Vegetarian Girlfriend

[dunhac82]

My girlfriend is a vegetarian and wants to lose weight (she's about 5' 6" 160). At first she wanted to simply not eat and lose weight that way. I explained how that wouldn't help anything and I've been trying to incorporate walking and excercising into our time together. We weightlift at the very least once a week; I figured it would be a good idea since muscle uses fat for energy. We also go walking for some cardio excercise. For some reason she says that she retains the weight no matter what she does (ex cardio kickboxing class). I'm a little concerned that some of the reason behind that might be that she is not getting some essential nutrients in her body to lose that weight, since I know for sure that meat provides nutrients that vegtables don't. Basically just wanted to see if I'm correct on this assumption and maybe see what others think. I realise that everyones body is different and metabolises differently, builds muscle differently, etc. She also has a very low self image (even though I tell her that I love her the way she is) and I'm willing to do what it takes to help her. I would appreciate any suggestions and should also ad that I've been around weights my whole life, but am a bit sketchy when it comes to nutrition. Thanks in advance for any help.

[free spirit]

Drop the dairy. She'll loose loads of weight.

I was vegetarian and did just that. The weight fell off and I pretty much ate what I wanted (apart from the obvious!).

[escapee]

Does she consume plenty of refined carbohydrate ( Pizza, pasta and stuffs ) or sugar ? Does she eat alot at night ?

[Hilary]

Exercising is good for all kinds of things, but afaik losing weight so's you'd notice isn't really one of them. What she eats will make the difference, and free spirit and escapee are right on the money. (For me the difference between vegetarian and vegan - no dairy - was about a stone. And I also felt a lot more energetic as a vegan.)

One other suggestion - adopting the habit of having drinking water always to hand. It's easy to mistake thirst for hunger, and eat when you really need to drink.

[dunhac82]

Thanks for your replies. I can suggest she try dropping the dairy. Not sure if she eats a lot of refined carbs. Unfortunately I don't know if she eats at night either. I know that she does eat mostly pre made or frozen food; which I'm guessing isn't the best thing in the world health wise. Kind of curious if there are any supplements that she could be taking? I will try and get more info from her. Thank you all so much for your help and I welcome more advice if you have any.

[Scott H Young]

Virtually all weight loss comes to two factors:

Consuming less calories
Exercising more

Calorie reduction tends to slow the metabolism so it has less effects than exercise (which boosts metabolism), but the ideal combination is both. Weights are good because anaerobic activity boosts your metabolism more than just cardio.

I'm a vegetarian diet and I've done a lot of research on the subject, suffice to say that it can be a very healthy diet assuming you aren't just eating junk food. Meat doesn't provide anything you can't get from plants, often with less toxins. Still, do your own research and come to your own conclusions.

[escapee]

The moderate use of unprocessed virgin coconut product / oil could be what your vegetarian girl friend needs ( as she excludes saturated fats and CLA from animal source). It's natural, heart heathy and it may fire up your GF metabolism. In fact, they are a few great vegan body builders supplement their diet with coconut products if i'm not mistaken.

Weight Loss - The Coconut Diet™
(Note : I'm neither affiliated with the site nor selling any coconut product myself but i do consume coconut on a regularly basis ) .

So while we wait for the science to catch up with the truth, here is a better idea. Let’s go back and eat the traditional fats our forefathers and other traditional societies have eaten for hundreds and even thousands of years, and were known to be healthy. These fats are rich in saturated fats, and include healthy traditionally raised meat, dairy, and eggs. In tropical climates it includes coconut oil and palm oil. Coconut oil is unique in nature with medium chain fatty acids that are also found in human breast milk, with volumes of research showing that it leads to greater metabolism and weight loss.

In the l940s, farmers attempted to use cheap coconut oil for fattening their animals, but they found that it made them lean, active and hungry. For a few years, an antithyroid drug was found to make the livestock get fat while eating less food, but then it was found to be a strong carcinogen, and it also probably produced hypothyroidism in the people who ate the meat. By the late l940s, it was found that the same antithyroid effect, causing animals to get fat without eating much food, could be achieved by using soy beans and corn as feed.

G. W. Crile and his wife found that the metabolic rate of people in Yucatan, where coconut is a staple food, averaged 25% higher than that of people in the United States.

Heart damage is easily produced in animals by feeding them linoleic acid; this "essential" fatty acid turned out to be the heart toxin in rape-seed oil. The addition of saturated fat to the experimental heart-toxic oil-rich diet protects against the damage to heart cells.
Immunosuppression was observed in patients who were being "nourished" by intravenous emulsions of "essential fatty acids," and as a result coconut oil is used as the basis for intravenous fat feeding, except in organ-transplant patients. For those patients, emulsions of unsaturated oils are used specifically for their immunosuppressive effects.

Newsletter Samples: Nutrition

[Hilary]

About supplements... I doubt there's one that will make a significant difference in weight loss. Scott has summed that one up pretty well . But there are some nutrients you need to be a bit more conscious of on a vegetarian diet just in general - not least if you're cutting back on dairy - notably iron and zinc. Nuts and seeds (especially pumpkin) are good sources, and taste nicer than supplements.

[escapee]

Meat doesn't provide anything you can't get from plants, supplemental pills and fortified food, often with less toxins.

Argg. i'm not sure if i can agree on this especially on the B12, A, D, DHA, EPA and etc. Anyway, you are the only one who knows if the diet suits your body type.

[dunhac82]

Thanks again for the help everyone. The coconut oil sounds interesting and I guess it is worth a shot. Sounds like they suggest 4 Tbs a day; would just have to pick some up and try it for a little while to see if it works for her. If it does I would even try it myself. I'm glad to hear that she isn't missing much nutrition by not eating meat. I suppose she could take an all around supplement for the few that she is missing though.

[escapee]

After reading bunch of contradictive and confusing articles and books. I have come to personally believe that the following type of food are the main contributing factors for obesity. (correct me if miss anything )

1) Sugar ( Sugar and cancer )

2) Human Refined carbohydrate (pizza, bread, white rice, cookies, flour and etc )

3) Damaged vegetable oil (due to cooking and frying ), hydrogenated vege oil and commercially processed vegetable oil.

4) Alcohol

5) Lack of exercise

The recommedation of virgin coconut oil was meant to replace the unhealthy commercially processed vegetable oil for cooking. ( Many health conscious ppl prefer the natural high grade Primrose oil as supplement to obtain the undamaged form of omega 6 such as GLA . )

Effect of {gamma}-Linolenic Acid (omega 6 ) fights cancer

Good luck and stay healthy .

[mademan552]

As for losing weight, RossTraining - Bridging The Gap Between Ordinary and Extraordinary , check out blog, articles, forum, etc...

[shant121]

Originally Posted by escapee

Does she consume plenty of refined carbohydrate ( Pizza, pasta and stuffs ) or sugar ? Does she eat alot at night ?

Yes please pay attention to the above!! And go low or eliminate dairy. She needs to be happy, feel good about herself.

I've a frnd who was overweight. He eats a lot, anything too. But ever since he got into a relationship, he is not only very happy but he has actually lost weight!! and he eats more than I ever remember. its important to feel good.