Vegan Bodybuilding & Fitness

How is the nutrition coming along?

Its coming along pretty well, its not very strict on the weekend as I travel alot but other than that, its usually 5-6 meals a day. I just picked up some walnuts, flax seed, and dulce to add to the mix...

Searching far and wide for some Sambazon frozen açaí (smoothie packs). It seems that several Pick N Save's and Copps food centers carry them, but out of th 16 on the list, I've only checked 2 and neither one had it. Its the only real açaí product in stores that I know of.

I've changed up my ratios starting this month. (SEE ORIGINAL POST FOR UPDATES) Although I made alot of strength gains with my diet over the past 4 months, I don't feel I've made any significant mass gains. I upped the calories by 500-600 total, bringing the total to about 3500-3600 per day.

I kept my protein content roughly the same which is about 180-200 grams per day, but by upping the calories my protein percentage then fell to about 20%. I feel the amount of protein I get per day to be in the high range and I'd rather not exceed this as high dosages of protein may be taxing to the digestive system (liver).

My new ratios will be:
65% - Carbs
20% - Protein (180g est.)
15% - Fat

Old ratios were:
50-55% - Carbs
25-30% - Protein (190g est.)
20-25% - Fat

To an omnivore bodybuilder, the carbohydrate percentage may seem a bit high and protein percentage may seem a bit low. After reading Avi Lehyani's profile, I've decided to up the calories and match his c/f/p ratio and see what comes of it. These new percentages allow more of my fat and protein to come from my carbohydrate sources and allow me to supplement less powder protein and less oil, which is hopefully for the better. I always like to keep my protein percentage above my fat percentage as to ensure there is more protein (than fat) readily available for uptake.

Thanks for listing out your plan in such detail. It really is helpful for a beginner like me.

Can I ask why you take in more calories on off days than workout days? Does the body require more calories the day after the workout to build muscle?

And have you experimented with more greens?

Thanks again.

Personally, I am concerned about your new ratios. I'm just throwin this out there, so I hope no one (including Troy) is going to get defensive on me....

I just personally don't think 20% protein is enough to progress the way you have been. Especially since you said you haven't put on any mass gains... to reduce the protein intake further doesen't logically make sense to me. Your pictures look great and you have progressed wonderfully, so why fix it if it isn't broken? Avi has been lifting for a really really long time and it is possible that he decreased his protein after he made some major gains or it is possible that he happens to put on muscle faster than the average man.

So all I'm saying is go for it... but if you start to see things happening in your physique that you don't like, I hope you'll modify back after a few weeks of trying it. I loved and agreed 100% with your original diet that you laid out. The new ratios.... I have my doubts, so feel free to prove me wrong. I am very open-minded.

He isn't reducing the actual amount of protein, he's just increasing calories.

You can have a healthy diet and gain mass. He is right to be worried about excess protein, imo. 180-200g protein is more than enough.

ahh, ok. my bad. you're right, that is enough protein. I only read the ratios and not where he said the grams up top... carry on


(I can always count on you to correct me, can't I? )

Heres my take... with respect to my training split, one or more parts of my body are usually sore everyday. This means my body is in constant repair and thus needs equal amounts of macro and micro nutrients no matter what day it is. The only real difference on a non-training day is that I don't get my post workout smoothie... I'll substitute that with a similar calorie meal that is more balanced and digests slower.

I'm not sure I understand your question about more greens? Could you elaborate? I'll take a stab anyways... 1st 4 months I was consuming 10-15 ounces of Kale or Spinach a day. This next 4 months I should average about 12 ounces. I chose Kale and Spinach because they seem to be the most nutrient dense and have a high anti-inflammatory rating according to nutritiondata.com. I was using collards for awhile, but I couldn't find a readily available organic source so I stuck with Spinach and Kale. Although, I have been using quite a bit of non-organic kale that i order in 2.5 lbs bags from a wholesaler through our foods department. Weird story about that is I was buying 2.5 lbs bags for $6 a bag and then in one week the price shot up to $11 a bag. So I might have to cut back from that supplier until the price comes back down... I wonder what caused the spike?

Yeah, you pretty much answered my question. I just wanted to know if you had more or less success in muscle building with a greater intake of greens. I try to take in as much raw greens as possible due to the great nutritional value (about a head or two a day, mixed with fruit and water). But I kind of like how you split it up throughout the day and it still adds up to the amount I take. I think I need to add more protein and will do so, following your guidelines.

$4 a pound is crazy for greens. Luckily I'm in California and we get it from our farmer's markets for about $1.50 a bunch.

Overall, I've found pretty good strength gains but I can't attribute it soley to the greens as I made the change to a vegan diet rather drastically... so I have to give credit to the entire diet.

When I buy organic its about $2.50 a bunch for organic kale here. I'm not sure how much useable greens I get from a bunch as I don't use the stems, and stems weigh alot. Pretty pointless direction I'm taking this but anyways...

I going to start logging the amount of meals I have each day... I wish I would of done that in the beginning! I think it will give me a good idea of the "actual" calories I'm putting away. If I have something that deviates from one of my normal meals I will note that.

What no horseradish?
blasphemer

My family loves horseradish, me... not so much.