Transitioning from Vegetarian to Vegan???

I have been a vegetarian for over 14 years and I am considering making the switch to a vegan lifestyle.  I was wondering if anyone out there has successfully done this and what the experience was like.  Thanks so much!!!!!

I did this last month, dillemma.  I hadn't been a vegetarian NEARLY as long as you were (I was only vegetarian for about a month before deciding to go vegan) but, if you still want to read my expereince here it is.

I was annoyed for the first couple of days.  I discovered that some restaurants are very unhelpful to vegans.  I missed my milk, I usually drank milk in the mornings and breakfasts without it seemed blah.  I missed my cheese, I never ate much of it but I often used a very small amount as flavoring, and I found I missed it more than I thought I would.

I was then sick for an additional four days or so.  I was headachy and irritable.  I was very fidgety but lacked the 'deep energy' to do much of anything.

I had a bellyache for two days after this, and my poops were frequent, funny colors, and smelled like rotten vegetables and spoiled milk.  (Yeah, tmi, but I was shocked and worried.  Was later told that this was dairy buildup washing out of my system.)

At the eight day mark, all these unpleasantnesses vanished.  I felt normal for a day or two.

At the ten day mark, I began to notice a boost in energy.  My workouts seemed much easier and I increased them effortlessly.  I've gone from sedentary to fit before and it was not like my first experience.  I was very surprised.  Pleased, but surprised.

I also found myself getting my work done faster at my job.  I was baffled by this, but I realized after a few days that I was just concentrating better.  I never realized how much time I lost to distractions.

The final, and BEST, change had to do with my sleep.  I've always been an 8-9hr person, and dealt with deprivation very, very poorly.  Lately I haven't been able to sleep more than about 6-7 hours a night.  I wake up, completely refreshed, a couple of hours before my alarm is set.  I've taken to working out and playing with my puppy during my newfound time.  I don't know if I'm just sleeping better or if I actually need less, but this has literally made my day longer.  Weighing dairy against more free time made the decision to stay vegan easy for me.

Many people do not have the same 'dairy withdrawal' symptoms I did.  I've read accounts by MANY vegans who said the transition was easy, physically.  I think I'm probably just about a worst-case scenario.

Wow, Thanks Ellybell for your response!!  That was really informative.  I can only imagine what it is like to eat vegan out as I already have a tougher time being veggie at restaurants. 

It sounds like the dairy detox symptoms were alot like what I felt when I was in a sugar detox a few months ago...I was POSITIVE I had the flu but then the symptoms resolved and I felt so much better!

I think I have been hesitant to switch over as I get alot of grief from folks and I am afraid it might be a real stuggle to plan menus and such.  But then again maybe I am just making excuses for an obvious change I know I want to make!!

Thanks a bunch for your help!!

I really haven't found the menu to be much more annoying than a vegetarian menu.  The little white lie 'I like X' when really you would prefer Y, everyone else is eating Y, why aren't you eating Y!!! helped me a lot.  It's kind of funny, it became true.

Also however, I cook for myself.  I like to cook.  (It's probably what made me get fat, lol!)  I just changed what I cooked.

If you don't cook, I haven't got a lot of helpful advice.  It would be much more of a bother.

I do enjoy cooking thank goodness so hopefully if I do make this change it won't be so bad.  That is great to hear that it is not as dramatic to transition as I thought...maybe I am better off telling folks to worry about what THEY are eating...not me for once!!

hahahaha, just had a great fresh broccoli, yellow and red peppers stiry fry with a peanut sauce for dinner...very good!

Dillemma, I love to cook too, (really an essential if you're going to eat a vegan diet) and if you are interested, here are some cookbook suggestions (all available on Amazon.com to look over first) that made the transition a lot less scary and a lot more fun for me.

"Vegan Family Cookbook"
"Hot Damn & Hell Yeah!" -it's a southern style cookbook that is so fun!
"Volumptuous Vegan"
"The Vegan Deli"

These, among many others, have made my vegan adventures really fun and I haven't once felt deprived of anything. ALso, www.vegweb.com is a fantastic source for vegan recipes of ANY kind.

Good luck!
-A

I'll throw in "Vegan With a Vengeance" as another good cookbook recommendation.  Some of the recipes are a little weird for me (stay away from the corn fritters, they totally didn't work), but there's a potato-asparagus soup that is to DIE for.

Also a lot of indian food is vegan and so, so delicious.

Please keep us updated on how your transition goes, we all like the anecdotes!