Vegan Bodybuilding & Fitness

This is me right now:



If anyone has any ideas on how I can reduce my belly without losing any strength, that would be cool. I'm not trying to be a bodybuilder, though. I'm just into powerlifting, but I think I should be able to do that without such a flabby belly.

In addition to lifting that focuses on the key compound lifts (bench, squats, deadlifts, and overhead press), I do cardio about five times a week. I usually do endurance type stuff on the days I don't lift two or three days a week, and I do sprints on the elliptical or the bike after I lift sometimes. Whenever the snow melts, I'll probably hit the bike trails and whatnot.

My diet is pretty clean, but I'm still working on reducing my sugar intake. Right now I have two cheat days on Saturday and Sunday when I mostly eat healthy, but I allow myself some cookies and pancakes here and there. Another recent decision I made was to reduce how much peanut butter I was eating per day. Man, I love peanut butter. Any ideas?

Well you do plenty of cardio, so I'd say it prob lies in diet. If you posted a typical day's eating and calorie count I'm sure loads of folk could help!

If the answer's reducing calories you prob won't progress as fast with your lifts, eating big helps a lot.

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My training log

I agree with Chewy - I would look at your diet.

I feel your pain though, I love peanut butter more than life itself. I just don't buy it anymore because I can't be trusted around it.

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vegan for the win!

Yeah, I'm a little worried about reducing my calorie intake because I know I'll struggle with progression. But anyway, I guess this is a typical day's diet:

Breakfast:

tofu scramble (about 1/2 a block of tofu with yummy spices, just a little oil and about 1/8 tsp salt)
oatmeal (1/2 cup when dry, spoonful of peanut butter and a spoonful of brown sugar, dash of cinnamon, about 1 Tbsp milled flax seed)
1 cup of green tea

Snack:

Ten almonds, dry roasted, no salt
Handful of carrot sticks

Lunch:

chickpea quinoa pilaf (not sure how big the portion is. I guess if I smooshed it out on a dinner plate it would fill almost the whole plate.)
spinach salad with a little olive oil and balsamic vinegar

Snack:

Hummus and a pita (very thin pitas, but they're still about 100 calories a pita, and lots of hummus, I guess about four tablespoons)

Dinner:

Yam and Lentil stew (very heavy on the lentils, has a little oil, onions, tomatoes, and spices, and I add 1 Tbsp milled flax seed to my bowl when it's done cooking and ready)
Steamed broccoli with salt and pepper
Smoothie (1 cup soy milk, 1 banana, about 6 strawberries, a dash of cinnamon and ginger)
1 cup rooibos tea

This diet is kind of a recent development, so maybe I just need to give it more time. I've been using less oil when I cook, and just add more water to the pot if I think the food is sticking, rather than adding more oil. I also cut back on the peanut butter intake, haha. I think breakfast is the hardest for me because I can't handle the taste of oatmeal without sugar, and I also don't like it with fruit. Maybe I'll pick up some stevia next time I go to the store.

Once I was done with cane sugar, corn syrup, etc. fruit became delicious again. PB demands portion control. I used to eat jars of PB, but switched to hemp protein smoothies.
Have fun, you're doing well already!

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an evolving primate