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Driver

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  1. I'm back into the swing of the vegan diet but I need some help fine-tuning things. When I was originally vegan some years ago, keeping muscle was not a priority for me, so I'm unsure of the best way to go about keeping lean muscle mass without getting soft, manorexic, or "skinny-fat." I'm 34 years old, about 5'9", and between 155-160 lbs depending on what I've been eating. From experience, I know I'm pretty comfortable walking around at 150. I lift twice a week, walk a lot, get in some cardio on off days, etc. I have no desire to become a bodybuilder or powerlifter. I will be resuming my Brazilian jiu-jitsu training shortly, probably 2-3 days a week, and possibly adding a day of boxing or muay thai, as I am possibly the worst striker ever. So my activity level during the day is "sitting on my butt at the office" and most nights will be "moderate to high." So I'd like to cut 5-10 lbs of fat while preserving what little hard-earned muscle I have. The only supplements I take are nutritional yeast and ground flaxseed. I try to take in a good variety of legumes, nuts, seeds, whole grains, vegetables, fruit, and these awesome high-protein, high-fiber vegan tortillas (I try to only eat one of the tortillas per day, though). I need help figuring out: 1. How many calories I should take in per day to cut fat slowly and reasonably without sacrificing too much muscle. 2. How much protein I should take in per day. Thanks in advance for your help!
  2. Hey, Dorothy. I grew up in one of the many really redneck parts of Florida (Okeechobee) and went to FSU for a while, although I eventually finished my undergrad and law school elsewhere. Haven't been back to Florida in a pretty long time, but may go back for my 20th high school reunion next year. I miss the beach a lot, but I miss the swamp even more. I guess I'm still a peckerwood at heart. Welcome aboard!
  3. Mike Mahler is vegan but trains lots of people who aren't. Did that post up above say to put both nads on the ground for kidneystands?
  4. If I am reading this correctly, you are saying that we (homosapiens) are poor digesters of protein? which is why we need to supplement? I must be in big trouble then, I haven't been supplementing with any protein. That would explain the poor? results I have been getting. I've only gained just under 30 lbs of muscle in 2.5 years, I can't imagine what kind of results someone who supplements is getting! Shirt splitting!! I'm saying that bisons and gorillas are, because of their digestive adaptations, better suited for diets of grass and leaves, respectively, than are humans. Bison are ruminant ungulates and are thus well-equipped to extract nutrients from relatively poor forage. Gorillas are hind gut digesters and can similarly extract nutrients from plants we'd have trouble surviving on. I'm certainly not saying that humans can't extract protein from plant matter. I'd be in the wrong place if I seriously held that position. I'm simply saying that the "bisons and gorillas can do it, so we can too" argument is specious. That's all.
  5. Nothing like the motivational powers of a giant hottie to get one stoked. Welcome aboard! I'm not a kettlebell fanatic, but I have a homemade kb (about 35 lbs) made from pipe fittings and some spare 5 lb plates epoxied together and then welded, and occasionally I'll do a short cycle of swings and snatches to change things up. Two guys with whom I used to train Brazilian jiu-jitsu work out almost exclusively with kettlebells, and their strength is freaky.
  6. I'm not a doctor, so my opinion is of little practical use to you, but my understanding is that people who absorb B12 "normally" maintain a large B12 reserve to the point that even if they develop a malabsorption syndrome, their reserve will carry them for a few years. That's why old people and long-time vegans are the populations most likely to develop nutrition-related B12 deficiencies - it takes a while for your reserve to dwindle and your symptoms to present even if you're pretty deficient for a pretty long time. In any case, I know it's got to be scary stuff for you, and I'd get to a doctor as quickly as possible. Best of luck!
  7. Bison are ungulates, and gorillas are hind gut digesters, making their "extracting and synthesizing macronutrients from vegetables" technology just a little more advanced than ours.
  8. OK, here's a topic about which I'm interested in hearing opinions. I like carnivorous plants. When I was a kid, I had several pitcher plants and got a huge kick out of them. www.californiacarnivores.com sells a large variety of carnivorous plants - flytraps, sundews, pitchers, bladderworts, etc. I've been thinking about cultivating carnivorous plants again, and they sell excellent "sampler" packages to get started. I'd like to get a general sampler and a flytrap sampler. Obviously, the plants fancy animal products. Their recommended diet is dried mealworms or other invertebrates, widely available at pet stores. A flytrap, for instance, might require 4-5 mealworms a month. They're not supposed to be fed hamburger and the like - in fact, I think that's how I killed my pitchers years ago. So, what are your feelings on carnivorous plants? I know some members feed animal-based foods to their cats or other obligate carnivores ... my ferrets are obligate carnivores, and they get a ferret-specific animal-based food. But what about carnivorous plants? They're not really "pets," but they thrive on a bug diet. How would you feel about keeping a flytrap in your home and office and feeding it a dried worm a few times a month? I just happen to think these plants are fascinating, and not just out of some sense of "delicious irony."
  9. Welcome! I'm also a lawyer, and will be starting up Brazilian jiu-jitsu again as soon as we're settled into our new location and have the spare cash on hand. There seem to be a lot of lawyers who practice martial arts and combat sports ...
  10. I'm curious about the "tool use," as I've never heard of this sort of thing. From fish, I mean. I'm familiar with the concept of tool use.
  11. Does decaffeinated green tea have the same health benefits as "regular" green tea? I love green tea, but I'm off the caffeine and I'm not going back on, I have trouble with moderation and end up drinking a 12-pack of Tab a day.
  12. My nice fellow associate took me to lunch today, and she even paid. The restaurant is one of those wannabe-downscale yuppie havens, but has a lot of ovo-lacto stuff. I had a very nice "French Provincial" sandwich - artichoke hearts, avocado, sun-dried tomatoes, mixed greens, all on a really crusty roll, left off the cheese and pesto. Good sandwich - living in a city again has its high points.
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