Weight loss for vegetarians

[LargeInCharge]

Hello!
I’ve been a vegetarian nearly all my life and I want to lose weight to be healthier (and to look better in my clothes) so I thought I’d create a space where fellow veggies (and vegans too) can share their weight loss journeys, food ideas, recipes and how they are feeling.

I started my journey on Tuesday so this is day 4 for me. My daily calorie limit is 1200.

Weight - 15st 4 (weighed on day 1)
Height - 5’ 9
Goal weight - 10st 7

How I gained weight - not exercising, eating crisps, cake, too many carbs and booze.
Positive changes - trying to be more active, ditched the crisps, cake and booze. Limiting my carbs as much as I can.

No pressure to reveal weight or anything that’s personal to you.

Good luck. 🥗🌽🥦🥬🥕🥒🫑🥑🥭🍅🍑🍓🍌🥥🫐

[LargeInCharge]

Welcome @Crazzzycat

B - coffee
L - butternut squash and lentil soup with 2 boiled eggs
D - tofu slices marinated in light soy sauce and sriracha & a coffee
S - 2 packs of burtons fish & chips (oops), 2 protein ryvitas with reduced fat houmous, a white chocolate kvarg and 2 Pepsi max cherry cans

Total 1108

[LargeInCharge]

Forgot asparagus with the tofu.

[KihoBebiluPute]

I'm not going to post a food diary today as we are doing a long distance (for us) family bike ride which is going to involve numerous stops at cafes and pubs en route and I won't know the calories of most of what I eat anyway but will try not to go too crazy. However I did a weigh in this morning at 11st 2lb which is 3lb down from when I joined this thread so I am happy with that.

[purplegirl13]

@Yourownpersonaljesus I am making a real effort to up my protein intake in the hope I feel fuller for longer.

Hi @Crazzzycat what sort of foods are you eating? As mentioned, I am trying to ensure sufficient protein intake so my breakfast is frequently Greek yogurt with berries. Lunch is homemade soup from the freezer (but I'm out of stock now!) or salad a couple of times.

I have IBD so avoid raw veg, and can't have salad more than a few times a week before my gut protests. I also have to watch veggie substitutes that contain seitan/wheat gluten as I have an intolerance.

@SuperLoudPoppingAction I agree that calorie intake should be sustainable. I started on 1200 but have bumped it up to 1350 (although 1330 on mfp to account for a dollop of sauce here and there). Calories have to stay low unfortunately as I'm short (5'1) and fairly sedentary. Making sensible options like less rice and more veg will be doing good even though it doesn't feel it.

@KihoBebiluPute enjoy the bike ride and all the stops along the way!

I was not feeling well last night and fancied cheesy carbs and I was ready to order pizza or halloumi burger and instead cooked spaghetti and meatballs with LOTS of cheese. Very satisfying and no leftover pizza for me to deal with today. Small win for me. I also had ice cream for dessert.

Meatballs were www.iceland.co.uk/p/oumph-balls-280g/85992.html

[purplegirl13]

Today's plan:

B - nothing
L - mushroom soup that was meant to be last night's dinner, plus rye bread
D - salad with 'kebab' pieces www.tesco.com/groceries/en-GB/products/300200604
S - vanilla kefir
Calories are low so will bump up as needed

[purplegirl13]

These are the soups I normally rotate through if of interest.

//www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/red-lentil-chickpea-chilli-soup

//www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/mushroom-soup

//www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/carrot-coriander-soup

//www.gimmesomeoven.com/slow-cooker-black-bean-soup-recipe/

cookinglsl.com/easy-tomato-feta-soup-recipe-low-calorie-low-carb-keto/

[Inchagoill]

@Yourownpersonaljesus My will power is dire at the moment. I quickly abandoned the no unhealthy snacks part of my diet and instead plan to allow them but slowly wean the amount down which seems to be working better. I would be a sucker for cake too!
@SuperLoudPoppingAction please would you post how you make the aloo gobi? I love anything 'aloo' and I need to find a good sag aloo recipe too.

Well, I'm sorry I have not managed to log on here as frequently as I wished for. This week has been a bit hit and miss but I have my food shopping for next week done now and am really excited to follow (more or less) this plan for this week now I have the ingredients www.eatingwell.com/article/288729/7-day-vegetarian-meal-plan-1200-calories/

I think the exercise is helping though as I weighed myself this morning and was shocked to see the scales come in at 12st 1lb! That's a 4.9lb loss (I expect to be going up next week)! I don't know how that happened but it has buoyed me considerably and will help motivate me to do some meal prep this afternoon.

Everyone seems to be doing well and thanks to everyone for all these tips and recipes. Does anyone have any advice about eggs? I'm a bit squeamish and definitely veggie for a reason and recently all the eggs (Morrisons Free range) contain loads of blood spots (bleurgh). It's really putting me off but I want to keep them in my diet. Can anyone name a brand where this is less likely?

Keep going all!

[Yourownpersonaljesus]

Well done to everyone on their losses (or not gaining) - you are inspiring me to keep going. Are you combining the healthy eating/calorie counting with exercise? I aim for 4 or 5 x 30 minute Team Body Project workouts a week. I just do the free ones on YouTube which I enjoy (well, as much as you can enjoy exercise).

[Crazzzycat]

Thanks for the welcome all. I’m not going to post my food diary for the day, as I’ve been doing pretty badly. All I’ve had so far is a chocolate twist, so certainly won’t be winning any awards for nutrition today!

@purplegirl13, I have a lot of foods I have to avoid because of digestive issues. I track everything I eat using my FitBit app. According to that, I’m not doing too badly on the protein front, but it’s not exactly clear to me where it’s all coming from. I try to eat two portions of dairy a day, as well as some seeds or nuts. I also eat a lot of pulses and a few meat substitutes each week, but I don’t really seem to eat anything that provides a massive protein boost. It’s more a case of lots of small little things adding up

[purplegirl13]

So I've stuck to plan and have had an early dinner - I'm only at 859 calories for the day which is too low for me. I don't want to eat an ice cream for the sake of it and I just don't fancy it (most unusual for me) I am full. I'm not feeling great, so may head to bed soon. I've got the calories to spare if I'm hungry later but have a feeling I'll be asleep in the next few hours.

@Inchagoill now you've mentioned it, I think I've notice the same with the eggs from Morrisons. I've been buying from Tesco recently and found they've been ok.

@Yourownpersonaljesus I'm trying to get out walking more but do need to do some exercise. I'm on the first floor so need to find something that doesn't involve jumping around. As soon as I can get in-store to buy a sports bra, I plan on trying C25K.

@Crazzzycat that's a good reminder for me to add some nuts to my diet, I always forget about them!

Just a reminder - does anyone have any suggestions for me to use up a can of re-fried beans that's not a cheese and bean quesadilla, or any suggestions to use up canned sweetcorn?

[KihoBebiluPute]

@purplegirl13 if I had refried beans and sweetcorn to use up I would make a brunch like this:
Preheat oven.
Dice about a third of a courgette and 3-4 mushrooms per person, and saute with appropriate mexicany seasoning (chilli, cinnamon, coriander, whatever you like). Toss in the sweetcorn. Microwave the refried beans initially because it is more liquidy when warm (I would allow about 60g per person) and stir into the veg. Then arrange this mix into a ring (or one ring per person if making more than one serving) on a baking sheet - on a bit of baking paper if it's not non-stick - and crack an egg into the middle, and bake for c 10-15 min until the white of the egg is set.

[Yourownpersonaljesus]

Well today has been a pretty good day for me.
B - a cup of tea, a small bowl of blueberry wheats (last little bit left in the box), 1 multi-grain crumpet with butter
L - avocado and quorn ham salad (mixed leaves, tomatoes, cucumber, peppers, reduced fat french dressing), a slice of bread and butter.
4 dried prunes.
D - a baked sweet potato with reduced fat cheese and reduced fat coleslaw, beetroot.
Skyr yoghurt and raspberries.
S - 2 chocolate rice cakes.

I did a 30 minute workout too and took the dog for two walks. Feeling pleased with myself. If only I could eat like this every day!

[SuperLoudPoppingAction]

www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/spiced_aloo_gobi_54698
This is the recipe I used.

Although I added chickpeas and instead of cherry tomatoes just used a tin. Kid3 found it a little bitter so either it needs the tinned tomato to be cooked down in a pan while veg is in the oven or it needs a tablespoon of maple syrup or something. But I liked it fine.

I made a similar thing today - patatas bravas along the same theme with a little red wine and chilli in the tomato sauce.
I seem to have eaten less calories today so maybe it's possible.

In possibly my only impressive gardening feat of the year, I harvested the first lot of purple sprouting broccoli from last year. It was very exciting. Only one or two florets each but we had root veg mash too.

I had a salad for lunch and shared a ball of mozzarella with 2 of my dc which is probably why calories are lower (one reason).
But dp has made lovely fresh bread with olives in so I might have some supper so I'm not just craving food all tomorrow - I'm on 859 so far.

Exercise-wise, I used to go swimming most days but have stopped recently.
Dp can't use chlorinated pools so I need to somehow get us swimming in the sea. We now have a car that is big enough to comfortably change in.

I would love to do a bit more cycling.

I have joint pain so try and avoid anything that might make it worse. I would like to get a cross trainer but we need to renovate a room first.

I think for me, it goes like
Exercise boosts my mood
So I don't crave food as much
So I lose weight.

Yesterday I walked 16000 steps and today was 14000. I have chub rub on my thighs.
I've been in the garden a lot and just got some pelargoniums (scented geranium type things) so I'm getting lots of sensory input in my greenhouse from that and not craving food.

[Yourownpersonaljesus]

The aloo gobi looks so good SuperLoudPoppingAction - I need to add the ingredients to my Ocado order for next week. It was making my mouth water just reading the recipe! I feel the same as you about exercise. It's definitely good for my mental health.

[LargeInCharge]

It’s good to hear everyone’s doing good. It’s motivating reading your posts.

Calorie total today - 1152.

I’m too tired to list everything, bedtime for me 🥱😴

[purplegirl13]

@KihoBebiluPute it's just me here so I'm cooking for one. I don't really like the texture of baked eggs but I think pairing the beans with eggs is a good idea!

@Yourownpersonaljesus sounds like you had a good day!

Today's plan:
B - Greek yogurt with mango (192 kcals)
L - Salad with 2 boiled eggs (about 300 kcals)
S - vanilla kefir drink (150 kcals)
D - rice and dal (rice about 200 kcals and need to work out calories for dal)

Calories are light again so will bump up - possibly with some nuts

Happy Monday!

[Crazzzycat]

My plan for today is:

L: Veggie bean wrap with salad and an apple
D: Tomato & dill orzo with feta and veggie meatballs

S: Cracker with cheddar cheese and grapes

I haven’t worked out the calories for that yet, but know it will be under, so will perhaps add another cracker to the mix. I found some amazing ones recently (called Frö), which are 50% seeds. They’re calorific (100 calories each), but nutritious.

I’m planning to do 30 minutes on the exercise bike this afternoon and will go for a walk at lunchtime.

[purplegirl13]

@Crazzzycat these are the crackers I like www.tesco.com/groceries/en-GB/products/254926506

Dal is in the slow cooker - it's an adaption of this recipe and I'm hoping it works in the slow cooker pipingpotcurry.com/instant-pot-moong-dal-fry/

I sometimes don''t have the energy to cook later in the eve (especially in Winter when it's cold and dark) so the slow cooker comes in handy. I like good food but low effort.

Does anyone have any slow cooker recipes to share?

I snacked on these earlier www.waitrose.com/ecom/products/graze-punchy-protein-nuts/440047-585439-585440

I normally stick to plain mixed nuts, not salted/roasted etc so these were a nice touch, something different from my usual

[SuperLoudPoppingAction]

These slow cooker recipes just got posted on another thread I'm watching:

Chickpea tagine //www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/butternut-squash-chickpea-tagine

veggie stew doesn’t require any prep realfood.tesco.com/recipes/slow-cooker-vegetarian-stew.html

chilli //www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/slow-cooked_vegan_chilli_44057

[KihoBebiluPute]

Today so far:
Breakfast mushroom pancake - 5 mushrooms, 1 egg, 50ml milk and 10gflour 200 cal

Lunch - 3 ryvita crackers with pate and tomatoes. Carrot sticks with 50cal of light houmous. A slice of Squeakybean Pastrami wrapped around a handful of lettuce. 100cal of vegetable "crisps". An apple. A morsel of chocolate. Then another morsel of chocolate and some dried apricots as I was finding it hard to stop eating. Call it 650 calories ish. So total 850 so far.

Tonight's dinner is probably going to be Chilli-non-Carne - I will have a 300cal portion with 100cal of rice then later on before bed will have a last little something so long as I got to that time without snacking.

[purplegirl13]

Thanks for those links @SuperLoudPoppingAction

[LargeInCharge]

B - a laughing cow dip and crunch, coffee
L - quorn cottage pie with asparagus
D - quorn lasagne with roast cauliflower and half a slice of Monterey Jack cheese
S - 400ml coconut water and 2 cans of Pepsi max cherry

Total 1063 with 137 remaining for a coffee or two

[Yourownpersonaljesus]

Here's what I've eaten today:

B - a cup of tea, banana sandwich
S - an apple
L - a cheese and coleslaw sandwich (both reduced fat), carrot sticks, red pepper, 4 dried prunes, 2 chocolate rice cakes
S - a cupcake
D - a baked sweet potato with homemade chilli con carne and salad (this was so good and very filling), skyr yoghurt and raspberries

Wow, that looks a lot written down!

[purplegirl13]

Ooh I love a cheese and coleslaw sandwich. Might have to add that to my plan.

My dal was nice and I loved that I could just leave it in the slow cooker for nearly 6hrs, so that's a win in my book.

My calories ended up at just under 1000 so I've just had a mini tub of ice cream

[purplegirl13]

I've added 4 portions of the dal to the freezer so I'm pleased to build up my stash of future meals