Proven Tips for Overweight Vegetarians to Lose Weight the Vegetarian Way by Laura Ng

I've worked with quite a number of overweight vegetarians and help them lose weight vegetarian style effectively. My method is very simple. Find out the causes of your overweight problem and then work reverse to counteract the effect. Simply put, if there are things you're doing to gain weight, there must be things you can do to lose back the weight again. Let's go identify what exactly triggers your weight gain and turn you into an overweight vegetarian. Then from there, we'll apply the right cure to your fat problem, and lose weight vegetarian easily and safely.

1. Have You Been Eating Lots of Sweetened Food?

Most sweetened foods are created with refined sugar because it's cheap. Your body will need to use up 27 key nutrients (calcium, magnesium, potassium, vitamin B1, B2 etc) just to digest this little white devil. These 27 nutrients are actually meant to keep your metabolism functioning properly so as to help you maintain your weight. That's why those who include lots of high-sugar food in their vegetarian diet tend to have their midsection grow unstoppably.

Tip: Substitute with vegetarian foods made from unrefined sugar since it contains useful minerals, unlike simple sugar which carries nothing good for you but calories. However, control your intake even though it's unrefined because unrefined sugar also carries high calories.

2. Did You Eat Plenty of Vegetables?

I've seen overweight vegetarians eating fruits, nuts and seeds and other whole grain foods, except vegetables. They don't eat vegetables probably because they don't like its bland taste and texture. No doubt these people lose weight vegetarian initially, but they soon reach a weight loss plateau for not getting a full spectrum of nutrients in their vegetarian diets.

Tip: Include vegetables by blending with fruits into smoothies for easier consumption. Make it a 2:3 (vegetable to fruit) ratio.

3. Have You Been Eating Textured Vegetable Protein (TVP)?

TVP is helpful in transitioning to a full vegetarian. However, ingesting too much can increase your total caloric intake because most TVP foods are infused with simple sugar, sodium and bad saturated fat.

Tip: Try to phase out your TVP one by one and increase your whole food intake like fruits, vegetables, nuts and seeds, legumes, whole grains etc.

These are just the 3 common fattening causes for most overweight vegetarians. In a nutshell, to lose weight vegetarian effectively, you must control your calorie intake and boost your metabolism. Once you have these 2 elements in place, you can easily write your name off the "Overweight Vegetarian Club".