Will a Vegetarian Diet Help Me Lose Weight?

 

Written by Jenny Catton

 

Many people choose a vegetarian diet for health or ethical reasons. But when it comes to shedding the pounds, will a vegetarian diet help you lose weight?

 

Yes –Libby

When I started university I was about three stone overweight. That’s because I was brought up eating lots of meat products and would regularly tuck into burgers, hot dogs and pepperoni pizzas. But at university I shared a flat with a vegetarian. She loved to cook and made delicious vegetarian meals every day for both of us. I could see how much healthier it was than my old meat-heavy diet and my excess weight began to drop off.  I decided to become a full-time vegetarian and the result is I’m still slim almost 10 years later. Every day, I enjoy a wide range of foods and base my meals around fruit, vegetables, grains and pulses. This makes it easy to stick to a low-fat and low-calorie diet.

Many meat dishes are high in fat and cholesterol, making them bad news for anyone who wants to be healthy and lose weight. Being vegetarian forces you to think more carefully about mealtimes so you’re more likely to make healthy choices.

When I told my family that I’d become vegetarian, they were worried that I wouldn’t get all the nutrients I need. However, I believe I get a much more balanced diet now and it’s easy to make sure you’re getting protein by eating things like yogurt, cheese, eggs, beans and pulses.

 

 

No – Mitch

No one food group is to blame for weight gain, so cutting something like meat out from your diet is unlikely to have an effect on your weight, unless you are making other changes too.

Of course, some meat dishes are high in calories and fat but many vegetarian dishes are too. Think about macaroni cheese, four cheese pizza or chocolate cake – they are all vegetarian but none of them will help you lose weight. I think that vegetarian food can be just as bad for you as meat-based dishes if you make the wrong choices.

Vegetarian dishes are often high in carbohydrates or dairy products as they rely on these as a substitute for the meat. In high quantities both of these can add to weight gain. Also vegetarian diets tend to be lacking in protein. Protein actually makes us feel full, so if you aren’t getting enough then you’re likely to feel hungry more often, causing you to eat more.

The other problem is that when eating out, vegetarians have much less choice than meat eaters. This makes it harder to choose healthy options. For example, in a restaurant, a chicken salad will be much healthier and lower in both fat and calories than a rich, creamy mushroom risotto served with garlic bread.

Rather than cutting out meat entirely, it would be better to look at your overall diet and see where you can make healthy changes.

 

Categories: Lose weight, meat, meat dishes, Vegetarian, vegetarian diet, vegetarian dishes, weight, weight gain, weight nbsp

Seven Motivation Tips For Men Who Want to Lose Weight

Losing weight can be an extremely difficult and often frustrating experience – especially if you are impatient about seeing results. Soon your motivation begins to waver and suddenly you find that you’re back to your old size. However, with a few tips – courtesy of wellness and fitness writer Evan Campbell – you can sort out your wellbeing once and for all and see those pounds slowly melt away.

 

1. Picture It: Campbell advises, ‘If you were once the proud owner of six-pack abs but are now on your way to looking like Phil ‘The Power’ Taylor, stop the madness by digging up some photos of yourself (and your former abs) and display them in as many spots as possible, such as at your desk, or in your kitchen. The point of this exercise is to make you so nostalgic for how you once looked and felt about yourself, that you will work toward feeling this way once more. But be forewarned, the first few weeks of seeing yourself in your glory might make you depressed and cause the opposite effect: discouragement. However, once you get over feeling sorry for yourself, the anger will set in and you’ll be on your way.’

 

2. Get Your Favourite Jeans Out:Campbell recommends, ‘Resurrect your former favourite pair of jeans that you haven’t been able to fit into for months (or years) and hang them somewhere that will force you to see them every day, like your bedroom or bathroom door. They will serve as a constant reminder of how you used to look and of the fact that your current weight is unacceptable.’

 

3. Plan Ahead: ‘If you’re dead set on regaining your 34-inch waist, go to your favourite clothing store and buy yourself a kick-ass power suit, a stylish fitted shirt and slim trousers, or that belt you’ve been eyeing for a while in a size 34,’ says Campbell. ‘The fact that you invested in these stylish new threads, but can’t wear them, may just upset you enough to start losing weight.’

 

4. Keep a Log:Campbell comments, ‘So you fell off the wagon and ate that big bowl of ice cream or didn’t go to the gym for five days straight. Get a piece of paper and a pen and write down what you did, why you are now royally pissed off at yourself and what you plan on doing in the immediate future to fix it. Friends often can’t relate to personal weight problems, so a log is a good outlet for your frustration and allows you to come up with concrete solutions.’

 

5. Get a Workout Buddy: ‘You may have a friend who’s a gym rat and can provide you with all the motivation you need to make your dreams of weight loss a reality,’ notes Campbell. ‘Set up a regular training schedule with this person. The fact that you have someone waiting for you at the gym (and who’s fit, no less) will ensure that you don’t blow it off. Furthermore, as gym buddies you can spot each other.’

 

6. Hire a Trainer: ‘If you have the money, hire a trainer and pay him in advance,’ Campbell urges. ‘Not only will a trainer get you to show up at the gym and push you to your limit, the often substantial cost of hiring one may just be enough motivation to stick to the programme and lose weight.’

 

7. Look into Health Risks:Campbell warns, ‘If you are more than 25 pounds overweight, you are not only putting your looks on the line, you are also potentially sabotaging your health. So if the size of your clothes is not motivation enough to lose weight, look into the health hazards you are putting yourself at risk for by being overweight, such as diabetes and heart attack. This fear may just get you to shed those pounds faster than you know – especially if you get a physical and a warning from your doctor.’

Categories: campbell, Lose weight, Losing Weight, men, motivation, nbsp, pounds, weight, Weight Loss, weight nbsp

Six Wacky Ways to Lose Weight

Back in the day, people were always kept slim by the simple nature of the food they ate and the fact that there was no practical means of transport so most people walked everywhere. However, as the years have progressed and technology has moved forward we have increasingly led more sedentary lifestyles. When you combine this fact with the availability of cheap foods that are very high in fats and sugars, it’s no surprise that the natural shape of many people is becoming somewhat more doughy.

 

But these days some people will do just about anything to lose weight. It seems to be a part of life that is utterly consuming for those who desire weight loss. Whether it is through crazy fad diets, extreme exercise routines or drugs that promise weight loss, there is almost a limitless number of lengths that people will go in their attempts to achieve a slim and sleek physique. So we’ve compiled a list of the six strangest ways that people have used to attempt to lose weight.

 

Karaoke yoga

It might not seem like a winning combination but karaoke yoga became a very popular way to attempt weight loss in the area of Los Angeles in California, where it was invented by blue-sky thinking yoga teacher Jennifer Pastiloff. With a DJ and lyrics that flash up on the screen, you’re encouraged to sing-a-long to your favourite songs whilst practicing the ancient art of yoga. The logic behind it appears to be the long exhales of singing promoting breathing techniques and making it a more fun atmosphere.

 

Fat-melting machines

By the 1950s, fat-melting machines had become truly a big thing. The idea was a concept that sounds very good on paper – a way to lose weight without having to do any work yourself. Vibrating belts would jiggle your body to stimulate your muscles and this would help you to lose weight. It sounds a bit like nonsense and there has no solid evidence to suggest that it actually works. But funnily enough the concept is still around today. In the place of belts is a vibrating platform that promises to help you burn calories and lose weight.

 

Fake surfing

Fake surfing utilises a piece of equipment that functions as a fake surfboard, allowing you to ride the waves from the comfort of your gymnasium. The workout itself seems to be fairly good – you do a variety of exercises and movements – but swapping the thrill of the waves for a fake version just feels a bit of a shame.

 

The 50 Shapes of Grey

Capitalising on the success of the dreadful soft-core porn novel “Fifty Shades of Grey”, the fitness expert Kristen James compiled a list of 50 workout that are apparently based on it. The routine promises to improve not only your stamina and strength, but your sex life too.

 

The Sauna Suit

One method that was hoped to promote weight loss was the sauna suit. Sauna suits are made from a non-breathing material that was designed to make you sweat more while in the sauna or during a workout. Unfortunately, the main effect was that it caused people simply to become dehydrated very quickly from excessive sweating. Also, as they were generally silver, they made you look like a roast chicken.

 

Stiletto calisthenics

Stiletto calisthenics combine the concepts of working out and high-heels. They might not seem like the ideal combination but it was certainly thought to be a new way to get women working out. Supposedly being an ideal workout for your legs – especially if you already wear stilettos on a regular basis – it was briefly very popular.

Categories: 50 shades of grey, crazy ways, karaoke yoga, Lose weight, melting machines, people, sauna suit, stiletto calisthenics, weight, Weight Loss, weight nbsp

Lose Weight by Eating Just Six Biscuits Every Day

Imagine if you could eat biscuits all day and still lose weight… Dr Sanford Siegal’s new diet claims that you can! This new eating plan is the first of its kind to advocate a wellness-related programme that also involves stuffing your face with cookies. Of course, the snag is that you eat the biscuits instead of meals, so effectively it is a meal-replacement diet.

 

We’re not talking about extra-large double chocolate chip cookies, either! These are special biscuits that have been formulated to benefit your well-being and help you lose weight.

 

The Cookie Diet is along the same lines as the Slim-Fast diet, and was formulated by a Miami-based expert in the field of weight loss. Instead of breakfast, lunch and any snacks in between these two meals, you munch on six special low-calorie biscuits. The biscuits are only 90 calories each and are available in a variety of flavours, including cinnamon oatmeal, blueberry, maple syrup, banana, butterscotch and chocolate brownie.

 

You are then allowed to eat a dinner of your own choosing as long as it is healthy, sensible and low in calories. Your daily intake must not exceed 1,200 calories in order to stick to the diet and lose weight.

 

Pop star Madonna has criticised the diet, saying that the cookies made her then-husband Guy Ritchie lose his sex drive. They are made from fibrous grains such as oats, as well as amino acids and fruits. One week’s supply of biscuits for the diet will cost you around £41.50, and according to the founders of the diet, if you follow it strictly you should lose around 10lbs per month.

 

Nutritionists have criticised the diet, however, saying that it is too restrictive and is not a healthy approach to weight loss. Instead, they advocate finding a healthy eating pattern that works for you.

Categories: biscuits, cookie, diet, Lose, Lose weight, nbsp, weight, Weight Loss, weight nbsp