Vegetarianism. A little help...

[monodiabloloco]

I am a fat fella. I weigh in around 285 (pounds.. I'm an american. Also, I am about 5'8" to give you an idea to my plight) at the moment (down from 310lbs)My actual weight is deceptive because I have a pretty good bit of muscle mass from my earlier fighting years. I have, however, gained a pretty good belly also. If sumo was a bigger sport in the midwest, I would be all lined up for a new career. I feel that I could possibly lose about 80 or so pounds before I would be cutting into my muscle mass.
I plan to start a moderate exercise program with my not-fat-but-always-feels-like-she-needs-to-lose-weight better half later this week. To suppliment that, I have been considering taking up a semi-vegetarian diet. The semi part would come in with the keeping of eggs and dairy. I don't have a problem with animals being used for food or the way they are killed for that to happen.. I just want to feel better. (I know... I am a heartless bastard.)
Another reason I have been thinking on this is to improve my general internal health. Heart issues and cancer run in my family, and an all..well mostly meat diet doesn't seem to be ideal to avoid those in the future.
I know little about this diet as I have been nearly a carnivore for most of my life. The non meat things I eat are just there to enhance the meat experience. So now, I am a little at a loss as to how or even if I should procede.
Are there any of you who are vegetarians? Did any of you make the same carn to herb change over? If so, how did it effect you?
Also, any suggestions to the lazy and poor as to what meals/foods are easy/cheap?
Further, are there any suggestions on how a lover of cheeseburgers, bacon, and chicken tacos can make the switch without a nervous breakdown?
Also further: make all the fat american jokes you want.. they're fun! ...but try to help a fellow gamer out here!

 

[Singing Gremlin]

There's quite a lot of meat substitutes out there, Quorn being the most popular out here in Merry Old England. Personally, I think it tastes like crap but it does taste faintly meaty.

Cheap, easy=beans on toast. Any day, the old combination tastes great, only takes about a minute and a half to make and the beans are (apparently) a good source of protein to help replace what you get from meats.

Not really that much use I know, but I tried.

 

[L.B. Jeffries]

I dropped fifty pounds and have managed to keep them off via weight watchers.

Alas, it's basically just eat less & exercise more, but it works. You keep a food diary, manage your score, and play a giant video game with yourself to lose weight. At least that's what I pretended I was doing.

Other advice would be to drink a lot of green tea. I mean by the gallons. Make pitchers of it and keep them in the fridge, have a mug for breakfast and lunch. It naturally increases your metabolic rate and chugs through food like acid on a baby. Plus it's good for your skin, decreases likelihood of cancer, and makes you one with the Tao.

Good luck man.

 

[monodiabloloco]

I dropped fifty pounds and have managed to keep them off via weight watchers.

Alas, it's basically just eat less & exercise more, but it works. You keep a food diary, manage your score, and play a giant video game with yourself to lose weight. At least that's what I pretended I was doing.

Other advice would be to drink a lot of green tea. I mean by the gallons. Make pitchers of it and keep them in the fridge, have a mug for breakfast and lunch. It naturally increases your metabolic rate and chugs through food like acid on a baby. Plus it's good for your skin, decreases likelihood of cancer, and makes you one with the Tao.

Good luck man.

lol.. acid on a baby...
I actually love green tea.. well the pre-made bottled sweet kind. The only problem I have with making it at home is that I hate unsweetened tea but I am not supposed to have sugar unless it's in stuff naturally. I'm hypoglycemic (sp?) and, apparently, my body eats up the sugar like ..hehe.. acid on a baby unless it's natural. Then it goes at a normal pace. I switched from normal sodas.. Mt Dew was my friend for many years..to *shudder* diet drinks and stopped eating any kind of 'sweets'. It really helped too. I stopped getting shaky when it's been more than 4 hours without a meal, and sleep a little better too. I also attribute that to my change from 310 to 285lbs.
I will probably try some sort of fake-sugar substitute and drink a shite-tonne of green tea though. Thanks for the tip!

 

[monodiabloloco]

There's quite a lot of meat substitutes out there, Quarm being the most popular out here in Merry Old England. Personally, I think it tastes like crap but it does taste faintly meaty.

Cheap, easy=beans on toast. Any day, the old combination tastes great, only takes about a minute and a half to make and the beans are (apparently) a good source of protein to help replace what you get from meats.

Not really that much use I know, but I tried.

Actually, beans on toast sounds pretty good. I love that sort of simple stuff. I guess beans n franks isn't totally out of the question either so long as it's veggie-dogs. I've never heard of Quarm.. it may not be here in the US, or I may have missed it being a carnivore up to now..

 

[JoshMan]

I like to watch cooking shows, and one thing that I have learned is that if you mix a legume(eg beans, lentils) with a grain(rice, barley) you get a complete protein profile, the same as you would get from meat.Also eating mushrooms may fill you craving for meat( for exapmple portobello mushrooms are very meaty and big enough to fit inside a hambuger bun if you know what I mean). Or you could always eat bugs

 

[Demson]

Liposuction.

Make soap with your excess body fat for profit.

Simple.

You said you are an ex-fighter?

 

[MrKeroChan]

Depending on your physiology, you may have extra luck using the basic principals of the "SouthBeach" diet. As another "fat-yet-active" person, they helped me kick a bad bad sugar habit. Best of luck to you!!!

 

[monodiabloloco]

Liposuction.

Make soap with your excess body fat for profit.

Simple.

You said you are an ex-fighter?

The first rule of fight club is we don't talk about fight club.

HA! Seriously though, I'm not that hard core!
I also don't have a self-abusive dual personality... well not that I am aware of.

I weigh in the highest at roughly 300, so this is rather relevant to me... (Also, do I win a prize?)

I am not a vegitarian, but I am a picky eater... That's half of my problem. I abhor all seafood, most veggies, and almost every form of meat. The stuff I DO like to eat that ISN'T bad for me, is damn expensive. Add to that I cannot exercise because of lung problems, and an extreme addiction to soda.

No prize to give, but we could both to the truffle shuffle for the benefit of all who see!
Regular soda was so very hard to give up. *sob* I miss my Mt. Dew!

 

[krysalist]

See if you can find this stuff [http://www.elburrito.com/soyrizo.html], it is the single best meat substitute I've tasted. And, unlike real sausage, you can cook it as little as you like! Tacos, tacos tacos!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1111

Tofurkey kielbasas [http://www.tofurky.com/products/sausages.htm] and other related faux sausage products are tops as well.

 

[Kaisharga]

They do make lower-fat variants of meat products, mostly. I seem to recall turkey is pretty harmless, nutritionally speaking, and there's always that lean beef at the supermarket. Less frying, more grilling and baking. More roughage (within reason. I mean, my God, man, have you seen some of the things out there?). Less soda, more juices--or, if you're down with it, some of that flavored water stuff is pretty good (Fruit2O being my personal favorite). I think fish is supposed to be better for you than land-based meats, too.

You know what would be a great idea, though? Nutritionist. A good nutritionist will know what you want and/or need, and will be able and willing to work with you to achieve your goal without sacrificing enjoyment of your caloric intake.

 

[cmaue]

I was a ravenous carnivore for years - a connoisseur of steaks, and an indiscriminate garbage disposal for any sort of cooked animal flesh. In fact, a good friend of mine still likes to tell people the story of when I ate a 6 inch meatball sub sandwich in two bites... But I've been a vegetarian for almost three years, and not only has it done wonders for my health, but it's really easy to get the hang of (once you get into the mindset of looking for alternative foods). I live a completely sedentary lifestyle (as a gamer and video editor, I go from sitting on my ass on the couch, to sitting on my ass in front of a computer, all day), and my body has sort of settled on 170lb - even when incessantly snacking for 24 hours a day, I can't seem to get up above 180 any longer, because the food I eat is just better in the first place (granted, the most I've ever weighed was 220, and that's a bit lower than you, but the principle should still be the same).
Anyhow, if you start to eat a balanced (and I use that term loosely, really just eat more than peanut butter every meal, a common mistake) vegetarian diet, you should come out pretty well. It might be hard to start at first, so here's some things I did -

As far as meat substitutes, mushrooms, in particular portabellas, can be cooked alot like beef, and actually make some more interesting results - mushroom steaks, stir fry, and roasted mushroom sandwiches are delicious. Also teryjaki pineapple and bell peppers is awesome. Falafel is an incredibly easy hearty meal as well. Almost anything with beans and or potatoes (stew, any sort of mexican food with beans instead of meat, hash browns, baked potato, etc) can also provide a hearty meal and keep you pretty full. If you're trying to keep the pounds off, I would avoid turning to cheese to fill your craving, I ended up gaining weight when that happened, but in moderation things like quesadillas and grilled cheese work great. If you're going to dole out money for real meat substitutes (another benefit of the veg thing is that it's alot cheaper to buy fresh or even canned vegetables than meat, but that aspect fades when you start buying fake meat) is boca- I've found the boca mushroom and the black bean burgers to taste amazing (better than most hamburgers, which were never really up to par in the first place).

There's a great world of other things to eat as well, as without eating meat for a while, your craving for it generally fades off. Eggplant parmesan, hummus, babaganouj, veg chili, there's a ton.
Here's a website that has alot of ok recipes on it (although I don't reccomend veganism directly, they just have alot of ideas here)

Good luck, and best of health to you!

 

[MegMurph]

Considering a vegetarian lifestyle to lose weight is merely considering a healthier diet. I think you can cut out all red meat, but keeping chicken (not fried) in your diet is a solid source of protein as are beans and soy substitutes. Don't overload on carbs because you are hungry or "don't know what to eat", explore vegetables, fruits, fish, etc. There are many websites with vegetarian recipes and diet plans to make sure your basic nutrients are covered.

Very Important: Water should be your main source of fluid, and if you are going to go flavored water check the sugar content. Brands like Vitamin Water actually have more sugar than a soda, Propel is the only one I've found that is lower in sugar (yes, the commercials are telling the truth).

 

[usernamed]

My partner is currently dieting. I probably should do, but have decided to be big and beautiful instead

I have to say that there's nothing wrong with having a little meat, but it should be lean good quality unprocessed meat. That's lean chicken breast, not franks, or rindless back bacon, not chops. It's also (as the previous posters have said) about a mixture of diet, exercise and (what nobody mentions) portion control. From you saying you're American I'm guessing (not unreasonably) that you're in America. As such, from what I'm told by those who've visited, you're probably getting a 3 person portion routinely served as a 1 person meal.

What was suggested for the missus was eating half of what she normally ate, then waiting 15 minutes. Because it takes time for the food to be processed you still feel hungry until 15 minutes after you've eaten. What was recommended was waiting to see if she still felt hungry 15 minutes after she'd finished eating a half-portion. If she does, fine she can eat some more.

The problem was that she (rather like me) had become used to eating until she felt full. I still do, it feels comforting to me, but at least I now know I shouldn't. Give your body a chance to catch up.

 

[soapymoose]

There's crystal light that's basically flavoured water with only like 5 calories... although I'm not a fan of drinking fake sugar.

Switching to vegetarianism can make you sick, like any drastic changes in diet. Besides the usual exercise, eat healthy, try slowly cutting out things that you eat but you shouldn't. Things like soda, junk food, or cutting back the amount of times you consume it a week. If you're a daily soda drinker, I heard you'd drop 15lbs a year if you stopped.

If you want to stop eating meat, take it once step at a time... cut out pork first, then beef. I'd keep chicken and fish, those aren't that bad for you anyway if you stick with chicken breast. This is assuming you aren't deep frying everything either.

 

[Joe]

I was vegetarian for about six months last year, though I was of the California yuppie variety: Dairy and fish were OK by me. The most trouble you'll have is finding a cheap source of protein. I eventually settled on whey protein shakes, which I still drink a lot of because they're great if you're active and drink a lot of water.

My main rule was max out on protein first, and everything else will settle in where it's supposed to. I cut a significant amount of body fat doing this even though I'd stopped working out a lot (which crept back when I became a proper omnivore again - now I have to work out). I was able to keep myself alive that way.

Also, multivitamins. You'll want to take them, at least if you're like me and try to spend less than $100/month on food. Fresh things are really expensive.

 

[mshcherbatskaya]

I have been vegetarian off and on for a lot of my adult life. I learned a lot of my first cooking skills (carnivore and vegetarian) from cooking shows. Cooking shows are great because they show you the techniques you need so you don't end up cooking the same thing over and over because that's all you know to do.

Here is a list of some online vegetarian cooking shows you might want to check out.
http://blog.vegcooking.com/2008/02/top_five_vegetarian_cooking_sh_1.php