I'm 43, and I've been a vegetarian for the last 35 years. I've struggled with my weight since my first son was born 21 years ago. Recently, I read an article that talked about protein deficiencies in vegetarians. I thought I was getting plenty of protein from yogurt, cheese, and milk (I don't eat eggs unless they're baked into something), and also from beans, nuts, etc. But as I read the symptoms in the article, I recognized myself immediately. So I did some more research, and as it turns out, for the last 3 decades, I have been eating less than 10% of my daily allowance. I was actually astonished that I'm still alive after reading and it started making sense why I am much more overweight than the food I eat would normally make me be.

My husband always says to me that he doesn't understand why I'm overweight because I don't eat much. Even before "dieting" my daily consumption only added up to about 1,600 per day, which I know is still slightly high, but not nearly enough to make me the size I am.

So I bought a Nutri Ninja and added protein shakes to my diet. I have one in the morning with bananas, millk and 60 g protein (chocolate/peanut butter) powder. I eat a regular meal for lunch, which for me is like a bowl of succotash, broccoli or a salad (sometimes with a piece of garlic bread, and then I have a fruit smoothie for dinner (no sugar added, just banana and berries with milk) - and IF I get hungry later on (b/c smoothies are so filling), I might have a Greek yogurt, but lately I haven't needed it. I also take a multi vitamin (Ultra Mega, GNC supplement for vegetarians), Glucosamine (for my knees), Vitamin D3, and a Calcium tablet. I've been doing this for less than a month, and guess what? My stomach no longer touches the steering wheel when I drive - yay!!

Side note: I have completely detoxed from sugar, which I used to add PLENTY to my coffee in the morning. I went through horrible cravings for a week or two, and now my cravings are next to nothing. So if you have craving issues, try eliminating sugar completely for a few weeks.