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chc1983

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  1. Going on my first vacation since starting in the gym 1.25 years ago. It's been a tough to gain and maintain weight while being vegan/vegetarian (I go back and forth). I gained 30 pounds during this timeframe and have cut 8-9 in the past 11 weeks and am finally starting to look decent for the summer. I'm going to be away from the gym for 2.5 weeks. I typically take in 70 g protein in powder form daily and hit a gram per pound of bodyweight daily with veggies, grains, 2 cups of beans daily, soymilk, etc. Since I started cutting, I have been counting and cycling calories per the Leangains protocol. I also typically lift three times weekly and do cardio twice a week on off days. What should I do on vacation to minimize the muscle loss? I won't be able to count calories. I won't have a blender for fruit protein smoothies. I'm thinking I should just skip breakfast each day to keep with Leangains and then eat a large lunch and dinner with a flavored protein shake in between and then maybe snack on a half cup of nuts each night before bed. Any tips from the pros on here?
  2. @vegansludge Thank you for the legitimate reply. I was typing my other comments while you were posting so they weren't directed at you. I guess my main question is regarding the Leangains philosophy of eating more carbs, less fat on the training days. They're basically saying the body, when in surplus, is more likely to store dietary fat as body fat than carbs as body fat. This doesn't make sense to me. I thought any excess calories equalled fat storage, regardless of the macros. I tried the low fat yesterday for the first time. It was a training day and it was really tough. My perceived level of fullness when eating pasta, quinoa, beans, lentils, bread, etc was much higher than what I have been doing for the past few months (which is eating a whole cup of nuts to make calories/protein requirements). Regarding your comment that one week is not enough time to determine weight gain/loss, what is a good rule of thumb of when to make adjustments then? If you stay the same/go backwards for two weeks? Three?
  3. I don't think Leangains is considered a fad diet. It seems to be pretty respected in the fitness world from what I can tell. Not sure how I came across so high strung. Just trying to figure out how to adhere to Leangains protocols as a Vegan on my first cut. I was hoping someone on here could help. I guess not. The only thing I can think of as a worse response than "Relax, don't worry about it" is "I don't know." I mean did you guys really need to respond just to say that? Unhelpful.
  4. Sorry I totally missed this last reply. Is there a way to make the forum email you when people reply to your post? I'm cycling calories per the Leangains protocol. You can check out leangains.com and/or rippedbody.jp if you're not familiar with it. The basic idea is you eat over maintenance on training days to feed the muscle you just annihilated and then you burn fat on the days you're resting by eating below maintenance. Add to this the fact that you are fasting 16 hours a day for fat burn. My latest update with everything is here if anyone cares to read/advise: viewtopic.php?f=46&t=27949
  5. I'm doing a Leangains cut +10% train days / -30% rest days. Typically train 3 days a week, sometimes 4. End of Week 3 of my first cut... Wk 1: -1.2 lbs, Wk 2: -1.2 lbs, Wk 3: +0.9 lbs For weeks 2 & 3, I'm averaging two measurements across two days. For week 3, I've settled into a pretty steady train day 10h feed/16h fast, rest day 6h feed/16h fast pattern. For week 2, I had a larger overall deficit bc I skipped a whole rest day's worth of calories while switching from a nocturnal to daytime schedule. Questions: --Should I decrease total calories by 5% or 10% maybe to continue the weight loss? Not sure how I gained a pound this week. --How do I know if I'm accidentally recomping instead of cutting? --Is it possible that I screwed up my metabolism in week 2 by skipping a whole rest day's worth of calories? Did I maybe trigger starvation mode and now my metabolism has slowed? Is this possible that quickly? If so, how do I fix it? --You're supposed to eat less fat and more carbs on train days with Leangains. I don't really get this. I eat both more carbs and fats on training days than rest days and I always eat more carbs than fats. Is this by percentage or grams or what? I don't see how it would be possible to eat more fats than carbs on rest days and still stay within the restricted calories as a vegan (ie my fats are avocados, nuts, & olive oil which all have a high calorie content). I also thought dietary fat wasn't supposed to be more easily stored as body fat so I'm not sure why Leangains advocates this. This is the one big thing I'm not following in the guidelines so maybe it makes a difference? Thanks in advance for any help you guys can provide!
  6. In my opinion, you are more attractive than the picture in your avatar (which I'm assuming is Megan Fox). Not sure why you would want to look like that.
  7. Just finished first week of first ever cut. According to the Omron fat monitor, I lost 1 lb lean mass and .2 lbs of fat. Is that pound of lean mass actually glycogen or something or should I be alarmed? I'm eating 1 gram of protein per pound of body weight per day. Training days I eat around 3600 cals, rest days around 2300 cals. This is +10%/-30% over/under what I estimated was maintenance after tracking calories for a week and staying the same weight. Am I doing something wrong? Thoughts?
  8. I'm sure this has been covered here, but I did a search and couldn't find anything... So, I emailed off a big summary about myself, my training, my diet, etc, to a trainer I was really looking forward to possibly working with and he replied that he didn't have enough experience working with vegetarians/vegans and that I should do my research on complete proteins. I thought I had read in THE CHINA STUDY that this complete protein thing was a myth. I also vaguely recall finding a website (which I apparently did not bookmark) saying it wasn't a problem after this subject came up amongst some friends. My questions are: -I'm under the impression the body can reassemble amino acids from various plant sources to do what it has to do, such as build muscle. True/false? -I'm under the impression the body can store those amino acids for up to a day so you don't necessarily have to eat rice with beans at the same meal, but if you eat rice and beans within 24 hours, you should be fine. True/false? -I frequently see pro-Vegetarian/Vegan websites argue against this whole complete protein thing being a problem and the mainstream bodybuilding community arguing that it IS a problem. Are there any independent studies you guys can link to that support the case that it's not a concern? -Most of the websites I see are in reference to normal vegetarians/vegans, not bodybuilding folks. Is it a different story for those of us looking to pack on the muscle? Thanks for your help!
  9. Hello Fellow Plant Lovers, Backstory: I've been doing Stronglifts 5x5 for 9 months. Before that three months of machines/cardio. Never lifted before. Currently 28. I couldn't progress on upper body lifts so I eliminated squats/deadlifts after 4-5 months. After that I also started microloading. I'm vegetarian boarding on vegan, meaning I avoid direct consumption of milk/eggs but don't sweat it if they're in something processed like bread. I've gained 30 pounds in this year (150-180 @ 5ft 10in). According to the Omron fat calculator, I'm around 18%. I've been doing leangains for just over a month, no real change in weight or fat %. I have never measured and obsessed over macros, other than trying to get as much protein as possible. I have been doing steady state cardio post workout for the past 4-5 months. Before that I tried it on days off, but it interfered with recovery when squatting 3x/week. Current Lifts (in lbs): Bench 147 3x5, Row 147 5x5, Press 3x5 105, Pullups 3x5 bodyweight When I was still squatting/deadlifting I had gotten to Squat 3x5 190 and Dead 1x5 220 Exact Current Workout Scheme: A - Bench 5x5, Row 5x5, Abs 3x10, DB Inc Press 3x10, Cable Low Row 3x10, treadmill B- Press 5x5, Pullups 5x5, Abs 3x10, DB Sitting Press 3x10, DB Curls 3x10, treadmill I'm still progressing but it's very slow. It takes three attempts at a weight to get a full 5x5 so with microloading, I'm lucky to increase 5 pounds per work weight per lift per month. This past week, I didn't make 5x5 so I'm thinking it may be time to go to 3x5. I've already deloaded twice on each lift per the Stronglifts program. My plan was to keep with it until I got down to 1x5 and then switch to RPT three day split: http://rippedbody.jp/reverse-pyramid-training/ Except tweaking it to: A-bench/chest accessory B-Row/Chin/back accessory C-Press/Shoulders/maybe arms? I seem to have steadier progression if I actually do every other day instead of taking two days off in a row each week so I'm a little scared to do each body part only once a week on RPT. Goal: Overall, I just want to look like I actually workout. After a year I don't. If someone hadn't seen me in a year, they'd probably just think I got fat, which is what my girlfriend and mother think because most of the time my stomach is bloated from eating so much. My biggest issue is with the belly fat I have accumulated. I don't really have any desire for my legs to grow as all of my pants are already tight in the legs from squatting 3x per week for 4 months. Questions: -Should I stick with my workout plan (going to SL 3x5 then to RPT upper body only) or switch to RPT immediately? -Also, should I go back to doing squats/deads? They just seemed to exhaust me to the point where I didn't have any energy left for upper body lifts and my legs seemed to grow like crazy but my upper body seemed stalled. -Should I start being super obsessed and measuring out every little thing I eat, tracking it on fitday.com, and drinking even more smoothies to get up to a gram of protein per pound of bodyweight? The thing I've found with being vegetarian is that the high protein foods are also very high calorie which makes me worry about accumulating more fat. -Should I cut over the next three months before summer? This sounds scary because I don't really have much muscle to show yet but I would like to get rid of the belly. Also, I keep reading that it's better to bulk from 10% than 20% because of nutrition partitioning? I guess I'm just scared of going three months sacrificing strength/muscle building to lose fat. -Should I switch cardio to rest days? SL says to do it post workout and Leangains says off days. -Should I ditch leangains if still trying to bulk? Thanks in advance for your thoughts! Please let me know if I've omitted any relevant information. I can post pics if you think that would be helpful.
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