want to cut fat

[troubleBound]

I'm between 6' and 6'1" 180lbs skinny fat. Somehow I wear size 34 pants but I've definitively got love handles and no six-pack, and flabby butt and the back of my upper arm is a bit flabby too. I'm not vegan as of now, but I really want to go for it because of many reasons (primary health reasons, but some ethical too). I eat a lot of vegetarian food (tofu, vegetables, almond milk instead of regular milk, fruit, nuts, etc) and there's been times when I go for weeks with no meat, but still eat eggs (if somebody could suggest another low-carb high-protein breakfast option, I'll definitively discontinue eating eggs, especially if said substitute is low-cholesterol too). So, I am a student, trying to cut some fat. I've done boxing for a bit, but saw little to no result, and will have to stop for the summer because I will be studying abroad in Europe, and only recently added weightlifting to my latest routine (not the first time I've done lifting, though. Just this time around I started doing boxing, running and bodyweight exercises only until 2 weeks ago when I added weights to it. I think the lack of heavy weight lifting and a less-than-perfect diet might be why I'm still skinny-fat despite working out very hard and being in pretty good shape endurance and strength-wise). So I have a book on capoeira conditioning and will be doing those exercises over there, especially if I don't find a cheap gym with barbells.

 

I would like someone to tell me how to get started on a vegan diet. I'm willing to do some cooking (I'd prefer stuff that doesn't take more than 20 minutes cooking) and all. Lifting-wise I've been doing Rippetoe's starting strength (full of compound exercises), so I think I've got that part down, but I definitively need help with diet. Thanks for your help, in advance.

[Gaia]

Start incorporating some brown rice in your diet as a carb for energy and recovery. Have it instead of bread, pasta, or potato. And eat it with lots of vegetables (a stirfry rice dish), and then top it with a tofu or even cashews for your protein source.

[HawaiiDolphin]

For breakfast, a good high protein option is scrambled tofu, for which there are a million good recipes online! Also, tempeh can be breakfasty, look for tempeh "bacon" recipies.

Normally I would avoid processed stuff, but as a student in a hurry I get that sometimes there's no time! For that, there are lots of good frozen meals, and pre-flavored tofu. Canned beans and legumes are also easy protein sources.

Hope this is some help!

You're making the right decision by going vegan!

[apple]

Scrambled tofu for breakfast!! It's great. If you don't have time for that, a lot of people go for smoothies with protein powder instead. I really can't recommend enough getting a vegan cookbook and going from there. My friend got me this a few years back when I first went vegan: http://www.amazon.com/Students-Go-Vegan-Cookbook-Recipes/dp/0307336530 It's pretty helpful for a student eating alone without a lot of prep time, and there aren't any crazy ingredients to try and hunt down. Try to crowd animal products out of your diet, not cut them out. Think of a meal you want (ie, scrambled eggs) and figure out a replacement (scramble tofu!).

[troubleBound]

Thank you all for your replies. I will look up tofu scramble recipes.

 

Also, what should I eat if I get an injury, for instance... I haven't been training this week (because I have a pretty bad skin injury on my knee) and was told to eat red meat, but I find it hard to believe that there isn't a vegan substitute for that... I'm not talking about taste, but about protein amount and how readily absorbable that protein is.