Big, fat and vegan

[karriew]

Just registered and wanted to say hello.

I transitioned to a vegan last summer, and somehow have managed to gain weight. (I think I have some portion control issues and love the olive oil just a wee bit too much.) Anyway, I've always been heavy, but thankfully have also always been healthy. (I credit a plant-based diet--even when I was omni I ate lots of veg and primarily whole foods--with good blood work, etc.)

I'm so beyond being heavy. I am someone who has a very difficult time losing weight, and tend to stay around 250-260 on a 6ft frame. Even when I was going to the gym every day and doing weight watchers my weight stayed pretty much the same.

Lately I find myself getting discouraged, and have let some cheese creep back into my diet, which I know is not good. (ETA: I also agree very much with the ethical and environmental reasons for a vegan lifestyle, which makes this slip even more upsetting.)


I just turned 36, and have an almost 4 year-old son who I want to model healthy habits for, and to be able to enjoy an active, fit lifestyle with. (I love to travel, hike, camp,. etc. but these are all less fun when obese. Yuck!) And I fear that my previous good luck with blood-work, low cholesterol, normal blood pressure and so on will run out with time.

[karriew]

Oh, I totally agree.

I still travel--went on a cross country tour for 5 weeks this winter with my son and mother--and am fairly active, but I have less energy as my weight ticks upwards. I feel, for lack of a better way to express this, sloppy and slow.

And this is one more reason I want to lose. It has been frustrating to transition to veganism and actually gain weight, while reading countless accounts of people who lost weight without really trying. I never ate a SAD, so perhaps that's part of it. It sucks being a fat veg though, and the fact that I shoved cheese--of all freaking things--into my mouth was a huge wakeup call. I'm still not quite sure why I did that. Ugh.

Hope this clarifies a bit--I did not want to leave the impression that my life is on hold until I weigh ____.

[SactoBob]

I was.

Check out Jeff Novick's forum about oils, cheese, and high calorie density foods.
Here is a link for you.
http://vsh.voip-info.org/Shintani2.html

[auntemmy]

Hi KarrieW - I've been following McDougall since the first of the year. In the beginning I ate according to plan but was still adding cheese (very hard to give up) and I actually gained ten pounds. I have about 75lbs to lose so this was very discouraging. I stopped eating cheese and lost the ten lbs (oh so slowly). Now I am actually down 1/2 lb overall. I know I am going to be a s-l-o-w loser. I think I will be charting my weight loss at 1/2 lb at a time, but that's okay. I am doing so much better health wise and I will not go back to SAD eating. I just keep thinking that my body is going to do good "inside" work before I get many "outside" results. Hang in there!

[courage]

I deleted this part of the post, I had written something completely silly due to my damaged brain. I am sorry if anybody was hurt personally by this post Please see my last posting in this thread!
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I was one of those almost vegans for quite some time (eating just some eggs on Easter and like that), and vegetarian for a long time. It is a slightly better lifestyle than eating meat, but you could almost say that people who eat only sometimes a little low fat poultry and skimmed milk, and generally low-fat and low-sugar, will less likely become obese than some vegans, who consider their lifestyle as perfect and just eat the fattest, saltiest and most sugary foods around

My health decreased so rapidly during the last years - and I was lastly following almost completely a vegan diet (and I was not one of those custard, chocolate and cookies vegans)!

There is a great difference between vegan food and healthy vegan food.

I wish you good luck on your way with McDougall I too do not consider "fat" as "ugly", I never was very fond of too skinny people and all this anorexia-like models (and I am myself not too skinny too, and I hope I will not loose my feminine curves during this program!). I think, what we should aim for is good health, and a body we are happy with...

[courage]

I deleted this post, I had written something completely silly due to my damaged brain. I am sorry if anybody was hurt personally by this post Please see my last posting in this thread!

[courage]

I deleted this post, I had written something completely silly due to my damaged brain. I am sorry if anybody was hurt personally by this post Please see my last posting in this thread!

[VeggieSue]

For those who don't read Isa's message board on a daily basis, let me tell you that Isa herself has complained of recent weight gain - about 20 or so pounds - since she quit smoking a few months ago. This is on top of about another 20 she gained this past year testing recipes for her upcoming cookbook on cookies.

She also just moved cross country, from Brooklyn, NY to Portland, OR. A very stressful life event.

She *is* trying to lose weight and has been off and on Weight Watchers a few times in the past. She already said she's going to start increasing her exercise and ride her bike a few miles a day now that she lives in a bike-friendly area, and has said she's going to eat less fatty foods and increase her consumption of salads. She already eats a load of fruits and veggies every day, as well as plenty of whole grains. Her last cookbook, Veganomicon, has a whole section on how to make her recipes lower in fat/fat-free. She does know of the McDougall plan, even though she doesn't follow it herself.

AFAIK, she has never had any complaints about her health and has been plump all her adult life. As Serene has said, you can't tell the health of a person just by looking at a photo of them. I know fat people who have excellent lab work and blood pressures and work out for an hour or more a day and have excellent diets, even follow MWLP 100% (and never lose an ounce), but I know even more thin people who sit on the couch and never exercise and guzzle beer and soda and feast on steak or other red meat meals daily. I'll take fat and healthy over thin and sickly (or on the way there) any old day.

[cassidy]

First of all, Isa is slightly plump only in that picture, and I think we need to take off our judgmental hats here. I think it's GREAT that there are thin vegans, fat vegans, and everyone in between. Why? Because veganism is a big tent and doesn't need to incorporate only the thinnest of thin individuals. Heck, if I were making a cookbook on cookies I'd be big as a house, myself!

This is a mcdougall board. Not all maximum weight loss. Life is hard and sometimes many of us, vegan or not, eat more than we "should" or not. Or, like me, when my labwork was done this year the doctor said that my only "risk" of being fat was, well, being fat. My cholesterol is low, blood pressure is good, etc. without any medications.

Best of luck on your journeys, and remember to Love Your Neighbor!!!

[courage]

I am sorry if I did hurt the personal feelings of anybody in this forum

I am pretty sure that my disease also affects my brain, the constant fever, headache and dizziness, paired with sudden mood changes and inappropriate behavior really get me

I am not in the position to judge anybody just looking at the photos, I do not actually understand how such an stupid idea got into my gloomy "brain"

I really do not endorse the "skinny craze"! I never weight myself and I look pretty curvy and "big" and I love it

I especially did not want to diminish the value of all the work Isa have done for the cause of vegetarian and vegan food, "Veganomicon" is rightfully a bestseller. It helps so many people to broaden their horizons and see how many food choices there are besides the "standard diet".

I really do hope that the McDougall diet helps me to reverse or stop this always prevalent symptoms, especially my definitely blurred and affected mind :cry: I will delete those harmful posts, this is not a place for fighting against each other. We need to stay together and support each other on our way to better health

[karriew]

I've met Isa--briefly, she signed my copy of Veganoimicon--and I think she's cute. I'm not curvy in the same way she is--I'm a total apple.

Anyway, I'm also not fat phobic--just not comfortable in my own skin right now. I've been heavier--I gained a whopping 100 pounds when pregnant with my son--and I've been thinner (the 220-230 range vs where I am now.) The emphasis on carbs does make me a little nervous, but oh well. I'll get over it and/or adjust with veggies.

I'd be thrilled to lose 30 pounds in the next year. I'm not aiming for Barbie girl status here--just better health and being able to buy pants that fit my waist and do not droop off my azz. It's just frustrating to know that my diet is healthier than most, and still I gain weight. Gah!

[karriew]

Also, thanks for the support and also the link to Dr Shintani's presentation.

I did not intend to hurt anyone either. I'm not interested in judging other people's bodies or health--only my own. The "Big, fat vegan" title was intended to be humorous/self-deprecating. I can see how it might be taken otherwise, but it was all about MEMEMEMEMEMEMEME...and....me!

I am following MWL, because of my previous difficulty losing weight.

Since I'm new, I'm not sure if this will post, but here is a picture of me in January, visiting White Sands, NM with my son. I am decidedly not curvy ala Isa. Unfortunately.

[auntemmy]

I like my fat body. I don't find it depressing at all to be fat. Anyway, not saying you should feel as I do, just that not everyone who's fat finds it to be a drag.

I don't know if you are in a minority, feeling as you do, but I think you have taken something "Unfortunate" someone said in their post and made them extremely sorry they had an opinion, too. Congratulations.

[auntemmy]

Auntemmy, I don't know what you're looking for. If it's an apology for pointing out that even really sweet people like Courage can thoughtlessly be bigoted sometimes, it's not going to happen. Courage has copped to having made those comments thoughtlessly -- she's not a bad person or anything. Sometimes we say hurtful stuff without thinking. Having that pointed out isn't mean and cruel -- it's part of helping make the world better.

(I'll remind you that I never suggested she go away, or stop having an opinion; I merely expressed that my opinion was different from hers.)

Not looking for anything dear, just expressing my opinion.

[Ann685]

I'm a fat vegan but I've only just begun the vegan lifestyle.

There are several people posting in this topic that they enjoy their fat and their size and believe me, a person can be healthy and fat and for a long time I have been one of those people.

I would like to say that since I stopped working out, it has been very very and nearly impossible for me to start working out again.

It is SOSOSOSOSOSOSO hard and difficult to carry around this extra 100 pounds. Sure, start walking... my hips hurt, my feet hurt etc. and right now my clothes don't even fit.

I'll probably always be overweight. I just don't see myself as ever at a "normal" weight. Even starting out being a vegan isn't dropping weight off me and I'm not a pie and cake vegan (I will have a piece of pie once in a while).

The truth is probably that you can't overeat and lose weight being a vegan. Just being a vegan can allow too much fat and sugar to really lose weight.

We recently purchased "vegan" butter and compared it to the regular margarine we had in the frig. The vegan butter had more fat and calories than the margarine. Kind of surprising actually. I have to say though that it is VERY good.