Another Free Vegan Diet Weight Loss Plan That You Can Use To Eat Anything You Want And Still Lose All The Weight You Want

Let’s explore a vegan diet weight loss plan that you can take to the fat bank and make a massive withdrawal πŸ™‚

I have written a few posts about vegan weight loss as well as a weight loss diet for vegetarians in which I urge vegetarians to explore the vegan diet.

I have also recently written about the Weight Watchers program for vegetarians and vegans as well as why you can gain weight on a vegan diet. Lastly there is a blog post you might like to review about how many calories vegans should eat.

I urge you to review some of the above mentioned posts. There might be some repetition of major points but the biggest problem with weight loss generally is psychological. And having many resources to turn to is helpful.

So let’s explore this free vegan weight loss plan that will allow you to eat anything vegan you want and still lose massive amounts of weight.

I’m not hyping this. This is free vegan weight loss diet that will work. I said you can eat ANYTHING you want, but NOT EVERYTHING you want. That is a subtle but important difference. But, first things first. Before we walk we must learn to crawl.

The mind over matter
We start at the very beginning which is the mind. The mind is more powerful than your matter (body) but you need to get it onboard. A weak will hampers weight loss. I promise you. As I write this I have been using these very vegan weight loss tips and strategies to lose over 20 pounds so far.

Your mind matters and it should be your first “muscle” that you strengthen.

You need to understand why you are now fat or overweight as a vegan. In my case, marriage was good to me, but jobs and finances have been stressful. I have found that when I am stressed or board I eat too much of the wrong kinds of vegan foods. I’m looking for comfort, for some relief from stress or boredom and I subconsciously seek that through food.

It’s time for some soul searching. Some honest one on one time with your own mind. We become fat because we eat too much.

Are we mindlessly eating or are we eating because we are stressed and worried or lonely or depressed, or sad or happy? Find the reason why over the years you have put on the 20, 30, 50 or more pounds that you’d now like to lose. This is crucial.

When you uncover your subconscious motivations for overeating you can then nip them in the bud.

As you move on with the rest of this program use this powerful mindset to nip bad habits in the bud. As you reach for that vegan ice cream ask yourself why you are doing this. Are you truly hungry? If not, then the next question is do I have the calories available for the day to indulge in this treat? If yes, you can have it, if not have something else like a small apple.

The other part of mindset is understanding the TRUTH about how long it might take you to lose the weight you want.

Listen, it likely took you several years to put on that extra weight you are now trying to lose. You can’t expect to lose it all in a matter of a few weeks. There are NO MAGIC PILLS, POTIONS or SECRETS to losing weight. You need to bring to fore the virtues of discipline and patience. But the rewards will be worth it.

My recommendation which is born out by science, is to aim for no more than 2 pounds of weight loss per week.

In the first few weeks especially if you have substantial weight to lose like >30 pounds you might find that you lose more than 2 pounds per week, but this is not sustainable long term.

In fact, my best suggestion for you to help you sustain a new way of eating, a healthier and more appropriate vegan weight loss diet approach is to aim for 1 pound of weight loss per week. I know this doesn’t seem like much but in a year, you can lose over 50 pounds. 50 pounds which likely took you many years to add to your frame.

Below I’ll show you a vegan weight loss meal plan that offers convenience and junk food that will help you lose weight. I’m NOT recommending such a regimen, but once a week or so you can eat any junk food you want and still lose weight.

The great thing about the vegan diet for weight loss is that by its very nature we are avoiding a lot of unhealthy and fattening foods. So it does give us a leg up on our weight loss goals if we use the vegan lifestyle appropriately.

Okay, so you’ve got your mindset right. Let’s get to the meat of the matter.

The food matter that does matter
Veganism gives us the leg up on weight loss, but it doesn’t guarantee a lithe physique. For that we still have to concern ourselves with the food that passes our lips.

But as I’ve mentioned before you can eat anything you want, just not everything you want.

The first thing you need to do is understand how many calories you really need to eat in order to lose that 1 pound per week. How many is that? Easy, go here and put in your weight, choose your sex and your activity level.

TIP: Try and choose realistically what your activity level. If you’re unsure, guess lower rather than higher. For example. I run for about 3 miles 3 times a week and I do some bodyweight exercises 3 times a week too. I chose “Light Activity”.

If you’re curious what your BMI is, which I find to be a terrific measure of whether we are fat or not you can find it out here.

I believe that the BMI is useful for most of us. Unless you are serious bodybuilder or over say 65, you can use it determine if you are overweight or not.

As an example. An average female of height 5’4.5″ and 160 pounds has a BMI of 27. This is considered overweight. Let’s assume she wants to get to 140 pounds which would put her at a healthy BMI of 23.7 which is in the healthy range, she needs to lose 20 pounds which she should allow herself 20 weeks to accomplish.

How much does she need to eat to maintain her weight of 160 pounds? According to the calorie calculator she needs to eat 2,182 calories per day to stay at 160 pounds. I’m assuming she uses “Sedentary” as her activity level.

Now we need to figure out how many calories she should be eating to lose 1 pound per week. That’s easy, she needs to create a 500 calorie deficit each day. A pound of fat contains 3,500 calories so 500 calorie deficit per day x 7 days in a week = a 3,500 weekly calorie deficit which should equate in 1 pound of weight loss per week.

Our female example needs to eat 2,182 – 500 = 1,682 calories per day.

After each month of weight loss or losing about 5 pounds, it is a good idea to reassess how many calories you need to eat because as your weight goes down your calorie needs go down too.

As an aside, can you see how much more difficult it becomes to lose 2 pounds or more per week? In our example Viv (our vegan female looking to lose weight) needs to create a 1,000 calorie deficit per day in order to lose 2 pounds per week. So at her current weight of 160 she needs to cut out 1,000 calories off of those 2,182 which means she can only eat just under 1,200 calories per day. That’s doable but you’ll likely feel more hungry than I would want you to on such a restrictive regimen.

So be the tortoise in Aesop’s fable and you will win the race. Aim for 1 pound per week.

A vegan weight loss meal plan
Let’s look at our vegan diet plan for weight loss that let’s you eat anything you want. Here is a sample day’s menu.

Breakfast:
1 cup fruit loops (110 calories)
0.5 cup of soy milk (50 calories)
Coffee or tea with 1 tsp sugar and 0.25 cup soy milk (40 calories)

Lunch:
6″ Subway veggie sub with lettuce, green peppers, onions, tomatoes, cucumbers, mustard and olive oil blend (280 calories)
Bag of baked lays (130)
Water

Dinner:
Wendy’s Apple Pecan Chicken Salad (hold the chicken) Full size (440 calories)
Wendy’s small fries (320 calories)
So Delicious Vanilla Minis ice cream sandwich (90 calories)
Water or herbal tea

Snacks anytime during the day:
Orange or apple (80 calories)
2 Twizzlers 22.5 grams (80 calories)

Total calories for the day: 1,620 calories which is less than Viv’s goal of 1,682 calories.

The above menu is not the healthiest but it shows you how you can eat anything you want but NOT EVERYTHING you want. One of the key lessons to be learned as we lose weight on a vegan diet or any diet really is to get used to appropriate i.e. smaller serving sizes.

Some final vegan fat loss tips
Going vegan to lose weight is helpful, staying vegan and of an appropriate weight is best of all.

In the above sample vegan weight loss menu you’ll notice there are 3 meals and 2 snacks. There is nothing to say you need to eat 3 meals a day. If you like to eat 4 or 5 then go for it. However, each meal will need to be smaller than the ones offered above. 5 meals a day will mean each meal will be no bigger than around 330 calories each.

If you only get hungry enough during the day to eat 2 or even 1 meal that is okay too. There are NO benefits to eat 6 meals a day or 1 meal a day or most of your calories in the morning. These are smoke and mirrors to make weight loss seem more complicated than it should be.

It can be helpful to take a daily multi-vitamin while you are losing weight to ensure that you are getting adequate vitamins and minerals. Women should take a vitamin with iron and when should choose one without iron.

One of the biggest secrets to successful vegan weight loss is NO liquid calories. The only exception as you can see is a splash of soy milk and 1 tsp of sugar in our morning coffee or tea.

The best way to assess your ongoing weight loss success is to measure your waist and neck – waist, neck and hips for women on a weekly basis preferably upon rising and when naked. Measure your neck around the Adam’s apple or throat. Measure your waist around the belly button and your hips around the widest part. I find measuring in centimetres is more rewarding as you see smaller successes quicker πŸ˜‰

Also, weight yourself once a week or daily if you don’t mind greater fluctuations as this can help too.

You can do it, if you put your back into it. Go for it. This is all you need to build the body of your dreams. Notice that exercise is not required… but it is encouraged for optimal health and vitality.

6 comments

  1. Again, excellent advice and so glad you posted that. I have been vegan now for appx 2 months and have not lost a single pound. However, the good news, is that I didn’t become vegan to loose weight (just thought it would be a great side benefit to the joy of knowing I am not adding to the cruelty to the animals or harm to the planet.) But you had, among many salient points, an excellent comment. No liquid calories. I have been juicing raspberries, blueberries, 1/2 banana, 1/2 lemon & vegan meal powder in a huge glass for bkfst along w/oatmeal, and perhaps that is one of the reasons lbs are not coming off. I am very active tho. Still will have to do the math and readjust…..so again, thank you vegan valor, the savour (it rhymes!) to newbie vegans!

    1. Thanks fred,

      Yes, if you’re trying to lose weight, then you need to watch your calorie intake.

      And one of the easiest ways to do that is to stop drinking your calories.

      Now smoothies like you make are healthy and more of a food, but having a giant smoothie with a bowl of oatmeal might be too much on top of whatever else you might be eating throughout the day.

      Best advice is to count the calories and see how you’re doing at the end of an average day.

  2. Hi Jason,
    Why is it important to have a glass of water or herbal tea with a meal? I drink a lot of water throughout the day, isn’t this enough?
    Best, Valerie
    PS Sorry for all tweets and messages, not stalking you, am busying myself with my vegan diet today.

    1. Hi Valerie,

      Thanks for your question. No need to apologize, I’m happy to answer all the questions you have. I’m sure they’ll help others.

      If you’re drinking lots of water throughout the day there is no “need” to drink water or herbal tea with your meals.

      However, if folks are struggling with losing weight because they’re hungry all the time, I have found drinking a big glass of water before a meal to be very helpful in subduing the appetite and allowing me to control the portion of food I am about to eat.

      I have also found drinking large mugs of tea to be helpful in stalling my appetite, or helping me determine if I am really hungry or just thirsty.

      Hope this helps,

      Jason

  3. Hi there!
    I am happy I found your website. My family and I (hubby and 17mo old daughter) have become vegan about 2-3months ago and we are loving it. I think my daughter actually prefers tofu chick*n nuggets to actual chicken nuggets! As for us, we have been basking in the absolute marvel of how delicious vegan meals can be – i should add that we have bought the GREATEST vegan cookbook EVAR -Big Vegan by Robin Asbell – which has made vegan cooking absolutely pain free. I was hoping to lose weight on the new lifestyle myself, but have found that i have not. The only good thing is that I havnt put on weight either! WE DO, eat about 1/3 cup of mixed (raw mind you – no roasting or salt) nuts with dried fruit as a morning snack EVERY SINGLE DAY minus week-ends, and i guess that may be hindering weight loss. I do know that nuts and dried fruit ARE packed with iron and minerals that are good for you as well as good fats (we eat mostly almonds and walnuts, no cashews or high fat nuts like macadamias) and i RARELY drink my calories. The dried fruit REALLY helps me curb my sugar cravings, and often i reach for that instead of chocolate which is good, but i also know that they are still high in sugar. Any idea what i could replace this snack with that would be healthy and keep me going (proteins help keep you full) from my breakfast at 6 ocklock to my lunch at 12? In the afternoon i usually have raw veg or fresh fruit as a snack, and i rarely eat after supper…

    1. Hi Frederique,

      Congratulations on becoming vegan. It is not the miracle cure to weight loss, though it can certainly help. At the end of the day, if you are particularly concerned with losing weight then I recommend counting calories for a few weeks. This exercise by itself is incredibly eye opening.

      I love nuts, and it appears that eating a handful of nuts (about a quarter of a cup) per day does not appear to make people gain weight. Dried fruit I’m not a huge fan off because they are concentrated calories and I’d sooner you ate fresh fruit. Dried fruit also have a high sugar content and can cause dental caries if you’re not careful because they are so sticky.

      An alternate snack you might want to try is the following smoothie. I find it very filling and satisfying for hours.

      Blend 1 banana, 1 tbsp of peanut butter, 1 heaping tbsp of rice protein powder, 1 cup of soy or almond or rice milk and half a cup of ice.

      It’s tasty, sweet and filling. Lots of protein and not an excessive amount of calories. The above makes about 2 servings (1 cup each). Each serving will contain about 170 to 200 calories depending on your chosen milk and the size of your peanut butter serving.

      Hope it helps. Continued success.

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