I used to love the meatier side of life. I grew up eating the Standard American Diet (SAD) and I was addicted to fast food, dairy, meat and seafood. It wasn’t a meal unless there was a big hunk of meat on the plate and because of these eating habits I ballooned to over 210 lbs.

I did the yo-yo diet thing for awhile, I would take a diet pill and lose 20 lbs in a month but it always came back, plus some. Then I jumped on the low-carb band wagon and again I lost 40 lbs but it came back and just for good measures a few pounds more. I tried every quick fix available in a bottle but nothing worked and I quickly found myself crying into a tub of ice cream trying to figure out what my next step would be.

It wasn't until I was introduced to a plant based, whole foods vegan diet that everything fell into place. The healthy food gave me more energy, the more energy I had the more I wanted to move and the more I moved the lower the number on the scale went. I've now lost and kept off over 70 lbs. Here’s what you can do to lose weight on a vegan diet: