Vegan Bodybuilding & Fitness

WOOOOOOOOOO! I'm glad I found this site. I literally just went Vegan this past week and I did it cold turkey. I don't like to transition in to anything as it proves to myself I can get shit done! Real quick here's my stats:

Name: Zac
Age: 28
Height: 5'10"
Weight: 190lbs
Hometown: Charlotte, NC
Hobbies: Getting hyooge, fast cars.
Been Vegan: 1 week


LOL, I know this is all crazy sounding and I'm sure everyone reading this is thinking "oh god, here we go! he'll be gone in a week!" NEGATIVE! I will be completely honest.. I did not go vegan because I care about animals, which I do, but that's not what has made me give up meat and dairy. I have been wanting to do this for a long time simply for the healthy lifestyle, but I was just too terrified of not being able to put on quality mass. I had always been told that trying to gain weight just wasn't in my structure, that it would be a wasted effort and to just enjoy other things in life. So I put up with so much bullshit in school, getting picked on and dealing with assholes non stop. Well finally a good friend of mine, who is an awesome bodybuilder (went from my size to 260lbs), proved to me it can be done.

And it definitely has been getting done!!! Yes I started lifting very late in life compared to most who want a bodybuilder physique, but I feel that I'm attacking it much smarter than most do. I have approached it right from the beginning with proven techniques and quality nutrition (or so I thought haha).

I went from 125lbs to now standing at 190lbs. All natural, no drugs and honestly not much in the way of supplementation at all. I really only use 2 or 3 things and protein shakes have never been one of them! I have always relied on whole foods. I literally ate chicken and rice 5 times a day. Breakfast was 8 eggs w/ wheat toast. Before bed meal was 6 eggs w/ 10 caps of fish oil and two tablespoons of Natty Peanut Butter.

My weight training all started with your basic Reg Park style 5x5 to get the core lifts up, but I quickly switched to a 5 day, Mon-Fri, routine and started maximizing my gains. Up until just recently I only trained for gaining strength in a linear progression. That worked for a little bit but then I realized it was time for some real hypertrophy. I was stuck at 170lbs for a minute and once I finally talked with my buddy and a couple other truly huge guys they gave me some solid tips that set the next 20lbs in motion. I figure now is the best time to show I can get over 200lbs and do it in a much more healthy manner!!!!!

As most, my biggest fear was getting enough protein and it being good enough to create solid muscle! WHAT AN IDIOT I WAS!!!! Once I finally read "The China Study" it all became clear

So here I am ready to take it to that next level and truly start attaining a bodybuilder physique!!!! I will need nutrition help/ advice no doubt. Right now I am really just maxing out the basics and using soy for a lot of my protein, don't worry that will change as I get used to this! hahaha.. and of course in return for your help I will do my best to get you guys doing some serious work in the gym!!!! I have scouted around the site and after looking at a lot of the training routines people are doing on here I know there is a lot left in the tank for some of you guys. Some are really missing out on real size. I'll just say this. Don't be like me and believe that all "mass follows strength". It only does to a certain point!

I hope I can really be of great use on this site as I know it will be for me

THANK YOU!!!

-Zac

Before: (on the left)




Recent:



I'll take some better shots!

Welcome dude!

Pumped to have you here.

Love the enthusiasm.....1 week vegan...awesome! Welcome to the lifestyle man!

Train hard, eat plenty. Hang out here and have fun. We have IFBB Pros who are vegan here, tons of amateur competitors and hundreds of regular members, thousands of members overall.

See you around! Welcome to the TEAM!

Robert

Yessssss thank you! Pro's are definitely the one's that can help set someone up for success! I know the best info I have ever received came from one!

Time to gain some weight!

Welcome!

You've come so far already - congrats! Best of luck as you continue.

Thank you.. it's been nausiating forcing down so much food but it's worth it! hahaha

Ditto on the enthusiasm: you are like a nuclear reactor! I'm getting pumped up just reading your post! (Which is going to make falling asleep hard now; I should have read it just before going to the gym.) Love, love, love having another high-energy type on the boards. You are like an arrow headed straight for the bull's eye; It'll be fun to watch you succeed.

I look forward to reading more about your exciting journey.

Baby Hercules

Hey man, good to have you here. Looking forward to hearing how you do as a vegan.

Thank you for the comments! I have always been high on the energy!!!! hahaha it's funny because when all my friends are getting trashed off alcohol they can't believe that I'm going wild right there with them with none!!! But yes it's gonna be real damn exciting to see how this goes.. I KNOW IT WILL WORK! If "The China Study" wasn't enough proof with the olympic lifter experiment, then the guy I just recently met, who just went vegan 6 months ago I think, is more than enough proof! He's 51 year old and been competing since he was 19. He went vegan and put on weight while LOSING fat and this was off the drugs! He's also helping me as far as a good solid bodybuilder meal plan goes.

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!! I am so stoked! Can I make a training log?? If so, then I can make constant updates on the routines and eating and how my weight is going. So far still holding right at 190lbs but I've also spent this week on a deload so I haven't expected to gain yet. Tomorrow that changes!!!!! Going for the 200lb mark ASAP!

-Zac

That's was a motivating first post! Welcome !!!

Welcome aboard!

I don't think you're going to find it too difficult to gain plenty of size after going vegan - I've always figured that if I could get near 285 lbs. at one time, anyone can get some fantastic results with enough food and good, hard training. Looking forward to reading more, and get to posting a log soon, too!

Ohhhhh yes, I will be kick starting a log here very soon!

what i didn't found: how many years between the 'before' (heavy rock) and the 'after' (heavy weights) pics?

Maybe 1.5 years.. I'll get some other before pics up. I don't really have many that show how skinny I was because I was always too embarrassed to be in front of the camera.

Found a pic just before I started working out. How do I resize? and yes it's a little blurry, as you can see I wasn't happy about a pic being taken of me

And here's a recent relaxed one.. I won't be happy until I get another 20 - 30lbs with less BF. All a matter of consistency and time. Oh and for reference the brown shirt in the blurry pic above is a SMALL. The shirt in this pic here is a large... OH and another fun bit of news.. the shirt in the "rocker" pic is a YOUTH LARGE! haahahhahahahaaaaaa It's hard for people that meet me now to understand how SMALL I was. It's sad!