Wanted: to show the world what a vegan can do!

Hey y'all brand new vegan here.

Goal: 42lb fat loss/ compete in fitness model competition

Monday I start my self-motivated training to become fitness model ready. No doubt this will be a tough road, but I'm in it to win it. I'm ready to get the best body of my life through clean eating and intense exercise.

Any inspiring words of motivation and transformation stories would be fabulous!

Growing up I was the little chubby girl. Then, high school hit and I got involved in sports and started watching what I ate. My body soon transformed into a great one! 5'6" and weighing in at 125, 18% body fat and lookin' fly. After high school the feeling of not being in a set schedule really threw me off balance and I found myself eating, and eating, and EATING! Once I saw myself getting soft and big I didn't care so much about what I put into my body. I started feeling self-conscious and secluding myself even more, meaning, I wasn't moving my body as much. Now, here I am. 167. Yes 167lb. And here I stand today ready to melt it all off and now have a new found passion to become a fitness model. I want to show the everyday fitness guru what can be done through a vegan lifestyle, eating whole-foods and exercising intensely.

So here I go, setting off on a journey that is a new beginning to the rest of my life!

i went thru similar. lost 50 lbs of fat. took me a year bc didnt deny myself things on the weekends. id recommend running every morning and wt training at nite...count calories try to net around 1450...did u gain wt being vegan or not?

Hey I am home now so I can write more. Do you have photos that you would share? Would you share a typical day's worth of meals and exercise? Do you know how many calories you eat a day? How much you burn?Do you belong to a gym? This is a good program: loseit.com. I used that after I already lost 40lbs and lost about 7 more with that. At this point I've gained back ten of muscle and prolly like 5 lbs of fat because I am on a bulking cycle and I'm trying to get into bodybuilding. I am really interested in helping you out because I can totally relate... Was 5'4 at 180lbs and none of it was muscle. Now I'm 140 and most of it's muscle (about 20% body fat). If you want to email me or send me a private message!

yikes! I don't yet have photos, but I've made a before video and plan on tracking my progress every 3 weeks. I think i'll wait just a bit to put up pics as I'm in that tender "yuk!" phase with my body. I'm not happy with what I've done to myself (eating dirty DIRTY foods) but I'm moving forward and pressing on to a better lifestyle.

Most days I have been logging my calorie intake at around 1500 and try to keep that at my max. However... on the weekends when I'm not busy I get binge-y which has completely been a damper on my weight loss results. On a good day this is what my typical meals would look like:

Breakfast: -1/3c oatmeal, 2tbs seed mix (pumpkin/sunflower/sesame seeds), fruit

Lunch: -1c beans, 1c rice, 1c veg

Snack: - fruit, 2tbs seeds OR 1serve almonds

Dinner: - usually same as lunch

*This is on a GOOD day. temptations really set in at night time and I get snacky. Most times I'm able to over come but on the days when I'm really bummed out or feeling depressed, I gorge.

I also don't have access to clean protein powder here (I'm in SE Asia middle of nowhere) so I've been getting my protein through diff. sorts of beans/nuts/seeds. I am planning on ordering some Sunwarrior Protein Powder when I get back to the states in December. Looking forward to it!

I do belong to a gym and in fact I'm starting my fitness regime on Monday. I'm making it a point to get my booty to the gym 6 days a week and eat purely because I'm wanting to do a bodybuilding/fitness competition in Italy which is 8 months down the road.

WOW! good for you! What an accomplishment! Are there any bodybuilding competitions you're looking at competing in? How were you able to shed the 40 lbs? Whats your workout routine/diet like? You must feel amazing!

I understand not wanting to post pics. I havent' been posting pics here for a while because of the weight I gained from "bulking" but I just posted some. I have an online journal here you can look at it "Lauren's training...". I didnt have the motivation to lose the weight until I got out of a bad relationship. At that point I was only a vegetarian, but during the relationship I was eating meat. I had last weighed myself in January of 2010 and was 181lbs. We broke up in July 2010. I started eating what I would consider much less but eating a lot of cheese and fish which was dumb. I next weighed myself in August at my doctor's and was 167. By October I was 160 and had started lifting at the gym about 5 days a week with with occasional running, still not vegan. I was 150 by December...pretty dedicated to my lifting (was lifting much lighter than I am now though). 150 through the holidays then in January I started feeling guilty about not being vegan so I went back to it. At that point I also knew that I needed to add cardio if I wanted to burn the fat that I was carrying. Wasn't counting calories but was trying my best to limit my calorie intake. In April at 140 I wanted to see the last pounds go and I remember I was 135 when I signed up for loseit.com to track calories. With adding running every day on top of weight lifting, I got down to 128 by May and I was netting 1500 cals per day except on weekends with wine and family gatherings and stuff. It was around then that I decided I wanted to get into bodybuilding so I had to reevaluate the nutrients I was getting and I added a lot of protein to the diet and more calories. By the beginning of September I was back up to 139 again but with the same body fat about 19% and pretty good strength. I stopped running for "bulking" but I've noticed that my pants are a bit snug and I just don't feel that great about myself. Not only did I stop running but I took a lot of freedoms with bulking and indulged in a lot of things, particularly nuts with very little moderation. I mean I feel super strong but not as sexy as I'd like so I'm going to get back into running and try to eat 2500-3000 calories a day, but with running and lifting I will probably burn about 1k on most days, so I'd net 1500. If my lifts become weaker, I will reevaluate this system but I think it will work for me because I will run in the morning and rest during the day at work then lift. Are you studying abroad in Asia right now? I spent time out of the country and had a difficult time as well. Once you start working out you won't have to feel as bad about snacking. Not that I am encouraging you to do that but from experience I know that it's hard not to sometimes. What do you think your workout routines will look like? I would like to do a BB or figure show in the spring of 2012 but the ametuer comittee in my state (NJNPC) hasn't posted the schedule yet but they've assured me that there are local shows in the spring. I've had it with bulking in its purest sense and Im gonna be trying to drop my body fat slowly until December. Then January 1 most likely I will be attempting a full-on cut. Despite my tendency to snack now, I am confident that I'll be able to be really disciplined when it comes to it in January with proper planning and a deadline approaching.

I saw your training posts - Girl your training numbers are amazing! You're a beast!

oh I know it seems way too easy to indulge in nuts. They're just so darn tasty!

I'm actually teaching English here until December. It's my first experience of being away from home for a long period of time, which is what I think attributed to my nasty eating habits.

I've started eating 4-5 balanced meals a day to keep my metabolism revved but still keeping it under 1500. I'll be posting results 3 weeks out (maybe some pics?) and will continue to post my results every 3 weeks.

Great idea on putting up a training log. I think i'll do the same, to keep myself accountable and to get some feedback.

This is what my routine will look like:

Cardio: 6 days a week (40-50 min sessions) - both HIIT / steady rate

Strength Training: 6 days a week

Monday - back, cardio

Tuesday - chest, abs, cardio

Wednesday - shoulders, cardio

Thursday - triceps, cardio

Friday - biceps, abs, cardio

Saturday - legs w/ plyometrics in between sets, cardio

Sunday - active rest

This is my 3 weeks routine. After 3 weeks I'll plan on tweaking it a bit, keep my body guessing.

Definitely keep me posted on your results and when you're competing, thats so exciting! Rootin' for ya lady!

What would a "back" day look like for example? It looks like you would be putting in a lot of work and im sure ull see results. I feel like you might get bored with just one whole day for bis and tris...maybe combine them and do something else on your free day...another leg day?

Where exactly are you teaching? I applied to teach in Indonesia but never heard back. Thats awesome, my one friend is doing it in Seoul right now...

'Back' days would be something like

-pull-ups

-seated rows

-one-arm rows

-lat. pull downs

I took the strength training part of this routine from one that Diana Chaloux (my inspiration!) had posted.

I'll try it for 3 weeks and change things up a bit if necessary.

hmmmm, yea good call on bi's and tri's. I think I might do that. Thanks!

I'm teaching in Laos at ARDA language center. Best experience of my life so far! Got the gig through a friend that is cousins with the center's manager.

Can't wait to see your progress!