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Another anecdote: I went completely vegan ~3 months ago. I don't really "feel better". It's always the first thing someone asks when I say I went vegan.. "Do y
by cj 7y ago
Another anecdote: I went completely vegan ~3 months ago. I don't really "feel better". It's always the first thing someone asks when I say I went vegan.. "Do you feel better?" - I feel basically the same.
Although my weight has been trending downward, slowly, which is great since that's happening without trying to limit the amount I eat at all. That's very different from when I wasn't vegan, my weight would always trend slowly upward unless I was making a deliberate effort to cut back on calories.
BUT: I think the real reason I'm slowly losing weight on a vegan diet is the simple fact that eating a restricted diet (ANY restricted diet) requires you to think about and analyze absolutely everything that enters your mouth. It introduces a level of mindfulness that just wasn't there when eating an unrestricted diet. For me, this has had the side effect of also cutting out most processed food (read: junk food) from my diet, even though most junk food is vegan. I'm convinced this is the biggest value of being vegan.. it just makes you think about everything you buy at the grocery store, everything you order when out to eat, etc.
Another commenter calls this "paying attention to what you eat" - I think that's right on target, however cliche it may sound.
- avinium 7y agoI consider myself a seasoned dieter (meaning I can manipulate my weight +/-10kg fairly easily). Over at least a dozen weight cuts/bulks, the most effective practice I've found is writing a meal plan, and writing down everything you put in your mouth. Many people have started losing weight just by doing this - without actively changing their diet. It has a really profound subconscious impact on what/how much you put in your mouth. The psychological/hormonal aspect of food is fascinating.
- 11235813213455 7y agomy weight is probably going +/-6kg, on a semi-week basis. When I eat, I eat a lot (fruits at will, legumes, fish vapor-cooked, honey, Camargues rice living in France, lentils). I think it's useless to weight yourself, it's easy to feel how much fat you've built, you then need to consume it first before re-eating (I'm around 60-62kg, 1.83m, with a thin morphology so it's not underweight) I feel really well with that "lower-frequency" diet cycle, it's of course easier when working remote.
- m0zg 7y ago+/- 6kg is basically water. 1kg of fat is 8800kcal - 4 days of average adult's caloric intake. There's no way to lose 6kg in a week unless what you've lost is almost entirely water.
- deleted 7y ago[deleted]
- bo1024 7y agoIt's not very likely to happen with water either. 6kg of water is 6 liters, which is probably more than the amount of blood in their body. I have to question the measurements on the 6kg fluctuations, going from 60kg to 54kg in a week is serious.
- hombre_fatal 7y agoI've fluctuated about that much in 48 hours just going from eating a lot of food constantly -> fasting (no food, no water). Think about all the food and liquid you can pack into your stomach and intestines. Seems crazy, but try it. I went from like 180lbs to low 160s. Of course, it comes back when you start eating and drinking again.
- dragonelite 7y agoThis, i find i can lose like around 2.5kg by fasting 2 days 1.5kg is usually water weight and 0.5 kg feels like food mass and the other 0.5kg fat loss. The water and food mass weight will come back once you start eating again.
- _carl_jung 7y agoThis isn't what people typically mean when they talk about weight loss, though. Which is why normally you hear recommendations for measuring your weight at the same time every day with an assumption that your eating patterns are roughly constant.
- 7y ago
- heroHACK17 7y ago> BUT: I think the real reason I'm slowly losing weight on a vegan diet is the simple fact that eating a restricted diet (ANY restricted diet) requires you to think about and analyze absolutely everything that enters your mouth. SO true. It's all about altering those marginal decisions that add up to something noticeable.
- deleted 7y ago[deleted]
- batiudrami 7y agoWhen I went vegetarian ~4 years ago I didn't feel noticably better either. But I eat meat when I go overseas - and after a week meat one or two meals a day I feel properly rubbish. Being vegetarian has made my weight much easier to manage too - which is a helpful additional benefit.
- top_kekeroni_m8 7y agoHow are you vegetarian if you still eat meat occasionally?
- loco5niner 7y agopart-time vegetarian based on location (maybe has family overseas or something). Sounds legit to me.
- batiudrami 7y agoYeah. I have cut my meat intake by 99%+ - and for simplicity I describe myself as a vegetarian. But if I am overseas I will order a vegetarian menu option if there is one but I'm not going to drag my friends across town to find somewhere I know will suit me, so sometimes it means ordering a meat dish, especially in east-Asian countries. It depends on the country, and sometimes city, of course.
- yc-kraln 7y agoAbout a year ago I started being hypervigilant on my food intake: Three meals a day, no snacks, take a picture of everything. No other restrictions. In the past year I've lost 75 pounds...
- wastedhours 7y agoCompletely agree - but as a counter point too, this for me also led to anorexia (not going vegan, but a restricted, over-analysed diet). I changed my diet and started monitoring and analysing everything, combined with what must've been a vulnerable mental state, meant I couldn't rationalise eating anything. I'm talking under 700 calories a day for months on end. One minute you're being mindful about your intake, the next you're stood paralysed in the chilled aisle physically unable to choose a meal as they're all "so bad". If you're in tip-top mental health, then restricted diets can work. But for anyone reading who's dealing with proper body image or any other food related issues - just be careful please.
- tripzilch 7y agoI've heard this called orthorexia instead of anorexia. I hope you're doing better :)