Getting a pudge!

[laurin]

It looks like I'm getting fatter, and I don't understand. My weight is still the same but in my stomach area I've gotten this pudge. I had a better body when I was eating crap. Is my metabolism finally catching up with me? It's making no sense to me and I'm starting to feel the consequences in my self-esteem. I plan on excercising more but right now it is cold outside and snowing every couple of days. I feel like I have been eating more lately and possibly maybe I'm taking in to many calories? I guess being vegan and eating to many calories still has the same effect?

Any advice would be appreciated! Thank-you

[Tigerlily]

I get like that when I'm bloated.

[Bic]

You might be losing muscle and gaining fat. Your weight could stay the same but the pudge would build up.
And yes, eating a lot of calories, even vegan ones, will cause you to gain weight.

[messiers31st]

nah laurin, i'm also really curious about this too!

i've been vegan for about half a year now, and i did it because i was tired of being a lazy vegetarian.

i started biking 5 miles a day to work and swimming for about 20 minutes a day, as well as doing pushups and pullups throughout the day

while i have noticed slight improvements in the muscles on my legs and arms, my stomach is more pudgy than it was when i, like laurin, was eating total shit everyday!

wah! ;)

[Pob]

I also have a bit of a podge - but I am fitter and have lost weight from the love handle area. It's not constant, though - sometimes it looks quite flat. Perhaps it's to do with our stomachs expanding.

As healthy food is less calorie dense, we have to eat more of it for the same energy. We might also be drinking more water than we did. Would that not mean that we would tend to fill our stomachs more, so they may seem to bulge out a bit at times?

It just seems to me that we are more likely to have a bulk of food in our digestive system.

Maybe the natural shape of humans who eat healthily is to have a slightly podgy belly.

[RachelJune]

I'm quite small (5ft 4" and 8st) but even my tummy sticks out. Although I eat healthily, I must admit my exercise/activity routine could be much better! I do lots of walking and running around everyway, but unfortunately I think it's just a case of having to do more toning exercises that focus on the bits you want to improve, e.g. sit ups. If your current routine isn't working, then maybe up the intensity, vary or change it altogether? Personally I'm not too keen on the way my tummy protrudes, but I've been told that to men it actually looks nice on a woman to have a bit of a rounded tummy. So that makes me feel better :)

[twinkle]

I'm noticing that the women complaining about getting pudges are quite young. Couldn't it be part of the natural process of getting a bit older? I always understood that women were naturally designed to carry a bit of extra weight in certain areas, including the belly. That's not to say that exercise may not stave it off, but a lot of people I know started developing guts (beer related or otherwise) in their early twenties when they may have been quite whippet-like in their teens.

[RedWellies]

I always have a little belly. I quite like it!

[Stig]

I lost quite a bit of weight unintentionally when I first started outa s a vegan but now it seems i've put it back on, I didn't realise I was eating more but that must be why. I too have a tummy. :)

[Imported Memory]

I've gained weight since I became vegan. Gaining weight is usually really difficult for me, but I assume it's all the oatmeal going to my gut. Dang, I just love my organic rolled oats far too much!

[emzy1985]

I feast far too much on refined carbs and beer! I have gained a slight beer belly too. Although recently since having to literally having to live off beans, nuts and pulses I have lost about a stone in weight and my stomach is almost flat. However I am going out tonight and will drink many a pint of beer....I don't really care to be honest! :D