Vegan Bodybuilding & Fitness

Hey there!

I have been vegan for three years, and have three children. I always lost the weight after my babies quite well until recently. With our third child I can't seem to get the weight off and want to get back into being fit and muscled!

Ideally I would be following a raw diet, but with a Canadian budget of less than $100/week for groceries, for five people, well I'm sure you get it. I feel like my body is slowly deteriorating, living off of rice and rice noodles with occasional potatoes and very little veg. I am 100% focused on my familiy, on my children, so it is time to focus on ME a little bit.

I'm not overly active, other than fast walking. Yesterday I walked for 7.89 km which I know isn't a ton compared all of you wonderful buff bod people. I walk at least 5 km on a daily basis but otherwise have no fitness routines. I'm not really sure where to start!

Hi welcome to the group. We aren't all super buff and ripped, don't worry. Its great to check out people's before and after pics on here though for motivation that's for sure. I think a good way to start would be check out the 12 days of vegan fitness thread. That was a challenge last winter that got a lot of people's gears turning. The first work out that is set up with no equipment needed and can be done in the house is great. Just start with what you can do and go from there. I think, if I remember correctly it rotated between push ups, weightless squats, crunches, jumping jacks and lunges. Good stuff. Also on the front page of this website there is a short workout video showing some equipment free exercises with robert and 3 ladies at the park.
Browsing through the fitness journals is helpful and fun as well. For me it took a little browsing to find people at similar levels as me but there are definitely tons of people in all levels from just getting started all the way up to pro athletes on this site.

-Dylan

Hi and welcome.

I think doing the walking you have probably a good base to work up from. Cardio (walking) alone won't get you where you want to be tho... mostly you will want to focus on diet. See this article here for more explanation. Start throwing in lots of veggies with your meals.. it is good for you AND your family.

To make sure you are losing fat, not muscle, you will want to add some weight training.. go for heavier weights rather than endless reps of small weights. Body weight exercises are effective if you can't or prefer not to join a gym.

Feel free to post questions.