More protein for a vegetarian, please!!

So I am 5'9", 27 years old, with a CW 145, a GW 140, and a SW 147.

I have been dieting for over a month now and have only managed to lose 2 pounds, ugh!!  I work out 5 days a week, watch my calories, and have sworn off elevators (my office is on the 7th floor).  I really would like to lose these extra 5 lbs!!!  I think I may have figured out my problem. I have been a vegetarian for 14 years now and a large portion of my diet consists of carbs.  Not bad carbs like white flour, but carbs from fruits, vegetables, and whole grains.  I think all these carbs may be making it difficult for me to lose weight because I am not getting enough protein.  But, being a vegetarian and cutting out a lot of dairy (because I am trying to go only local foods and they have a higher fat content) has made it difficult.  Any suggestions?!?

There's a vegetarian forum here, just saying. It could be protein, it could be a lot of things, but if it is protein, I hope you lose your 5 lbs.

The trouble is that you're 5'9" and therefore, at 145lbs, you're already a very healthy weight for your height. A BMI of 21.5 is at the lower end of the healthy range and people who work out regularly are generally more muscular and therefore heavier.   So losing another 5lbs is going to be extremely difficult whatever you do.

The way your food is comprised really won't be making that big a difference to the outcome.  'Carbs' included.  You could increase your protein intake by eating more pulses (legumes), tofu, quorn, quinoa grain, eggs, regular dairy products, nuts, seeds and you might get a better balanced diet as a result ... but it's unlikely to change your weight. 

I found it helpful to increase protein intake as it keeps you feeling full longer than just carbohydrates do. Obviously it won't make you lose weight on its own but I've found it easier to keep a low calorie diet when increasing protein.

The single best food for low calorie protein I've found is fat-free cottage cheese. You can make pancakes with it for breakfast, put it in smoothies, have it in wraps with salads, as an accompaniment to stews (bean chilli is great!) etc.

Otherwise gi-jane's list is pretty comprehensive!

Good luck.

Do you like cottage cheese? It is pretty much pure protein. Personally I'm sick of the stuff.

I'm a similar build to you, height and weight wise. I really found weight training helped me lose the flab while staying in a healthy BMI range.

Good luck!

x

I am a vegetarian too - I recently discovered Greek yougurt and LOVE IT! The plain fat-free has 120 cal per cup, and 23 grams of protein. I eat it as a snack with papaya, blueberries, peaches whatever fruit I have. I also eat it for breakfast sometimes too, and add some oatmeal (the real stuff, no sugar) to it to provide good carb energy. The plain yogurt is a little sour, so I think the sweet fruit complements the flavor well.

Second for the Greek yogurt. I really don't like the taste, but I cheat and buy flavored. The honey flavor is decent and it doesn't add an unreasonable amount of sugar. Eating local is going to make it very hard to get more protein. But like gi-jane said, carbs don't make you hold weight. It's about calories. It's just that a healthy balance of protein, carbs, and fat, is healthier and provides steadier energy. It's not going to hold back your weight loss to eat more carbs. More protein for health is great, though. I'm a vegetarian and I sometimes have a hard time with protein, but beans, even though they are starchy, with brown rice or quinoa is pretty good. I try to eat egg whites with whole wheat toast for a better breakfast. I'm not sure if much of that is practical with a local diet. Other recent staples of my vegetarian healthier diet are frozen veggie burgers, as well as Quorn. Definitely not local, and too high in salt, balanced with lower salt foods.

If you don't mind the "chemicals" sugar free maple syrup in the greek yogurt sweetens it up nicely without adding sugar and many calories. I do that every so often too when I am craving something sweet.