How a Whole-Food Plant-Based (WFPB) Lifestyle Can Help You Lose Weight
“Dieting is fun” …said no one ever. Yet an estimated 45 million people go on a diet each year, contributing to $33 billion in sales on weight-loss products.
What if I told you that you didn’t have to buy a fancy drink/shake/tea to help with your weight loss journey? Instead of investing in gimmicky supplements, start investing in your health with things you can easily find at your grocery store. There are many beneficial health reasons to adopt a whole- food plant-based (WFPB) lifestyle, weight loss/weight management is one of them if done correctly! A WFPB lifestyle promotes plants and limits ultra-processed foods.
Obesity is caused by many factors including eating patterns, lack of sleep or physical activity, and some medicines, as well as genetics, family history and social determinants of health. If your doctor is only concerned with where you fall on the BMI scale without consideration to your current health status, I would agree with you if you say that’s a load of B.S. The generally accepted view is that a BMI of 25–29.9 indicates that one is ‘overweight’, while 30 or above classifies one as obese. The BMI scale doesn’t account for your body distribution, what’s muscle versus fat mass.
As a registered dietitian, I take a neutral approach when my clients are looking to lose weight. If they want to lose weight to improve their health, I’ll be their biggest cheerleader. If they don’t care to lose weight but still want to improve their health, I’m right there beside them helping them navigate their new lifestyle. Of course, as any health care provider, we want to improve the health of our patient/client. What most practitioners don’t support is living an unhealthy lifestyle that has resulted in excess weight gain causing them to live a low quality lifestyle. This can manifest itself as low energy, joint aches and pains, sleep apnea/trouble breathing, and increased risk of heart disease, stroke, diabetes and cancer. Weight loss looks different for everyone. It’s best to work with a registered dietitian who can provide guidance if you get stuck or are unsure where to start.
Set Point
Have you ever heard of the set-point theory? I want to touch on this topic because if you’ve ever experienced weight loss, it seems like your body wants to stay at a certain weight no matter how hard you exercise or how little you eat. To sum it up, it’s basically your body staying at a certain weight because of what it’s gotten used to. Can you break your set point weight? It depends. Are you trying to lose an unrealistic amount of weight that may not be healthy for you? Then probably not. If you start making gradual changes along the way, over time, you can break your set point by allowing your body to adapt to these changes. People seek diets for quick and easy results. What I’m recommending is a lifestyle change, called a whole- food plant-based lifestyle. You can’t break a set point on a fad diet. If you want to learn more about fad diets, read my blog, “Why a Registered Dietitian Doesn’t Recommend Dieting”.
Adapting A Plant Based-Lifestyle
Contrary to what some people may think, a “plant-based” lifestyle doesn’t mean you eat salads all day long. In fact, you never have to eat a single salad if you don’t want to. Plants (fruits and vegetables) are filled with fiber--the stuff that keeps us full and most importantly for weight loss, is low in calories. Yes, you can definitely start a plant-based eating pattern and substitute your meat for meat alternatives such as Beyond and Impossible burgers, but that’s not what I’m getting at. By creating small habits-such as making half your plate a mixture of fruits and vegetables-you can start your path to success for weight loss. Not only can a WFPB lifestyle promote weight loss, it can protect against certain diseases, improve blood sugar control, help with GI issues, and much much more.
When transitioning to a WFPB lifestyle, I always recommend coming up with a food you can add into your day instead of eliminating. This can be as easy as incorporating a fruit and/or vegetable at each meal, if you haven’t already been doing so. Swap out your dairy milk with a plant-based milk. Start increasing the portions of your vegetables and decreasing the portion of your meat. Over time, start experimenting with beans, grains, and legumes high in protein and add these to your dishes once your meat consumption starts decreasing. Make it a goal to have one meatless meal a week, then make breakfast meatless and so forth. However you want to do it, there’s no right or wrong way. We are a society that glamorizes a high protein diet and often we feel the need to achieve it by meat alone. You can still eat a high protein diet WITHOUT meat! Crazy, I know!
When following a WFPB lifestyle, I never recommend eliminating your favorite foods, even if that is a certain animal product. Yes, a plant-based lifestyle means it’s mainly plants but if there’s a certain animal product you feel you can’t live without, you can certainly make room for it. It does not have to be an all or nothing approach. Another great thing about a WFPB lifestyle, the foods you would eat are naturally lower in calories. WFPB diets do not have to be boring, either! There are so many recipes online these days. Start experimenting and keep the recipes that work for you in your weekly rotation.
Not only is a WFPB lifestyle great for your health, it’s great for the environment too. According to Climate Change 2022: Mitigation of Climate Change, adapting a plant-based diet can significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions compared to the current diets of industrialized countries, including the United States. Once you start paying attention to the plants that have provided you with all the nutrients, you start becoming mindful of where your food comes from. Weight loss will come as a result of incorporating more plant-based options, so much so that it takes the stress out of dieting.
