Vegetarian Advice: Veg Weight Gain Discouraging

Question: I can't figure out where this weight gain is coming from .... I drink water, exercise ... feel so discouraged.

I have been vegetarian for 4 years. The first year I became a vegetarian I slimmed down very quickly, I think I also lost a lot of body mass because I stopped working out so frequently too.

Over the years I have slowly been putting that weight back on and recently I have gained more weight than I ever have before. I am 5 foot 4 inches and my average weight through out my life has been around 110-115, but in the last 3-6 months I am now almost 140. I feel horrible.

The only thing that has really changed about my diet is that I started taking vitamins and drinking a lot of water, besides that nothing else is different. I can't figure out where all of this weight gain is coming from, especially because I am drinking so much water and I am now exercising, doing a lot of situps, running about 3 days a week, jump-roping, and biking a little here and there. I feel so discouraged.

I love being a vegetarian. I admit that sometimes I don't always make the healthiest meal choices, but that didn't effect me in the beginning so why would it now? I guess that's a pretty big question, so to narrow it down, why after 4 years would I all of a sudden have so much weight gain that I can't seem to eliminate? Any advice? Thanks so much. - S. S.

Savvy Vegetarian Advice

Dear S. S.,

Your weight gain could be due to any of a dozen different things. Just a few possibilities:

1. Excess calories: For a couple of weeks, count all your calories and see where they're coming from. Figure out how much calories you need to maintain or actually lose weight, and take it from there. Anne Collins is helpful website with good veg weight loss advice and support - there's a small fee to join. WebMD explains: Weight Loss: Exercise and Weight Control

2. Food sensitivities, allergies, intolerance, etc, causing water retention, bloating, and digestive disturbances. You can go through allergy screening, if you can afford it, or just start eliminating obvious suspects such as soy, peanuts, dairy (especially milk), gluten, and see what happens. This is not an approach that any responsible physician or nutritionist would recommend, and you might want to get professional help.

3. Digestion: Poor digestion and elimination, candida, irritable bowel sydrome, crohn's disease, food additives and toxins in food, sugar and junk food (empty calories) - just a few of the delightful possibilities that could affect your weight.
Things to try: Eat more fresh organic food, esp whole grains and veggies (heavy on the veg), fresh juices to cleanse, probiotics and digestive enzymes, digestive cleansing.

4. Menopause: You don't give your age, but as women approach menopause, starting as early as forty, their bodies go through so many changes: metabolic, glandular, digestive, hormonal etc, and weight gain for some is an unfortunate side effect. It's usually necessary to make a few dietary adjustments: more water, as you're doing, but also fresh veg and fruit, juicing, herbs etc. Less calories - a lighter diet in general. Yoga is wonderful for balancing all of the above - highly recommend!

5. Exercise: Once thing I've noticed about exercising, and have read here and there, is that when you first start exercising after not exercising for a while, at first you keep gaining - apparently because you're gaining muscle mass, but haven't shed the fat yet. Same goes with hydrating after not drinking enough for some time. I have the feeling this might apply to you.

6. Other Possibilities: I suggest physical check up and blood work to eliminate possibilities such as thyroid, diabetes, malnutrition (e.g. B12, folic acid, iron), and other lovely things we hate to even think about.

Give your weight loss tactics time to work. Although it shouldn't take that much time to get things under control again, try to think long term, and not be jumping on the scale every day, or pushing yourself too hard.

All the best, Judy Kingsbury, Savvy Vegetarian

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