Today's blog post is about losing weight on a vegan diet. Many people turn to veganism for health reasons. No matter why you turned vegan, welcome and congrats!! You've made an important and fantastic change to your life. It's not always going to be easy, but you know it's the right thing to do and for that you deserve to feel proud!
Anyway, I disgress, as per usual....when you watch videos on youtube or read about these unbelievable transformations that people make after turning vegan, you're all pumped up and ready to go and, after 2 weeks of eating plants-based, you're not feeling energized, you haven't lost any weight and all of a sudden you're starting to doubt yourself. Well, I'm here to tell you DON'T!!
For many people, myself included, it doesn't happen right away - especially if you don't have a ton of weight to lose. When I turned vegan, I felt like shit at the beginning. I was tired, had massive mood swings and also ups and downs in energy. Some day I would wake up and feel like running 10k and other days I wanted to sleep 12 hours straight. Yes, I was eating enough, yes, I was getting all of my nutrients (tracked them on cronometer.com like a good little vegan) and I was eating very clean. Now some people might say you're detoxing or your metabolism is healing. I call bullshit - you don't detox for months and I don't believe in a minium 'must-eat' of calories. To me, that just promotes listening to a number instead of your body. We are all very different, some more active than others, with a very different body composition. A small woman with a sedentary lifestyle won't need that many calories. Eating towards a number without considering how much you really need or burn isn't what you should be aiming for - see it as a guideline instead.
Back to my start as a vegan. I put on a couple of pounds initially. Not a lot but I certainly didn't lose any. I believe one reason is that I allowed myself to eat anything I wanted as long as it was vegan and moderately healthy. If I wanted another burrito, I would have it. I benefitted from that in many ways:
1.) I didn't crave any non-vegan food ever - Because I was so full and hit all of my nutritional needs, I didn't have a craving for animal products. My body simply had everything it required.
2.) I stopped craving junk - This was definitely a slow process, BUT it happened. From eating chocolate and sweets every day, I now crave fruit 9 times out of 10 and if I want a muffin, I'll eat it. My tastebuds have changed over time and most things taste overly sweet to me now.
After around 3 months, I started becoming more aware of my body and its needs. I experimented with food, found out that masses of fruits don't work for me and that I prefer lighter meals. I now recognize hunger, can easily pinpoint what satisfies me or what my body needs and, hello, I started losing weight. I didn't even realize it at first, it just happened naturally. Then it stopped for a while and now I'm slowly losing a pound here and there again. I feel much more balanced and have embraced intuitive eating. Having the connection to my body that I do now is the greatest gift veganism has given me so far.
As always, the moral of the story comes last. Well, all I want to tell you is, not everyone miraculously loses weight and feels amazing right away on a vegan diet. For some it takes time, it takes experimenting a bit and finding out how your body ticks. Don't give up, embrace the journey and be proud of the decision you've made!!
