i need a vegan weight loss buddy!!

im vegan and i want to loose 40 lbs and i was looking for another vegan buddy for motivation and support!!

sorry, wish I could help you, I used to be a vegan for about 2 weeks after I heard a lecture by a really good doctor who wrote books, but couldn't keep it up. However, I just ate a slice of soy cheese. :-)

I'd love to be your vegan weight-loss buddy! :) Are you still looking for one? :)

I'd like to join the group, too! I am in the process of becoming a vegan, after having browsed through Jonathan Foer's book called "Eating Animals." It's an eye-opener, and if meat didn't sicken you enough, wait until you read this book! I just ordered it so I can read it in its entirety. And I've been off meat ever since I read a review of the book. PLUS I, too, started eating soy based cheese and bought soy-based meat type stuff just yesterday. Yes, I'm interested in joining this group.

Cindiw1- Less than a month after your first post on this thread and you are becoming a vegan again! Fantastic! Giving up animal-based products is a lifestyle switch, but like with anything, once you get through some of the big hurdles, it gets so much easier! :) I watched 'Diet for a New America' and ever since then was pretty much vegan. (BTW, there's a vegan/vegetarian group on here if you haven't found it yet - they have some good info, too!)

If you haven't picked up a cookbook yet, I really recommend 'How it all Vegan' and 'Vegan with a Vengence'. They are great books to get you started on a kinder way of eating. Also, both talk a lot about HOW to cook, which is really useful when you are using all new things!

I love the way I eat (lots of fruit, veg, etc), but I am finding that portion control is my huge down fall. It's less what I eat, and more how much I eat. And I deeply love dessert (and baking!) so I'm going to have to work through how to handle that. I'm going to start focusing on substituting some of the high calorie foods I eat with better options, but right now I am in my first week of really monitoring what I'm eating. So, it is a slow process. I want to move forward in my veganism to include more healthy choices, and like being a vegan, it's gonna take some time to figure out what works. So, that's my journey!

Lookin' forward to some vegan support! :)

Tell you what, runningpanda, I didn't even realize it was my post earlier on! I must be losing it -- I'm reading my other post, and was almost going to answer it by saying: "I heard a doctor talk about it, too, a while back...but didn't pay attention until now."

I've just been doing this for a few days since I read parts of the other book, and it's not even out of concern so much for my health, but for the maltreatment of the animals. Finally, it convinced me! And I'm over 65, believe it or not! Well, anyway, runningpanda, the past two days I've stopped eating all meats, including chicken, but am not yet convinced about the fish although i realize they're mistreated, too, unless they're hand fished and I'm not about to start fishing in particular. But I have to yet think about that. Also, I'm thinking that the milk is coming from cows that have been mistreated, so the cheeses & dairy are probably out also.

You're having a problem what you're choosing to eat. Me, too, I suppose, but I'm not weighing myself. My big thing now is to eat when I'm hungry and stop when I'm satisfied. Not overly satisfied. I'm learning that at the first signal that tells me I'm all right (no longer hungry) I should stop eating. How about you?

Also, are you a full vegan? (I know there's no other way but for a vegan to be a full vegan...but is that you?) And how long have you been doing this for, and what is your reason for it? Years ago i decided that eating animals might not be good for me but I quickly gave it up when all I really ate in the meantime was junk and didn't know exactly what I was doing.

Older and somewhat wiser, I suppose.

How are you? How are your eating habits? Thanks for the cookbook recommendation, I have Dean Ornish's book and found some excellent recipes in it. Now all I have to do is make them. :-) thanks for writing back. Let's keep encouraging one another.

P.S., runningpanda, where is the vegan board?

I hope this link works :http://caloriecount.about.com/vegetarian-foru m-fc9

That's for the vegetarian forum, but there are a lot of vegans there, too. :)

Cindiw1-

As far as fish goes, some people eat it and are called 'pescatarians' (pesc=fish), but they wouldn't be vegan (I once had an argument with my mom about weather fish = meat, she said no, I explained it was once a living creature). There are a lot of people who eat fish for a variety of reasons, and a lot of people who don't eat fish for a variety of reasons. Personally, I don't it eat much, but about twice a year I do eat it. I'm really fussy about fish, so mostly I don't eat it since I don't know where it came from, who caught it, how it was treated, what it looked like alive, how it is prepared, etc. It's just easier for me to skip it. :)

I am pretty much a full vegan - I don't cook with any dairy products, and I eat fish about twice a year. My partner is not vegetarian at all, so I compromise with cheese as that doesn't seem to be something we'll get out of our house any time soon. But all things I make don't include eggs or milk and use replacers instead. I also don't eat honey - that's something some vegans will eat and other won't. Matter of preference. I've been vegan since 2001. I watched that video and gave it all up then. I had a partner shortly after who was turning vegan, too, so we learned to cook together. I didn't know a lot about cooking before, and this really became the way I learned to cook. That made it easier. I was in college, had pretty much still been eating at the dorms, so when I started living on my own and was already learning to cook at the same time, it was all vegan. That made it so much easier. Plus, all my friends were realy excited about it and super supportive. Parties and potlucks always had vegan dishes (and not just salad!). I've gotten a bit lax over the years as I've traveled (I believe it is more important to eat while traveling than to starve because I can't find something strictly vegan), but my heart still follows a vegan diet.

I eat pretty well, but am trying to figure out that 'no longer hungry' signal. I've started by eating with a knife and fork (which I picked up whilst living in England for a few years). This slows me down somewhat, and I put down my knife and fork between bites (or try to). So, mainly I'm trying to trick myself into slowing down so I don't over eat.

How much weight are you trying to lose? Do you have some support? I think the vegetarian forum is good - lots of folks there to help you get away from 'junk' vegetarian food (which is so easy to do!).