Vegan Bodybuilding & Fitness

My name is Victoria Norman. I am 22 years old, graduating college in August and currently studying to be a personal trainer. I am from New Orleans, and hardly anyone around here believes vegan is the way. I have 3 friends who support it, but all the rest do not! It is frustrating. When I first watched Forks Over Knives in March, I decided to go Vegan so I tried a Muffin recipe (it was absolutely delish by the way) and posted it on facebook. Immediately I was bombarded with "ARE YOU CRAZY?" "Vegan is bad" etc. etc. etc. One of which who criticized was my trainer, he basically tore all of what I hard learned apart (in a nice way) and told me I would never get the toned I have always wanted, so I immediately cut it out and went back to regular American diet.

When I was 12-13 I was over weight big time, due to my father not cooking meals and the amounts of fast food I ate. My mother got me motivated and I was able to lose 40lbs by eating right and doing pilates. But I have still NEVER gotten to where I want to be. I want to have that sexy tone, and be able to make people say "Damn she's fit as ever" when they see me. I think that's extremely important for my career seeing as I am going to be a personal trainer. Who wants a chunky trainer? Not me!

So, I stumbled upon this website from a Vegan friend who has a blog. She told me about this cite because of how skeptial I was about gaining muscle. When I looked around, read, and watched on this cite..boy was I blown away!! I don't want to be a body builder exactly but I want to be ripped and toned!! I cannot wait to get started with everything!!

I am so inspired

I do admit that I am worried I will not be able to afford all the things I want to buy to read and what not! I am fresh out of college (I really finish on the 30th of this month and then graduate in August) and do not have any money coming in what so ever! I want to buy all the supplements and what not that have been talked about but I can't. I guess that means I just need to get more food??

What a great intro. I'm so glad you are inspired here and ready to do what you wanted to do all along. It is sometimes hard to find the right people to support you and your goals so it is great you found this group. There is also a group on facebook.. crossFit vegans & vegetarians... so far it seems like a really good, helpful bunch of people too.

Meat is really expensive compared to rice, beans, lentils, tofu etc so you will save money in that respect. You may be able to afford the protein powders... I buy them, but I only use half the suggested serving size in my shakes so it actually goes a really long way .. and you save some calories. I'm not that big, so I feel like I don't need the full amount anyway and I only have them a few times a week. You will need to buy b12 tho... that one's not really optional I don't think. What other supplements were you thinking you needed?

Thank you so much for the info on FB group! I will definitely go check them out as well!

What kind of protein do you get?
I saw that Vega Whole Food Health Optimizer Protein is suggested.
& I was wanting to get some protein bars as well, but it's better just to eat as much fruits and stuff rather than that right?

I am kind of scared to be honest. I dont wanna do this incorrectly and not get the right amount I am supposed to! I have ALWAYS hated that I never knew what to eat and I have just guessed really about sizes for myself. Years ago when I went to a nutritionist they were barely of any use, but then again that person was a student worker at my college's recreational center. WHAT to eat exactly has always frustrated me. I always wanted someone just to tell me.. "Here eat this.." ya know? ha. I realize I will have to do lots of research for this and preparation, I hope I do it right!

I have all these eggs, egg whites, milk, etc. in my refrigerator right now that I am not going to just throw away. I am still in school with finals till Saturday, and then I have 4 days break till I start a cram session from the 16-30th for two classes. I am going to ATTEMPT to get started during those two classes. It is hard being a student and on a budget and not having time to cook, etc. because of all the work and what not. I know that's an excuse for slacking but I WILL be trying vegan soon!!

I think if I don't get to it during those classes, June 3rd I decided is my day! I will also be taking part in the Under Armor "What's Beautiful" contest at that time! Which is me setting a fitness goal that can be accomplished within 9 weeks and documenting it. Whoever goal and documented stuff is the most epic and different will be chosen as winner! It will be fun because I will be hardcore running & weight training (cannot tell you how much I am DYING to get started with it!!) and I plan to kick my butt into shape!School has brought me down this last semester and messed me up with working out, I am READY to graduate and be done so I can do what I love!

When all of this works out & I see my own results with being vegan and getting the tone I want, I hope I can combine that with my personal training and share it with others!

Hi... My name is Carlos and I'm 30 years young. I'm new to this as well. I decided to become vegan around end of February after watching Fork over Knives as well. Couple of other documentaries as well. And then things got pretty interesting. Friends, family and people at work started to notice and started asking questions. So I told them what I decided to do, they told me I was gonna get sick and weak and all this nonsense. " you NEED meat for protein", I hear that one a lot and " you need milk for strong bones"... But on the contrary. I've been working out a long time and have noticed a huge difference since I began this whole vegan diet. I'm stronger, I require less breaks in between exercises and my recovery is really fast now. I really dont get allergies any more. An occasional sneeze here and there. Considering it allergy season. I have way more energy. And I do save quite a bit of money from groceries since I dont buy a lot of the crap I use to. Its been a great thing for me. So I just stop listening to what people say when It comes to dieting and health, because 90% of the time they have health issues of their own and dont seem to know why and obviously dont know what they're talking about. Just do your research and never stop looking for answers to your questions. The Vega protein is pretty good, but keep an open mind there are other brands out there that are just as good and if there's one around your way you should check out Vitamin Shoppe they carry a good variety. Hope this helps and keep doing you. Peace

Hey Carlos, thank you so much for the support! i really really appreciate it a lot!
I have heard about Vitamin Shoppe, but do not think I have one close by, I know you can order online though!

I feel like there's SO MANY opinions its absurd and its too much! And most people are too set in their ways to even try and be open minded! Forks over Knives really opened my eyes to something different. So glad I watched it!

I get where you are coming from. I only recently went from Vegetarian to Vegan and had all those things in my fridge too. It felt like I would be adding insult to injury for me to throw them in the garbage so I finished them up. It was more like a punishment tho since I felt bad eating them.

Being so new to this I'll be honest that I'm not sure I'm the best one to give you advice, but then again, being new I've been doing research like crazy to make sure I wasn't missing things.. I think I'm doing pretty good so far.

I opted for VegaOne (same manufacturer as one you mentioned) it has 4 types of protein - pea, rice, hemp, and something called saviseed (I honestly don't know what that is!). I chose that one cause I've read that for pea and rice protein are best to get complete protein. I also was fortunate to get sample packs to make sure it wasn't disgusting. Buying a huge family size of something that makes me wretch is not my idea of an intelligent decision. lol.

I got chia and flax seed for omega 3 and I add them to my protein shakes .

I also bought kale at the grocery store. I put it in the freezer and then smush it into tiny bits when it is frozen and pick out and throw away stems. I throw a handful of the frozen kale bits in with my protein mix - I blend it first with just almond milk only to make sure it is well processed since I don't really like the flavor of it, but I'm forcing it on myself since I read it's about 3 times better in nutritional value than spinach (I like spinach). I'm hoping kale will be one of those 'acquired' tastes. I also add fruit to my protein mix.. it really is a meal replacement.

I honestly believe you need to go with what your body tells you. The things I've added to my diet since beginning my vegan journey were because I felt tired, so I just experimented with adding things that might be missing and so far this has worked out for me. I haven't watched too many documentaries on food, but I think Gary Yourofsky's - Best speech you will ever Hear (on youtube) really opened my eyes to all the lies we are fed.

Have you considered adding some nutrition courses to your studies.. even after you finish. I think that would really help to round everything out for you and I think there really is a growing demand for trainers who 'get' vegan and vegetarian lifestyles.

I am not really picky, I used to be, but my taste buds seemed to have changed majorly since I was a kid. I used to NEVER want to eat veggies and what not, but now I do (thankfully! ) I trust that the Vega protein stuff probably tastes good since everyone seems to recommend it.

I like what you do with the Kale, I think I am doing to have to do the same, sounds interesting and an easy way to hide the flavor (never had it before!)
How do you tell if things are missing or you need something without going to the Doctor?? I know I shouldn't be listening to other people but they keep scaring me about being "mal-nourished" or whatever. I really need to do my research. I plan to do it this weekend. I did a lot yesterday but I have two finals to go so I need to focus! hah. Damn senioritous! I will definitely checkout that guy on youtube!

Problem is I am finished this semester on saturday and then the two class I am taking the rest of this month I cannot change. My degree is already set (I jumped around so much and didnt know what I wanted to do till last semester... So i stuck out General Studies) and I cannot change it, I WISH I could because I would have done it by now but my parents told me "If you want to go to college you pay for it" So... that's what I have had to do. :/ I have thought about trying to see if I can take a few classes at my local community college because I am SICK of not knowing what to eat and why. I hate asking people all the time! I would LOVE to know and to be able to be a licensed nutritionist while personal training, that gives me a MAJOR advantage because instead of being restricted as a personal trainer with nutirion tips, I can basically lay it all down on the line. I am going to check it all out once I get back home to New Orleans.

I really cannot wait for all of this! I want to prove people wrong and be able to be living proof. Especially to my trainer. He thinks I am so wrong! Grr! hah

Welcome to the group, Victoria!

Glad Forks Over Knives was a helpful resource. That film has done amazing things for so many people, and for the environment at large.

Thanks for being here and I hope you enjoy our online community. Some of us have been on this forum for 8 years and still keep coming back, so we tend to build up a strong community.

All the best and welcome aboard!

-Robert

wow 8 years! that's so awesome! I am so glad to be a part of all of this!!

Thank you Mr. Robert

Hi Victoria, how has everything been going for you? Have you become a personal trainer yet? If so are you enjoying it?

-Dylan