Vegetarian

[mukey]

Just wanting to know if anyone can give me some input on how going vegetarian would impact health, diet, muscle growth. I was thinking about trying it out for roughly a month, I've got a couple friends who are vegetarians/vegans and they say they feel much better physically after the switch. Right now I'm working out to slim up and maintain the muscle I have, mostly doing cardio and a lot of body resistance exercises like push ups and chin ups and what have you. Obviously if I just replace meat with a bunch of junk it won't help, but does anyone have some insight as to how this diet would affect my body? And I plan to get enough protein as well, will get some protein powder if I have to.

[pliny_2001]

You can be completely healthy as a vegetarian (I was one for a few years) but it takes a little more effort to get the right balance -- the reason why most vegetarians look all pale and sickly is that their diet's insufficient. But nothing about excluding meat precludes good health. Just do some research. You'll probably find that you're eating a much higher volume of food, and it takes a bit of time to get used to it.

[mukey]

If anyone is interested in knowing, I've been doing this Sunday, and I've already lost 7lbs. I'm eating the same amount of calories that I had been so this came as quite a surprise. I figure it is mostly water weight, but I fear I'll be losing muscle soon so I'm gonna supplement with some protein powder from now on.

[wildstang]

high probability the 7 pounds mentioned are from your colon cleaning it self out some and dumped the feces buildup from the ultra high fiber diet being veggy now. your weight loss should level out now being lower.

[Sione1]

The only real problem is that it is more difficult to get complete proteins. You need to eat the right combinations, because meat is the only place you can get it in one source... unless your're still letting yourself eat eggs.