Vegan Bodybuilding & Fitness

Firstly hello everyone.. I'm really happy to see such a lovely forum dedicating itself to helping vegans remain fit and strong.

Ive been vegan for almost 2 years.

I have a problem and I'm hoping someone may be familiar with it; I am severely lacking energy in the morning, I will admit that my body clock isn't the best, I work between 6-10pm at the moment and I normally get to bed around 2pm (sometimes later).. but I sleep as long as I need.. normally 8 hours and I wake feeling pretty drained.. and for the first 5 hours or so if I sit still for a while I am close to needing to lay down cos I feel that lacking in energy.. It feels mental.. rather than physical.

I recently had a b12 intramuscular injection and that didnt solve the problem and before that I was always taking sublingual b12 tablets... I am always all clear on my blood test with everything in the acceptable range.. though I havent had my blood sugar tested.

I train at night around 9pm about 3-4 times a week and with good results.. its just the daytime that I feel so lacking in energy. My diet is vegan (of course:)) and consists of:

Plenty of Bananas, Dates and Almonds, Lite Soy Milk, Muesli, wholemeal Pasta, Tofu, Soy Yoghurt, Avocados, Red Kidney Beans and Wholegrain Wholemeal Bread.

And moderate amounts of Grapes, Apples, Pears and Nectarines, Zucchinis and Carrots, Tomatoes etc.

In the mornings its normally Muesli with Nectarine and Pear with lite soy milk or a banana, date and almond smoothie.

Later would be salad sandwichs with hommus, lettuce and tomato or red kidney bean burritos with tomato and lettuce.

Dinner typically will be a pasta with tofu and veges or a mix of anything in the fridge but with a combination for all the macronutrients.

I eat 5 meals a day mostly.. not huge meals.. but def over 2500 calories a day

Im really stumped as to what it is but I cant go on feeling like this.. hopefully someone has some ideas.

Your schedule may be the culprit. Sunlight stimulates people to be more alert and darkness, more sleepy. Some people just don't do well going against their circadian rhythms( sleeping at night, working during the day ). 6 - 10 pm doesn't sound too bad. With a little discipline you can make it to bed at 11 - 12 and get up at 7 -8 am consistently. Try it for two weeks to see if you feel better.

You can also try printing out this vegan nutrition list. It makes a nice single page checklist. Try checking off all of the suggestions for a few weeks to eliminate inadequate nutrition as a culprit

http://www.veganhealth.org/articles/dailyrecs

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• Vegan Mock Meats At Subway? Make It Happen!
• Finding Reliable Vegan Nutrition Information

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Thanks,

I will try to get to bed earlier.. but my lifestyle may impede these efforts, the thing is I also used to work shift (1am starts) when I was 20-25 (I'm now 35) and I did this with no problem at all so that's why I'm leaning towards my diet being in question.

Any other opinions would be greatly appreciated

You had a B12 injection even though your levels checked out ok?

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It does sound likely to be behavioural/related to your schedule.

On the subject of B12, a healthy person (without crohn's in the terminal ileum and without an Intrinsic Factor deficiency) has a roughly 5-year store of B12 in their liver. Being vegan for 2 years, even if you had had 0 B12 intake at all, could not lead to deficiency, and B12 deficiency tends to take years to cause symptoms. Just a small public service announcement to try to reduce some stress and avoid getting shots of B12.

[quote="Atki"

Plenty of Bananas, Dates and Almonds, Lite Soy Milk, Muesli, wholemeal Pasta, Tofu, Soy Yoghurt, Avocados, Red Kidney Beans and Wholegrain Wholemeal Bread.

And moderate amounts of Grapes, Apples, Pears and Nectarines, Zucchinis and Carrots, Tomatoes etc.

In the mornings its normally Muesli with Nectarine and Pear with lite soy milk or a banana, date and almond smoothie.

Later would be salad sandwichs with hommus, lettuce and tomato or red kidney bean burritos with tomato and lettuce.

Dinner typically will be a pasta with tofu and veges or a mix of anything in the fridge but with a combination for all the macronutrients.

[/quote]

Wow, I could not eat that way and have any lasting energy. Come to think of it I have eaten that way and my energy level was a roller coaster. I would have to eat often just to not crash.

Where are the greens??

I suggest you try adding in a large amount of greens, eliminate the refined carbs like pasta, bread and try replacing that breakfast with a big Green Smoothie. That will give you fruit for calories and tons of greens for sustained energy. Might stick to low glycemic fruit like apples or pears. Adding the minerals and fiber from the greens should help a lot. I have lots of recipes if you want suggestions.

My morning brew is 1 bunch greens (I prefer kale), 4 stalks celery, 2 apples or pears, 1 lemon (peeled), 1 jalapeño, small piece of ginger root, a handful of parsley and/or cilantro. Not for the faint of heart! But extremely energizing, filling and it will wake you up!

Just try to start with a huge green smoothie to which you can add some ground flax or hemp powder or something along those lines and see how you feel.

I'm sure the night hours don't help but since you can't change that then it is even more important to re-think your diet.

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No one here has mentioned diabetes and I am surprised.

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The original poster has been in the care of a doctor. Blood sugar issues would have shown up in tests.

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• Vegan Mock Meats At Subway? Make It Happen!
• Finding Reliable Vegan Nutrition Information

"The plural of anecdote is not data." (Roger Brinner)

Not according to them!

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Learning how to be compassionate, gain wisdom, and love life.

Maybe. IMHO, diabetes is such a common thing these days that even the most average doctor would be on the lookout for the symptoms of it ( i.e. thirst, tiredness following a meal, etc ), especially with a young person complaining about fatigue and would order up the appropriate tests.

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• Vegan Mock Meats At Subway? Make It Happen!
• Finding Reliable Vegan Nutrition Information

"The plural of anecdote is not data." (Roger Brinner)