Does becoming a vegetarian help you lose weight?!

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I have been a veggie for 8 years and was over weight. This summer I learned what animal bi products were and I cut them out of my diet. I now eat salads, veggie burgers, ect. Just by cutting out the bi products and eating better, I lost a ton of weight. At the beginning of summer I was 155lbs now i'm 125-130lbs.

I've been a vegetarian for three years. In the first couple months, I did lose about ten pounds, just because meat was out of my diet.. There wasn't a lot of variety in my house. After a while, though, I became concerned with my protein intake, and gained that weight back to a healthy level. If you're trying to lose weight, you should really exercise because it's the most healthy way to go about it. BUT I'm always up for recruiting new vegetarians. There are a lot of benefits in becoming one, and that does include portion control and a consciousness of exactly what you are eating. I, personally, developed better eating habits as soon as I took that step. Good luck :)

Personal experience

Becoming vegetarian can potentially assist weight loss because meat is high in calories and fat compared to plants. Cutting out dairy is also very helpful. I find it hard to believe, however, that your friend did not exercise at all and ate the same amount of food, and then lost a significant amount of weight simply by not eating meat. To lose weight you must eat fewer calories than you use up, thus creating a calorie deficit and causing your body to use fat as its energy source. You can achieve this by eating less, getting more exercise / generally being more active, and avoiding junk food - regardless of whether you are meat-eater, vegetarian, or vegan. Not eating dairy can be much more effective in aiding weight loss than just not eating meat, too.

Not necessarily. Just because you don't eat meat does not mean you eat well. I have been a vegetarian for 7 years and my weight has nothing to do with eating/not eating meat. If I chow down on a carton of ice cream and nachos every night, I am not going to be as slim as a person who eats a chicken breast with a salad.

If you are thinking about becoming a vegetarian yourself, you should probably consider other reasons for doing so aside from weight-loss as you might find yourself disappointed. Meat does not always agree with people, and once they stop eating it they find that they feel better in general. The thing is, when you don't eat meat, you have to find other sources of protein such as tofu, soy-products, nuts etc... There is no one "diet" that can be prescribed, as you'll have to experiment and see what works best for you.

Vegetarian for 7 years.

As long as you don't fall into eating junk food like potato chips all the time (which are technically vegetarian), you could lose weight because of less fat from meats.

Salads, if prepared right, are a great meal. Some romaine lettuce, onions, cucumbers, a dash of light dressing, a few croutons, sprinkled with Parmesan cheese... make a big bowl and call it a meal. Or perhaps a tortilla wrap filled with rice and cheese and lettuce? Be creative! Think of your favorite meat dish, and try to replace the meat with something else or add more veggies to make up for the loss.

I wouldn't recommend going vegan at first, or at all. But make sure you can handle vegetarian before cutting out milk and eggs and whatnot.

(If you're just concerned about losing weight but would like to keep some meat in your diet, remember that it is possible to simply cut back on your meat intake without cutting it out all together.)

It's a good theory, and everyone here will no doubt give me thumbs down, but I have to disagree. If you eat a lot of fatty junk meat (hamburgers/hot dogs), than yes. If soda, energy drinks, and potato chips along with other snack foods are your poison, than as far as I know there is no meat there, and you will continue eating them for your satisfaction and you will stay at your current weight, or loose weight very slowly.

It's dangerous to become a veggie. You don't get all the proteins and such your body needs. I suggest that if you want to lose wait (you better not be one of those medium (aka NORMAL) sized whiners that think their fat just cause their not as skinny as people who were born with tiny bones ect.) try exercizing and eating healthy. Switch from beef and pork to chicken and turkey. Less burgers, more PB&Js. No more McDonalds, get Subway. Eat a bit smaller (Not so tiny that your starving!!) portions and eat them slowly. When you eat slow your body can process when you need to stop (when u eat quickly, it doesn't have time to process until your sick) Thus causing you to eat less. The little things count :) don't give up meat just because it happened to work for your friend. She gave up burgers and ate veggies, its good to do that! But you need meat to maintain healthyness.

My mom and I went vegan about four years ago. I was 14 and she was in her 40's. I didn't experience any weight loss but she did. I typically eat more junk food than her though - like oreos, chips, cupcakes, etc. while she likes to eat more healthy types of food like vegetables, nuts, fruits, and pasta. (Yeah, I know I was a picky eater as a kid, but now that I'm a bit older, I'm still vegan but I just eat healthier.)

Point in case - depends on what veg foods you eat. If you're going to eat a ton of cheese, you're not going to drop weight. If you stick with veggies, you might shed a few pounds :)

im a vegatarian and have been for 8 months. Umm i didnt "loose" weight because of it, i stayed healthy and the same weight. I am 15 5'6'' and 105lbs and do like average excersise but i can eat whatever vegatarian thing i want. If ur looking to oose weight fast, do the lemon ciane pepper maple syrup diet drink thing. i did that for like a week, i was hungry like really hungry, but if u have the will power i lost 6 lbs pretty sick. hahha hope this helps:)

my body??

Portion control helps you lose weight. Exercise also. Junk food vegans don't often lose weight. Depends what you eat. But it's a good place to start if you want to lose weight.

I am The Boss Vegan

It can defiantly help, but not if you eat a lot of junk food. I gained weight :/

yes, a lot of people who are fat become vegetarians temporarily until they lose the weight they wanted

yes, its digests faster, no fats