Vegan Bodybuilding & Fitness

Background:

I started lifting again in August 2008 after a long layoff from fitness. I was eating too much because I just rationalized it by being vegan & eating organic. I’d never done much basic barbell training (mostly machines/isolation prior) & was interested in getting back into resistance training in a different way. I bought Starting Strength to learn about the squatting, deadlifting & pressing. I was a very out of shape 216 lbs, 6’1”. I wasn’t too concerned with dropping fat at first, I just wanted to get in the weight room 3x/week, get strong, and spend some time on my bike regularly.

On March 1 I had gotten a lot stronger & put on some weight too, up to 228. I decided to go on a weight loss program to drop some fat before summer. I did my first caliper bodyfat % test & was surprised that I was 27.5%, this was much higher than I would have guessed, but at least I had an idea of how much work I had ahead of me. I organized my nutritional goals & started getting 1g/lb protein while keeping other calories low. As of today I’m 211, 19%-23% BF depending on the caliper method I use.

Current:

My goal is to get to 200 or below by June 28, while maintaining lean body mass. I’ll be doing a vegan low carb diet, getting my protein from seitan, tofu & lots of gemma. I will be eating lots of green veggies, nutritional yeast & 1 tablespoon flax oil daily. Daily calorie intake will be below 1500, except I will be doing a once/week carb refeed & once/week free meal.

I’ve been trying to lift 3x week, but I’m had some pretty intense DOMS the past few weeks that has shut down my 3rd workout. This week I started taking 800mg Ibuprofen 3x day in hopes I won’t be too sore for my Saturday workout. I don’t know if it helps DOMS, but I also started supplementing Potassium & Magnesium this week, which gave me a lot of energy.

Future:

Ultimately I want to get down to 10% BF, which should be in the 180s. This will probably be an August goal, I will have to re-assess after I get sub 200. After that I will start bulking, & am considering entering my first powerlifting meet in October. I really enjoy PL lifts, ultimately I'd like to get a 300 bench/400 squat/500 DL.

Exercise:

I go for afternoon bikes occasionally & also get to yoga 2-3x/week. I live in close in SE Portland so I bike for transportation most of the time too & get plenty of low intensity cardio this way. Since cutting I’ve pared down my two weight workouts. I have had some modest strength gains but I’m just trying to maintain what I have. Here are my workouts for Tues/Thurs this week, omitting warm-ups:

Tues
DB Bench Press 3x3x95, 8x70
Deadlift 3x375
Calf raises 3x8x115
Bar Holds 3x255
Dips 2x12

Thurs

Squat 2x5x265, 8x205
Seated Overhead DB Press 2x5x55
Press 8x95
Chinups 2x6
Barbell Curls: 2 x 8 x 70

Saturday will be a repeat of Tuesday.


Pics 5-21-09






Pretty obvious from photos some general fat loss will do me a lot of good, I will worry about details after that If you read even half of this, thanks!

Dub

Glad you started a training log, I look forward to reading it.

Good luck with meeting your goals seems like you had a good plan laid out.

Thanks for welcoming me! I've never had a log online before, seemed like a good time to start one. These boards are full of great people so this is the best place to put it. Also my before side photo is gonna skew the results a bit, my belly was very full & sticking out a bit more than usual. No matter, its all about the path.

I walked ~6 miles today, yeah spring! Yesterday was a refeed & I ate a ton of foods, getting late so I don't want to copy it all in from fitday Here's today's cuisine.

Meal 1:
yerba mate - continued throughout day
1 T psyllium
.75 c true protein gemma
600mg calcium
1200 mg magnesium
1 t potassium salt
Source of Life multivitamin

Meal 2:
10 oz grilled tofu
4 c baby bok choi
1 T nutritional yeast
braggs
garlic powder
ginger powder
cayenne
dash apple cider vinegar

Meal 3:
.5 t psyllium
.5 c true protein gemma

Meal 4:
10 oz grilled seitan
Green onions
3 c lettuce
1 T flax oil
Lemon juice/salt from preserved lemons
1 T nutritional yeast
600 mg calcium

1,276 cal

33.8g fat

44.4g carbs

206.3g protein

Are your calories usually that low or is that just because yesterday was a refeed?

I'm trying to keep calories as low as I can without tanking my energy level. I had a full break last week but before then I was often in the 1600ish range, I'm interested to see how my body reacts to going this low. If I feel like garbage I might try adding ~200 cal back in.

Have you ever tried stopping seitan for a few days? I notice personally I have a lot more energy when I don't eat it so I only have it for special occasion meals and try to leave it out of my daily food intake.

I don't know how I would keep my calories low enough without seitan, unless I consumed a lot more protein powder. I know some people don't digest it too well but I seem to do OK. Once I complete this cut I will diversify protein sources when I can.

DB Bench Press 2x3x100, 0x100 - I had been getting the 95s up relatively easy, so did 100s today. First time I've ever gotten a 0 rep when I had completed sets prior.
DL attempt 385, 3x365 - I was overreaching a bit to attempt 3x385, but I completed 3x375 on Tuesday so I thought it was worth a try. I got the first one off the floor but my back started to flex just after liftoff so I set it back down.
Calf raises 3x8x115 easy, will bump weight next time
Bar Holds 3x255
Dips 2x12
DB Bench Press 8x70

I didn't feel very strong on the first two work sets but recovered nicely for the lighter stuff. I think I suffered from not having my breakfast digest properly...I was out of psyllium & this caused some issues. There's also the possibility that its just optimum to lift only 2x/week during the cut. If so I will definitely be taking advantage of the free time to enjoy the spring outside the gym.

Meal 1:
coffee - continued throughout day
8 oz seitan
4 c. chard
1 T flax oil
1 T nutritional yeast
600mg calcium
1200 mg magnesium
1 t potassium salt
Source of Life multivitamin

Pre-Workout:
10g creatine
.5 T sucrose w/lemon juice & water

Meal 2:
1 T psyllium
10 oz tofu
3 c baby bok choi
.5 T nutritional yeast
Garlic powder
Chili powder
salt

Meal 3:
1 T psyllium
.75 c true protein gemma
3 oz silken tofu

Meal 4:
8 oz grilled seitan
Frozen mixed veggies with edamame
.5 T nutritional yeast
600mg calcium

1,486 cal

39.0g fat

79.9g carbs

215.6g protein

Hi..wow that looks like the low carb days on my diet..but I carb up once a week which in my opinion is invaluable for 2 reasons. If you don't, you loose a lot of muscle volume and strength, and also, it stops your body adapting to a low carb diet. If you don't cycle your carbs, any low carb diet becomes far less effective after the first few weeks. Some studies have even shown that metabolism slows after just 3 days, that's why the UD2 diet, and other similar diets have low carb cycles. It also stops you going crazy. i don't think I would last very long on such a continually restrictive diet..I'd just loose it one day and gorge myself! At least when I have to carb up I get to eat quite a lot of sh*t which is something to really look forward to and helps me get through the low carb days
Oh..you should try mashed cauliflower with your seitan..its lovely and very low carb..mmmmm!
I also make porridge out of TVP and soy milk with a little agave, high protein low carb. In summer I mix the tvp with soy cream a little grated coconut and agave and cook it till its thick, then I put it in small jars and leave it to set in the fridge. It has a wonderful creamy texture and is really nice..kinda like coconut creamed porridge!..the coconut also has some MCT which will help protect muscle tone while you lose fat
Its just I always find breakfast to be the most difficult meal when low carbing and I was happy to find these solutions. i also make protein crackers out of my pea protein and a little gluten flour, garlic and herbs. I can't take protein with fruit juices as normal because of their high carb and with milk or water it tastes cak! The crackers are high protein and low carb and are nice to have with almost anything, i prticuarly love guacamole or tofu dip
I have noted however, that although you can eat things with a high GI on low carb diets, such as limited amounts of melon etc, if you do, the results are nowhere near as good! I don't know if you've noticed anything similar. i have to stick to tofu, seitan, tvp, protein isolates and green leafy veg almost exclusively to acheive good results.
I also think you are going a bit overboard with the protein..what is your lean body mass?

Thanks for the tips Ruz. I am doing one carb refeed & one free meal per week. This week is lowest calorie I've gone during the cut so hopefully that keeps my metabolism up. My wife is dieting with me for the next week so at least until I get adjusted she'll be helping me stay on track. Do you have a recipe for the gemma crackers? My LBM is ~ 165 lbs.

Yesterday was a rest day, only 20 minutes walking. Also I had my first free meal last night, perhaps 2 desserts was a bit much but they were damn good!

Meal 1:
1 T psyllium
16 oz tofu
2 c broccoli
1 T flax oil
1 T nutritional yeast
Forgot vitamins today

Snack:
Clif Builders Bar

Meal 2:
8 oz seitan
4 c bok choi
1 T nutritional yeast

Snack:
1 T psyllium
.75 c true protein gemma

Meal 3:
Amy's Roasted Vegetable Pizza

12 oz silken tofu
2 T maple syrup
2 T Cocoa powder

Carmel Pecan Bar


3,117 cal

111.1g fat

317.4g carbs

243.8g protein

Do you have a recipe for the gemma crackers? My LBM is ~ 165 lbs.

No..not the gemma crackers. I have the recipes I invented...I uses pea protein, almonds and a little rye flour, the other uses hemp seeds, pea protein and almonds..the second are higher in protein and lower in carb. I add things to vary the flavour like garlic, soy sauce, herbs etc..I'm still experimenting.
Do you want me to send you either recipe?

the second one sounds cool...i have help seeds & some plain gemma that needs to be used. i'll let you know how they turn out.

the second one sounds cool...i have help seeds & some plain gemma that needs to be used. i'll let you know how they turn out.[/quote]

hemp oil x 10g
ground hemp seeds x 50g
Baking powder x 1 tsp
Almonds, blanched and ground x 33 grams
Pea protein x 200g
Vegetable oil, coconut x 20g
garlic powder x 1tsp
salt x 1tsp

Mix it all together with enough water to make a dough..similar to biscuit dough
Devide into 16 balls.
Roll each ball flat until about 5" in diameter. I don't use a rolling pin..just press them down with the palm of my hands and smooth out the edges with my fingers every so often (you'll need a flexible spatula to take them off the work-surface)
Bake in moderate oven until starting to brown and crispy..turning at least once (it takes about 20-30 min..if they are browning quicker turn down your oven or they won't be crispy.
Store in a paper bag or tin..they keep fresh for about 2 weeks.
I normally mix my pea protein with pineapple juice...but low carbing is impossible, this is a much better option. The crackers are quite dry so I eat them with a cup of tea or dipped en guacamole or something similar!
Another option is to make them thicker and bake them slower so they cook without getting crispy, later you can toast them and add margarine etc

Each cracker contains :
Carb 0.6gm KCAL 95 Protein 12.0gm

Meal 1:
1 t psyllium
8 oz tofu
3 c kale w/garlic, fried in cast iron skillet w/trace olive oil
Salsa
600mg calcium
1200 mg magnesium
.5 t potassium salt
Source of Life multivitamin

Meal 2:
1 t psyllium
1 c true protein gemma

Meal 3:
15 oz seitan, grilled with mustard, pepper & dill baste
~2 c cauliflower mashed potatoes w/ flax oil & roasted garlic - YUM!


1,418 cal

33.5g fat

77.0g carbs

215.2g protein

I read that seitan is deficient in lysine so I had a couple of 500 mg tabs today…I know amino acids can be converted/rebalanced by the body so I don't know if this helps. Anyone know?

Biked 8-9 easy miles getting stuff done, walked 1 mile, 2 hour yoga class. I feel super-refreshed after two days off from lifting & am stoked to get back in the gym tomorrow.

I read that seitan is deficient in lysine so I had a couple of 500 mg tabs today…I know amino acids can be converted/rebalanced by the body so I don't know if this helps. Anyone know?

Yeah..but tofu has a lot of lysine so I wouldn't worry too much. Pea protein also has quite a lot of lysine!