Is it possible to get overweight on a vegetarian diet. I need low carb low fat vege recipes.

My Gp said going vegetarian was the best thing I could possibly do for my health and the cardio said dont. So there you have two health professionals
who cant agree.

If you were raised in a culture that did not eat meat, then a vegetarian lifestyle would be a healthy choice for you.  If not, then vegetarianism will just be another fad.  One member on this site did vegetarian for three years.  She gained 100 pounds and her iron went extremely low.

She had weight loss surgery, eats meat, and has lost the excess weight.

I have seen several people gain into the 300's just by eating vegetarian.  Listen to your cardio and consider a different GP. 

I am by no means an expert,  but will chime in with my opinion anyway,  since you asked.  At least after weight loss surgery, being a vegetarian can be very hard.  Being vegan,  nearly impossible.  If you are a vegetarian,  but easy dairy products and eggs, it may be a little easier. 

We have a certain amount of protein that we need to eat in a day,  and if you eat juse veggies, that can mean eating A LOT of veggies to try to get it in.  After weight loss surgery,  our stomachs are tiny.  Soy has a lot of protein,  but it is a little controversial because it has a lot of plant based estrogen.  I can't eat it because I have a soy allergy. 

My husbands doctor recommends he goes paleo,  which makes a lot of sense.  You will find many doctors that recommend completely different things.  

You can be vegetarian, but many of the foods we don't eat in large amounts vegetarians eat quite a bit of, like rice, whole grains, etc.  I was on a ketogenic diet pre-op and remained very low carb post op, and my cholesterol was 96 when tested three months ago... yep, total cholesterol and had excellent blood markers.  

It really depends what you eat as a vegetarian.  I have one vegetarian friend who eats nothing but macaroni and cheese, and another who eats very healthily low carb and was post-WLS (she has a lot of protein powder/shakes).  It depends what and how you'd eat.  I had a vegetarian day once in a while post-op, and those were the days I was hungriest even with protein.  Back to low carb went I.

I think regardless of what way of eating you choose, it's vital to stay away from processed foods and high sugar/very high carb stuff that has no nutritional value.

A vegetarian diet doesn't mean low calorie.  You could eat chips and drink sugary sodas at every meal and gain lots of weight, but still be a vegetarian.  Calories in, calories out.  

Hi,

Being a vegetarian is doable but being a vegan would be very very difficult.  I am mostly a vegetarian but a lacto-ovo one.. I do add some fish back into my diet for increased protein because I don't mind fish. I hate the taste of meat, fowl, and anything else. I mostly eat tofu, tempeh, lentils, and soy protein powder that is easily attainable. It is doable. I believe that eating meat is not really good for you after reading and seeing the work around Forks over Knives.  Eating meat can bring on all sorts of health issues. 

Good Luck.

Yes you can get overweight and unhealthy on a vegetarian diet (even on a vegan diet, though it is less likely).  You can also get overweight on a low-carb diet (e.g. Paleo).

"Vegetarians" eat dairy & eggs.  So if you replace meat with cheese (aka flavored solid fat with lots of salt), drink lots of milk (aka liquid meat), continue to use oils too freely, eat plenty of eggs... well all you've done is replace one source of concentrated calories, fat, and cholesterol with another source.

There is irrefutable evidence at this point that eating a "whole foods, plant based" diet will improve all aspects of health. This way of eating is filling, full of good nutrients, and very low in bad calories or "free ride calories" (calories that don't do any useful work, lol).

"Whole-food" means that you eat foods as close to an unprocessed state as possible.  So, potatoes instead of french fries; bulgur instead of bread (and choose whole grain bread over white bread); olives instead of olive oil; avocado or nut butter instead of butter; baked chicken instead of chicken nuggets...  You get the picture.  The big things to avoid are added sugars and processed fats such as added oils, crisco, etc.  Limit foods made from flours, and when you do have flour, try to make most of it whole-grain.

"Plant based," on the other hand, means different things to different people.  Some go all the way and go vegan (although as someone else pointed out, you can live on Coke & potato chips and be "vegan," so the "whole foods" part is really important to health). Some, like myself, still eat flesh foods sometimes, but focus on getting most of our calories from minimally processed, highly nutritious plant foods.

Plant-based eating never gets boring, and it's great not only for weight loss but also for diabetes, heart health, brain health... you name it. All well-designed, unbiased research shows that reducing animal products (all of which contain high quantities of fat and cholesterol) and free oils improves health in virtually every way.  But we don't know if "no" animal products is any better than "some."

So pick a level of "plant based" that suits you.  Take your time and see how you feel as you add/remove foods from your diet.  As bariatric surgeons Matthew Weiner and Garth Davis say, "eat your veggies first" (Dr. Weiner has a video in which he explains why most bariatric programs overemphasize how much protein is needed).  Make as much of your food as possible be minimally processed and eat as many vegetables, fruits, nuts, seeds, and legumes as you can.

Instead of a turkey burger, try a homemade veggie patty (they freeze great). Instead of string cheese, try some microwaved edamame with a sprinkle of salt. Instead of sauteeing onions in oil, sautee them in broth or wine or water. Instead of adding olive oil to your salad, eat some olives.  Instead of adding Splenda to sweeten your smoothie, add a couple of dates or frozen grapes.

Here are some great resources for moving towards a more whole-foods, plant-based eating pattern, in case you want to verify the research for yourself, or need recipes & ideas, etc.

• http://drmatthewweiner.com/ (bariatric surgeon; also has a great youtube channel)
• https://www.facebook.com/drgarth (bariatric surgeon)
• drmirkin.com (retired doctor and health enthusiast)
• anything by Dr. Dean Ornish 
• http://www.happyhealthylonglife.com/ (a National Library of Medicine librarian who looks into nutritional research & posts simple recipes)
• jeffnovick.com (RD who specializes in plant based eating and is very common-sense).
• http://www.pcrm.org/media/experts/neal-barnard (Dr. Barnard, MD, specializes in type II diabetes research)
• http://nutritionfacts.org/ (Dr. Greger, MD, specializes in nutrition. Lots of funny videos about "which is better - this or that?")
• engine2diet.com (lots of recipes)
• http://www.dresselstyn.com/site/faq/ (Dr. Esselstyn, MD, wrote a book called Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease that has the BEST and simplest recipes I've ever found!)
• http://nutritionstudies.org/about/board/dr-t-colin-campbell/ (Dr. Campbell, Ph.D., is a world-recognized nutritional epidemiologist)

I was vegetarian for 3 months. I felt great had lots of energy and got on the scale and had gained 30 lbs! Apparently all the carbs I was eating were not doing me any favors! I went back to lean meats and vegetables and very little carbs.