Losing Their Veganity

Going full-on vegan in the hopes of ditching kilos? You might find your dress size going up. WH investigates why some women are turning in their V-cards – and how you can side step the pitfalls of plant based eating.

- Leslie Goldman

Retail worker Stephanie Schwartz tried a 21-day vegan challenge with a friend in 2015 because “I wanted to lose a few kilos and see if I could get visible abs, like all the vegan yogi Instagram girls, and this seemed like a healthy way to do it.” So Stephanie, 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 5.4 kilos, 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 influencers (vegan chef Angela Liddon, blogger Ella Woodward of Deliciously Ella) have been touting the lifestyle. Google Trends shows a 50 percent increase in interest for veganism in the past year.