Why is every vegetarian I know, very slim?

[samy23]

Does meat make people gain weight? I swear every vegetarian person I've met in my life has been very slim/slender, so it's made me wonder why?

[elizawill]

no, i don't think it's to do with the meat in one's diet. you can absolutely be a carnivore and be healthy & slim too. it's all about food choices & 'intentional' eating. vegetarians and vegans can be fat just like anyone else. a calorie is still a calorie, ykwim? especially in today's market, there is a lot of "vegetarian" choices that are just as processed as any mainstream option.

IME though, many people that choose to be vegetarian or vegan tend to be more aware of what they're eating, and they make more deliberate choices in what they want to put in their mouths. plus, i *think* (no data to back this up - jmo), but a lot of vegetarians do not live sedentary lifestyles. most people i know that are vegetarian not only eat well, but they also live well and exercise & take care of themselves, ykwim? anyway... that's my 2 cents.

[texmati]

Take it from me... we're not !

I've made very poor eating choices despite being a vegetarian. I don't know why I can avoid something completely if it's made with meat products, but I can't stay away from those fattening muffins in the checkout aisle.

[kathymuggle]

I have been truly vegetarian in the past - and I am an omnivore now (that may change, though). I have been overweight my whole adult life.

I will say I did weigh less as a vegetarian that I do as an omnivore -but even as a vegetarian I was overweight.

There are multiple reasons for vegetarianism - and those who are drawn to it for health reason are likely to be fairly conscious of what they put in their mouths in general - hence the slenderness.

I do wonder what the stats are on vegetarians and weight....anyone know?

Kathy

[ParisApril]

I have known vegetarians of all shapes and sizes throughout my life.

[sagewinna]

I'm a size 14... When I was omni I was a size 20 (it's been 12 years now). I eat a lot more produce and whole grains now, before I ate a standard American diet, heavy on the fast food and convenience foods.

My husband is a big guy, probably 75-100 lbs overweight. He struggles with processed foods, sweets and fried stuff and isn't big on veggies. We eat a ova-veg diet at home (I eat a vegan diet and do not cook/bake with eggs), he eats dairy and seafood out.

I know vegetarians of all sizes and some struggle with weight and some do not.

[CatsCradle]

Weight gain (and I say this in a general sense - realizing that there are other variables) is tied to calorie consumption and failure or inability to convert those calories into energy. If there is a higher incidence of thinness among vegetarians/vegans, it is related to the calories they consume. Vegetables and fruits have less calories than other foods. However, many people who become vegetarian simply eliminate meat and substitute meat-based meals with high calorie meals (pasta, cheese, breads, etc.). Often such substitution will result in more calories consumed than if that person had eaten a steak and salad. If said vegetarians are not burning the calories they consume, then they will either stay the same weight or gain weight. I imagine there is a huge discrepancy in the calories contained in a meal consisting of fetticini alfredo w/ a buttered roll and in a meal consisting of brown rice w/steamed vegetables.

In essence, it is all about "what" you eat and your activity levels, not about vegetarianism v. something else. The vegetarians/vegans you know may simply have a high plant-based diet. Or, they may be very active and more likely to burn the calories they consume. When I was a long-distance runner, I could eat thousands of calories per day and not gain weight. In fact, I ate tons of pasta and other foods high in carbs. Now that I'm not running at those levels, I had to cut way back on my calorie consumption. Goodbye pizza. Goodbye pasta. Hello carrots.

[rainbowmoon]

Catscradle- weight gain is certainly not always tied in to calories and activity. I know several people with thyroid issues (some veg) who do not eat alot AND exercise regularly and still are not skinny or even considered thin.

I have been veg for 15 years and have met vegetarians in many sizes as well! So I don't think that is always true that veggies are always on the thin side.

[maciascl]

I always tell people you can be veg & live on french fies & soda, but that doesn't make you healthy. Even us veg*n come in all sizes

[CatsCradle]

Catscradle- weight gain is certainly not always tied in to calories and activity. I know several people with thyroid issues (some veg) who do not eat alot AND exercise regularly and still are not skinny or even considered thin.

I appreciate that fact and that is why I prefaced my post with the following:

Weight gain (and I say this in a general sense - realizing that there are other variables) is tied to calorie consumption and failure or inability to convert those calories into energy.

What I was trying to address in my post is that there is probably a misconception out there that vegetarianism = thin. Metabolism plays a huge role too. My own metabolism has shifted greatly as I approach menopause. While there may be some remote correlation between vegetarianism and thin people, there are too many personal variables to effectively conclude that vegetarianism (if defined as the absence of meat) in itself is responsible for low body weight. I say this as a long-time vegetarian/mostly vegan.

[fresh_veggie]

I would say this is generally true, but I belong to a vegetarian club at my school - and let me assure you - we come in all different sizes! Veggie is definitely a way to introduce conscious and aware eating, which helps a lot of people lose weight.

[wytchywoman]

I'm 5'2" and weigh 145. I'm not slim by any means and I've been a vegetarian for years. I recently (unsuccessfully) tried veganism for a while and lost a ton of weight but I have a hard time sticking to it. Once I returned to lacto-veg I put all the weight right back on. So in short, I don't necessarily think being a vegetarian guarantees a skinny body. I do think that eating an abundance of fruits and vegetables and beans and legumes with minimal fat sources will provide that.

[kathymuggle]

From purely what I have seen:

I know overweight vegetarians.

I do not know any highly obese vegetarians.

For obese: lets say really overweight: 75 lbs or more over their ideal body weight.

[MoonStarFalling]

I know more obese veggies than I do normal weight ones. I know some really unhealthy veggies with cholesterol problems etc. They have the wrong blood type for being veg IMO.

I ate a TF meat eating diet for one year as an experiment and I gained a ton of weight! It's not good for me.

[GinnyMama]

Well, I am the only vegetarian I know, and I have only met one other in my lifetime, who happened to be my religions professor in college... and he was thin. But I was not. I was a vegetarian for a couple of years before I got pregnant, and I was AWFUL at it. I gained 30 pounds in those years. I felt terrible, too. I was pale and fatigued all the time. I began eating meat again when I got pregnant with my first child, because I knew for me it would be healthier. Now that my second child is born, I'm vegetarian again, but doing it the right way this time, and i've lost nearly 45 pounds. It has everything to do with how you go about it, as I've seen for myself.

[fresh_veggie]

Originally Posted by MoonStarFalling

I know more obese veggies than I do normal weight ones. I know some really unhealthy veggies with cholesterol problems etc. They have the wrong blood type for being veg IMO.

You should look up stuff on the Dr. D'Adamo book and how the research isn't real. Lol. It's a complete fraud - if our blood really agglutinated when we ate certain foods, we'd all be dead! Agglutination is a severely dangerous condition and is not caused by food. Agglutination is what happens when two bloods with different antibodies mix. My blood type is "wrong" for being veggie too, and I'm in really good shape.

I don't know any obese veggies, but a helluvalot of SAD ones . Lol.

[lilyka]

I am an obese vegan and my kids have packe don the pounds since we ditched animal products. I was fat long before becoming vegan but taking away the meat did not magically make the pounds fall off. I have been vegan for a year now and no exciting diet miricles to report.

I have lost a lot of weight in the last few months but it has nothing to do with vegan. it has to do with keeping my calorie intake extremely low.

the reason my kids are gaining weight I think is because they eat a lot of carbs. almost exclusively. smothered with a nice healthy but still fattening vegan margerine. i mean really eating veggies is good but if your life is out of balance or you still eat tons of processed foods or you are a glutton you will still be unhealthy and likely obese. thats just the way it is.

there are all kinds of ways to be unhealthy vegans. I have 3 dozen cupcakes baking up that will prove it. there is not a drop of anything healthy in them.

[BeckC]

I am a very overweight vegetarian. I'm just under 5' tall and weight about 230 lbs. We come in all shapes and sizes.

And no, I'm not a junkfood vegetarian. Today for example my diet consisted of:

1 container of strawberry yogurt
appx 1 cup of annie's mac n cheese with lots of broccoli
bowl of blueberries
"pizza" which was a whole wheat tortilla with spinach, tomatoes, onions, peppers and some cheddar and mozerella cheese
1/2 cup of pineapple/orange juice

[fresh_veggie]

Originally Posted by lilyka

i mean really eating veggies is good but if your life is out of balance or you still eat tons of processed foods or you are a glutton you will still be unhealthy and likely obese. thats just the way it is.

I think that's what it comes down to. Have you guys seend the vegan cupcakes take over the world book? Yeah. Haha. I just noticed they came out with a new book, and it looks incredible. Vegan cookies take over your cookie jar.

Also, people lose and gain weight seemingly independent of food consumption it seems, sometimes. Undiagnosed hypothyroidism - I was reading about it lately. Very interesting!

[chanale]

I'm obese (~90 pounds overweight) although I've been a vegetarian for over 20 years and a vegan for the past 3.

At home I eat 99.9% organic whole foods, restrict eating out. I always gain weight averaging 2,000 calories daily, even though the maddening calculators claim that at my age/weight/height I should burn that much lying in bed 24/7 (and here I work out for an hour 4-5 days a week).

It drives me bananas when people assume I eat junk food and/or massive proportions when neither is true. If I need a reminder of what my weight might be if I didn't have a healthy diet, all I need is to look at my 300+ pound brother.

I have quite a few veg*an friends (I run in a crunchy circle). I'm the only one who's obese. A couple carry some extra pounds. Most are slim. We come in all shapes and sizes, as BeckC said.