Vegan Bodybuilding & Fitness

Hi everyone! I've been meaning to check out/get involved in this site for a long time. My name is Davin, I'm turning 30 next week (yay!), and I live in Philly. I've been vegan for 14 years and live a pretty active lifestyle (walking/biking in the city- it's a must) and go on and off with weight training. Last year I got back into fitness hard, going from a size 5 to a size 1 without losing any weight which was pretty rad (I'm female btw- hence the sizes) which I wrote (and posted photos of) here:

http://elladelphia.blogspot.com/2012/02/pre-tour-fitness-challenge.html

And now maybe you can see in those photos, but parts of my body (um... my butt) just totally deflated with the loss of fat. (Note in the AFTER side view there's barely any way to distinguish my ass from my upper thigh.) I was slender and fit, but not really firm. This bummed me out from a body sculpting/fitness standpoint, but also because losing one's bum is uh, a bummer. (Har har.) So I've been following a body building routine on my lower half for the last few months and started packing on the muscle. I've now gone up a panty size without expanding my waist at all! Not to mention of course that I feel great (this goes without saying, right?) I've lost a couple pounds (I'm a size 0 now and like 111lbs) and now I'm trying to add some bulk all around, then shred some fat and get cut.

I weight train, do (and adore) pilates, and do high-impact cardio interval training type stuff. I also just started working at a gym- my gym- TODAY! It's so awesome! My manager said I could sneak in lifting during slow times. Anyway, I'll be able to post on here more from there. And I reckon I ought to take a progress picture of my lower half- the gains have been sweet! My arms are little useless noodles, but I dream of- and work toward- turning them into bonafide peanuts (think about it... peanut arms. Lump- shoulder, dip, lump- bicep. I talk quite a bit about my desire for peanut arms, and when my bf wants to make me blush, he tells me that I have little peanuts, and squeezes them. "You're looking real swoll today" has a similar effect.)

Um other interests are hardcore, historical non-fiction, and budget traveling.

I'm really excited to chat with and learn from you all!

ps- This is my fitness goal. She's so shredded!

Nice photo . I was just in Philly for a weight management conference yesterday. You all have a serious homeless problem huh? Made NYC seem not so bad. Anyway welcome to the group! Ever come out to NYC shoot me a line, I can help with suggestions on where to eat and sometimes vegan friendly meet ups.

-Dylan

Welcome to the forum, sounds like you're doing everything right!

Nice to see some other hardcorey types on here! Kingdom are pretty sweet

I also turn 30 next week, have been vegan for about 13 years and play in a hardcore band, solidarity sistaaaaaaaaaaaaa.

P.S. "Budget Travel" aka dumpster diving, AMIRITE?

Hey Dylan! Yeah dude, we really do have a homeless problem. There just isn't enough funding here to keep people in shelters (plus shelters can be really dangerous so some people like to avoid them.) Where abouts were you? Convention center? Let me know next time you're in town- same offer back at you!

xveganx- Aw thanks! Any feelings on turning 30? It didn't really bother me at all- though I freaked out at 28 for some reason.

Haha not 'round here- everything's locked up. More like use-the-international-vegan-straight-edge-connection to go everywhere for almost nothing. And touring... haha

Hi welcome, I've only just joined myself I'm in the UK.

Love the tatoos. I'm not dissimilar in weight to you and 5ft 9", so I need some muscles too

What does it mean to live in a row of repossessed houses? Do you pay rent, squat? Is the road empty of people? Are most of the people in Philly in shelters? Sorry if question seems daft but things can be so different across the water and of course much of the mass media does not really report the truth of what is going on.

BTW you sound really lively and motivated, keep it up

Hey Davin! It's Matt Selover.

Sweet thanks! Yeah I guess I was city center, hotel was in the museum district I think. When ate at a nice restaurant and also played mini golf at the course designed to look like the city which was fun.

-Dylan

Yeha 30 for some reason was no thang, even though I thought it was indeed going to the thangest of thangs, and oddly enough, yeah 28 fucking sucked. That was for other reasons though I think. But gettin' decrepit doesn't help either.

Glue them locks! or buy some big big ass bolt cutters haha. But you're right, being straight edge and vegan seems to be a free meal ticket the world round which is pretty awesome. I know I've put up my share of bands/random travelers.

You going to TIH!?

Hi! And yeah girl, pack 'em on! Hahaha this actually made me LOL. "Row home" is a type of home- it's like any city home- attached to the next, which is attached to the next, all in one big row. Basically just a house in the city. Repossessed means the bank took my house from my landlord from lack of payment, then basically I was squatting in my home for months (since my landlord no longer owned the house, I had no one to pay rent to.) Last month someone bought my home (which I've rented for years until suddenly I got to stop paying rent) and I signed a new lease and now I rent from my shiny new landlord.

No, that majority of people of Philly are not in shelters haha. We (like most big cities) have a large homeless population and not enough shelters to house them all, so there are a noticable amount in the streets.

Matt! Hahah whattup dude?

Dylan- WOAH I've never heard of that mini golf place! Sounds pretty awesome.

xveganx- Getting decrepit?! Hahah yo maybe you need to uh, work out or something. Haha. Sorry I missed this- I was actually off work so I could go to TIH... were you there? I seriously never want to eat blackbird pizza again. 4 day pizza diet killllllllled me.

HEY EVERYONE- So this past weekend I was a music festival here in Philly, and there were people from just about every inch of the globe there. I saw a guy wearing a Vegan Body Building shirt, and being a fairly excitable and friendly person, I walked up to him, complimented his shirt, and asked if he wanted to talk about protein and weight lifting.... and he did! I ended up meeting like 3 or 4 vegan fitness folks from Toronto and we stood around talking shop and trading tips, it was so so sweet! I realized I really need more vegan merch so that like mindeds will come talk to me!

Hey y'all- I just started a vegan fitness/eating out in Philly blog with interviews, tips, and reviews. If you have a minute, check it out! Just posted an interview with a vegan CrossFitter named Will Joyce. Lots more coming soon!

YOVEGAN.BLOGSPOT.COM

The mini golf place was right next to a carousel, any idea the area im talking about? It may be temporary, I think it was built by the Philadelphia historic society actually. Nerdy fun!