How to Lose Weight on a Vegan Diet

Making Your Portions Too Big

Image Source: POPSUGAR Photography / Maria del Rio

My meals are based on plants; I can eat as much as I want. I know that's not how it works, and yet I'd been telling myself this for years. I had already made the decision to cut out cheese, so surely I must have earned the right to eat whatever I wanted for the rest of my life? But here's the thing. Vegan food still adds up. Sugary cereal for breakfast, a huge bowl of creamy avocado pasta for lunch, sampling London's food scene for dinner, and throwing myself with wild abandon into my pot-a-day hummus habit eventually caught up with me.

Here's my advice: think about controlling your portion sizes. Eat when you are hungry (actually hungry, not just wanting to eat) and consider using a food-tracking app like MyFitnessPal. Doing all this really opened my eyes to how much food I was really eating in a day. Who knew hummus was so calorific?!

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Not Understanding Macros

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Macronutrients sounds like another foodie term to read about once and then forget. But learning what macros are and using this knowledge to guide my choices of what I put in my body every day completely changed the way I think about food. The aim is to fuel myself, not just fill myself. To be healthy, you need to make sure you are balancing your meals with the right amounts of three things:

Carbohydrates: think sweet potatoes, beans, grains and all the vegetables under the sun
Protein: I like to use tofu, beans, peas, and soy — or wheat-based meat-style products
Fat: good fat is your friend, not your enemy. See avocados, nut butters and olive oil

One last thing — getting enough protein on a plant-based diet is a walk in the park. Just plan ahead.

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Don't Go Crazy on Vegan Desserts

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When I first went vegan six years ago, getting hold of a brownie, a slice of cake, or a dessert which didn't contain eggs, butter, or milk was pretty difficult. That meant that when I did visit a café or restaurant where it was possible to indulge a little, I did. A lot. Gradually, vegan cakes began popping up everywhere, but my old mindset remained: "Quick — a rare vegan strawberry sponge cake has been spotted! I must eat it now before it disappears into the undergrowth!"

But if you're eating cake every day because you continue to believe it is difficult to find cake to eat, your waistline is going to suffer. Not to mention your sense of logic. Try this instead: don't swear off cake forever. That would be too cruel and to be honest — for me, at least — it's not sustainable. Instead, choose to eat dessert once a week instead of every day, and when baking for yourself, choose some delicious, nutritious desserts like these vegan cookie recipes.

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Fizzy Drinks Are Just Not Worth It

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After quitting meat, eggs, and dairy, I didn't really feel like giving anything else up. Surely it was OK to have one vice you can turn to for a treat? After all, it's just a drink. How could liquid cause you to put on fat, anyway? It wasn't until I started logging everything I consumed using MyFitnessPal that I realised how many calories and how much sugar I would routinely drink with each meal. Even if I had made a healthy, macro-balanced, delicious salad for lunch, that bottle of cola was about to completely ruin my careful meal prep. It was then I decided to switch to drinking more water instead. And you know what? I don't miss it anymore.

Here's how to make the switch. Start by cutting your soda consumption in half. Opt instead for water flavoured with fruit, fresh fruit juice (although be careful of the sugar here, too), or green tea. Make sure you are hydrated throughout the day by keeping a water bottle with you at all times and filling it up as soon as you hit the bottom. Eventually, I encourage you to cut soda out completely and free up your body to enjoy other treats that actually have nutritional value.

As of today, I am healthier, leaner, and stronger than at any point in my life as either a meat-eater, vegetarian, or a vegan. Switching to a plant-based diet can give you the tools to change your life for the better. Just use them wisely.

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