You can be vegan for a variety of reasons - animal welfare, environmental protection, health and even the desire to lose a few pounds can be a motivation. But Really Can You Lose Weight With a Vegan Diet? How does it work and what should you look for?
Can you Lose Weight With a Vegan Diet?
Yes, you can lose weight with a vegan diet - but there is no guarantee. Because theoretically, you can lose weight with any diet - if you are not only fed by chocolate, chips, cola and ready meals.
But the vegan diet has clear benefits: it often includes a diverse and varied selection of vegetables, legumes, fruits, cereals and whole grains, nuts, seeds, and vegetable oils. A study showed that a vegan diet could kill 8.1 million fewer people a year. According to the researchers, more than half of these avoided deaths are attributable to the reduced consumption of red meat (beef, pork, sheep, goat) and about a quarter to increased fruit and vegetable consumption.
In addition, vegans often live healthier lives: They smoke less often, drink less alcohol and move more. To what extent the diet is crucial here, or whether healthy people generally more often opt for a vegan diet, but you do not know exactly.
Vegan Slimming: What to Pay Attention to?
Long-time vegans know their stuff and know what to look for. But who is just starting to eat vegan should pay attention to a few things. Some nutrients are not or only with the vegan diet if you are well versed. These include vitamin B12, vitamin B2, vitamin D, protein, calcium, iron, iodine, zinc, selenium and omega-3 fatty acids.
Except for vitamin B12 - which should be supplemented as a vegan or absorbed by means of enriched toothpaste - it is possible to absorb these nutrients with a balanced, varied diet. However, one should be aware that all nutrients are present in the diet.
The vegan nutritional poster from the Vegetarian Union (web) or the vegan food pyramid of the animal rights organization Peta can be helpful. In our article "Vitamins from plant sources", you will find out which vegan foods contain which vitamins. Even a regular blood test at the doctor makes sense, it shows possible shortage situations.
Vegan slimming: Decisive is the energy balance
If you want to lose weight - whether vegan or not - you have to consume more energy than you absorb. That does not mean that you now have to spend your time counting calories and starving. Often it helps to gradually change little things and slowly strive for a healthier lifestyle.
How much energy you use varies from person to person depending on body weight, body composition, gender, age, health, temperature around you and, crucially, physical activity. You can do little about most of these things, except for your physical activity. This means: If you want to lose weight, you have to move.
It will not Work Without Exercise
You do not have to do sports five days a week - they are often small things that can do a lot: climb stairs instead of taking the escalator or the elevator, walk short distances on foot or by bike and take a short walk during lunch break,
Yes, even in winter. Do you remember, temperature also plays a role in energy consumption? The colder it is outside, the more energy your body uses to keep you warm. In addition, the cold air - and with luck a few winter sun rays (vitamin D) - good for your health.
Try to integrate regular sports activities into your everyday life: maybe you like swimming, running, cycling, dancing or just enjoying a team sport? No matter what sport, schedule time each week. If you're worried about doing so, make friends - you can motivate each other.
What am I Actually Eating?
Let's get to the energy that you absorb. It is clearly influenced by your diet. And again, it is small steps that can change a lot. A good way to find out where to start is with a food diary.
If you write down what you eat regularly, you may even come up with a few things to work on. Try not to eat as little as possible - especially for vegans it is important to eat well. Pay attention to what foods you eat.
Clean Eating: Not Just a Trend
Eat as clean as possible! For vegans, there is now plenty of finished product with too much salt and additives. Leave these on the left and try to eat as much fresh and unprocessed food as possible: From vegetables, fruits, legumes, seeds, cereals, and nuts can be conjured up a lot.
How about a homemade spread on freshly baked bread with a hemp milk, an almond milk or a smoothie and an energy ball for dessert? A good source of inspiration is vegan food accounts on Instagram.
Carbohydrates? Yes, But Whole Grain
Carbohydrates make you fat? Not necessarily. If you only eat croissants, white bread, and sugar, you will not lose a kilo. But if you eat foods that contain complex carbohydrates, such as cereal flakes, bran, beans, whole wheat pasta, wholemeal bread, whole grain rice, potatoes, vegetables or soy products, your body will need more time to digest, your blood sugar level will not rise so much and you will stay full longer.
Healthy Snacks Instead of Cheat-Day
The cheat-day is a trend that is especially common on social networks and on YouTube: starving six days a week and in one-day pizza, fries, coke, chocolate, ice cream and everything else that is otherwise prohibited cram. Such regular, planned eating bouts are not a good idea.
It is better to treat yourself from time to time. Delicious homemade brownies made from kidney beans, energy balls or homemade Nutella. The benefit of doing it yourself: You can decide for yourself how much sugar you use.
Lots, Lots of Drinking!
In addition to the food, drinks also play a role in losing weight. A very simple rule of thumb is: drink water so much that you never feel thirsty. Through sweet drinks such as coke, sprite, iced tea, but also through juice and finished juice spritzers you absorb unnecessary energy and the tap water in Germany you can safely drink. If you can not taste without it, pep up your water with ginger, cucumber, herbs or lemon.
Listen to Yourself: Intuition and Mindfulness
What does the esoteric stuff have to do with weight loss, you may wonder now. Probably more than you think. Before you eat straight away at the next meal, be careful and listen to yourself: are you hungry or just hungry? Are you stressed or relaxed? Take time to eat and take your body was aware. Celebrate the food and decorate it nicely. Food is something nice and it should stay that way for you.
When You Realize That You are Full, Stop Eating.
Incidentally, stress and weight often go together: while some people barely eat in stressful times, others stuff sugar and fat. Every now and then, be aware of relaxation in your everyday life, even short sessions - ten minutes after getting up, during lunch break or just before going to bed - can help to lower your stress level.
Vegan Slimming With Patience
Conclusion: Do not view the vegan diet as a diet, with which you can lose many kilos in a short time. That will not work: As soon as you eat again as before, you have the pounds back on your hips. Try to see and use the change in diet as something long-term. Try new recipes, let yourself be inspired and discover the diversity of the vegan diet. Give yourself and your body time to get used to it and do not go crazy.
