Vegan Bodybuilding & Fitness

Hey, welcome to my training journal! I was using MyFitnessPal for a while, but I figured I'd find a lot better feedback and accountability here with all you pros! I've loved being plant based for the past year, but I haven't really used it to my advantage as far as physique goes. Lately I've been starting to slip into more vegan processed foods and sweets than I'd like to admit. I'm not overweight but I'm not as lean as I'd like to be. I rarely weigh myself, but right now, 11/08/12, I'm probably in the 155-160 range, and I'm a 5'10" female. I got nice and lean a couple summers ago at 145-148lbs, but I was still eating meat at that time.

I'm a P90X/Insanity/Asylum girl, but I'm currently doing Beachbody's new BODY BEAST! It's meant for people who really want to put on some muscle with an at-home DVD program. They market the program mainly to guys, but something about putting on some nice muscle piqued my interest. I'm going for the "Bikini" competitor look. I think if I clean up my diet, I can get pretty dang close by the end of the program (12/23/12). As of this post I'm in week 6, I believe, which is the 3rd week of the "Bulk" phase. My husband is doing the program too, and he's been struggling with keeping a clean plant-based diet too while putting on mass that isn't mainly fat.

Today is a rest day as far as the program goes, and I'm home sick so meal-planning and such has been out the window. I'll try to re-cap what I ate though:

1 scoop Chocolate Vegan Shakeology
2 TB Chia seeds
2 TB fresh ground PB
1/2 TB raw cacao powder
Banana

16oz Whole Foods veggie soup
Kale & spinach salad with raw tahini garlic dressing
Baked chips

16oz veggie soup
Dr. Praeger veggie burger
2 gluten-free vegan waffles
1 TB PB

1/4 of a roasted butternut squash
16oz bottle of Raw Kombucha

Looking at it all now I should have nixed the chips and probably the waffles to really clean it up.

Now it's time to get some rest so I can get back to training tomorrow...It's Bulk Chest day

Well, I had a few days of hiatus after I started this, so here we go again. My sickness continued so I had to take a couple more rest days, but I got back on last night and did the "Bulk Back" routine with my husband, although I took it a little easier than usual, as I was still having breathing issues.

Today was much better, and we did "Bulk Arms" (bis and tris). I was pretty much able to pick up right where I left off from last week. I didn't increase any weights, but I didn't significantly decrease any of them either.

-Pre-Workout-
1 TB raw maca powder
2 tsp raw cacao powder
1/2 frozen banana

-Post Workout-
1 scoop Vega Recovery Accelerator

-Meal 1-
1 scoop Tropical Vegan Shakeology
2 TB homemade raw cashew "butter"
handful of frozen strawberries
big handful of spinach

-Meal 2-
3/4 cup dry oatmeal
1/4 cup coconut milk
1/2 cup blueberries
1/2 scoop vanilla Sunwarrior
2 TB Chia seeds

-Meal 3-
2 cups homemade "Smokey Tempeh Chili"
1/2 cup cooked quinoa
1/2 avocado
2.5 cups baby arugula

-Meal 4-
baby carrots
apple

-Meal 5-
air popped popcorn with 1 tsp raw honey
1 TB of dark chocolate chips (I usually use them for baking, but I need to forget these are in the house!)

You have some great stuff in there (chia seeds, maca powder). Sounds like your are off to a good plan. I'll be checking out your journal for new ideas. Thanks for sharing.

-Dylan

No problem, Dylan! Always a work in progress, and it's not always easy for me to stay on track, nutritionally...hoping this helps!

Didn't wake up in time to do Body Beast's "Bulk Shoulders" before work, which means I'll be doing it at 11pm when I get home. Not my favorite time to work out, but as long as I get the job done I'm happy. Tomorrow is a rest day from Body Beast, but I'm going to do the Brazil Butt Lift "High and Tight" DVD to make up for missing "Bulk Legs" when I was sick. I'm thinking I need to add some more cardio and Brazil Butt Lift to my routine. One day of Legs a week is not doing enough for my derriere, and I'm feeling a bit "chunky" with all these bulk routines and no cardio at all.

Today looks very similar to yesterday as far as nutrition goes, except we're out of avocados and I left the quinoa for my husband (aww, aren't I nice?).

-Meal 1-
1 scoop Chocolate Vegan Shakeology
1 TB hemp seeds
1/2 cup almond milk
1/2 cup frozen pineapple
big handful of spinach

-Meal 2-
2/3 cup dry oatmeal
1 cup almond milk
2/3 cup blueberries
1/2 scoop vanilla Sunwarrior
2 TB Chia seeds

-Meal 3-
2 cups homemade "Smokey Tempeh Chili"
2 cups baby spinach
grape tomatoes
roasted brussels sprouts

-Meal 4-
baby carrots
apple
roasted broccoli leftovers
Bottle of Raspberry Chia Kombucha

-Pre-Workout-
1 TB raw maca powder
2 tsp raw cacao powder
1/2 frozen banana

-Post Workout-
1 scoop Vega Recovery Accelerator
Banana "ice cream" (frozen banana blended up w/raw cacao powder)


Tomorrow is my first day experimenting with just all fruits and veggies (got the idea from veganmuscleandfitness.com) **change of plans, I do have a breakfast date with my husband at Bob's Red Mill, then it's produce the rest of the day. Probably better that way anyway since we're working out so late**. I'm going to throw in 2-3 days per week of trying this out to see what happens. I really need to shed some of this extra padding I've put on!

hey jessie, hope the trainings goin well! just wondering if :-

-Meal 1-
1 scoop Chocolate Vegan Shakeology
1 TB hemp seeds
1/2 cup almond milk
1/2 cup frozen pineapple
big handful of spinach


is all blended into a smoothie? if so whats it like?


mike

_________________
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Hi Mike! Yes, that's all blended into a smoothie. I also add water to make about 10-12oz liquid total (including the almond milk), then as much ice as I feel like, and I blend until it's really smooth. The flavor and overall consistency changes depending how much and what kind of frozen fruit I add or what types of other things I add to it. The Vegan Shakeology itself is delicious (in my opinion). I try to have one every day and mix it up with different flavor combos; I love it!

Rest day from Body Beast today! I had good intentions to do Brazil Butt Lift "High & Tight" this morning, but that late night workout had me WIRED until 2:30am last night! I'm reminded why I like to work out BEFORE work on my night shifts. Anywho, after a breakfast date at Bob's Red Mill, the rest of my day has been focused on fruits and veggies only.

-Meal 1-
Vegan gluten free french toast with 100% maple syrup...ohhh it was so good!
mixed fruit
Some potatoes and mushrooms/onions (probably didn't need those, but I wanted to try them)

Bottle of Trilogy Kombucha

-Meal 2-
Hearty vegetable miso soup
Moroccan carrot salad
LOTS of mixed baby greens

apple

-Meal 3-
1 bunch of kale
1 avocado
1 red bell pepper
1/4 red onion
lemon juice

-Meal 4-
grapefruit
Half a pomegranate

thanks jessie will have to give it a try maybe substitute the protein powder for some chocolate alomond milk!

all the best with the training!



mike

_________________
"iam the strongest one! iam the viking!" - jon pall sigmarsson
“The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated.” - Gandhi

Hey jessie! This food sounds great
Just wondering, what do your workouts consist of?

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viewtopic.php?f=24&t=29098
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No problem! Just shoot me an email if you want any info on Shakeology (it's not sold in stores, you can only get it through a Team Beachbody coach). --Jessie

Hey! I'm doing a 90 day at-home DVD program called "Body Beast" that is split into three phases: Build, Bulk, and Beast. I'm in the Bulk phase right now, so there is very little cardio. There's a different DVD concentrated on one body part each day; 1-Chest, 2-Legs, 3-Back, 4-Arms/Abs, 5-Shoulders, 6-Rest, then Repeat until the next phase. They call it "Dynamic Set Training" -- there are a lot of drop sets, super sets, giant sets, and progressive sets. I have no idea if that is typical bodybuilding language or not, because this is the first bodybuilding program I've ever tried! Hope that answers your question. --Jessie

Mmmm, all the food you're posting about sounds delicious. Good luck with your goals, I'm sure you can achieve them as you seem to know what you want. Have a great weekend, and thanks for the interesting journal as well MF.

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1st Place Raw Champs 2011, 2012 (3 raw records)
Training for my first 100 mile running race

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Jessie, as far as staying on track nutritionally goes yeah it definitely is hard sometimes, I agree with that. I actually started a side business of building goal oriented personalized meal plans for people. If interested in more info shoot me an email Dylan.que@gmail.com

-Dylan

Thank you, have a great weekend too!




That sounds like a cool side business, I'll keep it in mind if I need help! Thanks!