Anyone follow a vegetarian diet?

I tried to follow a vegetarian diet, but for some reason I got lost.

Now I’m back where I started.

I have a neice that is a vegetarian. There are a lot of vegetarian cookbooks in most book stores.Most new cookbooks have vegetarian sections in them. Taste of Home is one of my favorites. I am not a vegetarian but I always am willing to try new things. For weight loss it isn’t always the way to go because you still have to watch out for the oils and other high calorie items.

I had a second thought: Just be creative. Leave the meat out of some dishes, or use the veggie burgers like hamburger. I made swedish meatballs for my niece using them and it came out pretty good. We both went back for seconds. Just watch out for liquid levels in your food. Vegetarian dishes can get dry if you don’t pay attention. Another good place to look for vegetarian foods is an organic or health food store.

If I were meant to eat rabbit food, I would be a rabbit.

my weight loss has been progressive over about three years – i lost 50ish pounds. it’s not really a quick weightloss diet, it’s a way of life. i say just excercise and you’ll lose the weight just as well.

I’m a vegetarian, but it was never for weight loss reasons. In fact, I’ve gained some weight. Nice veg pastas can have more calories than a burger. Weight loss is about calories in vs calories out. Simple.

If you’re interested in protecting animals from torture or believe in the health benefits of a vegetarian diet, go for it. But it’s not meant to be a weight loss diet, imho.

Nope. Pass me that medium rare steak. You don’t want yours? Can I have it? ;-)

i like steak to much. LOL!

I have been a vegetarian for almost five year now, not to lose weight necessarily but it has helped maintain my weight. If you are taking a lacto ovo approach (still will eat eggs and dairy), then make sure to eat plenty of eggs they carry lots of protein. Protein is important for vegetarians as we do not eat meats and loose out on a lot of proteins. Since you are taking on this diet mostly for loosing weight I would suggest you still eat fish if you choose to do so. They are a very healthy source of protein as well. Keep up with your calcium in take, they say drinking a glass of milk a day can help shed those extra inches. Morning Star and Veggie Patch products make a wide variety of different meat alternatives like veggie hamburgers, chicken, hot dogs, and ground veggie beef. All these products have sources of nutrition that you would normally find in meat. They provide protein and energy for the body. This foods are specifically made for a vegetarian diet meaning they are going to provide the nutrients that your body would other wise lose out on.

You can also try google, just type in vegetarian diets/ recipes there are tons and tons of them. That is how I first started my search of what to eat. Good Luck! And Congrats on the new baby! =]

Lot’s of good stuff I see, I need to be quick though so I’ll just give you this and hope people keep bringing up good things.

Stay away from white flour pasta and breads, go for whole grains. They have a ton of calories (which you’re trying to avoid) but the whole grains will fill you up much more quickly than the white versions.

There’s a magazine called “Vegetarian Times” which I’ve cooked from quite a bit over the last few years; I’m sure there’s an online version as well.

Finally, keep in mind there are a lot of dishes where the meat is central but accented with a sauce or veggies or prepared in an unusual way (broiled, char grilled, etc) many of those can be used with a little bit of tweaking and simply subbing a good veggie/root/gourde for the meat. Soy-based things work too and can be yummy, but they can easily become a crutch and keep you from finding out all sorts of interesting combos, but I admit they’re great in a pinch.