Help for a new Vegan and fitness advise

[Barb]

I need advice for a friend who wants to go vegan for ethical and health reasons. She is obese but fit for her size as I was. We work many hours and our job is strenous. She needs to lose about one hundred and twenty pounds. We are on break from nursing school for the next five weeks and we are taking this time to get an exercise routein started and plan a good solid nutritious vegan diet to follow.

 

Also what direction should we take for the best conditioning? Slow and long such as power walking or fast and intense such as runnig on a rebounder and weights? I would like to jog then run after I get thinner. Need low impact right now.

 

She wants to know from your experience what kind of results will she experience in the next month going vegan and eating mostly raw foods. I have been eating veggie but will be adding more raw foods. She was a big meat eater and was turned off to meat seeing some disturbing video. Kind of woke up to the reality. Well anyway I am glad. I may make some veggie soups and mostly salads. We want to get strong and lose as much as we can before going back to school. I know losing fast is not ideal but I would like to do it for just the first month and slow it down and keep it off for good. She is allergic to soy and wheat also. I have a mild allergy to wheat and I am allergic to soy. What is good for us for protein? We are in for some stressful and busy times when we go back to school.

[beforewisdom]

Barb, the best advice I can give you is to read this short post about begining vegan nutrition:

viewtopic.php?f=6&t=13710

 

The rate at which you lose weight matters in terms of results like loose skin, flab, etc. Lose no more then 1 -2 pounds a week. I recommend keeping a food diary and checking out "The Hackers Diet" ( google on the term ).

 

You might also be interested on reading this vegan's registered dietician's opinion on raw foodsim

http://www.veganhealth.org/articles/cooking

[Barb]

I agree. That is why I don't eat 100% raw. My health improved drastically when I added raw fruits and veggies to my diet, but it is not my whole diet. I eat maybe 60 to 70 percent raw. This year while in school I had eaten mostly cooked foods and I really don't feel as healthy but my choices were not as healthy.

[medman]

There are plenty of non-soy legumes that you can use...chick peas, lentils, kidney/navy/lima/romano/(insert 20 other names) beans. They are all high in protein. And as for non-wheat grains, there are tons and tons of great things out there. Quinoa is one of the most nutrition-packed grains out there, you should definitely give it a shot. There are also lots of non-wheat pastas out there made of everything you can imagine (my most recent local discovery was a health food store that had a brown rice/quinoa macaroni!).

 

Of course, if you want to try your hand at eating raw, you'd be avoiding most things made with soy or wheat anyway. My experience with this is pretty limited but there's an entire subforum here dedicated to it with a lot of experienced people in it!

[veganmaster]

Below are some examples of people who succeeded in large amounts of weight loss, using the McDougall diet (unrefined vegan, no oil) + exercise. The McDougall Maximum Weight Loss plan is explained here:

http://www.drmcdougall.com/misc/2005nl/050100pupushing.htm

 

Lost 135 pounds and more:

http://www.drmcdougall.com/stars/lassie_nelson.html

lost over 100 pounds:

http://www.drmcdougall.com/stars/michelle_bachmann.html

 

http://www.drmcdougall.com/stars/evelyn_weightloss.html

 

The key to fat loss is

1) understanding that the fat you eat is the fat you wear (fat energy is deposited directly into stores with 97% efficiency)

2) understanding that the greater your net kcal deficit (kcal intake - expenditure), the more energy stores must be oxidized to fill the energy gap(primarily fat for the obese)

3) exercise increases energy expenditure and thus fat loss

 

The reason why a very low fat, unrefined vegan diet is so successful is because:

1) it removes the primary cause of fat gain, at the source (the mouth) - fat contains 9 kcal/g, more than twice the energy density of carbs and protein (alcohol is 7 kcal/g)

 

2) unrefined, low fat plant foods are rich in fiber & bulk, and are much harder to overfeed on than refined foods and liquid calories (for weight loss you should not drink any kcal - processed, refined foods are faster to digest, thus easier to overeat - thus the popularity of workout shakes for weight gain)

 

Also, don't forget the power of the simple potato - boiled potatoes satisfied subjects the longest in the Satiety Index study - as long as you don't add FAT. Studies show that the greater variety of food on the plate, the greater the kcal eaten - so simple meals of 1-3 plants is also important.

 

Personally, I am cutting fat right now as well. I fast daily until about 3 p.m., the I eat very low fat, especially focusing on potatoes and beans. The initial fast guarantees (for me) a fat loss of at least 50 grams - before I've even taken a bite of food. Then since I'm avoiding fat during the refeeding window, I am guaranteed daily success, especially because I throw in exercise as well. The catecholamines produced during short fasts totally blunt my hunger - after a week or two fasting becomes easier than eating the same total kcal spread out evenly over the whole day (IMO). The biggest benefit of fasting is that once you get your fast over with (mostly fat/glycogen loss) - you can get away with eating until FULL on low-fat vegan food, several times even. And the fast makes food more enjoyable too! So you actually get to be satisfied while still losing fat everyday - and it is also great for healing (especially good for killing cariogenic bacteria).

 

My other posts contain detailed info all this, if anyone is interested. The key is working with the metabolism by setting up daily habits that guarantee daily fat loss - for optimal body recomposition results this means a very low fat, high fiber diet + overall kcal deficit + exercise.

[Barb]

Thanks for the great advice. I am cutting fats down except for what I get in nuts and seeds and the olive oil on my salad. I am now limiting my calories instead of focusing on the carbs. My diet I would say is not high fat but not low fat. From what I have learned these fats in the diet are beneficial and I am having good sucess so far with a moderate fat diet than a very low fat diet. My LDL is down and HDL up to very healthy levels now.

 

I will search out those wheat free options and try more beans and legumes. I never really liked beans that much although I know they are so good for us. I am going to try to make some healthy hummus for my veggies.

[Gaia]

Mmmmm. I love hummus! especially for my veggies! I also am making a more tahini sauce lately that my kids just love (they use it on their falafels!). It is in the Vegan with a Vegeance cookbook called garlicky tahini sauce. Very good!

 

How are you on exercise? You said low impact, but that you want to do jogging when you get thin. Well, how about power walking? And I mean walking with attitude!!! You have to pump your arms up (and a water bottle in each hand will add strength training also!) and really stretch those hamstrings and gluteus when walking (long strides). I had to do this when I was 6 months pregnant cause my belly couldn't take the bouncing anymore (my breasts either! ). I worked up a sweat doing it, and kept my bum toned! (The baby is now 13 and is into cross country (and a forward in soccer) and doing races with me! Oh yeah!).