Vegan Bodybuilding & Fitness

sorry for the long post!!

I am vegan as of a month ago. I am doing well with it as I feel much better allowing myself to eat carbs rather than suffering headaches and constant fatigue of eating meat and a small amount of vegetables.
I am trying to follow a fruitarian lifestyle as much as possible, eating lots of fruit, but also eating rice, raw and steamed vegetables and a few yams.

I lost about 40 pounds 2 years ago from extreme dieting and doing beachbody insanity. Unfortunately since then, I have gained most of that fat back, but fortunately gained a bit of muscle through constantly working out at least 1 hour 5 -6 days a week, and sometimes pushing it to 2 hours a day. I have done very regimented muscle building programs, gone to curves, bikram yoga and just done straight up drills and running at home/ outside.

A year ago I was floppier than I am now, but I was also thinner. Through gradually starting to eat more, and consistently excercising, I feel like it is impossible for me to lose the weight I need to lose. I feel like I want to work out 2 - 3 hours a day consistently now, but I am worried as I keep hearing that I should worry about over training or working. I do have knee and ankle and back problems ( lots of spasms, ankles give out, constantly cracking joints in knees and spine), but at this point I feel like I just don't care and can push past it to excercise and lose fat.

I am doing beachbody insanity again- I have been doing it 5 days a week for 4 weeks.

Any advice on increasing my workouts? Can I do insanity twice a day? Does this count as "working the same muscle group 2 days in a row" if I'm bumping up workouts that should be 2 days apart to just the next day? Should I do Insanity, do machines/ weights at the gym AND ride my bike/ run?

Also,
I am really not interested in reducing calories. I have eaten 1000, 1300, 1400, 1600, 1800, 2000, 2200, 2500, 2700 ( which is my maintenance calorie level apparently, according to my height and activity level) with no success. Right now I eat about 3000 calories in fruits, veg and rice.

Thanks !

Hi! Happy to have you here.

I'm afraid I'm not exactly sure what your goal is after reading your post. Are you trying to get down to a certain weight? Gain muscle? Hit a specific % body fat? Your workouts and diet should be tailored to your goals. If you're eating mostly fruit and doing Insanity, you're moving towards a lean, muscular build. Not as bulky as a weightlifter, but still strong and very fit.

The Insanity workouts are, if I understand correctly, designed to be done at a certain frequency. Doing them more often (and certainly if you do them twice a day) might not allow enough time for recovery. You could be depleting your glycogen reserves, breaking down your muscles, and not allowing them to rebuild properly. Even aerobic cardio like running or biking can inhibit recovery. It's a delicate balance, and it's going to be a little different for everybody.

Plus, you absolutely shouldn't ignore the danger of overworking your joints, muscles, CNS, and connective tissue. It doesn't do you any good to work out 2-3 hours a day now if an injury is going to take you off your feet for months. If you're still young, you can probably handle it, but as you get into your 30s and 40s, your body won't be as forgiving.

Another thing to consider is your diet. Eating that much fruit and rice is putting a lot of carbs, particularly sugars, into your system. I'm not one to insist that everyone needs to eat a ton of protein, but it's worth a try. Different diets work for different people, and your body might not be thrilled with that much fruit. Experiment until you find something that works. Also, some general blood tests to rule out vitamin and mineral deficiencies wouldn't be a terrible idea.

Thanks for your reply,
Sorry I wasn't clear on my goals. Yes I am trying to lean out as much as possible. All my blood tests this year came out normal, but I will definitely do another round as I progress with this new diet to keep a tab on things.

That is absolutely correct! The Insanity workout program has been put together in a specific manner to push your body HARD while allowing enough recovery time to actually make progress. It was put together by experts, so trust them. I've done Insanity a few times, and in my experience, if you have enough energy to do it twice in one day, then you didn't work hard enough in the first workout! And nutrition is going to be the cornerstone of your success; you can't out-train a bad diet. My advice is to nail down what nutrition plan is going to work for you that you can stick with, and DO WORK when you push play on that DVD so you know you gave it your all.

--Jessie

I dated an anorexic, and I learned a lot about it at that time. Can be quite the battle. You sound like you are doing really well. Please feel free to ask any of us forum members questions when you have them by posting on our threads or private messaging. This community is a really helpful one but you have to reach out sometimes to get the training or dietary help that you need, as with anything in life.
Take care,

-Dylan