes, veggies chips or whatever. Junk is junk, vegan or not.

I would just avoid processed food as much as possible and make stuff from scratch. I love cleanfooddirtygirl (swearing warning!) for some great ideas and blog posts/videos

Also you are making an excellent choice!

Thank you for the replies. My problem is that I hate cooking! Breakfast is usually crumpets with marmite or porridge with fruit and I have a lot of vegan curries, chillis and stews for dinner. Its the packed lunches and snacks that are more of an issue. Lots of vegan alternatives like cheese and yogurt are coconut based which I thought was highly calorific and bad for cholesterol.

I'll not be so lazy and do some research.

Don't go for the vegan alternatives. When you read the ingredients, it is just not worth it.
Even if you hate cooking, chopping tomatoes and lettuce, adding some gratted carrots, japanese tofu cut in cubes, and the green bits thinly sliced, salt, pepper, oil and balsamic vinegar is quick and easy.

Drain a can of chickpeas, slice 3 riped tomatoes, add spring onions, parsley, crystal salt, extra virgin olive, mix with two spoons and lunch is ready and you won't believe how good it tastes until you have tried it.
Preparation time, less than 4 minutes.

In the end, it will be up to you. Eat real food, not something that didn't exist 100 years ago, such as vegan cheese, or coconut yoghurt.

I am not a big fan of coconut. I put coconut on my skin and hair, not in my mouth.

The way I see it, it is not about what you don't eat (fat, carbs, meat, .....) but what you do eat that makes you lose or gain weight. It is what ends up in your mouth that will determine if you succeed . A power ball made of dates and almonds and coconut is vegan , health and a calorie bomb. Why eat that? Slice 4 cucumbers and drizzle olive oil, lemon juice and rub some dill between your palms and let if fall on top.

You need a snack, eat the greenest pear you can find, a quick wash under the tap and you will be fine for a couple of hours. It is so hard and crunchy it takes time and a lot of munching and it tastes great.

Curries and stew, do them your self.

Use MyFitnessPal. The only thing you need to do to lose weight is eat less calories, you can do that as a vegan or as a non vegan. I lost weight eating peanut butter sandwiches for lunch most days. It depends what you want to have, you could eat lower calorie foods in bigger portions if you prefer- my parents, also Vegan, make a big salad for lunch every day, think they put some seeds and nuts in it and a light dressing.

Look at Paul Mackenna's (I Can Make You Thin) way of eating (silly title I wanted to be slim not thin and I still am) .

I lost 3 stone on it , not changing what I eat, I have always eaten healthily, It's about changing HOW we eat, WHERE we eat and WHEN we eat. It works!

Firstly, I echo what kikisparks said.

Secondly, use this website www.healthylivingheavylifting.com/how-to-calculate-macros-for-cutting/ to find out what macros you should be eating for your weight.

It does not matter whether you eat more carbs, or more fat, this will calculate what grams you should be eating in a day for each macro.

Thirdly, use MyFitnessPal to log all of your foods.

And lastly, try to get some form of exercise in, whether that's walking 10,000 steps a day or weight lifting or yoga, just do something that will help burn more calories.

If you follow that calculation you WILL lose weight.

P.s it doesn't matter if it's vegan or not but I would say vegan diet will help shift more weight.