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theproblemwithfire

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  1. It's still a relevant topic, no? This isn't the first, nor will it most likely be the last that someone is looking for information like this. I don't know how often I hear about vegans looking for soy-free diet plans, not because they have a soy allergy, but they just think it's bad to eat. Should we be promoting this kind of thinking or helping to point fellow vegans to information about the benefits of soy and use in a vegan diet as one of the best sources of protein and nutrients? Oh, my bad. Yeah, let's just let people believe whatever the hell they want to and encourage it without correcting them. Let's make this vegan thing unnecessarily harder for people! Let's disregard the evil science man and his studies. Hey, want to avoid soy for no reason!? You go girl!!
  2. Vegan of several years here and infrequent lifter currently attempting starting strength (again.) Feeling discouraged lately due to some personal setbacks in the gym (lower back pain resulting from bad deadlift form and now subsequent fear/caution of pulling anything too heavy) coupled with lurking of the Starting Strength boards and their general disapproval of vegetarian and especially vegan diets (namely the lower levels of BVs and PDCAAs in plant food vs. animal-derived foods) has left me with some serious doubts of the effectiveness of a vegan diet for strength and size gains for a majority of people. Tired and leery of the disjointed nature of a chunk of the vegan fitness community, who, for whatever reason/s seem disproportionately vulnerable to what I'd consider 'quackery'--Everything from a tendency towards unhealthy skepticism of modern medicine/science and over reliance on homeopathic cure-alls, various 'detoxification' methods, and a multitude of unfounded and/or flat-out erroneous or dangerous beliefs like "broccoli has more protein than a steak!" or "You don't need B12 supplements, just eat lots of nutritional yeast!" Heck, there was a thread on these very boards in which some of us wanted to follow each other's myfitnesspal log's in which another user replied that they no longer trusted the app because the macros on it were "set by carnivores," whatever that means (I suppose by that logic none of all of us vegans should trust any nutritional labels either unless we know that they were written up and printed by vegans using only soy-based inks too.) Can we acknowledge that veganism isn't a cure-all, one-size-fits-all answer to everything? Can we admit to its strengths and also its short comings? Can we stop pointing to athletes like vegan strongman Patrik Baboumian, who's only been vegan for a few years, who built their bodies and accomplishments on mounds of meat and dairy products as some sort of "proof" that veganism works? Isn't it a little disingenuous? Granted I know that very few of the population is vegan, even less of those people interested in fitness, but these vegan fitness communities are a mess compared to the ones at places like bodybuilding.com, for example. How many truly impressive transformation pictures are there here? While the aforementioned site has dozens of examples of people who ate and lifted and have great results to show for it, here in the vegan fitness communities is a lot of talk. Bad cell phones "progress" pics, extremely skinny people that never get anywhere, people who seem far more concerned with their own vanity showing off their asses in booty shorts (and they're nice asses, but progress pics they are not,) people posting pictures with whatsoever NO explanations about their routines or even diets, an unending slew of posters who post once or twice to never to return. Lots of back-slapping and encouragement over nearly identical "progress" pics, again in which little to no specifics or clue about what the person is doing all the while most of the guys who have posted any kind of solid progress here are all but long gone (Chewybaws, Jamesxvx come to mind) I don't mean to attack anyone, really. I've been just as misguided and lazy in my own weightlifting journey though I do feel like resources are slim. I can think of a handful of people who have made really impressive gains, completely vegan, people like Nick Diener, Robert Cheek, or Ed Bauer, but they are far and few between. I'm back to training and eating big but it's hard not to feel a little demotivated sometimes. Anyone else?
  3. Can't stand him, really. His 'do or die' approach to veganism reeks of the worst kind of fanaticism. I get it, he's young, newer to veganism and passionate about it but that doesn't mean you have to be an asshole about it. I have a feeling that his righteous attitude about veganism turns more people off than it actually interests them in veganism. Besides, his whole youtube persona/shtick comes off as a sham to me considering that he's only been vegan for a year or two I believe? So most of his physique was built on animal products anyways, unless he's made some significant gains eating and lifting as a vegan.
  4. Negative Approach Poison Idea Cursed Tragedy Born Against Haymaker Circle Jerks (Group Sex LP) Burning Love Jerry's Kids Spazz ...anyone? (I see Born Against and HHIG mentioned above, nice.) ^A mix of some old/modern. Never could get into the cartoony Vegan or SxE shit, or the jock tough guy mosh stuff either. Seemed like the sort of stuff punk WASN'T supposed to be about. I also find punk or HC bands that do gang vocals on just about every song to come off corny as hell. Same goes with any 'posi' band where every song is about friendship, unity, striving to beat the odds, etc. Seems really forced to me.
  5. The Lawrence Arms never really did anything for me... And New Found Glory? Ugh. Too cutesy and slick sounding. Do you like The Spits? The Ergs? Heavy Times? I prefer my punk not sounding so...glossy.
  6. You still sound misinformed about soy. It's actually thought to fight cancer. It's also a great protein source for vegetarians and vegans. Not sure why anyone would want to avoid it, unless they actually had an allergy to it. I think you're missing out on a great source of nutrition by excluding soy from your diet. A Vegan Doctor addressing soy myths and misinformation: http://freefromharm.org/health-nutrition/vegan-doctor-addresses-soy-myths-and-misinformation/ The Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics take on soy: http://vegetariannutrition.net/docs/Soy-Safety.pdf
  7. I think that's a great idea. I'm trying to get around 155 grams with around 2,000 calories for a cut, a day, and finding it tricky. Would be curious to see what others are doing. Are you bulking dirty? For those of us looking to cut, it's pretty important to watch what we're taking in, unless you can basically memorize the caloric value of everything you're eating. Also, what are "macros set by carnivores" exactly? Macros are macros. The science of caloric deficit/surplus and exercise doesn't change because of dietary preference.
  8. This seems like an obvious question, but I think I'm mostly in denial about it because I'd rather avoid having to buy even more groceries... So I've been lifting and eating big for a little over a month and have put on 8-10 lbs from 150 to 160. It only makes sense then that I up my caloric and protein intake as well to match this change in weight, right? OR should I stay pretty close to what I've been doing and just monitor my progress? Thanks
  9. Awesome, man. Good to hear. I'm looking forward to them. And thanks, man. I dig both bands and drew it up because I thought it'd be kind of funny. Also noticed that you're into cycling, too. Are you riding while lifting? I have a car but have commuted by bike as my main transportation for the last few years and am still riding to work. I only have about an 8-10 mile round trip (recently moved a little closer) but that's still about 300 cals. to subtract from my day. I figure I'm going to have to put off the longer road riding up in the mountains of Colorado this spring and summer unless I want to spend even more on groceries...
  10. Hope you're still doing this. I have a similar build to you and am getting back into lifting, so this in inspirational
  11. Thanks for the replies, guys. I admire what you've both done, specifically chewy because your body type looks (looked) similar to my thinner build. Awesome work, man. And rad Propagandhi shirt, by the way. Today's Empires, Tomorrow's Ashes is probably the finest political thrash punk album. ever.
  12. I wasn't initially going to post anything-I've been lurking for awhile and have flirted with very brief bouts of weight lifting in the past. I figured that by putting up some "before" pictures here maybe I'd be more likely to feel held accountable. A little background: vegetarian (mostly vegan) for 4.5 years, vegan for 1 year so far. I've been cycling to work/running errands by (fixed gear-talk about a good way to shape up your quads) bicycle at least a couple-few miles (or more), year-round, 5-7 days a week, for about the past 3.5 years (coupled with longer distance ride on a road bike during the nicer months). The first set of pictures were taken as I was getting into a vegetarian diet but pretty much reflect how I looked prior to that during which I never really got ANY exercise and was also eating a lot of fast food; hamburgers, soda, etc. Obviously, the combination of bicycle commuting and changing my diet helped me shed weight and tone up. However, I'd like to fill out a little more and pack on some lean muscle. Cycling is a big part of my life, so that's not going to change, and I realize this may make my goals a little more difficult? I'm not interested in looking like a body builder or a really big guy. I'm 5'8" and usually around the 145-150 lb. mark and at most I'd be interested in adding 10-15 lbs muscle (I think? Not even sure what that would really look like). Anyways, I'm just starting a full-body, compound, three times a week routine (with hill sprints thrown in about twice a week when the weather is nice) and trying to eat 3,000 calories a day. As silly as this sounds, I guess maybe what I'm aiming for is how Tobey Maguire looked in that first Spiderman movie, or something similar to that effect: http://www.actorsexposed.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/tobey-maguire-cap-1.jpg I'm assuming this is a pretty reasonable goal given I'm determined enough to follow through with it. Any thoughts, suggestions, or ideas would be great. Thanks everyone. 2006 2011
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