Vegan Bodybuilding & Fitness

i have faith in both of you!

Thanks! I needed that right now.

all the cardio and dieting will catch up at end of week. always does. dont worry.

Yesterday was Chest day. I did 3 supersets: first set was the main chest exercises - Smith Incline Chest Press paired with Machine Flyes; next was HammerStrength #1 Chest Press with Small Cable Tower Flyes at about the 4 ft mark; and third was HammerStrength #2 Chest Press and Machine Chest Press with Vertical Grip (utilizes pretty much the same pec muscles with slight forearm variations). I ended up trying to do push-ups with my feet up on a stability ball (utilizes the core alot!) and I couldn't get past 15 reps (fatigue was a factor).

Morning cardio was on the Elliptical on only level 2, and I got to 30 minutes - smelled myself and found no ammonia - and continued on for 45 minutes. I also did not smell of ammonia during my Chest workout, and it was nice enough out (though I got rained on alittle - not enough to melt me ^.^) that I did my usual 2 mile trail walk last night for night time cardio.

I think I know the culprit of the ammonia smell. If I was burning up my muscle mass, when I did not consume a protein shake before bed, and went to do cardio the following morning, then I would smell of ammonia - right? But I did not! I also had another theory - that I was burning the protein that was already in my blood stream, and that I had too much in there - and since I am not ripping up muscle tissue and using the aminos to repair, then all those aminos would be available in the blood stream for fuel. I think 4-5 protein shakes is too much for me at this point in my training - especially at the scoop being 2 Tablespoons with 25 grams of protein. I just did 3 protein shakes and cut it to 1 Tablespoon (heaping regular soup spoon actually) yesterday, and no ammonia at all! And the Chest is not overly sore, so repair was adequate on that amount of protein. I will add more protein if I don't recover fast enough I guess. Just do not want ammonia anymore - it was messing up my hair and skin.

Friday I did a quick Leg routine in the noon hours - attended a graduation ceremony at Michigan State University in the late afternoon. I supersetted the Leg Press with Calf Raises, Leg Extension with Leg Curls, Adductor with Abductor Machines, and then I just did Sumo Squats by themselves, but 4 sets of 25 reps with a minute rest in between. Legs were pumped afterwards, but not sore the next day.

Was able to do the Elliptical the next morning for cardio. And I was able to do my routine for Back that I had done previously, but not all the sets warming up to the weights that I picked in which I was able to do 25 reps with some resistance. I just did 4 sets of that picked weight, and cruise thru the routine. Still took me 1 and 1/2 hours to do it! which included 10 minutes of warmup cardio (on the Elliptical, level 2).

Weight still not to where I want it to be: 155 (at least it is not 156 from last week, so going down, just not the 2lbs I wanted). No cheat meal for me.

Sorry no cheat for you. I took g the calorie hit for you then. I had a cinnamon roll today

How did your stomach react to the gluten in the yummy cinnamon roll?

I have a theory - from my personal experience - that if you stay off of it for awhile, that having one thing with gluten won't bloat you up - it is when you go for the second and third thing that will bloat you up. Like your immune system reacts slow at first - hey what is this? I think I have a B cell with antibodies to this, but where did I put it? - and then it finds the B cell and starts making massive amounts of antibodies and they go out looking for it - but you have already processed it and out it went! - unless you happen to add more fuel to the fire by eating another gluten containing food source and it has not been processed yet - then it attacks and bloats you up from all the inflammation

I had no issues with it at all but still intend on living a gluten free life with the occasional cinnamon roll

Last night I had a protein shake, with 2 glasses of water, about an hour before bed. Woke up in the early morning to release it, and put the two glasses of water right back in when I finally did get up. I also had a big Voss bottle of water as I did my morning cardio this morning - no ammonia smell. Maybe I need to watch that I take in more water while I do these nice long LIT cardio sessions.
I also went back on Lipo6 to see if I can use it to get over this new plateau of losing no weight - so the 60 minutes of Elliptical to do 10K on the island trail mode was very easy to do - and I still have plenty of energy to go to Whole Foods this morning. Looking forward to doing Arms this afternoon.

Excellent on the no bloating! You get to enjoy such a decadence with no consequences! A nice treat to look forward to at the end of a grueling week of working outs!

Yes and I am updating my measurements and pics now. wish i could do side by side but don't have anything on my pc to do that with

u could maybe use a print screen to do side by side.

I am not computer savvy so no idea how to get it to look right

Today's Arms was amazing. The light in the gym was showing my muscles off pretty well - soon as I get to 150 - I will show you gals some pics of me, now that I am starting to feel confident to show it off. I did the same Arm routine as last time, without all the warmup weights to get to the weight that gave me some good resistance to get to 25 reps. I still took 1 and 1/2 hours to do it all - and had just a hint of ammonia on the workout bra - I shall try to drink more water to dilute the ammonia more (need to do protein shakes as my muscles are not recovering as fast as they use to, so I need to keep the protein in, but hopefully I can drink more to dilute it more so my body can eliminate it out thru the bladder instead of my skin). It is a nice day today, so a trail walk is on the agenda for tonight (in about 10 minutes!).

Can't wait to see!!!