I Tried Going Vegan To Lose Weight And It Backfired In The Worst Way

Women's Health investigates why some women are turning in their V-cards.

Stephanie Schwartz, a New Yorker who works in retail, tried a 21-day vegan challenge with a friend in 2015 because "I wanted to lose a few pounds and see if I could get visible abs, like all the yogi vegan Instagram girls, and this seemed like a healthy way to do it." So Schwartz, then 25, abstained from all animal products—meat, poultry, seafood, dairy, and eggs. The trial period came and went and she stuck with it, absorbing the plan's "cruelty-free" ethos. As her passion for animal welfare grew, though, something else did too: her waistline.

Instead of toning up, within four months "I gained 12 pounds, lost muscle tone, and felt so bloated," she says. She also overheated easily and lost her period. "My body was like, 'Excuse me, I don't like this.'" She couldn't figure it out, but she did notice she always felt ravenous—and was constantly eating. Like 70 percent of people who try going vegan, Stephanie ultimately went back to eating some animal products. Interest in veganism, the stricter, coconut milk-ier cousin of vegetarianism, has surged in recent years. In Hollywood and on social media, it seems as if every flat-bellied celeb (Olivia Wilde, Jennifer Lopez, Lea Michele) is reported to have tried the lifestyle, and luminous-skinned fitfluencers (vegan chef Angela Liddon of Oh She Glows; blogger Ella Woodward of Deliciously Ella; Kristina Carrillo-Bucaram, the local-organic-raw pioneer behind FullyRawKristina) have been touting the lifestyle. Some sources show that the number of vegans in the U.S. has spiked by as much as 600 percent in the past three years, and search interest in veganism was 460 percent higher than vegetarianism in the past year alone.

It's not surprising that an increasing number of women have taken Schwartz's tack, looking beyond veganism's moral raison d'etre and health benefits—which include a reduced risk for heart disease, cancer, diabetes, blood-sugar issues, hypertension, and overall mortality—to a hope of weight loss. After all, while veganism is not considered a weight-loss diet per se, multiple studies have shown that people who shun animal products tend to be lighter than their omnivorous counterparts. A recent Harvard University meta-analysis found that vegans lost about five pounds more than meat eaters over an average of 18 weeks. Another study found that vegan women tend to have a BMI of 22, which is 1.5 points lower than the average of those who dig meat. But people who go vegan specifically to shed inches may be doing themselves a disservice, says Pittsfield, Massachusetts, nutritional consultant Virginia Messina, R.D., M.P.H., creator of TheVeganRD.com and coauthor of four vegan-centric books. "Women read stories that promise the pounds will just melt away"—but simply starting your day with a quinoa bowl rather than an omelet doesn't mean you're automatically going to drop pounds.

VEGAN DIET TRAPS

Newbie vegans hit some common dietary roadblocks, says NYC dietitian Cynthia Sass, R.D., M.P.H. First, plenty of foods can be vegan without being good for weight loss. "Healthy, filling vegan diets require knowledge and planning," says Sass. "Twenty years ago, eating vegan meant lots of whole grains, produce, and pulses, like beans and lentils." Now the aisles are packed with higher-calorie shortcuts like mock meat and cheese products, and it's easy for new converts to assume that any item with an "All Vegan!" label will be somehow better. But eating processed foods means "you'll miss out on fiber, which slows down digestion, keeping you feeling fuller longer," says Sass. She adds that fiber feeds the good-for-you gut bacteria associated with weight management.

Even if you do stick to the healthier vegan fare, it's easy to OD on portion size, given the health halo sported by "clean" but calorie-dense foods like avocados, cashews, and coconuts. Sass had a female client whose breakfast was a jumbo smoothie bowl that "probably had about 700 calories, and then she'd be sedentary all day." Vegan or not, "anytime you eat more than you can burn, the surplus will either prevent weight loss or cause weight gain."

Another pound-adding culprit? Skimping on protein, which is needed to maintain the muscle mass that helps keep your metabolic rate up, Sass says. Too little could lead to a loss in muscle tone, as Schwartz experienced. And finally, in the life-ain't-fair department, Messina points out that if you're already eating a healthy diet with generous amounts of fiber, good carbs like whole grains, and fruits and vegetables, you're less likely to see a stark difference on the scale when you drop all animal foods. Someone who goes from egg-and-bacon sandwiches and hamburgers to a well-rounded vegan diet, though, may start losing weight more easily. (Speed up your progress towards your weight-loss goals with Women's Health's Look Better NakedDVD.)

THE COMMITMENT FACTOR

Motivation also comes into play, says Sarah Hoffman, an epidemiology doctoral student at the University of North Carolina Gillings School of Global Public Health in Chapel Hill (and happily vegan for the past 16 years). Her study in the journal Appetite shows that subjects who decided to become vegan for ethical reasons remained so for years longer than people who went plants-only hoping for weight loss or other health-related benefits. "If you're doing it to lose weight and you have unpleasant effects, like fatigue or digestion issues, you may stop, while an ethical vegan may be more likely to stick it out, because avoiding animal products is about something bigger than themselves," she explains.

Side effects often include cravings, which can be more intense in vegans who are looking to slim down, says Art Markman, Ph.D., a professor of psychology at the University of Texas at Austin and an expert on motivation and behavioral change. Without the larger goal of saving animals from suffering, "you may still psychologically crave the foods you're not eating and eventually give in." Someone who feels eating beef is gross, in other words, is less likely to crave a burger. All diets involve some deprivation, but it can help to recast yourself as "plant-based" instead of "vegan," says Markman. That reminds you of all you can eat (produce, grains, nuts, beans) and is less likely to lead to sex dreams featuring a gaucho at a Brazilian churrascaria.

WHEN IT GOES TOO FAR

The experience of Jordan Younger, 27—whose blog, The Blonde Vegan, debuted in 2013—points to a more insidious drawback to veganism. Younger says she amassed 30,000 followers in just three months with recipes like Raw Vegan Peanut Butter Cups. But a year later, she was increasingly restricting her eating choices, cutting whole categories of foods (gluten, oil, sugar), and at one point even eating 10-banana smoothies as a meal. She realized she had veered into a form of disordered eating: orthorexia, a rigid fixation with eating healthfully.

Studies have shown that women with eating disorders are more likely to be vegetarians than omnivores. That doesn't mean vegetarianism or veganism causes eating disorders, explains Steven Bratman, M.D., author of Health Food Junkies: Orthorexia Nervosa—Overcoming the Obsession with Healthful Eating. But someone predisposed to disordered eating "may use veganism as a socially acceptable way to carry it out," he says.

In 2014, Younger stopped eating vegan and changed her blog name to The Balanced Blonde. Initially she lost more than 30,000 followers, but now she has 179,000 Instagram followers and 3 million downloads of the podcast she started in 2016. "I'm spreading the word that if you want to be plant-based, that's cool," she says, "but you can also live healthier and eat more foods from the earth without being radically extreme."

Stephanie Schwartz, too, felt that veganism triggered a relapse of her prior anorexia. When she went back to fish and eggs, "my clothes fit better and my energy returned. Some days I'm still vegan, and I love the conscious aspect of eating that way, but I definitely have more energy in yoga or HIIT class when breakfast is scrambled eggs with lox, avocado, and hot sauce." The first thing she lists now on her Bumble and Tinder dating profiles? "Recovering vegan."

How This Woman Has Maintained Her 125 Lbs. Weight Loss for Over 7 Years

Samantha Call found success with the Atkins diet.

This article originally appeared on People.com.

Samantha Call’s weight loss journey began as the result of a tragic loss.

Call – who said she was “always the big girl” growing up and reached 265 lbs. by her senior year of high school – lost her father to heart disease in 2008. Her dad, who had struggled with obesity, was just 48-years-old.

“I’ll never forget sitting with my [12-year-old] brother after my dad had passed, when he told me ‘Samantha, I don’t want you to die like daddy did,’ Call, now 33, told PEOPLE.  “That broke my heart but gave me the drive that I needed to start my journey.”

First, the Callis, Maine resident consulted with her doctor. “My blood pressure was through the roof,” says Call. “I had wanted to get gastric bypass [surgery] because I felt like I had failed so many times on diets. I couldn’t stick with it. But, my doctor pushed me to lose the weight for myself and on my own. It lit a fire under me.”

In early 2009, Call found success with Atkins. And after a year and a half got down to 132 lbs. Call has maintained her weight loss for about seven years.

“I’ve always been someone who loved bacon and loved eggs, that was easy to me,” Call said of her new low carb program. “How many diets can you do that you get to eat bacon and eggs every morning?”

She also learned to love lean meats and vegetables, and now enjoys making her own healthy meals. “My fiancé is very supportive with what I cook us for dinner,” she says. “He’s always been a physically fit guy so it helps. He’s a huge support.”

While losing weight, Call gradually added in exercise, and now works out for an hour in the morning before work. “It’s part of my daily routine,” says Call, who switches between fitness DVDs, a Pilates ball and at-home gym equipment.  She even ran a half-marathon two years ago, and hopes to do more in the future.

Still on Atkins, she also allows herself a cheat day once a week, but doesn’t go overboard. “I have my mind fixated on one thing that I’m going to have,” she says. For example, instead of the three large plates of fried, carb-heavy food she used to get a Chinese buffet, Call now has a small plate and maybe half an egg roll. “It’s all about portion control.”

Another big change? Her confidence. Call, who was married once before, felt uncomfortable wearing her wedding dress at her previous size.

“I look at those photos and it was unflattering,” she says. “I’m excited for the fact that I’ll be able to pick out a beautiful dress and feel good about myself because I was very self-conscious about myself the first time around. I’m happy that I’ll look and feel good.”