Vegan Bodybuilding & Fitness

I’m a long time lurker and figured it was time to get up the courage and introduce myself! Much to the dismay of my family, I became vegetarian as a kid (I’m in my 30s now). It was a constant point of contention and they thought I would become sickly, vitamin deficient or that I was just being difficult and a picky eater. When I first saw a picture of Robert Cheeke, I felt totally vindicated! I tell people- that's what a vegan looks like! Ironically, my dad had to become vegetarian due to health problems.

I transitioned to vegan, because I realized that animal products cause health problems and illness. After becoming vegan, I was able to stop using 3 of my asthma medications and don’t have to carry an inhaler. I no longer wheeze, cough or have chest tightness and I can actually run. I love telling people this because it really opens the door to talking about the benefits of the vegan diet. At my last job I created a wellness program and had the whole office doing a mat Pilates class at lunch time. Around me at work, I saw a lot of diabetes, obesity, coworkers taking pill boxes full of medications daily, inability to walk upstairs. I thought to myself, THIS IS NOT NORMAL! People should not be in this condition! I made it my own personal goal to try and create wellness programs wherever I work.

I really enjoy daily reading everyone’s training logs and read those at night to get ideas for my food/workouts. I’ve been doing Pilates for quite awhile and love doing weights. I try and do the gym about 6 days. I wish I had more vegan friends, I get so tired of having to have that conversation: “Does it have chicken stock?” Or “Do you know if that has butter in it?” So this forum is such a relief, I don’t have to preface anything with...I don’t eat XY and Z. I love talking about working out, good food and training, so this seems like a great place for it.
Jen

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Welcome, Jen!

I wish I had more vegan friends too. One nice thing about coming to this forum, and also true for the veg groups I've joined on Facebook, is that I can know there are like minded people out there and feel supported, even if it's just virtual.

That's so great that you were able to stop all your asthma meds! Makes me wonder if my son's asthma would be much worse if he wasn't vegan. He usually only has attacks if he's around cats/dogs for longer than a couple hours, so easy to minimize exposure and very minimal inhaler use needed.

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Hey Jen,

I feel you on the lack of support system off of here. I get a lot of flack from those around me about needing to go back to eating meat. No one understands my lifestyle choice and I hate not having anyone to talk to close in my life.

Synny

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Wish I had been vegan during my pregnancy. I converted from vegetarian to vegan shortly after he was born from combination of him reacting to me having dairy and the full realization of what it takes to produce milk (breastfeeding will do that to you!). Luckily, he's never know it any other way. He's not old enough yet to be going to dinner with friends on his own without us, so we have yet to deal with that. We don't go to eat at other's houses very often, but when we do we typically try to find out what the meal plan is in advance. Often if they get take out or delivered food we can have a say in what's ordered, offer to bring something or pick something up on the way, or occasionally they know us well enough to have an idea what to cook (like our parents). Often we try to time get togethers where we arrive just as the meal is ending (sometimes bringing dessert), or visit in the afternoon, so we don't even have to watch others eat meat.

Our close family is pretty good about it all. And I feel lucky that our extended family and friends haven't hassled us. They have been pretty accepting, at least to our faces, with just a couple of exceptions.

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Hey there!
Synny- I too get flack from family for being vegan. From scowls about my not eating eggs, or their "serious" talks about how 'too much agave can cause miscarrisges', or that I don't have a balanced diet. I'm not even trying to convince them of my eating habits & they have yet to forwardly ask me what made me convert or why I do it.... It's frustrating, but I do have a very supportive boyfriend who wants me to feel my best & encourages me every day!
Ps-on the agave comment, it's only if you're having like 4-6 tablespoons a day! Which clearly I wouldn't!! Also, I'm not trying to get pregnant....

So happy to hear of your choices, Jen, it's so nice to be surrounded by like-minded folk
Iris-what are your sons favorite foods. I have people who swear it'd be too difficult to raise kids vegan. I don't agree, bc kids watch you. What you encourage at a young age sticks with them!
Thank you, ladies, for this great topic!

Synny,

Totally know what you mean! This forum has been such a good motivator for me! If I felt like I was straying toward too many sweet things or was having a hard time going to my work out, I would read the training logs and get back on track. Just seeing people's progress has kept me on the straight and narrow. I tend to stress eat, so I have to be hyper vigilant with motivational things (especially being in school and job hunting, it's easy to get tempted by junk food!)
Jen

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Thanks! I'll add some motorcycle porn, here's the Monster 750>

Jen

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A common mistake that people make when trying to design something completely foolproof is to underestimate the ingenuity of complete fools.
Douglas Adams

When he was 0-3 or so he'd eat about any fruit or vegetable we put in front of him! He's 4 now and going through a bit of a picky stage but still enjoys a variety of foods. One of his favorites meals that he asks for often is cous cous, black beans and corn. I don't feel too bad about that considering I have coworkers with kids his age that will only eat hotdogs and have adult family members who have never even tried black beans or cous cous!

Oddly, some were concerned he didn't get to enjoy the junk food other kids get and that we were depriving him somehow, but then they saw that he still gets to have vegan forms of ice cream, pudding, cake, chips, etc. and felt better.

Kids don't come up much on this forum, but there are lots of other good sites, lists and FB groups about pregnancy and raising veg*n kids. If people need suggestions, just PM me.

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MJ & Iris,

I think it's amazing that people would worry that a child is being "deprived" by not getting junk food! Recently, my work friend's daughter was having a big 16th birthday party. They are non-vegans, but all the kids there were at least 180lbs++. I was so shocked! All the kids were eating literally mounds of cake and soda. It's so different from when we all were kids, I never remember kids being big like that. Probably some have junk food nightly for dinner, it's not a once in a great while thing.

A lot of people really do have a limited range of vegetables that they eat. I was at the natural food store with a relative and I said can you grab some leeks and shallots. I was surprised when she asked what leeks were! No wonder people aren't open to being vegan, they don't know how many vegetables are out there.

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A common mistake that people make when trying to design something completely foolproof is to underestimate the ingenuity of complete fools.
Douglas Adams

Welcome, Jen!

Great to have you here. Thanks for the shout out in your initial post. That was very kind of you. Hope you enjoy the forum. We have a pretty cool community here.

All the very best and welcome aboard!

-Robert

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