Hi all,
My first time posting but I've been lurking for a while.
I decided to go vegan about a week and a half ago mainly for health reasons. I was on a vegetarian diet but I found I was eating too much dairy and eggs and it wasn't making me feel great. So I cut both out and concentrated on veggies and fruit, legume, some grains, some good fats. I'm feeling wonderful and I'm so glad I made the change, not just for health reasons but also for ethical reasons (which I don't fully understand, but I've ordered a few books on veganism which I'm hoping will tell me more).
I've been trying to lose a little weight for some time. Actually, I've pretty much been on a diet most of my life and I'm just sick of the diet-binge cycle. Last year I managed to lose 30 pounds doing lowcarb dieting (I wasn't a vegetarian then!) and then went off and gained about 15 of those back. When I did get back to vegetarianism about 3 months ago, I did lowcarb again and lost about half of those 15 pounds. I was hoping with a vegan diet I would be able to lose the rest of that and stay at my goal weight.
However, with only 10 days of veganism, I stepped on the scale this morning for the first time since going vegan and I've gained 2.5 pounds, along with about 1/2 an inch in the bust, hips, waist. The frustrating this is that I don't feel as if I've gained at all. My clothes are fitting nicely and even a bit looser since I last weighed (when I was doing strictly vegetarian lowcarb). It's frustrating to have a gain when I'm feeling so great and eating so well.
I'm thinking maybe the fact that I've changed the ratios of fat/carbs/protein in my diet has something to do with it. When I was vegetarian lowcarbing, I was averaging about 40 carbs a day (not Atkins level, as I was trying to follow Protein Power), about 65-70% fat, and, since PP puts an emphasis on protein, I was doing about 80-90 gr protein a day (most of it in dairy and eggs), and about 1500-1600 calories. With my vegan menu, I am averaging about 120 carbs a day, 40% fat, 60-65 gr of protein a day (though I'm at about 80 today) and 1300 calories. So I'm thinking the fact that I've raised my carb level by 2/3 is part of the reason why I'm showing a gain this week.
Should I assume my body will ajust to the new ratios? Should I just chuck the scale all together and go by what I feel? Should I tweak my diet?
I do not want to go back to eating dairy and eggs (and definately not meat!) and I don't want to go back to eating lowcarb, as I know lowcarb on a vegan diet will get old very fast. Also, the carbs I'm eating are very healthy - legume, fruits and veggies, some whole grains. It's just annoying that I'm eating so well now and gaining weight when before I was eating stuff like full-fat dairy and cream in my coffee (cut the coffee out too, since I can't drink it with soy milk or soy cream in it - sticking to tea which, again, is healthier).
Here's a typical day for me. If anyone wants to critique my menu, I'm happy to listen.
Breakfast: either a tofu scramble made with 1 tsp of olive oil, 3 oz tofu, veggies - or a tofu smoothie made with tofu, a bit of soy milk, and 1/2 scoop of protein powder - a serving of fruit and, if I'm having the smoothie, some raw veggie on the side, like celery sticks or carrot sticks - iced tea sweetened with Splenda.
Snack: fruit serving (if I'm hungry for it which usually I'm not)
Lunch: lots of veggies with either Morningstar veggie "crumble" (the regular one that's lowfat) or some TVP and 1/2 cup beans sauteed in 1 tsp olive oil - sometimes I add some tomato puree and/or tomato paste - a fruit serving
Snack: 1 oz nuts
Dinner: Big salad with vinigrette (1 tbsp olive oil) and 1/2 cup beans and sometimes a few black olives or 1/2 of a small avocado - fruit serving (usually grapes or pineapple, my favorites) - a small cake made of wheat bran, wheat germ, and applesauce, and a dash of soy milk.
Any comments would be appreciated.
Tam
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