Losing a lot of weight

[lilchonga]

Hi everyone, I am a relatively new vegan. I've been vegan for about 3 months now and I'm having some issues. Recently I tried to donate blood and when they weighed me they said I didn't meet the weight requirement. I don't have a scale at home so I don't regularly weigh myself. I've realized that I've lost a lot of weight over the past few months and I was already pretty thin to begin with. I've noticed it too when I look in the mirror... I look skinny but not in a good way, but like in "are you hungry?" kind of way.

My diet is usually oatmeal in the morning with peanut butter and ground flax seeds. For lunch and dinner I usually have beans with rice or quinoa, some vegetables, and sometimes a potato.

I was looking at my legs the other day and it really has looked like I've lost a lot of muscle mass. Clearly I'm not getting enough protein but I don't know how to get more. I get full really easily--and on a vegan diet with lots of fiber that magnifies ten-fold--so it's hard for me to eat more than I already do.

I'm also on a really tight food budget so vegan protein powders are out of the question.

 

[amberfunk]

Honestly it looks like you are getting enough protein. You can add milk to your diet. Coconut milk in a carton has the highest fat content. You can add it to your oatmeal or have some in a glass to drink. If you don't like coconut there's always flavored soy or almond. Those are the cheapest. Not sure where you live but if you have an aldi's they are pretty cheap. You can cook with olive oil, have an avocado once in awhile as they are packed with protein and fat.

 

[Alex_M]

A couple general suggestions I would make: one, diversifying your diet a little bit to make sure your nutrition is good (which may or may not be a problem ), two, making sure you're eating foods that you like to help you make sure to eat enough… (again, not sure if that is an issue or not. I just saw someone else post with a similar question in another forum and part of their issue was not eating enough).
I too would recommend coconut oil, olive oil, and avocados. It can be nice to garnish rice, beans, etc. and veggies with olive oil. You might also want to try adding nutsto your diet, but be careful because sometimes vegans and vegetarians get dependent on them and can overdo these.
I know that carbs aren't necessarily a good solution ( again, it just depends on what you're getting already) , but if there is a good vegan bakery where you live then that can certainly help too!

 

[Mark Mywordz]

If money is important, go to the market when they are making price reductions to get rid of the last stocks of food. Aldi and Lidl are good in Europe. Cut down a little on the fibre and eat some carbs - potatoes, rice, pasta, pizza. Do you like cakes? Just a little chocolate too. I like the 85% dark chocolate. The supermarkets in the UK have cheap lines - Everyday Beans, basic no-nonsense varieties of most foodstuffs.