Going from vegetarian to vegan

I went vegan gradually. I took eggs out of my diet, and then every few days I would take out a dairy item and replace it with it's vegan alternative. When I had replaced all the diary items, I started avoiding processed foods that had  animal ingredients in them. Lots of label reading is involved, but the Accidentally Vegan thread (http://www.unleashed.org.au/community/forum/topic.php?t=24) helped me out a lot.

Good luck on going vegan!

Do you do the cooking at home? Im kinda in the same situation as you, But i do all the cooking at home so, he eats what i cook..and he hasnt complained about any of the vegetarian meals so far,he's actually said they are quite yummy=]   but you could always just make him what you wanna eat and see if he likes it, other wise make him buy his own food to cook (i know, a bit harsh) if he really cant give up eating animals.
I am hoping to go vegan,as soon as i find a replacement for cheese,(plus i have a freezer full of shredded cheese) giving up milk or eggs wasn't that hard...soy milk taste better i reckon..and eggs..well ive never really eaten them anyway.. =]

Thanks Maggie.

Just read the accidentally vegan thread from front to back.  Interesting reading.
Your approach sounds like a winner.  I don't eat eggs, and I have been trying out some rice and soy milks, so I think that will be pretty easy.  

I've been eating non animal rennet cheese, but I think I am going to miss it when it's gone...

Ashlyn, I usually cook a meal for both of us, say a stir fry, and then he cooks some chicken or something and just adds it to his meal.  That's been working for us for years now.

I went vegan straight away from vegetarian. Though I had been drinking soy milk for about 5 years beforehand so it was just a matter of giving up eggs and cheese.

You will find that there is a vegan alternative for most things.
I use nuttelex for butter, organ egg replacer for eggs in baking, tofu for making scrambled eggs, fried eggs and omelettes, soy milk and oat milk instead of dairy milk, and there are countless numbers of vegan cheeses: http://www.unleashed.org.au/community/forum/topic.php?t=5461

You will find that a lot of restaurants (especially asian style restaurants) will be willing to make you a vegan meal, even if they don't have one on the menu. I'm not sure where you live, but I know on the Gold Coast and in Brisbane there are a lot of really nice 100% vegan restaurants. http://www.happycow.net/australia/ < type in your postcode/suburb there and it should give you a list of vegan friendly restaurants where you live (:

If I go to someones house then they will either cook me a vegan suitable meal, or I will just make a big dish of something to take there so that everyone can have some of what I'm eating (:

If your partner is going to eat meat and dairy regardless then organic is better in terms of how the animals are cared for. Also I think there are some organic dairy farms in Australia where the bobby calves apparently aren't sent to slaughter.
Even if your partner doesn't ever go vegan, if you can get him to enjoy eating your meals then that means he is eating less animal products

EDIT: Sorry for the long response! Didn't realise I wrote so much ha.

I was vegetarian for a while before goin vegan. i went off dairy milk first, I switched to Soy and still had cheese and eggs, then i realised i didnt need eggs in my diet.
I went off cheese as it was making me put on weight.
Took about a week to go fully vegan.

Wish i had switched earlier!!!

Did have headaches but i think that was because i was drinking alot of coffee with artifical sweetner. Im on decaf and im fine now.

My family are the same. dont really get it. after going vegan (mum didnt know yet) she bought me over a veggo lasgasna with all this cheese and dairy chocolate which i ate ...would never now but is a gradual thing and as long as we're  not 'in ur face' to them about it . they accept us
xx

I went cold turkey to vegetarianism then cold turkey to veganism a week later :/ guess it all hit me at once how messed up my choices were when it came to meat. One thing I would say though is don't worry if you make slip ups, its a learning curve I went back to vego 2 months in and only a few weeks ago now have gone back to vegan which I am feeling will definitely be for good. Its well worth what you "give up", like no cheese or quiche but your soul just sings from how right your choices are I hope you have a nice transition

Purchase meat from markets. Usually at markets there are stalls with those who own free range pig farms, duck cow etc and they are more than happy to answer your questions about how ethical they are.
That's one thing I can say for my carnivore family, at least they attempt to be as ethical as possible with their animal addiction.

Yeah, this is what I will have to do when it comes to moving out with my boyfriend soon. I don't even bother trying to sway him, he is stuck in his ways of eating animals unfortunately :/ So I have put my foot down and said that if he expects me to cook steak in the foreseeable future it will be locally sourced from farmers :/

I really don't understand. You can't be 'as ethical as possible' - there is only ethical (not eating animals or their derivatives) and unethical (eating animals/derivatives). No one ever wants to debate this because they think that getting people to eat 'ethical/humane' meat is a step in the right direction.. which is absolutely not true. Ask the animals if they are happy with that (isn't meant to be all about them?).

The major problems with it is that it completely alleviates any guilt a carnist might have had when he/she is chomping on a dead animal. All of a sudden they think 'this is ethical meat' and you are no closer to getting him to veganism than the person who doesn't think twice about the chopped up remains of an animal sitting on their plate. Continually encouraging people to 'go local' doesn't even TOUCH on the crux of this whole animal issue: That is all sentient life has the same intrinsic value and animals do NOT belong to us and have the same right to freedom as we do.

Tell me how (you or anyone) by advocating local produce/better conditions is improving things for the animals? Are they even an inch closer to freedom? Just because some may think it's easier to 'sell' to people by advocating local produce/better conditions/bigger cages, does not mean it helps in the long run. In fact, it is detrimental. Imagine living in a world where every man and his dog thinks it's 'ethical' to eat animals because they believe they live good lives?

A couple of years ago I remember convincing a friend to go 'local'. That was easy and he did so... but what about now? Well, now he's of the view that as long as the animals are treated 'well' before slaughter, there isn't a problem with eating animals. Now he won't budge. If I spent the time and focused on the crux of the issue, I know things would be different with him and his family.

Please don't accuse me of saying anyone who advocates those things advocates the killing of animals. That is NOT what I am saying. My point is that continually pushing things that people consider easier to sell to the public does not help the animals and people should not able afraid to discuss the heart of the issue (speciesism).