You might be thinking that I am joking when I titled this article an eat anything diet for vegans to lose weight. But I’m not.
In fact, I’m in the middle of writing a vegan weight loss book that I hope to publish within the next few months. My veganism has always been based on ethics as such I have found myself eating too much and too much of the wrong foods.
The outcome of that is that I grew to be 15 pounds above my upper healthy BMI weight for my height and about 30 pounds from what I consider to be my ideal weight.
As I write this I’ve managed to lose more than 20 pounds and I’m well on my weigh (pun intended) to getting to my ideal weight. And I’ve done this all following many of the vegan weight loss ideas, and vegan weight loss tips that I’ve outlined on this blog before.
Not the least of which was allowing myself to eat ANYTHING I wanted, but NOT EVERYTHING I wanted. And there’s the rub.
This diet for vegans to lose weight below is going to be based on a 1,500 calorie diet. For most women this should allow for gradual weight loss of around a half a pound to a pound a week. My upcoming book will include a 1,200 calorie menu plan for women looking for aggressive weight loss goals.
The 1,500 calorie sample vegan menu below will be a drastic cut for most men and you should see a 2 pound or more weight loss per week. If you are too hungry on such a low calorie diet then bump it up to 1,800 calories and see how you do. You can tweak from there. My book contains a 1,600 calorie sample menu for men and some women who can lose weight on that amount of calories.
Listen folks, weight loss is simple and boils down to calories. It really is that simple, but I want to make it fun and enjoyable too. You need a plan that you can follow for life – a lifestyle plan.
Science continues to show that in order to lose weight you need to eat less calories than your body requires for your daily maintenance (Basal Metabolic Rate) as well as daily activities. If you want to know what your BMR is, you can check it out here.
For example, a woman of 5’4″ weighing 125 pounds (BMI=21.5) at age 30 requires 1358 calories per day just to keep her weight IF she was bedridden all day.
This same woman requires a daily caloric intake otherwise known as TDEE (Total Daily Energy Expenditure) of 1,630 calories to maintain her weight if she was sedentary. That means she has an office job and doesn’t exercise at all except for things like walking to the bus stop etc.
BIG TIP: If you want to lose weight accurately I suggest that you use the link above and find out the BMR for your IDEAL weight and then use a TDEE level of sedentary which means you multiply that BMR by 1.2. So if you are 5’4″, 30 years old and weight 150 pounds as a woman your BMR is 1,467 calories per day. You are also slightly overweight with a BMI of 25.7
So let’s say you want to weigh 130 pounds which you think would be a great svelte weight for you. So then put in the weight of 130 into the BMR calculator and you get a daily calorie BMR of 1,380. Now multiply that by 1.2 and you get 1,656 calories as your daily requirements for maintaining a weight of 130 pounds with a sedentary lifestyle.
Use that number (1,656) as a start in order to lose weight and adjust downward by 100 to 200 calories per day if your weight loss plateaus for more than 2 weeks. However, do not go below 1,200 calories without consulting your doctor.
Okay, that’s some quick tips on how weight works. In order to lose weight you’ll need to count calories and stay below your TDEE by around 500 or so calories per day. This is why counting calories is so important. In fact if you learn nothing else but count calories every day until you have a really good sense of portion sizes and you eat below your TDEE you will lose weight. Simples!
And now let’s get to the sample vegan menu that allows you to eat anything you want.
Bear in mind, this is not a recommended eating plan. It is a relatively unhealthy eating plan but I use it to show you what you can eat and still lose weight.
I have found that not limiting myself to eating only healthy foods has allowed me to enjoy much greater and consistent weight loss than putting myself onto some rigid super healthy eating plan.
| Meal | Calories |
| Breakfast: Starbucks Tall Vanilla Soy Latte Starbucks Oatmeal With Brown Sugar |
190 190 |
| Lunch: Wendy’s Full Size Apple Pecan Chicken Salad – No Chicken 1 Pkt Dressing & 1 Pkt Pecans Value Size Coke (16 ounces) |
380 130 |
| Dinner: Taco Bell Fresco Bean Burrito Small Classic Limeade Sparkler 16 ounces |
350 150 |
| Snacks: 1 banana 1 apple |
100 80 |
| Total Calories: | 1,570 |
That kind of a menu shouldn’t have you feeling very hungry at all. And of course it is reasonably healthy for eating out for all your meals. This is one of the biggest benefits of a vegan diet. You can’t eat saturated food much and you can’t eat cholesterol so those criteria right there help limit the really bad food you do eat.
However, the above diet is way too full of empty sugar calories in the drinks primarily. If you chose to drink water for both lunch and dinner you could then enjoy a small Wendy’s fries with either lunch OR dinner and still come out at around 1,600 calories and you’d feel more full.
The key to eating ANYTHING you want like this diet above for vegans to lose as much weight as you want is to choose small sizes where it counts. So with the salads we can choose a big size. But with the Starbucks vanilla soy latte we choose a small size. The fries if we have them are a small size and we eat just one burrito not two.
I hope this has been helpful. You can eat whatever you want on a vegan diet and still lose weight, you just have to make smart choices and keep your portion sizes small and count your calories. That is the key right there.