Vegan Bodybuilding & Fitness

2/13

Saturday:

20 min run (not really sure how far or how long)

Sunday Workout:

BP: 52.4 lbs x 5, 68.8 x 5, 77.2 x 5, 48.6 x 10 x 5
Rows (bent over to the floor): 72.2 lbs x 10 reps x 5 sets
Chins (from dead hangs): 4, 4, 3

Felt good, felt tough. I haven't been consistent on chins and it shows. They are very hard for me. I guess it's also because I did them last. I should probably add negatives to do sets of 10 but I was already pretty tired and am aiming to feel good at the end of my workouts and not totally worn out.

I've been good with food. I have been having similar food intake everyday ~3500-4000 cals...I may need to increase this but I am still having trouble getting enough ripe bananas or any other fruits for that matter. I can't wait for spring/summer and more variety. I would like to be eating more juicy/watery fruits but they are just not good right now. I have been having 32 oz. OJ in the morning followed by 5 more 32 oz smoothies of dates/berries or bananas. Then at night I have been eating big bowls of greens/zucchini noodles. I may be starting to gain some weight so I'll be tracking my progress and reassessing everything at the end of the month.

2/14:

Food from 2/13:

~3500 cals

32 oz OJ
2 date/blueberry smoothies
3 banana smoothies
1 lb of romaine hearts - eaten throughout the day - felt good
16 oz juice of kale, baby spinach, celery, parsley, apple, carrot

Picking up 2 cases of bananas, 1 case of valencia oranges, and 1 case of mangoes after work.
Then it's time for a deadlift workout!

If you buy 2 cases of bananas at once, how do you prevent them from going ripe all at the same time. I typically buy a case of bananas every 4 days to stagger out the ripening. It would be nice to only buy once a week.

_________________
Bonebreaker Barbell Crew! - ALIEN BABY!
Twitter @IronCladBen | My Blog

2/15

Iron Clad Ben - I wish my bananas would actually ripen! It's cold in NY and I have not been eating the best bananas. I wouldn't really want to eat these without blending. I am struggling to have appealing fruits at this time of year. I don't know how they are harvested but I am always asking to get the ripest bananas and still they come in with green on them. I am waiting a long time for these to even get edible and have been resorting to putting an electric blanket on the box to speed up the process. It really makes me want to move south. I love the tropics and do not enjoy the winters so maybe one day I will up and move. Hard to do with so much going on here as well as close friends and family.
In the summer, the bananas ripen quicker and I may have to stagger my purchases. You could also put lots in your fridge to slow down the ripening process or freeze them when they get really ripe.
I have been reading your posts on 30bad - you're doing really well...keep it up! BTW, I love Austin!

Workout from 2/14:

Deadlifts: 123.8 lbs x 5, 145 x 5, 163.8 x 5, 115 x 10 x 5
Curls: 45 x 10 x 5
Crunches: +14.3 lbs x 10 x 5

Deadlifts felt good but tough. I was working on getting myself psyched up.
Curls were so hard towards the end.
Crunches felt fine. I should probably switch up my ab exercise.

Food from 2/14:
~4000 cals
16 oz OJ - ran out of oranges!
2 date/blueberry smoothies
2 banana smoothies
1 heart of romaine - stomach started to hurt - got really gassy - struggling with greens (or possibly previously eaten unripe bananas) for some reason - i have had problems with this in the past - still healing.
1 banana/raspberry smoothie - new fav!
bowl of zucchini/cucumber noodles with tomato/mango sauce + left some sauce in the blender and added a few handfuls of baby spinach to make a soup - i'm going to try blending or juicing my greens and go back to only eating them at the end of the day. my stomach has been gassy and the only thing i can think of is increasing my greens throughout the day or possible unripe bananas. I have been feeling more balanced eating more greens though so it's a shame i am having this problem. I need to read more: I'm going to reread 80/10/10 as well as info on the calcium/phosphorous ratio. I do a lot of research and reading so sometimes I think I'm exposing myself to too much info and I need to keep it simple however I am an info/internet junkie.

2/20

I've been busy...and away from my computer.
I've also been having a healing crisis with my digestion giving me problems again.
Additionally, I have been real low on ripe fruits, most importantly, no bananas!

So I haven't been getting as many calories and I've gone back to a more restricted healing diet that I learned from David Klein's Self Healing, which has helped me in the past. This means no citrus and greens must be juiced. I think I'm doing a bit better but it will take some time to get back to feeling generally good again. I am getting heartburn/reflux feeling after eating and some constipation but it seems to be better when eating date smoothies or bananas (if only they'd ripen or come in yellow (they've been coming in green!)). It has been frustrating but I need to stay on this journey and keep staying positive about my health.

I have been able to feel well enough to get my workouts in!

2/17:

Squats: 86x3, 102.2x3, 111x3, 63.6x10x2, 52.4x10x3
OHP: 43.6x3, 50x3, 57.4x3, 35x10x5

Squats felt heavy - I lowered the weight on my sets of 10 which still felt tough but not as ridiculous as the heavier weight. I'm not sure why I am not stronger at these when my deadlift numbers are decent. Maybe it's my leverage or my form...I'm not so concerned with the weight though...I just want to feel good and gain some lean mass which will take consistent eating.

2/19:

BP: 63.6x3, 72.2x3, 81x3, 52.4x10x5
Rows: 72.2x10x5
Chins: 5, 4, 4

I increased the weight on my sets of 10 for bench and this felt good.
For rows I used the same weight as it was so difficult last week and did them off my bench bent over. I had gone to the floor last week but was straining my low back too much.
Chins already increased from last week. My arms and back are pretty tired before I do them so the numbers are still low.

2/21:

I think I'm feeling better...not sure what happened.
Work got a little stressful, I was eating more greens/raw veggies, I had a couple meals of 5 or so dates unblended, I had some unripe bananas, and some very acidic oranges so maybe the combination of all of this plus possible ongoing healing/detox could have caused the healing crisis.
I have been able to drink date smoothies.
I have been able to drink green juices.
My bananas are almost ripe and I have more cases coming (I ran out of ripe ones because all the cases were coming in dark green).
I have cut out oranges, berries, tomatoes, mangoes (no ripe ones anyway), and raw veggies.
I reread Self Healing by David Klein to stay inspired and on the path.
This has been very frustrating and confusing but I know I am still healing and will be feeling awesome soon.
I have not been eating as much as I would like and feeling hunger/intense cravings at times.
I will hopefully be back on track today and going forward.

My new favorite juice:
makes ~32 oz.
1 head romaine
half head of celery
1 green apple
4 carrots

2/22:

Workout from 2/21:

Deadlifts: 135x3, 152.4x3, 172.2x3, 115x10x5
Curls: 52.4x8x2, 52.4x7 +3 +2 +2 +3 +3
Abs: hanging knee raises x 10, plank 1x45s

Deadlifts are feeling really good. 115 getting easier.
The hanging knee raises were too much on my arms to alternate with curls. I tried a rest pause/myo reps set of curls - I don't think it was much different than just doing straight sets besides maybe hurting my elbow more.

Food:
~3500 cals
5 x date smoothies
1 x banana smoothie - not very ripe

no time to get in my green juice but i'll be sure to tonight.
I got more mason jars so I have 6 smoothies with me today at work!
I got another case of yellow bananas so I should have some ripe spotty ones soon.

I start a mini tour with my new band tonight. I'll be getting late nights and still working so I'm a bit worried about my health. I struggle more at night as well with stomach issues while I am still healing so it's not the best time for me. But I love playing music and it makes me very happy so it's a compromise. I just hope I don't get sick during this run as my immune system has been working very hard the last 3 months and I need to keep strong. I'll be doing 2 shows in New Paltz, 1 in Brooklyn, 1 in NJ, and 1 in Boston. I want to rep this lifestyle when I'm out there just by my joy, positivity, energy, and vibe. I need to be super healthy and really start gaining some muscle mass!

2/28:

Quick update.
I've been busy as my new band did a mini tour last week. We played 4 awesome shows and got a great response. I love the guys I'm playing with and managed to stay pretty healthy despite my current struggles and late nights/lack of sleep.
I'm back at work and drinking banana smoothies.
My recent digestion struggles are testing my focus and positivity.
I have to keep at it!
It's hard not to get confused and keep second guessing thinking I don't know what to do.
But, really, I do know what to do!
I have to take care of myself, stay positive, get sleep/rest, eat lots of fruit!
While I never know what the true cause of my problems are (stress related/detox?), I am learning how to get through these healing crisis. I now find bananas to be one of the only foods I can eat successfully. Another problem recently has been the lack of ripe bananas available to me. Just when I have a few cases in stock at my house, my source can only get green bananas, so again I am waiting on some yellower ones as the green ones don't seem to ripen ever at my house. Today, I just found out there will be at least 2 more cases of yellowish bananas waiting for me. Dates were always a bit of a problem for me and I'm just realizing I can't eat them at all just now if I want to feel good. Citrus has been out as well. So I have been eating 3000 cals of bananas and having a 32 oz. green juice (1 head lettuce, 1/2 head celery, 1 green apple, ~4 carrots) at night. I would like to increase my calories but I'm having a hard time eating a lot at one sitting and also do not have so many bananas to keep on eating. I hope the spring/summer brings more options to me and I start doing better with dates and citrus.
I have not been able to get in any workouts as I'm focusing on my healthy and I was sparing my energy for the shows last week. I should be back at it soon.

I heard Doug say the hardest month for 80/10/10 is March, due to breadth of availability (more specifically, lack thereof).

Buckle up and hang on!

_________________
Bonebreaker Barbell Crew! - ALIEN BABY!
Twitter @IronCladBen | My Blog

Thanks Ben!
You are doing great...it's inspiring.

I have been eating 6x32oz. banana smoothies and green juice every day.
I am increasing my meal capacities as I have been able to eat 2x32 oz. smoothies at each meal.
I would like to bump up the cals but I am still low on bananas. I just heard that the new batch came in green so hopefully tomorrow they will come in yellow. I should get a 2nd supplier but there are not many sources in the New Paltz area.
I am doing ok but feel I am still healing.
I have been resting and sleeping as much as I can.

I would like to get back to working out but need to focus on my health so I will start up again when I'm ready.

3/5

Another update without a lifting workout to report.

I've been getting in walks daily.
I'm still struggling with acid reflux feelings/low abdominal gas an hour or so after eating. I have been able to get past this with the eating plan I'm on now so I'm hoping it goes away soon.
I have been staying positive as well.
I played another show on Friday that rocked and ended up having late nights on Friday and Saturday with not as much sleep as I'd like. I got in bed early for a long night sleep after having the best food day I've had in a long time:

32 oz. green juice.
2 nice and ripe banana smoothies!
5 ripe Ataulfo mangoes - got a case at an asian grocery store! Felt so awesome after this meal. unreal!
Mango Burgers with carrot/beet/baby spinach salad: burger made with half ataulfo mango, sliced tomato, and sliced avocado in romaine lettuce leaf wraps. so good.
dessert = thawed frozen durian! also found at the asian grocery store. such a rare treat.

good day but still struggling to feel super awesome all the time. gotta keep it up and work towards the goal! i need to start lifting again soon. maybe today.

3/6

Workout yesterday:
~2 mile walk at lunch

chins: 1/2/3/4/4/3/2/1
squats: bw x 30
bar x 10
43.6 lbs x 10
63.6 lbs x 10
63.6 lbs x 6
bp: 43.6 x 10
52.4 x 10
63.6 x 10
72.2 x 10
81 x 61
1 arm rows with barbell: 28.6 x 10 x 3 each arm

I didn't have much of an appetite yesterday.
I had a green juice and 2 banana smoothies while at work.
I had good energy for my workout and had 1.5 banana smoothies post workout followed by a smallish salad of baby spinach, cucumber noodles, and baby bok choy.

I have been having problems with my right shoulder/right elbow/right wrist/hand. I think it is related to my desk work. I have switched my mouse to the left side today. It is getting pretty bad and I don't want to deal with this new issue right now so hopefully it will go away.

Hey dude, I am on day 36 of 100% LFRV and loving it. What is your handle on 30BAD? Mine is the same as here.

I see you made cucumber noodles. Can you recommend a spiralizer? I am thinking about getting one but there are lots of brands so I was hoping to get opinions on which ones people like.

_________________
Bonebreaker Barbell Crew! - ALIEN BABY!
Twitter @IronCladBen | My Blog

Hey Iron Clad Ben!

I've been following your progress. It sounds like you are doing really well! I'm very happy for you. I love this lifestyle and hope to perfect soon. I've had the glimpses of euphoria you talk about and know that it's possible to get there all the time. There are no shortcuts to perfect health so we just have to do our best and be patient to get there. I don't post much at 30Bad but my handle is Powee. I always feel weird about handles and for me they are usually just dumb jokes I have at the moment. I need a sweet hackers handle. The handle I use here is the name of a group I started in New Paltz to do some vegan activism. We do a radio show occasionally at Vassar College and promote Animal Day which we celebrate on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving. We've had a lot of our vegan idols on the program like Robert Cheeke, Ryan Wilson, Gary Francione, Will Tuttle, and others. I think you can here a lot of these interviews at our website, www.theveganinitiative.org.
As for spiralizers, I have this one:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0007Y ... B0007Y9WHQ

I can't say it's the best but I've never had another and I really like adding noodles to savory salads. I think it helps stay on the path to have good savory recipes if you are used to cooking and preparing awesome meals for yourself. You can't make super thin noodles with this one and you need to use wide zucchinis/cucumbers so no baby fruits. You also can't do carrot noodles which would be nice as they are generally too narrow. It's also awkward how you apply tension to it as you spiralize but it does work and you do get to enjoy noodles. Megan (Elizabeth) Mcdonnell endorses it on her website (easytoberaw.com) so that's how I found it. I've seen people make angel hair type noodles with a different spiralizer but not sure which one it is.

Anyway, thanks for keeping in touch and keep up the good work!

Jesse

Thanks Jesse! Yeah I haven't eaten noodles in about a year due to digestion issues with grains. Even rice noodles tear me up. So I just ordered a spiralizer, pretty stoked to get it!

Are you going to WFF this summer? It's right in your backyard. I'll be there. Pretty stoked!

_________________
Bonebreaker Barbell Crew! - ALIEN BABY!
Twitter @IronCladBen | My Blog