Being a vegetarian doesn't automatically make you a slim person. Here I show you the 3 common triggers for weight gain, along with tips to help you get back in shape. I've helped quite a number of overweight vegetarians lose weight effectively. The strategy is actually easy to execute: If you know what cause you to gain weight, then all you need to do is just reverse the causes and you'll lose weight automatically. Let's find out what exactly triggers your weight gain and turn you into an overweight vegetarian. Then from there, we'll apply the right "medicine" to cure your fat problem, and lose fat the easy way. 1. Sweetened Vegetarian Food Do you know how harmful it is to your health when your sweetened food contains lots of refined sugar? Your body will need to use up 27 key nutrients (calcium, magnesium, potassium, vitamin B1, B2 etc) just to digest this little white devil. These 27 nutrients are actually meant to keep your metabolism functional so as to help you maintain your weight. For that reason, those who include lots of high-sugar food in their vegetarian diet tend to have their midsection grown unstoppably. Tip: If you do crave sweet stuff, take vegetarian foods that are added with unrefined sweetener like stevia nectar. Not only it is natural, but also contains health-beneficial minerals. Refined sugar gives you nothing but calories. Stevia is preferred because it is very sweet but yet carries zero calories. 2. Lack of Vegetables I've seen overweight vegetarians eating fruits, nuts and seeds and other whole grain foods, except vegetables. They don't eat vegetable probably because they don't like its almost bland taste and fibrous texture. No doubt these vegetarians may lose weight initially, but they soon reach a weight loss plateau for not getting a full spectrum of nutrients in their vegetarian diet plans. Tip: If you feel vegetable is too bland for your liking or you simply don't like its appearance, then blend them with fruits into smoothie in a 2:3 (veggies to fruits) ratio. You'll find it easier to absorb the supernutrients from vegetables for weight loss this way. 3. Textured Vegetable Protein (TVP) TVP helps non-vegetarians to transition to full vegetarians easily. However, ingesting too much TVP can increase your total caloric intake because most TVP foods are infused with simple sugar, sodium and bad saturated fat. Tip: As mentioned above, reduce your TVP intake. But take one step at a time because stopping TVP altogether cold turkey can cause a craving rebound which will make you start eating even more. Add a tablespoon of virgin coconut oil to your vegetarian meals with TVP as coconut oil is a fat-burning saturated fat that will help burn up the bad saturated fat in the TVP. These are the 3 common fattening causes for most overweight vegetarians. Follow the weight loss tips here and you'll soon reverse the causes for your weight gain. Source: Free Articles from ArticlesFactory.com Laura Ng encourages you to use coconut oil for weight loss at FussyBody.com/coconut-oil-for-weight-loss/ because coconut oil contains a lot of medium-chain fatty acids that'll help you purge fat-blocking toxins out of your body and boost your metabolism up to 24 hours every day for continual fat-burning. You'll burn belly fat much easier and faster by adding coconut oil in your diet. But please be sure to read FussyBody.com/coconut-oil-side-effects/ first so that you know exactly how to avoid any unpleasant reactions when taking coconut oil for weight loss.