Student struggling to stay vegan

[vegan-student]

Hey everyone!
First of all, I've been transitioning to veganism for about 1 year, I've been however vegetarian for 2 years.
I'm struggling on maintaining a vegan diet as I often struggle in keeping myself away from dairy products. I've decided to join in this community to try to get some help. So my vegan journey, so far:

1. I started as a fast-food vegan (eating all of those delicious processed vegan goodies yum) and with the philosophy that “I could eat whatever I wanted”. Until I noticed that my IBM was slightly obese (yay)
2. So I started to be raw vegan during summer, which made me miserable, cause smoothies and fruit is great but during the evening I would just crack and feel like a zombie.
3. So then I tried the raw till 4 thing, which didn't work as well, because first I'm a student and buying fresh food is not exactly ideal (yes I did buy frozen as well) and also I started to restrict myself, partly due to the pseudo-science around the vegan YouTube community. (I needed to get meal plans somewhere). So I removed my caffeine intake, stop eating processed vegan food including soya (this little guy introduced me to vegetarianism), tofu, tempeh, non-dairy milk, etc.
I've been maintaining this diet until I start to have these massive headaches, which I was convinced for a long time by the YouTube community that was caused by my addiction to dairy and that if I eat enough for a long time I would get better. But I haven't and as a 3rd year student I don’t really have the time to have headaches, I need to be 100% brain functional.
I should also include that I've been recovering from emotional eating that started in beginning of uni as a way to deal with anxiety, stress, sadness. (Back then I would eat animal products and mainly fast food)
I support the vegan idea completely and having these headaches really annoy me because I know it results from lack of nutrients and makes it difficult for me to believe that I could be a healthy happy vegan.
And I also want to lose weight, it’s the first time in my life that I’m oversized by BMI. Most websites etc advice to eat a 1500 calories diet or eat a 2000 calories diet and burn 500 calories every day. So far I’ve been trying to eat the 1500 diet which has made me miserable as I hate to restrict eat and also made me have those headaches. Please let me know how much calories I should eat per day and what I’m doing wrong.

Here is an example of what I would eat in a day:
- Oatmeal with almond milk, chia and some mix seeds, cinnamon (sometimes I add a red apple)
- (Usually eat at uni) a delicious tomato and red pepper / carrot/ curry soup with a bread roll
- Drink a cup of green tea, 4 wholemeal toasts with hummus and peppers
Snacks: apples, rice cakes

Please be patient with me, I've been changing my food habits for the last 4 years and I'm trying to improve every single day.

Thank you so much for your help
Love, Ana x

[brimstoneSalad]

Welcome Ana, we'd be glad to help you.

Have you tried a reduced carb "eco-atkins" style diet? Vegan protein sources help a lot with satiation, which sounds like what you're struggling with.

What's your BMI, and how much weight are you trying to lose?
Do you have time for moderate exercise?

Your diet as you described it sounds very high carb, and low in protein, which is pretty much the opposite from what you want to be eating. For weight loss (and nutrient intake), you probably want to be focusing more on beans and vegetables, and a moderate amount of nuts, limiting cereal grains. Never drink tea with a meal.
Be sure to sign up for cronometer; it will be helpful if you can report on exact amounts and post a screen shot of your nutrient intake. Investing in a food scale would be a good idea.

https://cronometer.com/

That will help you a lot on details.

[Lightningman_42]

Never drink tea with a meal.

What's wrong with drinking tea, with relation to weight loss? It's very low in calories. Does it promote or inhibit absorption of other nutrients in a manner that makes weight loss more difficult?

[brimstoneSalad]

Never drink tea with a meal.

What's wrong with drinking tea, with relation to weight loss? It's very low in calories. Does it promote or inhibit absorption of other nutrients in a manner that makes weight loss more difficult?

It inhibits absorption of nutrients from food, but not calories. A low nutrient diet means you need to eat more, or you will risk deficiency -- that's the last thing you want. You want a low calorie but nutrient dense diet for weight loss so you aren't missing essential nutrients, and are just at a calorie deficit.

[Lightningman_42]

That makes sense. Is drinking tea problematic even for people who aren't trying to lose weight?

[vegan-student]

Welcome Ana, we'd be glad to help you.

Have you tried a reduced carb "eco-atkins" style diet? Vegan protein sources help a lot with satiation, which sounds like what you're struggling with.

What's your BMI, and how much weight are you trying to lose?
Do you have time for moderate exercise?

Your diet as you described it sounds very high carb, and low in protein, which is pretty much the opposite from what you want to be eating. For weight loss (and nutrient intake), you probably want to be focusing more on beans and vegetables, and a moderate amount of nuts, limiting cereal grains. Never drink tea with a meal.
Be sure to sign up for cronometer; it will be helpful if you can report on exact amounts and post a screen shot of your nutrient intake. Investing in a food scale would be a good idea.

https://cronometer.com/

That will help you a lot on details.

I haven't tried a eco-atkins diet, but I'm going to give it a try. Thank you
I had no idea about the tea during a meal ! I will make sure to never mix it again ! Thank you so much could you also send me studies on this matter?
Cronometer sounds like a great way to actually count nutrients, unlike the Myfitnesspal that I've been using to count calories.
Last time I checked my BMI I was around 27, and by my accounts I had to lose around 10Kg to be in the "ideal" weight
At the moment I can workout during weekends, mondays and tuesdays but what usually happens is I get tired and then use as an excuse of overtraining and skip exercising.
I'm really struggling in loosing weight. I know that you obviously need to spend more calories than the ones you consume, but it just feels really difficult to know if I'm eating more than I should or if I'm just restricting. Any tips ?

[brimstoneSalad]

I had no idea about the tea during a meal ! I will make sure to never mix it again ! Thank you so much could you also send me studies on this matter?

Jack Norris talks about it pretty frequently.
http://veganhealth.org/articles/iron#abs

It's a matter of chemistry; these substances bind to iron and reduce solubility.

At the moment I can workout during weekends, mondays and tuesdays but what usually happens is I get tired and then use as an excuse of overtraining and skip exercising.

Don't do heavy workouts. Do moderate activity that you enjoy instead.
Pick up power walking, or if you're able, swimming (no need for anything intense, just have fun). Never try to do anything you don't like for physical activity, you won't do it, search instead for something enjoyable.

but it just feels really difficult to know if I'm eating more than I should or if I'm just restricting. Any tips ?

Use a food scale. Protein will help a lot in keeping you satiated, you'll still need to count calories though.
Don't aim so low, just eat until you feel just barely full at first (count the calories), then slowly reduce it week by week. You also need to let your stomach shrink. Raw til' 4 style dieting can cause a lot of damage by way of stretching out your stomach and making it harder to ever feel full. It will take a few months, probably, before you are satiated by smaller (reasonable) amounts of food. Sorry, thus is the evil of Freelee and that lot.