The Truth About A Whole Foods Plant Based Diet For Weight Loss

I have a confession to make: I love Dr. Michael Greger.

I’m a huge fan of his work of Nutritionfacts, donated $1,000 to his charity, read two of his books How Not To Die and How Not To Diet and follow a whole food plant-based diet myself since 6 years. (I’ve also reviewed his television appearances and books a multitude of times)

But.. but..

There’s one common misconception that I’m seeing in people that are looking to transition to a whole food plant based diet.

And that is seeing a whole food plant-based diet as THE HOLY GRAIL to achieve weight loss.

See while weight loss can follow a whole food plant-based diet, it is by no way guaranteed.

So a lot of people that do transition to a diet based on whole foods are frustrated when they see no results on the scale and then revert back to their old food choices.

I’ll explain you why in this post and what you can do instead, so your weight loss is predictable, effective and 100% guaranteed.

Are you ready? Let’s just dive, right into it.

The Benefits Of WFPB

The benefits of a whole food plant-based diet are numerous.

  • Increase in energy.
  • Prevention or even reversal of chronic diseases.
  • Healthier skin.
  • Better bowel movements.
  • Better blood flow.
  • As well as smaller ecological footprint and the obvious reduction of animal suffering.

The Downsides Of WFPB

Rationally there’s not many reasons to not follow a plant-based diet.

The only 3 reasons I can think of are:

  1. Inability to change your habits, mainly due to learned helplessness.
  2. Unwillingness to change your habits, due to ignorance.
  3. Unwillingness to change your habits, due to a value system where personal temporary satisfaction is valued higher than previously noted benefits.

That’s it.

The only downside there is to a plant-based diet…

… is whenever something is a great solution to a problem…

… people want to turn it into an excellent, larger than life solution.

I heard it all:

  • Go whole food plant-based and you will have no acne anymore.
  • You will stop balding.
  • You will restore your eye sight.
  • And you will have “vibrant skin”.

Whatever that means.

They claim that going whole food plant-based does not have numerous benefits but endless benefits.

The solution for everything. The magic pill.

The Magic Pill

And that is what we’re seeing with people, not Michael Greger, praising a whole food plant based diet as the holy grail for weight loss.

See what matters when it comes to losing weight is a reduction in calories.

It’s the first law of thermodynamics. Yes, it’s a physical principle that does apply to homo sapiens.

A nutrition professor proved that 10 years ago, when he lost 27lbs eating twinkies only.

So how has the nutrition professor achieved that weight loss?

He limited his calories to 1,800 on a daily basis, putting him in a caloric deficit.

He didn’t switch to a whole food plant-based diet. He started counting calories and weighed himself regularly.

And THAT is the fastest way to get started with weight loss. Measuring what matters.

Measure What Matters

Switching to a whole food plant based diet comes later, because it makes the weight loss journey easier. Certainly easier than just eating twinkies only.

But one does not start with a whole food plant-based diet first if the goal is weight loss.

Because otherwise you’re merely hoping to lose your weight. And hope is not a strategy.

So here’s the truth about whole food plant-based diet for weight loss. It is inefficient if you do it like this:

  1. Switch to a whole food plant-based diet
  2. Hope for the best

You’ll likely lose some weight doing it with those 2 steps, but it’ll be unpredictable, inefficient and frustrating, because you’ll hit a plateau very soon. Because you rely on hope and not on data.

Best Strategy For Weight Loss

There’s a better way of doing things. I think ‘better’ is even an understatement. I think the best strategy for weight loss ever created, is this:

  1. Step on the weighing scale on a daily basis. Do it in the morning after going to the toilet. Write your weight down.
  2. Track your calories on a daily basis. Make sure you’re in a sustainable and sufficient caloric deficit. For most people, this is a daily deficit of 500 to 1,000kcal. A software like Cronometer.com can help you with that.
  3. And then switch over to a whole food plant-based diet to make your weight loss journey healthier, more sustainable and easier.