Basically, when you have 250 to 500 calorie surplus per day, you will gain 0,5 to 1 pound muscle mass per week. Then, in the vegan diet, you are expected to lose weight because of vegan foods contain lots of fiber and make your satiety be longer.
The problem is you may do not know that eating too many vegan foods prompts weight gain. Why? The truth is even in some vegetables or foods are actually containing so many calories.
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| How to Avoid Gaining Weight on Vegan Diet |
Step 1: Limiting Calorie Intake from Beverages
In the vegan diet, you have put more attention on your calorie intake. As I said previously, some vegan foods are actually containing more calories than you think. You may think that eating fruit will not make you gaining weight on the vegan diet, but the question is what you eat and how much is it. A fruit like a mango, for example, contains more calories and glucose.
The more excess calories you have the more gaining weight on vegan diet you get.
Then, you may find that there are some particular beverages called “a healthy drink for vegan diet” with a great promotion about the benefits of being a selected “vegan” drinks. Those beverages are supposedly created for vegan diet but unfortunately, there is a misconception about it.
In some cases of gaining weight on the vegan diet, people do not realize that actually, those beverages contain calories. The worst thing is they drink them along with their vegan menu. Drinking only once a day may do not affect much, but what about twice a day and more? They do not realize that it makes excess calories every day.
Thus, it will be wise for you to count any drink which does not belong to fresh water or any unsweetened beverages as the part of your meal or snack. For example, some beverages namely kombucha, green juices, smoothies, coconut water and etc should belong to your meal or snack.
Step 2: Limiting Vegan Junk Food
In other cases, some foods you eat is labeled to be a “vegan” foods, but the truth is it is calorie-dense food. The problem is you may not check the ingredients used in the foods and make sure about its nutritional value. In this cases, some issues like "refined flour, added sugar and stripped of nutrients and fiber" are related to the vegan junk food.
What is the problem then?
When you consume those foods for daily, you may save the expenses of calorie that makes you gain weight. Some snacks like chips or soy ice cream are actually made with refined flour. Besides, you will also get some problems if you consume too much sugar from those vegan junk food that may lead you to other health problems.
You know what, actually, processed foods may decrease calorie burning on post-meal phase. The decreased level can reach 50% compared to whole foods. I believe that you should be wise when you decide to consume vegan junk food. You can eat them occasionally, but if you want to make it daily, please consider it wisely toward the possible risks that may happen in the future.
Step 3: Eating as Much as You Actually Need
The more calorie you burn the more calorie you need. It is the matter of balance. You may think that vegan diet consists of healthy foods and the answer would be yes (considering step 2 above). You may know that healthy foods are completely good for your body and support your health.
Unfortunately, many people think that they can eat healthy foods in a numerous portion whenever and wherever they want. Even though healthy foods are not dangerous, you can't just simply eat them without any consideration. There is some particular consideration you need before eating such as your age, height, body mass index, activity, and even sex.
For example, a man who sits all day long behind his computer actually needs fewer calories comparing to the other man who works as a farmer, sailor, or even technician. The more your body move and work the more calories you need. So, there will always be a difference in the case of the portion.
If you take fewer calories than you can burn in a day, you will lose your weight eventually. Meanwhile, if you take more calories than you can burn in a day, you will gain your weight. So, you can't just generalize all the things in the same way. You need to discuss with your doctor or just simply use body mass index calculator.
To be concluded, those three things lead to a conclusion that this problem happens when you do not put much concern on how much and what you eat. You may see that the main problem is we know that vegan diet consists of healthy foods but we do not know that actually we also need to consider other aspects such as activity level and body mass index.
