Vegan Bodybuilding & Fitness

Hi everyone. My name is Craig from the UK, I'm new to the forum, I was vegetarian for 26 years before finally(!) becoming vegan 6 months ago. It was a step I'm so happy I took as I feel so much better within myself (morally).

Anyway, I'll get on with my question - I don't go to the gym as I'm unemployed and can't afford to but I've started exercising at home (free weights, push-ups, sit ups etc). I have a problem though - I last trained 5 days ago, I just did half an hour of exercise yet I still haven't healed (still tender when I press and a bit stiff). As a veggie I healed in 2 days but as a vegan it's taking much longer. I am making sure I get enough protein. The recommended is 55g for me at my height, weight etc but I am eating well in excess if this a day. For example, yesterday I ate the following:

Bowl (100g) of Porridge (11g protein) with some seeds sprinkled on and 1/2 Litre soya milk (16g) = 27g
Mid morning I had a banana, apple and mixed berry smoothie which included 2 table spoons (about 50g?) of peanut butter (11g) and 1/2L of soya milk (16g) = 27g
Lunch I had baked beans (16g) on 3 slices of wholemeal toast (21g) with scrambled tofu (24g) = 61g
Dinner I had Wholewheat spaghetti (200g = 21g protein) bolognase made with soya mince (about 100g = 50g protein) = 71g
In the evening I was nibbling on mixed nuts and raisins (about 100g = 15g protein) and had I also had a small bowl of Branflakes (5g protein) with soya milk (8g) = about 28g.

Daily total protein yesterday = 214g

Can anyone tell me what I'm doing wrong? Why am I still tender after so long? I haven't trained since as I want to heal first and don't want to injure myself. Any ideas?

Thanks
Craig

hi craig nice to meet you, i joined yesterday so am a newbie 2, is this your first time training after a lay off or anything like that? do you feel ok apart from the soreness? not feeling like your coming down with something? my best recovery always seems to be when i eat a load of fruit before and after my training (whole fruits + juices ) ill eat a few bananas before training, drink pure orange juice (tesco's finest with bits - amazing) during training and usually some more bananas, some grapes and raisins afterwards! , i dont eat a huge variety of food so probably get now where near the protein you do but recover well nonetheless. hope this helps

mike

Hi Mike and nice to meet you too. Yes, I have had a lay off and hadn't exercised for about a month due to moving house and other things. No, I feel fine, nothing else other than the extended periods of soreness. It just lasts a long time and makes it harder to exercise a couple of days later being so stiff and sore. This has been going on for 2 weeks now, I thought it was down to not getting enough protein but I wasn't monitoring it but now I have started to and have found that I eat well over what I need on a daily basic (minimum 100g). I'm not lacking in energy at all but at the moment my sessions are no more than 30 - 40 mins of various exercises and target an area of my body with some weight training. The last time I worked on my chest for example was 5 days ago with push ups (wide, narrow and inclined with my feet on a chair) and some flies with weights. I did 4 sets of each followed by some stretching exercises. I wanted to work again on my chest 3 days later but I hadn't healed so I didn't do anything. Today is day 5 and I'm still a bit sore (especially my triceps) so I haven't done anything again. When I was veggie, it took me about 2 days, now I'm vegan 5? Not sure why.

You eat a lot of bananas! I've read somewhere that too many are not good for you? I tend to eat one or two a day but I have Tescos frozen berries and other fruits as smoothies. I can understand that for energy needs, but not for repair. I will try eating fruit around my training time and see if it helps. Thanks for the suggestion

Craig