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Vegan Nutrition & Health Weight Loss

Plant Based Diet For Weight Loss (5 Surefire Tips)

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Following a vegan diet doesn’t immediately end in weight loss. There are a few more adjustments to consider if your expectations include weight loss on the plant based diet. Today, I would like to share 5 surefire tips on how to use the plant based diet for weight loss.

Can you lose weight on a plant based diet?

The plant based diet performs best for fat loss:

“In a recent study, restricting dietary fat led to body fat loss at a rate 68 percent higher than cutting the same number of carbohydrate calories when adults with obesity ate strictly controlled diets.” (source)

This means if you follow a low carb diet, you will still lose weight, but a lot of the weight loss takes place as water weight loss, or muscle mass loss. This might be an option if you only want to lose weight quickly, but if you are really serious about long term fat loss, go with the vegan diet and enjoy the (complex) carbs!

Studies also found that the vegan diet group is the only one that averages a normal BMI compared to other diet groups (study).

A plant based diet naturally promotes healthy weight. But weight loss is only one of many plant-based diet benefits. It has the power to improve overall health. Personally (besides weight loss), it has cleared my acne, migraines, and acid reflux while also improving my immune system and energy levels.

Surefire tips to lose weight on the plant based diet

When it comes to weight loss on the vegan diet, there are a few things to consider. You can make a few more tweaks to your plant based diet to lose weight quickly.

Related:

  • How to curb cravings on the plant based diet
  • How to prep healthy vegan breakfast, lunch, snack, and dinner in only 30 minutes
  • This is How You Transition to a Vegan Diet Successfully {+Free PDF}

Tip #1 Stick to a whole food plant based diet

If you are wondering about the difference between vegan, plant based, and whole food plant based, here it is:
 
Vegan means that you avoid everything derived from animals. Just like plant based. But you also avoid leather, and maybe watch your beauty products for the label “cruelty free”. Eating vegan can include cookies like Oreos.
Plant based means you focus mostly on eating plants, but you may not be so focused on the vegan aspect outside of diet. Plant based also includes processed foods like plant based burgers.
The whole food plant based diet is a fully vegan or plant based diet focusing on whole foods. This means you leave all processed foods out of your diet. Processed foods are vegan junk foods, like fries, cookies, vegan burgers, oils, sugar, and so on.
 
While the vegan diet has already been proven to be best for weight loss, you can speed up weight loss even more by ditching the processed foods. Sticking to whole plant foods will fill and fuel your body without adding an excess of calories. It is very hard to over eat on a whole food plant based diet so weight loss occurs more naturally.
 
Whole foods are packed with nutrients and lower in calories (nutrient dense). You’ll get more nutrients for your food and you will be able to eat a large plate of food for only 500 calories and be filled and fueled (volume eating). The two mechanisms, nutrient density and volume eating, are key to health and weight loss. In my book, Plant Powered Health, I explain these two mechanisms in detail. I also created a food pyramid based on these mechanism and all recipes and meal plans found in the book are designed with the food pyramid in mind.
 

Tip #2 Don’t follow fad diets

A big weight loss mistake is cutting out too many calories, or cutting out whole food groups. Low carb and low calorie diets do not provide all the nutrients you need and will ultimately leave you hungry, cranky, and low on energy. Your body needs a certain amount of calories to get all the nutrients to function properly. I don’t recommend eating much less than 1700 calories per day. Anything below this may lack important nutrients.

Tip #3 Make these easy food swaps for weight loss

Swap white pasta and white rice with whole wheat pasta and brown rice. The whole foods will better regulate blood sugar and will give you energy for longer. You’ll have lasting energy and feel full for hours. Feeling full and satisfied will curb cravings and help you avoid reaching for junk foods.

Curb sweet cravings with sweet whole foods like fresh or dried fruits. To sweeten drinks you can use stevia. I like to use this stevia with erythritol. Both are safe, zero calorie sweeteners. Stevia is natural and erythritol is a safe sugar alcohol. These are great to make homemade sweet tea. Saving calories on sweet drinks can drastically help with weight loss. If you want a sweet snack, here are a few quick snack options:

  • Snack #1: Spread peanut butter on a whole wheat tortilla. Then roll a banana into it and cut in bite-sized pieces.
  • Snack #2: Melt vegan chocolate (typically 75%+ cocoa) in the microwave for one minute (or until melted) then cover your favorite fruits and let harden in fridge.
  • Snack #3: Make an oat bowl with cinnamon, apples, flax seed, and maple syrup.
  • Snack #4: Make this super sweet Black Forest Cake Smoothie.
  • Snack #5: Make super easy carrot cake balls with carrots and nuts. I use the recipe within this meal planning app and cover in melted chocolate (like snack #2) instead of coconut flakes.

These options are naturally sweet but also contain a lot of fiber. So you’ll pack in important nutrients while satisfying your sweet tooth.These fiber-rick snacks are very filling so you are less likely to over eat.

Tip #4 Balance your meals and fill your belly

The moment you are hungry is the moment you are mentally weak and give in to cravings, right? There is no point in starving yourself. It is not healthy, not effective, and it does not create lasting habits.

So be sure to prepare filling meals and eat until you are full. Balancing meals will help you get all your nutrients in while reducing calories. A balanced plate contains lots of vegetables, a plant based protein source, a healthy whole grain, and a small amount of healthy fat.

Tips #5 Check Your Calories

While you don’t really need to track your calories on a whole food plant based diet, I recommend doing so for the first week or so. This will help you understand which foods are high in calories and which foods are low in calories. It also helps you to get a feeling for portion sizes. If you eat a 1700 calorie diet for a week, you’ll know exactly how much food and what types of foods to eat during the day. It will help you determine what is too much or too little.
 
Calorie consumption has increased all over the world. In America, food consumption increased from 2880 calories per day per person in 1961 to 3687 calories per person per day in 2012 (source: ourworldindata.org). In 2013, people were eating 1.5 times as much meat than in 1961, 2.5 times more vegetable oil, and 1.2 times more sugar and sweeteners (http://www.fao.org). Our culture has been increasing food intake, especially foods that are not nutrient dense. Most of us simply don’t know how many calories we are eating. Assessing your caloric consumption and determining how many calories you actually need can really help you gain a better understanding of your eating habits and will help you improve your overall health.
 
I like to use the “Body Weight Planner” (free) by the National Institutes of Health. You simply type in your body measurements, activity level, and goals. The program calculates daily caloric intake based on your needs. It includes factors like lifestyle, exercise, age, and weight. This free tool will tell you how many calories you should eat if you want to maintain, lose, or gain weight. For weight loss you generally want to reduce the calorie intake from your maintenance calories by 200-300 per day.
 
GET THE TUTORIAL HERE>>
 

Personal Experience

​My struggle with weight loss is that I LOVE FOOD 🙂

What actually made me change my habits was not a weight loss motivation. The vegan diet has helped me with weight loss and some health issues like migraines, acid reflux, and more. But after 2 years I still struggled with hormonal acne, infertility, and I just couldn’t shed the last few pounds. So I tested how it would affect my body when I go completely whole food plant based. No more processed wheat products, no added oils, no sugar, no alcohol. 

Within a few days my hormonal acne cleared. AND my weight dropped naturally as a side effect. So my recommendation is to not focus on only weight loss and get too concerned with it but to learn and understand how to eat healthy first. Focus on making small changes toward a whole food plant based diet and the weight will shed naturally.

In the image above you can see how I lost weight by simply eating vegan (with processed foods every once in a while). But once I focused on whole food plant based completely (red arrow) my weight started to drop pretty fast. And I was not hungry or felt like I am dieting. I also did not work out during this time. I ate a lot of food and delicious food! During this time my acne cleared as well. t’s amazing what a whole food plant based diet can do for you.

Example Weight Loss Meal Plans

 

  • BUDGET MEAL PLAN FOR TWO (1300 CALORIES, 5 DAYS, $65)
  • 7-DAY 1200 CALORIE VEGAN WEIGHT LOSS MEAL PLAN
  • 5-DAY VEGAN WEIGHT LOSS MEAL PLAN (1700 CALORIES)
  • VEGAN WEIGHT LOSS MEAL PREP FOR ONE WEEK (GLUTEN FREE)
  • 50+ VEGAN WEIGHT LOSS RECIPES


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Lisa is the creator of 2sharemyjoy.com and the author of Plant Powered Health. She earned a Master’s degree in sports education and also earned a certificate in vegan nutrition. Lisa uses her education to analyze nutrition research and turns it into a practical approach for her audience. Her readers enjoy her well-planned easy vegan recipes and meal plans. Read More…

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