The KInd Life Community Forum

Well I have followed the vegan/superhero plan for 3 weeks now and am not losing weight. The first week I lost 5 pounds...since then nothing! I am eating tons of vegetables, grains at lunch only and some protein from beans and seitan....I honestly don't get how Alicia eats so much food from the blog posts and stays so skinny. I am very active during the day and feel like I am eating super healthy and the weight won't budge.

lets celebrate the 5 lbs you lost! thats a lot...and so quickly! maybe body is now adjusting ....if weight loss is your goal then reread the superhero plan and the weight loss section. and if you still dont lose more weight from adjusting and tweaking then email me what you are eating...so i can find the cause. are you feeling good? notice some of the other benefits? pooping better?

I'm actually having the same problem and I'm feeling really frustrated too. I don't have much to lose and that's not why I made the change to superhero, but I'm transitioning from a low-carb diet (I work out a lot and was eating a lot of chicken, fish and eggwhites plus veggies) to a whole grain/veggie only. I initially lost about 3 pounds and I noticed I lost inches, but now I'm about 5 pounds heavier and i can feel it. The weird thing is that I feel great and have a lot of energy. I drink over a gallon of water a day. I'm eating all organic. In the morning I'm following the superhero plan, eating either a cup of the rice porridge or some grain with greens or a miso soup with greens and I brew loose green tea. For lunch, a macro plate from Souen (it's a block from my office!!!) or my own food based on the same principals, squash, greens, beans and rice Or nori rolls or Soup made with fresh veggies. And for dinner things still based on the superhero plan. I feel like my body is freaking out b/c I was hardly eating any carbohydrates and now I'm retaining a lot of water. I exercise at least 5 times a week, combo of cardio and strength. How do these Vegan bodybuilders do it? Eat hardly any fat to compensate for all the grains? I don't feel bloated and I'm completely regular, but I don't like the extra weight. Perhaps I should incorporate less starchy veggies, even more greens and be really careful about the fats? Like a TBSP a day, whether it be olive oil or nuts/seeds? But i don't want to live off of steamed greens alone. HELP PLEASE> i love this diet but i don't want to gain any more weight and I want the 5 extra lbs. gone. I don't know how you eat so much either, ALicia. I feel like my portions are extremely reasonable. Perhaps I just need to readjust some of the portions or quantites of certain foods?

Alessia - give it time! And focus on what your goal really is. Is your goal for the scale to report back a number to your? OR is your goal to look fabulous and feel great?

The scale is a very poor indicator of just about anything other than how much force gravity has on your body right now. It doesn't tell you if your body is retaining water, or detoxing, or building muscle. As I mentioned in another thread, I'm also making the switch from a meat & egg diet (standard bodybuilder) to vegan, and I absolutely know that my body is going through changes because of it. I'll likely gain a couple of pounds along the way, but I know once my body adjusts, those pounds will go away again.

Think about it - you've been feeding your body a whole lot of protein. The enzymes and metabolism have adjusted and compensated for all of that protein. Now you're feeding it a lot less protein and a lot more carbs (and probably fat too). Your body's first response is going to be to retain water and store fat, because you've just ended the carb famine. Once your body gets the message that the carb famine is not returning, you'll start producing the correct enzymes and your metabolism will adjust properly for the grains and veggies. And the weight will drop away again.

Read The China Study by T Colin Campbell. He goes into the science about how the metabolism is optimized by a vegan diet. It's been very enlightening for me! And focus on getting healthy - not just the weight. The weight loss will follow.

Make sure to rotate what you are eating a lot. Your body can often become complacent. My Mom had gastric bypass done and they told her to splurge when she was "hitting the wall" aka not losing any weight. They said to go eat a candy bar, your favorite sweets or snack. Sometimes it will shock the body into losing the weight again. I've tried it before and have lost 5 pounds within two days. It works! Good luck =)