If a person doesn’t eat meat or fish, then the person is an “actual vegetarian.” The specific diet they follow is “not eating meat or fish.” While some vegetarians may also follow strict dietary regimens in addition to not eating meat, those who don’t follow such regimens are still vegetarians. Your distinction makes no sense.
As for the OP’s question.
I’m a vegetarian, and have been for about 13 years (i’m 36 years old). For most of my life—pre and post vegetarian—i was slim and fit, mainly due to a decent diet, and a good exercise regime. Over the past few years, while i’ve been in grad school, my level of exercise has dropped off dramatically, and i spend much of my time on the couch or in front of the computer reading or writing. During that time, i’ve added about 30 pounds, going from a trim 165lbs to 195, on a 6 foot, medium frame.
I don’t really look fat with clothes on, but i can feel that i’m carrying more weight than i want to carry, and when the clothes come off there’s a noticeable gut and spare tire. My next task is to get back into a regular exercise routine, and i want to be back to around 170 pounds or so in the next year, if possible.
My meals themselves are generally quite healthy. We cook a lot at home, using good quality ingredients. I do love cheese, although i don’t eat an inordinate amount of it. Where i fall down is my love for candy and chocolate.
If you decide to follow a “vegetarian” diet, where you do research to make sure you’re getting sufficient protein, carbs, etc from your diet, you’ll tend to be thin.
If you quit eating meat, and eat cheese and bread instead, maybe not so much.
Obviously, if someone doesn’t eat meat/fish/chicken, etc, they’re a vegetarian. However, they’re not necessarily following a “vegetarian” diet.
For many years, I was a fat vegetarian. Like mhendo, I started gaining weight when my lifestyle changed and I started getting less exercise. Then I got pregnant, and I really ballooned. When I decided to lose weight, I was able to do so by cutting out junk food and paying close attention to the nutritional value of the foods I was eating and, more importantly, by exercising daily. Once I was down to a healthy weight, I was able to maintain that weight even though I became less vigilant about my diet, although I’m confident that if I were to quit exercising and paying some attention to what I eat, I’d be able to gain all the weight back without ever touching meat.
In my experience, the difference between being fat or thin isn’t whether or not you’re eating meat, it’s whether you’re eating junk and whether you’re physically active. As for the idea that it is difficult to get enough protein on a vegetarian diet without overeating, that’s just plain wrong unless your diet consists mainly of junk food. Our bodies really don’t need the amount of protein that the typical meat-eating Western diet contains, and it’s not all that hard to get 50 or 60 grams of protein a day from non-meat sources.
I have known more than a few! Nearly every female lawyer in my old law firm was a vegetarian. The fat ones I’ve met are always the ones who don’t eat meat solely for ethical reasons. They order salad for lunch, and then a big dessert, and always had candy in their offices. I have never personally met a vegetarian who ate healthfully. The thin ones exercised a lot.
The two options hich you present as mutually exclusive are not. It’s perfectly possible to get “sufficient protein, carbs, etc.” while also eating considerable amounts of cheese and bread.
Yes they are, because a vegetarian diet is, by definition, a diet without meat. There are healthy and unhealthy vegetarian diets, just like there are healthy and unhealthy omnivorous diets.
According to that guide, a completely vegan meal might consist of Dum Dums, Fritos, Nabisco Double Delight Mint’n Creme Oreos, Aunt Jemima Syrup Dunk’ers Cinnamon French Toast sticks, and a tall, frosty glass of Nesquick chocolate milk.
Several years ago, I saw a very heavy black comedian on the “Tonight” show with Jay Leno.
Leno was joshing the guy about his weight, particularly since the guy had made a point of saying he’d been a vegetarian for several years. LEno asked how a vegetarian could be so heavy.
The comedian was very good-natured and jocular about it. His honest answer, “Well, there’s no meat in doughnuts, Jay. And there’s no meat in ice cream.”
A vegan would answer that ice cream is definitely an animal product, and doughnuts MIGHT be made with animal products. Regardless, it remains true that one CAN eat a very unhealthy diet and still be a vegetarian, according to the strict definition of the word.
I am 5’5" and weigh 213.5 lbs. I’ve been a vegetarian for 2 years.
I did actually lose about 10 lbs. when I stopped eating meat, but have been the same weight since then. I don’t drink, but like another poster said, pizza, doughnuts, and Coke are all vegetarian. If I were vegan I would probably not be fat, but I have no interest in that.
I’ve started watching what I eat recently and see that I don’t think it was my caloric intake that was the problem, just the fact that I ate cheese and butter like no other.
So now I eat lots of beans. And I lost a pound last week. And hopefully a year from now I will not be a fat vegetarian. (I’ll let you all know )
Every single vegetarian I know is significantly overweight - and I know a lot of 'em, I’m a hippie chick. Over 20 people, all 30 or more pounds overweight. The four vegans I know are rail thin, but are also raw foodists, so their choice of foods is *seriously *limited. And they’re really annoying at pot-lucks.
If the vegetarian has a nightly snack of a cup of cocoa and a cup of yoghurt (around 400 calories) and the vegan has a nightly snack of a cup of wine and a cup of mixed nuts (around 1400 calories) who do you think will weigh more?
I was a vegetarian for 17 years and had the same issues as anyone else with fluctuating weight.
There are plenty of high fat, high carb foods out there that don’t include meat or meat byproducts.
When I ate a healthy vegetarian diet and exercised I became thin. This is no different than what happens to me now that I am eating meat again.
If I load up on pasta, pizza and beer and stop exercising, I get fat. Just as I did in my vegetarian days.
I knew some obese vegetarians in my day, I might add.
I’m getting a little chubby. (And I’m a vegetarian, or it wouldn’t be relevant.) I think I just need to cut back on cheese and exercise a bit more regularly.
Most of the meat-substitute products have more protein and less fat than real meat.
Gardenburger makes several products that are labeled vegan. Taste ranges from cardboard to excellent. My wife and I found their vegan burgers, “Flame Grilled Burgers,” and “Chick’n Grills” very plain. But their original burgers are good, and their “Riblets” are great. We were eating Riblets for two years before I noticed the word “vegan” in tiny print on one side of the box. They also have a new line of wraps that are good, though I don’t know if those are vegan.
Morningstar Farms makes the best tasting meatless products, in my wife’s and my opinion. Most have dairy in them, but they have a new burger labeled vegan. We haven’t tried that one yet.
My dad is medically obese and has high blood pressure, and has’t eaten meat (aside from the occasional piece of fish) since about 1985. He rarely eats cheese or any milk product (lactose intolerant) and isn’t that crazy about eggs (he eats them as ingredients in other things but not straight up). He does’t drink excessively or eat a lot of junk food.
My father is a business owner and has a fairly high-stress life. In his mind, he is “entitled” to a huge serving of whatever. 2 big bowls of pasta, etc. Anything eaten in sufficient volume can make you fat.
He’s already had one (thankfully minor) stroke but won’t committ to keeping his weight down.
)