Vegan Bodybuilding & Fitness

Happy 2012 everyone! I have waited some time to start posting again, once I knew where I was going. You know it's a bit of a kick in the teeth when you realize one day that you were in your "prime" and it past. I think I have settled with that fact and it's time to move away from the sport I loved. My prime was 2008-2009.

After having my precious daughter after a very complicated pregnancy my health continued to decline. A long history of issues and it kicked in hard ... days where I can't walk, or have use of an arm, hand, poor memory some days and a long list of ailments that change from day to day. They ruled out MS and Lupus finally settling on Fibromyalgia (which I know is a true condition, I just feel it's a cop out diagnosis of "we don't know what you have").

So after almost two years of trying to get back on track and beat this thing, I have come to a realization on several things as far as health and goals. The more whole foods I eat the better I feel (kinda of a "duh" thing huh?), I do not do well on high carbs, such as breads, pastas, (in fact wheat as a whole seems to make me worse) and potatoes and respond well with a higher protein intake. Cardio makes me hurt ... and I mean badly the next day. The heavier I lift the better I feel. Dieting down, makes me very sick and can cause a huge episode. That all equals, figure and bikini comps being totally out of the question. The last part was really hard to swallow.

The good thing is that I have learned a ton about nutrition and continue to learn how it all works and how I respond.

Trust me ....I'm over it. I'm competitive by nature and also a tenacious b*tch and am not giving up. So if hard lifting and feeding my body are what works, we shall make it work into the "plan", whatever that may be.

That being said, I have a lot to learn about hard core lifting in the strongman/woman sense. I'm working with a 5x5 beginner program to get my wits about be and build some strength.

My calories are at 1500, up from my normal 1200, I am seriously suspecting that my calories will have to increase to repair my body.

Yesterday:
Squats 5x5
Bench Press 5x5
Barbell Rows 5x5

_________________
I tell people I'm too stupid to know what's impossible. I have ridiculously large dreams, and half the time they come true.

Glad to see you're back! I followed your old journal quite a bit. You're such an inspiration! I'm sorry to hear you're dealing with fibro . I totally understand how terrible it is, as my 19 year old daughter suffers from it as well. Be strong and do what feels best for you with training and nutrition. Cant wait to follow along on your new journey

Depending on your height, even 1500 could be too low! You gotta give your body nutrients, and it's especially hard do get all the nutrition you need while getting so few calories, so it's even more work. Sorry to hear about your figure days being over, but it looks like you have mentally worked through it, which is great! Good luck with the new routine and new goals.

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

Welcome back! Thanks for sharing your story. You are one of the original members, signing up just weeks after this forum was created. I've always enjoyed hanging out in person and working together.

Hope you're able to get back to feeling as great as you can feel. Keep in touch.

All the best! Great to see your name on here again. Sincerely made me smile I'm smiling right now. Have a great week, Denise. Catch up soon!

-Robert

_________________

Check out my Vegan Bodybuilding & Fitness Book on Amazon http://www.amazon.com/Vegan-Bodybuildin ... 497&sr=1-1

Thank you! 19 is REALLY young to have to deal with this. I'm so sorry to hear about that.



Thank you! I'm 5'5" .... but I can tell 1500 is way to low already I was starving yesterday and upped it to 1800. I suspect I'll be raising the cals again pretty soon.



Awe, that is so sweet! Thank you I have kept tabs on you and all the great things you are doing via Facebook. Looking forward to much success with our goals ahead.

_________________
I tell people I'm too stupid to know what's impossible. I have ridiculously large dreams, and half the time they come true.

I'll start posting weights on the third week of Jan, they are pretty much a joke, but I'll at least be able to log progression which is the point. Right now getting some really sucky form corrected so not to hurt myself going heavier. I need better shoes too. I usually lift barefoot and think that may not be wise.

I already upped my calories to 1800, I was so hungry yesterday and needed it! I do need to settle on my macros.

Today:
Squats 5x4 - ok
Military Press 5x4 -bahahaha, OMG this was a mess
Deadlift 5x4 - this has been and still is my best lift
Situps 3 sets

Three things, my form still sucks (working on it), I needed more fuel (upped cals, done), I was really tired yesterday and had to catch a short nap. Same today, immediately after training, I was beat.

_________________
I tell people I'm too stupid to know what's impossible. I have ridiculously large dreams, and half the time they come true.

I'm glad to see you here again and am looking forward to watching your progress. Toward health!

_________________
an evolving primate

Glad to see you back as well, SS!

Looks like we're in the same boat, making 2012 the "year of feeling healthy". Sorry to hear about the fibro diagnosis, hopefully it's something that will get under better control with some changes to diet. To ask, have you had vitamin D level testing in recent months? Just want to check, as I was diagnosed with a severe deficiency this summer (no energy, insane mood swings leading to deep depression, inexplicable aches and pains, felt like I was dying some days, etc.), and it came down to the fact that my rock-bottom D levels were a major factor. 3 months of treatment later and all the problems went away, strange that something so simple can be a big issue, but it can be! And, knowing that you moved to Michigan a while back most likely means less sunlight taken in (the Midwesterner's curse!), so just wanted to throw that out there if for any reason you haven't had your D levels tested in some time. After the hell I went through this year, I always preach the importance of making sure everyone gets their levels checked regularly if things seem to be out of whack with their health!

Looking forward to following your training again!

_________________
"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

Thank you!



Hey you! Ick, that sounds terrible, I'm glad they found that and corrected it for you! They have run every test you can think of, I feel like a pin cushion some days When they started down this road they ran the full gamut and I came up with a D deficiency. It was corrected and is monitored. My fibro mimics MS which is why they ran a ton of tests on it. But I also have the absorbancy issues so vit even though are provided for my body may not absorb properly. As of now I have no vit deficiencies, but still have the Rheumatoid Arthritis and Hypo-Thyroid. They also say I have carpal tunnel and tennis elbow .... but I think they are full of it

I have so much to learn. I have done a bit of research on some comps and they vary greatly on the requirements of the events and the weights involved. It will be interesting to see how it all pans up regarding my grip and whether or not I have use of hands, arms, legs etc on the given day. Making it to comp will be a huge accomplishment. However, not focusing on a goal will drive me insane. I refuse not to have quality of life ... that's the not giving up part

There is some info on constructing some new toys .... I just have to convince DH to give up part of his garage. He thinks he has a choice.

_________________
I tell people I'm too stupid to know what's impossible. I have ridiculously large dreams, and half the time they come true.

Here's to feeling better this year, SeaSiren!

If you ever are looking for contacts for training in your neck of the woods to help with strongman/woman training, take a stop by marunde-muscle.com - lots of people from Michigan on the board, most have regular training groups and love to get new people involved who are curious about the sport.

You are right, comps can really vary greatly (not quite as much as they did during the 90s and early 2000s when there were some really strange events thrown in on occasion), so it's never easy to know what to expect. Most of the time, comps will have events listed months before they come around (allowing a bit more work to tailor your training toward that specific contest), but in general, it's always a good idea to keep the squatting, deadlifting, rowing and overhead lifting the regular non-event focus as those 4 things will have the best overall carryover.

One thing that might prove to be good if you're interested in getting into the game is that, apparently there's a new movement for more entry-level strongman/woman contests in the works at a national level, and I hear it's going to be coming on pretty strong this year. So, while much of what has been done was tailored toward those who were experienced or had a big strength base built already, it's going to let a lot more people dabble in the sport with more moderate (but still challenging) weights to promote the sport better instead of it being a haven for washed-up and disenfranchised ex-powerlifters I think that the astounding commercial success of CrossFit has spurred the strongman community to want to get a slice of that pie as well for all the money and attention that's come about

In any case, let me know if I can ever help out. I can usually help steer people toward finding local training groups, where to find equipment, or, for locating contests in your area, so just say the word if I can be of any assistance!

_________________
"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

Thank you, that is a huge help! I will look into the entry level for comps. It's a great idea to get people in the sport and especially great for people like me who would be intimidated by gals who have been in it for a while.





I am on several boards and it has been a bit of a mixed reaction, It seems some people would prefer I stay in a bikini over entering a new era for my life. To those persons, I am very sorry to let you know this happens to be my life and if you aren't supporting me then feel free to go about your merry way and don't let the door hit you in the ass.

I'm looking forward to my training today!

_________________
I tell people I'm too stupid to know what's impossible. I have ridiculously large dreams, and half the time they come true.

Squat – 4 sets of 5, 1 triple, 1 set of 8
Bench – 4 sets of 5, 1 triple, 1 set of 8
Powerclean– 4 sets of 5, 1 triple, 1 set of 8
Weighted Dips - 3 sets of 5-8


Triceps Extension and Biceps Curl - 3 sets

The set of 8 on each exercise is the one that was the hardest, other than that I'm catching on ok. Looking forward to my training has been a long time coming



I have several fibromyalgia friends on one of my sites so I'm adding an update, for those who don't have it to maybe understand a bit and for those who do, can see that I'm pushing through anyway and hopefully can help someone else.

Fibro Alert: When I began the program body wide pain, this has eased as of today, but not entirely gone. I still can't walk like a normal person (over a year now), shuffle is more like it. If I twist the wrong way I'm sure to be down on the ground. Holding onto a shopping cart or weighed down, I actually can walk better (go figure). After the first day of training I the pain in the right elbow and shoulder was horrible. This went away, yesterday it was the left elbow and knees and had lost feeling on the left side of my left foot. Today, still can't walk but only minor discomfort bodywise, which is the best I have felt in a very long time! Lastly the training is kicking my butt for being tired. I HAVE to take a nap during the day ... as in if I don't I would fall over. My energy works in spurts, which is when I train or do housework etc. I do still have to rest quite a bit during the day.

_________________
I tell people I'm too stupid to know what's impossible. I have ridiculously large dreams, and half the time they come true.

You are an inspiration. I can't imagine how much of a struggle this can be for you, but I just wanted to let you know that I truly believe that people reading this, with similar, or other conditions, will be inspired and motivated. I wish you the absolute best and look forward to reading your posts.

Thank you



My daughter flew in from college to visit me We took the family out to dinner (6 kid's in total, haha). But I started to feel pretty terrible at the end. I hadn't mentioned before my lower back is infected again, and since I refuse to let the quacks touch me this round I have been attempting to handle it myself (genetic disorder apparently, last round was almost 4 years ago). A bit of a fever has begun, but is lower this morning. So, I'll keep working on healing that up.

I have two rest days today and tomorrow, AND the football games are on today and tomorrow, how convenient! My team is not playing til next week though (Ravens). On the training front, I'm sore in a good way. My lower back is the most sore, and yep I can tell the difference in the types of pain even though I have more than one going on,

I do hope my appetite comes in, not much of one since last eve and don't want to make myself sick. However, I have been getting the 1800 cals in and believe I need to try darn hard to get my cals in to recover from training properly.

Have a great weekend everyone!

_________________
I tell people I'm too stupid to know what's impossible. I have ridiculously large dreams, and half the time they come true.

Monday:
Squat 5x5
Press 5x5
Row 5x5

Training was fine but crashed immediately after so didn't post right away.

Fibro Alert: still can't walk properly of course, 3 day headache now. I went to Dr's yesterday and wanted it laid on the line for me. I was told, they don't know much about this, there is a not cure, it will get worse, I will never be able to work (thus my quality of life continues to deteriorate) they can run more tests, and he tried peddling lots of drugs again, then charged me $200 for the visit. I think the drug company sales person must have been through as Dr actually argued with me on an anti-depressant. He tried to prescribe it and I told him repeatedly .... (me)"but I'm not depressed", (dr) "But you have to be", (me)"yet I'm not", (dr) "well you have to be, this is hard, so I'll just write you up..." This went on for a while. I "won".

So here's my rant: I do not want to be drugged up, I am NOT depressed. I do not want seizure meds for the few seziures I had, the last one was 4 years ago. I do not want prescription drugs in my system, they screw me up everytime. I will not be your drug test dummy. I do not want to run the same tests again. I do not want to be told yet again that the blood type diet is a good idea. From an article "The first thing we were taught in the pharmacology course in medical school was that all drugs are toxic." Whereas I believe that prescription medicine has it's place, if you don't know what's wrong with me, stop wanting to overload my system. And on that note, it's time for a new Dr.

Here is my thoughts: I refuse to believe that this is it, that I will only continue into an abyss of pain and health issues. (FYI - my Grandfather, one of the strongest men I knew, ended it all after many years of pain and no explaination. He was never depressed and fought til the end. The pain was simply to much to bear after years of it). I refuse to believe that there is no "cure" or moreover a way to alliviate some symptoms and stop the progression. So I'll continue to fight. And win.

_________________
I tell people I'm too stupid to know what's impossible. I have ridiculously large dreams, and half the time they come true.