Vegan Bodybuilding & Fitness

I've been on a quest to lose body fat recently, and I've been having really limited luck!
I've created lots of muscle and reached a good level of fitness with my workout plan (running 1 hour 5-6x/week, pilates 3x per week, and daily calisthenics) and diet plan (1300-1500 calories per day). But my actual weight number has me darn near obese (I know BMI is a crummy measure but I still want my weight down.)
How can I effectively reduce my weight without sacrificing any muscle mass? Any help appreciated!
Female, 5'8", 180 lbs.
Thanks for any help you can offer!

Interesting. First I hate BMI. Competitive bodybuilders are obese using it when they are on stage. What is your body fat percentage. Begin there. I am assuming a clean vegan diet meaning no sugar or other crap and that your 1500 calories are clean. I would start by finding your maintenance calories. Eat that amount of calories. Keep it simple no more 40 percent calories from carbs, 30 from protein and 30 from clean fats like flax. A lot of people will disagree with me on the percentages. I try to keep my protein fat and carbs in pretty much equal divisions. Next plan your meals, five or six a day. Then track them in a log. Write down every single last thing you eat. Be 100% accountable. Each week do a weigh in and body fat calculation. One thing, never ever eat low GI carbs. Judging by what you are saying here, your body is incredibly efficient at fat storage. No pasta, no potatoes, no bread, nothing in that whole line of foods. You should see a pound a week or so come off this way if you are doing it in conjunction with exercise below. If it is a huge change in your current eating patterns try slowly phasing into it.

Training. I like pilates, running is okay, but start adding hills and intervals. Never do the same workout twice in two weeks. Really mix it up with sprints, intervals, long distances, speed work, everything. Try to burn at least 600 calories per day. I am making an assumption here that you do not currently have an overtraining problem. I am assuming other than weight not coming off you have no issues like sleep problems, irritability, declining athletic performance, etc. If you do have those issues, then I would look at cutting back on my cardio until the overtraining is corrected.

I am also on a quest to lose weight. What I'm doing is eating more whole foods and cutting out the processed stuff. I also have joined a gym and am starting to work out. Cutting my food intake back is also helping. Looks like you have a great start! I look forward to reading about your continued success!

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Courtney

"If slaughterhouses had glass walls, we'd all be vegetarians."
-Linda McCartney

Yeah ... I lost my fats for last month at almost 40 lbs. I'm doing my diet and daily jogging plus the 300 workout. Image I loss that kind of weight in a month.



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Health Vitamins, Sports Extreme

before starting a strict diet i recommend FULL BODY CLEANSE. intestine, liver, colon, etc and finish it off with probiotics.
once u do that you can start a low carb low fat high protein diet, this will help u maintain lean mass and burn fat

Don't get discourage if you do a "colon cleanse" type program, then gain a few pounds. They are good for pushing water, but it comes back. Not sure if it does anything for the colon, etc. Docs have told me no, but anecdotal evidence is contrary. Personally, tried it once with no net results in weight, body fat, or performance. Not trying to discourage you from doing it, just reporting what I did.

Sounds like you are doing fantastic. Keep up the great work. Do make sure you are getting at least one gallon of water per day. The weather is turning and dehydration is a bad deal. Keep up the fantastic work.

I eat raw 90% of the time and still have a "pouch" around my middle. My son, who is a bodybuilder, blames it on my diet and age (47).
I workout 5-6 days a week: lifting weights 3-4 days and doing cardio every day. I have a bad knee so I am limited on some of the leg exercises.
I used to be a runner until the last year. I didn't have the "pouch" when I ran so I've been blaming it on the lack of cardio. What do you folks think?

Sounds good. This is exactly what I need to do. I need to lose a lot of body fat also and I need to get healthy.

What full body cleanse to you recommend and tell us more about the low carb high protein diet. I am having problems with my diet because I need to eat less carbs but I am allergic to soy and wheat and some other grains. Rice is ok. What is the source of protein in your preferred high protein diet? I need to get the cob webs out of my system since I was not a vegetarian until recently.

T. Y.

I think you may need to up your cardio. It sounds like you eat pretty well, to me at least it does. Anyway I was just thinking of this today because at the gym that i work at people keep complimenting me on the way i look, and want to know how much weight I've recently lost. The answer is pretty much 0. I've stayed the around the same weight, but have increased my cardio a lot, which means I've been getting more toned, and losing bodyfat. I'm still just as strong, actually getting stronger.I also suggest sross training. i do so many different activities at the gym. I run 3 times a week, take multiple group classes, weight train, and sometimes go swim. The classes that I take are primarily step, cycling/spinning, kickboxing,and Body Pump which is a barbell strength training class. I also walk a lot, as i don't have a vehicle.

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The devotion of thought to an honest achievement makes the achievement possible.

I don't think she could realistically increase the amount of cardio she's doing. An hour of running 5-6 times per week plus daily calisthenics? I'd actually start to suspect that you aren't eating enough. 1,300 calories would be really low for a day with an hour of running on top of other activities.

I agree. You can use this interactive tool to figure out how many calories you are burning during exercise: http://www.calorieking.com/tools/exercise_calories.php

You guys have been so helpful! I've taken a new job which adds lots of strength training and have maintained my regimen (upped my calories a touch to compliment my increase in strength work), and have had tremendous luck! 16 lbs down, and feeling very encouraged!

Thats AWESOME keep up the great work

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"His arm looks like a leg"

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Wow..that's all wicked advise!
I've seen u on a lot of other bodybuilding forums haven't I?

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I'm not a vegan because I love animals..I'm a vegan because I hate plants!

That's great!