Vegan Bodybuilding & Fitness

First of all, I'm nowhere near my goal. That being said, here are 2 progress photos that start at a month and a half worth of exercising including weight training and cardio, and the beginning of a high protein/low carb diet. Each pic was taken exactly a month after the one before it, so I'm at 3.5 months since I began. I just used the "Paint" program that came with the computer to put them all together.

I actually began this 2 years ago, but I have really bad seasonal depression and just fall apart during winters. So, I am moving south this year so that I can keep up this pace and not have all of my hard work come undone for the 3rd year in a row. I know; t.m.i.

Anyway, I've been a vegan for about 4 years now and I was a vegetarian for years before that. My diet mostly consists of a small meals that I make using Morningstar Chicken Strips, brown rice, corn, ketchup, spicy brown mustard and taco sauce all together (it's really good- I literally eat the same thing EVERYDAY), 2 Notdogs, vegan cereal, and soy protein shakes (each one is a meal, not eaten all at once). I drink a cup of water with every meal and for every cup of water, I drink another cup right after and I eat 4-6 small meals a day. I lift weights 5 times a week and use creatine. I just started using l-glutimine and N.O. Explode 2 days ago.

I feel that I'm doing pretty good with the weight loss, but I have hit a plateau with building and maintaining muscle, so I'm trying l-glutimine. If anyone has any suggestions, I'm open.

That's great progress so far!! Good work!

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vegan for the win!

Thank you! I'm also really trying to work on my abs- I've been trying to do 150 crunches as soon as I wake up and right before bed, at least every other day (along with the ab exercises that I do with my regular workouts). And I'm hoping to be up to 500 each set by my next pics in a month. That, along with my continued body fat-loss should result in some pretty decent pics.

Man that's awesome!

Now just time to add some muscle!

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The (Vegan) Dating Coach
Buy me a drink if your gonna hit on me like that!
+ =

Great work! You can see a LOT of progress, so you've got a lot to be proud of.

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"A 'hardgainer' is merely someone who hasn't bothered to try enough different training methods to learn what is actually right for their own damned body." - anonymous

Thanks for the nice comments, everyone . I am actually working really hard on building muscle- I must have the body type that has the most difficulty building muscle. I have, however seen some good gains in strength since I started. I think I've just hit that "wall" and need to try some new techniques to shock my body.

One other thing that I'm happy about is that I couldn't do more than 1 chin-up and zero pull-ups six weeks ago, but now I can do at least 9 pull-ups and even more chin-ups. So, I know that I'm making progress and the more body fat that I burn off, the more the muscles will show- it just seems like I have to work harder than others at it. And that's fine because I love doing it!

You're doing great man, keep it up!

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My training log

WOW! Fantastic work. Your face looks so much different too. Good move with the haircut

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Pictures | Training & eating

Nice results so far!

If we extrapolate what we've seen a few months into the future, you'll be ripped and have a shaved head.

Hahaha! Yeah, I don't know about the shaved head part- I don't feel that I could pull that off. I want to agree with the ripped part, though!

My hair was long in the 1st pic because I always grow it out a little in the winters and that pic was taken right at the end of the cold season around here. But since I'll be moving south this year, I won't be growing it out anymore.

damn man, you should be proud..look at your new jaw!

..just make sure you get plenty of veggies in your diet too!

Wow!! You look great! Look at least 10 years younger in your after picture...I bet you feel 10 years younger, too! Great work, man, that's impressive progress.

Great progress dude!

As far as hitting a plateau regarding maintaining/building muscle... you need to up your calories then. L-glutamine won't do it for you. Energy in, energy out bro! You aren't gaining because you don't have a surplus of calories. Try upping 400 a day and see how that works for ya.

Thanks for the advice! I am worried, though, that if I try to up my calorie intake, I'll put on unwanted weight because I'm still trying to burn off some fat. Do you think I need more protein or just calories? And as far as the l-glutamine, I only take it for the anti-catabolism properties.

You did really good man!

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Just as iron rusts from disuse, even so does inaction spoil the intellect.