A newly vegetarian chick's journey to lose weight, and finally be in great shape.

Z

zera1

New member
Hiyas,

I am short chick in my mid 20's, who is carrying around too much weight, and that is interfering with my quality of life and self esteem. I've been unhappy with my weight and body for all of my life and now it's time to really nip this thing in the bud, and lose this weight. I went for a check up today and found out that I weigh 160 pounds :banghead:. I am 5'3" so that is too much weight to have on my body. I have tried so many different diets, which I am sure most of you have as well. I was on the Atkins, Zone, Master Cleanser, a lean protein low carb diet, and I have even done juice fasting and cleansing to lose weight. I have lost weight but it never sticks. I was recently on a strict lean (animal) protein and low carb diet, and after eating tons of chicken breast and turkey on a daily basis I realized that I don't like meat enough to be on this diet. For months I have been thinking about going back to a vegetarian diet. I was a vegetarian through all of high school, and that is where I weighed the least, and I was not a healthy vegetarian to boot. I am back to being a vegetarian because I love animals and I don't want to eat them any more. This is my third week of being a vegetarian. Here is my journey. Woot woot. :driving:
 
Hmm I am a complete dunce when it comes to this site, and I want to write diary entries here. If I want to write a new entry do I have to post a reply to my own thread?


This is what I ate on Monday 10/18/10:
1 cup of Kashi cereal (the one that has 13g of protein) 140 calories and 30g of carbs
with 1 cup of vanilla almond milk ~90 calories
1 medium red apple
2 cups of cooked lentils with one teaspoon of olive oil, 1/2 a red onion, some celery, garlic powder, salt and black pepper. This meal was over 494 calories
I also ate a Boca vegetarian burger cooked with Pam spray.

Ate 10 raw almonds, had at least 16 oz of water.

I went to the gym late at night and exercised on the elipitical machine for 39 minutes. I tried to keep my rpm in the 60's and above.

I then came home and did a David Kirsch dvd which has me do weight lifting and ab exercises. I use a 3lb dumbbell.

I am scared to eat so many carbohydrates. I was trying to avoid eating beans and legumes but I have been consuming less than 700 calories most days, so yesterday I started to incorporate some legumes into my diet. I am avoiding dairy, breads, simple carbs. I eat only 1 fruit a day, usually an apple. The only grain I am eating is quinoa, and only 1/4 cup since it has so many calories. I would appreciate any diet/ exercise tips any one out there has.
 
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Tues 10/19/10:

Breakfast: 1cup of Kashi cereal with one cup of vanilla almond milk, still felt hungry so I ate 10 raw almonds. Also had 1 cup of green tea

snack:apple~golden delicious

drank 16 oz of water

Dinner: 2 cups of split pea soup. Made with 1/2 a red onion, added salt, garlic powder and black pepper. Was very filling.

I have to get ready to go to the gym, but since it's almost 8pm I am worried about eating late at night when I come home. Aren't we supposed to have a cut off time?

Back from the gym. I had an awesome work out. I did 45 minutes on the eliptical machine. I tried to keep the rpm at 60-62 and above. The last five minutes I really pushed myself, and was sweating like a beast. In the past I had always done 30 minutes on the eliptical, 22 minutes on the stairmaster, and 30 minutes on the treadmill with a max pace of 3.7 mph. Since I am doing work out videos at home, I realized that I should just focus on really improving on one of those machines. I have a hard core 45 minute exercise video to do now. I don't know what to eat.

I think I will eat a banana and 10 raw almonds. I figure that's better than eating another serving of starchy peas. Ate the banana and raw almonds, but didn't do the exercise video. Was distracted by a phone call. Hehe
 
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wednesday 10/20/10

Breakfast: 1 golden delicous apple, 1 cup of green tea with ginseng, 1cup of kashi cereal with 1 cup of vanilla almond milk
16 oz of water

Went to see dietician today. She wasn't very helpful at all. They weighed me again and I gained a pound. Yikes that makes me sad. It makes me paranoid that eating those peas and/or that banana made me gain weight. Going to see another dietician next wednesday.

~ate a banana

~1 Amy's texas veggie burger (bbq flavor) 130 calories, 25 calories from fat, 14 grams of carbs and 12g of protein. I cooked it with pam spray, and added sliced onion and tomato and frozen broccoli~added salt, black pepper and garlic powder. It was filling but kind of bland.

Did an ab work out video. Ate 10 raw almonds. Went out with some friends. Not as much fun when you are the only one not drinking. No healthy foods there, ended up having potato and leek soup. I think it had way too much butter, but it was very yummy. Left early and made it to the gym in time to work out for 45 minutes on the eliptical machine. Drank a pint of water
 
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You might be not loosing weight because your calories are very low. Eating less than 700 a day is starving yourself!
 
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Sunflower is right. You are cutting a little too drasticly right now. Up your calories a bit, see if that helps. You shouldn't be under 1000.
 
Hi sunflower, Hi Jericho. Thanks for dropping me a line. :)

It's so true that I am eating way too little calories, and one of the problems is that I am obsessing about every food that I eat. I've been on so many different diets over the past decade, and that information is floating around in my head. It makes it kind of hard to make sense of what I should be eating. Mostly every diet tells you to cut back on breads, pastas, starchy foods (including veggies), but how does this make sense when one is on a vegetarian diet and mostly all of the food I eat comes from carbohydrates? I think I finally need to let go and just feed my body healthy foods. There was a book I read years ago from Dr. Dean Ornish who advocated eating a vegetarian diet. I think it was called "Eat More, Weigh less." You could eat all of the fruits, vegetables, and beans and legumes that you wanted, but you had to restrict your fat intake. Hmm maybe that is a better approach than what I am doing now. I am going to see another nutritionist next Wednesday and hopefully she can help me figure out a good vegetarian/vegan nutrition plan that accounts for optimal weight loss and good health. I would like to figure this out and help anyone out there who is a vegetarian or looking to be one and wants to lose weight and be healthier.




Thanks for the support guys. It's very nice to know that you care. :)
 
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Just be sensible. I have whatever I want within moderation. I wont eat a whole pizza or a bag of crisps any more but I'll have a slice or a handful of whatever I want as long as it's within my calories!

You should be aiming for at LEAST over 1200 calories. Lots of lean meat and veg but having a cup or half a cup of pasta or rice is fine as well. It's all about moderation and restraint!
 
Hey Sunflower,

I so need more variety in this diet. The food I am eating now is becoming a bit bland. I still need to find better meat substitutes. I need to find a recipe that makes it easier to eat tofu. Baby steps with regards to that food.
 
Here are some yummy tofu meals to try!


As for variety with vegetables, this site is very good! Milllllions of things to try!




:D :D
 
oO thanks for the links sunflower. Do my eyes deceive me or does that tofu actually look good? My diet right now is vegan although I am just striving to be a vegetarian. I'm not eating meat any more. I am trying to have a kinder diet. Although when my friends ordered bbq wings yesterday the smell was pretty appetizing. It's mostly the fact that the bbq flavor is yummy and the chicken adapts to the flavor of any food. Congrats on losing 31 pounds that is such an amazing accomplishment.
 
I'll have a hunt for some more :) If you can think of any foods you like lots I'll have a look for some recipes to make them even nicer! And that tofu looks LOVELY! I've never tried it--might put it on the shopping list!
 
aww thanks sunflower you're the best. Hmm how about you try one of those tofu recipes first and let me know if it's good? /wink
 
Thursday 10/21/10

Breakfast: 1 cup: kashi cereal and vanilla almond milk, a banana ~16oz of water (330 calories)

-2 white cheddar rice cakes (90 calories)

-went to the gym, did 45 minutes on the eliptical machine. Pumped it, and kept rpm at 63+

-drank 1 pint of water

-10 raw almonds (70 calories)
-2 rice cakes (90 calories)
-2 cups of green split pea soup from the other day (est 260 calories)
-3 rice cakes (135 calories)
-1 cup of cooked quinoa with 1 tablespoon of olive oil and added frozen spinach, and frozen peas and carrots. Added salt, black pepper and garlic powder. (over 354 calories)

Finally ate enough calories today. Est 1329 calories without counting the spinach and peas and carrots.
 
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