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. 🥗🌽🥦🥬🥕🥒🫑🥑🥭🍅🍑🍓🍌🥥🫐

Had a lie in today so went straight to lunch - wholemeal pittas, hummus and MN cliché huge salad
D - jacket potato with margarine and baked beans
Weighed out the hummus and margarine which I hadn’t done before and was interesting - I definitely normally have a bigger portion of hummus but 10g of margarine was twice the amount I thought it would be.

@purplegirl13 do you have a pressure cooker? I always have brown basmati rice and I cook it in my instant pot. But the microwave pouch is definitely a good idea so you can try it without being stuck with the rest of the bag!

@Yourownpersonaljesus your dinner looks yum! I also struggle with tofu, I have given up on cooking it from scratch and only get the marinated Cauldron one now which is in quite small pieces so the texture is ok. Pressing it and cutting it myself always seems to end up with it being weird and flavourless in the middle. I wish I could cook it like the Chinese takeaway do!

If you are having tofu in a saucy or marinade dish the best thing you can do with it is freeze it! The frost creates little ice crystals inside it and make it more porous and easy to work with, it soaks taste up loads better.

I pop mine in the freezer (longer the better) and take it out the night before I use it or just defrost it

Hellooo, can I join? Been doing weight watchers for a couple of weeks and lost 2.2kg so far. Got another 7kg to go. Finding it really surprising how many points are in some things, like crumpets and marmite peanut butter - previously my fave breakfast! Been having homemade muesli instead and eating a lot of soup.

Today B muesli
L lentil soup, sugar snap peas and houmous, half a roll with cheese and coleslaw
D chickpea and veg fajitas with creme fraiche, melon

I did well with no snacks today, just one oatly latte.

Had a blow out on fri night which was first since I started this, ate far too many crisps and wisps bites. I’m better just to not start at all - can’t just have a few.

You all sound like you’re doing great.

Welcome @Undersnatch and well done on the 2.2kg weight loss.

Today’s total is 1131.

I tried making roast aubergine pieces today and they weren’t the best but I ate them anyway. Maybe I should have used more olive oil I dunno. I might do something different with the other one I have.

Weird but dh stood next to me in the kitchen today and either he’s got taller or I’ve got shorter. He thinks it’s all the extra walking I’m doing 😂

I had roast aubergine today with other chopped veg. Aubergine is a tricky beast.

My best recipe is m'tabbal.
It's like baba ghanoush without the tomato.

You roast an aubergine slowly in its skin. I do mine in my ninja foodi with a little oil for 25 minutes. It takes more like 40 in an oven.

Then you peel it and mash the flesh and add a little lemon juice, pepper, you're meant to have tahini but we have a sesame allergy in the house so I just leave it.

www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/vegan-bacon
Or you can make bacon with it!

Oh thanks for that recipe, I’ve bookmarked it and it’s a definite will try.

This was the recipe I used but I scrimped on oil
www.recipetineats.com/roasted-eggplant/

@PattyPan yes I do have a pressure cooker, I only use it for dal so should use it more. I have some brown rice at home so will give it a go next week

re tofu - I do buy the fried tofu puffs from the asian supermarket near me. Works great in a laksa. However since trying to lose weight, don't eat it often as it's highly calorific.

@SuperLoudPoppingAction will try the m'tabbal next time I buy an aubergine

Today:
B - coconut kefir drink
L - salad with goats cheese
D - the slow cooker dal I made last week, rice and I'm going to make an easy mushroom and peas curry I've made a few times www.spiceupthecurry.com/matar-mushroom-recipe-dry/
S - possibly greek yogurt and berries

B - strawberries with a kvarg and two coffees - 175 cals
L - tomato and basil soup, two boiled eggs, 2 ryvitas & philly chives - 311
D - roast cauliflower, sriracha quorn, asparagus, cottage cheese with chives - 312

802 with 398 remaining for tonight.

Sounds like you've had a very healthy day @LargeInCharge. Me, not so much! Well it wasn't awful but could've been better. I did make a lentil cottage pie, topped with sweet potato mash for the freezer though. Also made my own version of the lemon roasted vegetable humous bowls (from the 7 day meal plan linked to on here)for the next two days lunches at work. Mine have couscous with roasted veg, humous, falafal and a wedge of lemon. Looking forward to lunch tomorrow already!

I had a wrap with guacamole and edam for lunch, and put sriracha mayonnaise in, thinking I would have a low calorie dinner.

Dp got in first and cooked macaroni cheese. It's great for growing teen boy ds1 but like... I felt I couldn't have enough of it to fill up on as it's so energy dense.
I had 2/3 of my plate filled with lettuce and spread out 2/3 of a cup of macaroni cheese on the other section.

Then dp had also made a sponce with tinned peaches in so I had a small slice of that.

I'm v much struggling with the social anxiety of being rude about a meal someone has made vs my worry that if I don't lose this weight I will find it harder and harder as I get more menopausal.
Also I would love to try another ssri and the last one was probably linked to weight gain so it's a huge motivation.

How is everyone else managing shared meals?

I’m still stuffed after my dinner @Yourownpersonaljesus

I like the sound of your lentil cottage pie I’ll check the recipe out for sure. The veg hummus bowls sound tasty too. They both sound healthy and I bet the cottage pie is protein packed.

I didn’t get much exercise at all today and I’m hoping it doesn’t mess up my weigh day tomorrow.

I’m peri @SuperLoudPoppingAction so I also worry about shifting my weight.

I wouldn’t worry about one day too much, even if you feel deflated because tomorrow you can start anew.

Dh isn’t vegetarian so he mostly cooks meat and I cook mine which works for us both. I’m a bit obsessive about weighing and calorie counting so I’d feel anxious eating a meal i wasn’t in charge of.

I think that's how I feel - a bit anxious.

I consumed 1100-ish calories so i should be fine but I don't feel like I had a meal as such.

I've got a big interview tomorrow (if they send the link in time) and might have to have some kind of fancy breakfast to make up for it. If I get up early enough I can make the blueberry banana muffins linked upthread

Very carb heavy here today
B - alpro Greek style yoghurt and grape nut cereal, banana
L - hummus and wholemeal pitta bread
D - mashed potato and peas... Side effect of metformin for me is sometimes 99% of foods seem repulsive and this was what I could stomach today. Weighed it out though to make sure I didn’t go overboard and stayed within my calorie deficit.

@SuperLoudPoppingAction for the moment I have given up on shared meals to be honest because it was too difficult. That’s easier for me to do though as I don’t have children yet (improving my fertility is one of the main reasons I am trying to lose weight) so don’t have to factor them in. My DP is not vegan although he is happy to eat the vegan dinners I cook, the main problem for us is that he is underweight and trying to gain weight and different portion sizes alone wasn’t helping either of us reach our goals. We cook our own food now but at the same time so we can still eat together.

Weigh day.

SW - 215lbs
Week 1 - 209.8
Week 2 - 206.8
Week 3 - 205.6

One pound lost. I’m not sure if it’s my period, gaining muscle through more exercise or not measuring the milk in my coffee (I weigh/measure everything else) so I measured 2 tbsps of milk into my morning coffee.

Still though a 1lb loss is better than a gain so I’ll take it.

Had a naughty bank holidays seeing as the vegan chicken royals (no fries or drink honest!) were accessible at Burger King but managed to pull it back with breakfast fasts and going super healthy with my dinners afterwards... even had a few whiskeys on Saturday nights. Due to the kids and weather I’ve also skipped my run. 1300ish calories however yesterday I’m proud.

Maintained my weight rather than putting on so that’s a plus in my eyes and I’m ready for this week now! I have some tofu defrosting so I might just make a good scramble out of that for today’s dinner and do a nice salad with it later in the week.

My partner eats so much he is constantly grazing so we put his food data in my MyFitnessPal and he was so shocked with how much he’d put away yesterday it was 3800+ Kcal!

@LargeInCharge looks like a steady but certain weight loss altogether there keep at it!

Maintaining is definitely a plus @Themadcatparade

My dh underestimates calories...he had ham and cheese buns yesterday and the buns alone were almost 600 calories. He needs to lose weight (to be healthier) but I know that the only way it’ll happen is if he wants to lose it so I’m hoping my loss will inspire him a bit.

I think my eating less just makes dp feel hungrier!

@LargeInCharge I think a loss/maintain is still a win - 1lb loss is good!

@Yourownpersonaljesus Sounds like some good meals planned! Good job.

@SuperLoudPoppingAction It's just me here so no personal experience on the shared meals. On another thread I'm on a few of the posters have the same evening meals with family but less of it, or without the carb element. Those vegetable steam bags/frozen veg might be a good idea for you here, to have gone alongside the macaroni cheese? I've mentioned previously I like volumous meals so perhaps a small portion of pasta, with lettuce didn't seem like much?

Good luck with the interview (have they sent the link?)

Yesterday - I didn't make the peas and mushroom curry - couldn't be bothered. I had a couple of scoops of ice cream in the afternoon and was wanting more late at night. I realised these www.ikea.com/gb/en/p/huvudroll-vegetable-balls-frozen-70487795/ can be warmed up in the microwave so had a few of these last night.

Today:
B - coconut kefir drink
L - no salad leaves in but do have cucumber and cherry tomatoes so I'll make a salad with puy lentils and goats cheese
D - rice and dal

1lb loss is definitely still to be celebrated. Frustrated today, could feel like I had lost a bit over weekend but then child up last night with an itchy rash, terrible sleep and I am having such a hungry day. Had a large latte in m&s cafe that was a bit strong and not that enjoyable - not worth the calories so wish I’d just not had it and enjoyed one at home later! But now feel I can’t as weigh in tomorrow. Is anyone else into oatly barista? It’s one of my downfalls, really need to kick that habit but sooo creamy and good!

You’re both right, 1lb loss isn’t to be sniffed at.

I hope your child is feeling better today @Undersnatch
I’ve never tried oatly barista. I had a Starbucks years ago and the caffeine made me weird so I stick to home coffee now.

Good luck with the interview @SuperLoudPoppingAction

The coffee chat has tempted me into having a hazlenut cappuccino...