Life after VLCD, veggie or not?

I'm not sure where is best to discuss this.

I feel I am coming to the end of my vlcd journey. I am not at a target weight loss but something has changed and I know I either plan for it now or I'm going to struggle and fail

I have lost over 4 stone since the start of february but I am increasingly feeling the need to switch onto something else to complete my weight loss journey.

I am driven towards low carb (carbs are my enemy!) but I need for it to be lowish fat also.

I don't think I can successfully achieve this as a vegetarian.

So I want to know has anyone else come to the same conclusion? What did you do? I don't want this to turn into who is better, vegetarian or meat eater, believe me I am struggling with this already. What I do want is help making an informed decision for my long term health and current weight loss.

thanks

I'm at the stage of having stepped up my calories from a VLCD as I'm doing a slow refeed to lose my last stone (reached 6 stone lost as of this morning). I know I couldn't go back to just the packs now as I've been on them for too long so I do know how you feel. I'm staying in ketosis during my step up and count all of my carbs etc. using MFP.

My calories vary to be honest. During the week I try to stay around 800 calories, and at weekends allow myself 1000 or so but as long as I stay under my BMR I'm not hung up about the calories to be honest. I try to keep my carbs between 60 and 70g. Having looked at my MFP diary I do get most of my protein from meat sources such as chicken and fish and they have lots of protein and lowish fat, but there are reasonable amounts of protein in the soya products I have too. My new personal favourite is plain soya yoghurt. Who knew that would taste so good! Then there are eggs, cheese, quorn, quark, and many other things that provide sufficient protein. I know that some of these are higher in fat than meat products but maybe you just need to cut down on quantities? Maybe consider trying to include some whey protein drinks or low carb protein bars to keep protein levels up too? I know that sounds a bit VLCD like but I intend to use some of the products in maintenance too as they are easy and convenient, and should help me stay on the straight and narrow I hope.

I've been having lots of salad and low carb veggies that have been lovely and filling, and low calorie / carb.

So I think you could make a low carb diet work as a vegetarian but it would be more difficult than for someone who eats meat. I know that Weasey was a vegetarian when she started LL but has started to eat meat now as she is a Type 2 diabetic and has found that it has been easier for her to eat more healthily as a meat eater than a veggie.

Whilst I'm low carbing at the moment I don't intend to do that forever. I will be low GLing when I'm properly in maintenance but that's 10lbs away yet

thanks borders. Your loss is fantastic! I'm glad to hear you have a plan in place for refeed and more importantly that its working for you.

I know I have to cut the carbs when eating resumes as I feel I am really sensitive to them. I have low carbed in the past but I really struggled to shift anything more than my initial water weight. I think this may have been down to eating low carb but very high fat. I know some will say low carb high fat should work but it doesn't for me. My body is now restricted in its fat processing capability so I have to consider that to.

I will be sticking with the shakes for breakfast. Its too busy for breakfast in my house with kids to organise and work to get to. A shake at work is something I am not giving up.

I may have to stalk weasey for a bit the other thing I need to work out is if I do switch back to meat what on earth do I start with?? I failed at the first test tonight with prawns, didn't like the smell or taste and the squishy texture was yuk. Worst of all they were vegetarian Linda McCartney prawns

I had been vegetarian for over 20 years before I started my VLCD. For the first 6 months I only had packs and for the last 4 months I had packs plus a protein meal and stepped up my calories to around 800 a day. I thought long and hard about my vegetarianism whilst only on packs and slowly came to the conclusion that I would eat meat again. I have type 2 diabetes and want to avoid too many carbs. It's really hard to get protein on a vegetarian diet without it coming along with extra carbs or extra fat. I found it a difficult decision to make as I was choosing my own health over the lives of animals. However, I realised that one of the reasons I was so overweight was because I always put myself last - eg if I'm busy with work then I won't eat lunch then I'll be starving and eat everything for tea - I realised that sometimes I need to come higher in the order of priorities. It is something only you can decide and it needs to be the right decision for you.

I have now reached goal (as of 1 week ago!) and am doing a very slow refeed. If you're interested I have a refeed thread in the Slim and Save Refeed forum.

Hooked said:

I may have to stalk weasey for a bit the other thing I need to work out is if I do switch back to meat what on earth do I start with?? I failed at the first test tonight with prawns, didn't like the smell or taste and the squishy texture was yuk. Worst of all they were vegetarian Linda McCartney prawns

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Sorry - just saw this bit! That's what happens when you haven't got much time but you want to reply to an interested thread!

You might find my diary from during the weight loss interesting as I talk in there about my change from being a vegetarian and also about the different stages of my journey. It's in the Slim and Save Diary forum.

thanks weasey, I will have a look at your diary. The putting yourself first bit is hitting home a lot. I can see a lot of this in me. This started to change with starting S&S i.e. Yes I am worth the cost of the packs! Now I have lost quite a bit of the weight I am generally starting to feel more like 'me' again and added to this I have started to question how I got lost in the first place if that makes sense?

I think this is how I started to question my food choices and for me a significant part of becoming vegetarian was putting the welfare/suffering of animals ahead of my own selection and enjoyment of food. The crucial point for me now is my digestive health has suffered potentially as a result of this choice 20 odd years ago. Meat free, low fat and high carb eating has lost me my gallbladder and my weight gain/loss has been dreadful. I want to plan for the future and put my health first but its still difficult to contemplate eating meat again!

Well someone else tried those vegetarian prawns (who usually likes prawns) and thought that they were disgusting so maybe not the best thing to have started with. Prawns are the sort of thing you either like or you don't. Maybe some plain chicken might be a better bet if you do decide to give it a go? Not many people hate plain chicken. If you are concerned about the animal welfare aspect maybe you can look into buying from somewhere that has animal welfare at the top of the list?

Yes - one option is to buy free range meat - you can often get it from butchers. I would suggest though that if you decide to start eating meat again to perhaps start with fish (assuming you don't eat it now). That's what I did. Seabass fillets are my favourite. Also, it would be worth checking out nzmeg's diary on the LighterLife Maintenance forum as she is also someone who was vegetarian and now no longer is and is maintaining.

I'm not veggie, but being on this diet has yet again refocused my mind about the meat I *do* eat.

High welfare, British meat only. This means no ready-meals as they all use cheap meat. I already ate a reasonable amount of veggie food anyway - Compare supermarket prices | Online supermarket shopping | Save and compare on Health and Beauty products are quite nice, quorn products, soya etc, plus eggs. You could also use whey protein powder to increase your protein intake in a breakfast shake, for example.

Having good quality protein keeps the brown fat mobilised so supports maintainence. I think it's hard to have a high protein lower fat diet as a vegetarian. So it seems sensible to have real food from decent farms, with high animal welfare and organic grass. Whilst they may be higher fat than you plan, the paleo websites are useful - see Mark's Daily Apple & What Is The Paleo Diet? are good starting points. I realise that I need to manage my portion sizes when I'm at goal and eat more low carb veg than I was before. As we are also managing portion sizes, the costs of buying food will be more manageable as we need less than we would have eaten before.

This is a really good topic, i've never thought about it really.
I'll be at my goal at Christmas, so i'll be entering a completely new lifestyle food wise. I'm not sure that i'd become a veggie, simply because i love chicken lol. But i have thought about cutting out carbs, which i find easy to do anyway.

I am going veggie after my VLCD. I have been wanting to do it for a long time (I am a die hard animal lover/activist) but as a life long meat eater have found it hard to give up despite my convictions. I think the VLCD will be a good break and I look forward to eating with a clear conscience when I am done!

1978Emma- thanks for encouraging me even more. I know I want to be a veggie. We went to a farm recently and the pigs and piglets were so cute and smart. I don't want to eat them. I want to enjoy their company! x

believe me after 20 odd yrs being veggie this has not been an easy decision. I am the only one in my family and friends that decided to go veggie and it has been part of me for such a long time.

however, I have to consider what is more important - my health or my long held beliefs?

The internal conflict I am experiencing now is truly horrible at times but I know that this is realistically the best chance I have got at living pain free and being able to function day to day. (brief explanation: my gallbladder was removed probably in error, I cannot process high fat effectively without it and with the condition causing the pain)

yes low carbing is achievable as a veggie but after a lot of reading I am preferring the paleo option AliGirl refers to. Quorn and other meat substitutes are highly processed foods that come with their own issues.

anyway, I could go on forever about this but I won't bore you with it!

good luck to everyone, which ever path you end up going down