Going Vegan (kind of)

I need to lose weight fast, and while a limited calorie diet has worked wonders for me (20 lbs in just over a month), I've been eating like crazy in the past month due to a long commute and eventually a move from Daytona to Kissimmee. I got a job as flight instructor now, which is 700-1700 with no breaks, and I'll need a second job to have an income I can pay the bills on. Finding time to exercise and cook will be even more difficult now.

Edited by Tolgak - 26 January 2011 at 6:54am

Not sure what your current body composition is, but if it's already decent then you might try carb cycling.

http://scoobysworkshop.com/carbcycling.htm

Also, you're losing weight too fast.  You're not that overweight (unless you've gained a lot recently), so about 10 lbs per month would be healthy.  Try for a calorie defecit of 1000 calories per day if that doesn't put you under 1500 calories per day.

The biggest thing for you to focus on should not only be your calorie intake but the ratios of nutrients.  Make sure above all else that you consume at least 1g per lb body weight of protein per day.  You don't necessarily have to cook; frozen vegetables, whey protein powder, and nuts are all very easys way to get the proper carbs, protein, and fat.  As far as protein goes, try for egg whites whenever possible.

About exercise, you really are going to have to do cardio and weight training to get what you want.  It will take about an hour out of your day and if you're really serious about losing weight, you'll find the time. 

Calories = calories

Burn more calories per day than you take in and you lose fat. Simple as that. It's not even significant where those calories come from or when. Vegan diets are not necessary.

Calculate your BMR:

http://www.bmi-calculator.net/bmr-calculator/

Multiply bmr by 1.2 and that what the average person with a similar body form as you will need to eat daily in calories to maintain their current body weight. A pound of body fat is 3500 calories. Decrease your (1.2XBMR) by 500 to lose 1lb/week or up to 1000 to lose 2lb/week. Don't go too low. It is unhealthy and will be very hard to maintain for any significant period of time. I would not suggest going under 1500-1700 calories per day for any extended period of time.

Work out with weights. Free weights, not machines. Heavy weights, not light. This will improve body composition the fastest. Even faster than if you were to say, take up running everyday.

I have a ton more to say if you want/would answer any of your questions as best as I can. I can also advise as to supplements.

Much of the forum will disagree with me but much of the forum is also uninformed/fat.

Edited by carl_the_sniper - 26 January 2011 at 10:24am

carl_the_sniper wrote: Vegan diets are not necessary.

Not only that, they typically require a lot of time consuming preparation if you want any sort of variety in your meals.

I've been a vegetarian for almost two years now, and one of the larger health concerns for vegetarians and vegans especially is getting the proper amount of B12. The B12 found in plants vary from the B12 found in animal products in that the plant-based B12 can't be used in the human body. You definitely need a multivitamin that has animal-based B12 in it if you are going through with this.

agentwhale007 wrote: Vegetarian/vegan diets - when used for reasons other than the whole animal ethics thing - are normally more for things like lowering cholesterol and blood pressure and less for raw weight loss, right?

People throw those out as reasons (I don't think I've heard one more than the other, though, and usually "health" is the only cited reason), but it's just as easy (if not easier, since you get to indulge in something that most people have enjoyed their entire life) to eat healthy diets with meat and animal products. I've always thought that people who completely cut meat out of their diet for general health reasons were a wee bit misinformed.

Tolga, that goes for you too, bud. Obviously I would be happy if you stopped eating meat, but lean chicken and tuna are excellent weight-loss foods in moderation, skim milk is an excellent and nutrient-rich appetite suppressant, and you need your B12.

And Carl has done his homework ever since he wanted to get in better shape for the military. Props.


Edited by Gatyr - 26 January 2011 at 11:19am

carl_the_sniper wrote: Work out with weights. Free weights, not machines. Heavy weights, not light. This will improve body composition the fastest. Even faster than if you were to say, take up running everyday. I have a ton more to say if you want/would answer any of your questions as best as I can. I can also advise as to supplements. Much of the forum will disagree with me but much of the forum is also uninformed/fat.

As someone who is not uninformed/fat, I would agree with your analysis in general.  It kind of depends on what Tolgak wants his body to be like, but it seems he should go this route.

In terms of burning calories in the least amount of time (as well as building muscle mass), lifting relatively large amounts of weight is the most efficient method.  That said, it doesn't have the same benefits for your heart and lungs that a cardiovascular exercise does.  You should include some cardio in your workout plans, no matter what you want your body to look like.  Lifting is more about what muscles you're hitting than what machine you're doing it on -- in other words, perform the correct technique and understand why you're doing each exercise.

Supplements can help, but the reality is that you probably don't need them.  Especially protein supplements (although, with going vegan that may change.)  Western diets generally have 50-100% more protein than people actually need.

I have never met a healthy looking vegan.

If you're not eating, it's because of bad planning.  There's more than enough food out there that doesn't need to be refrigerated and provides adequate nutrition.

ParielIsBack wrote: If you're not eating, it's because of bad planning.  There's more than enough food out there that doesn't need to be refrigerated and provides adequate nutrition.

Some of us are just really bad at it. I generally eat twice a day normally. Last semester was crazy hectic, I'd often eat at 5ish, and snack when I got home at 1am.

I think you have to vegan from the start to get your super powers.

carl_the_sniper wrote:   Exercise is great but the majority of your caloric deficit will come from how you eat. 1000 a day is ridiculously low. Unsafe for extended periods. Are you sure you were counting right?

My meals by calorie: 100   300  100  300  100. Any error in calculation for individual meals would bring it up to about 1000 per day. For the 300 cal meals, I usually made a base (meat, rice, pasta) that I accounted 250 calories for. I then used about 50 calories worth of vegetables. It never left me hungry.

This week I've been doing about 300  300  500  200. Not by choice, it's how the meals ended up being. If I mark up the error even by 25%, it still puts me on a fairly low calorie intake.

If you can, get protein from meat sources, lean meat sources much preferred like fish or chicken. Steak is fine too really, just skip the fried meats mostly.

I've done that. Works pretty well with the above plan. Meat gives me a craving for more food, which is why I want to stop eating it for now. I find myself more content with stopping after a vegan meal.

220? How tall are you? Unless you are well over 6 feet tall, I doubt that you have 30lbs of body fat (probably way more) and if you did, you probably wouldn't need to lose any fat at all in order to look decent.

6'3". I don't want to just look decent. I have a PFT to pretty much ace. I haven't given up on joining the Marines. Ever since the NROTC I've been working out, but occasionally something would happen that would stop all progress and sometimes reverse it. The limited calorie diet, which I started in September, is the cause of the first significant weight loss I've ever had. Hell, I've never been able to do as many pull ups in a set than I can do now... and I know that just wearing clothing and boots instead of doing them barefoot in house clothing can knock off one or two pull ups per set.

I'm running out of time. I need to get a near perfect PFT score soon so I can get an OCS spot for October. It's very competitive for college graduates. My heart and lungs can take a 6:30 mile pace at my weight. It's my legs that give out first. A severe reduction in my weight + running is going to be the best thing to get my score up.

Edited by Tolgak - 27 January 2011 at 6:49am