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eimat

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  1. Short answer: read this http://scoobysworkshop.com/p90xReview.htm If you have the time and bandwidth, this will really help: (at least it helped me a lot.) Long answer: I originally found my link to veganbodybuilding.com on Scooby's site. He's not a veggie.... although that may have changed.... but he has lots of great info and videos. He spells it all out, and makes everything much easier to follow. I've lost 100+ lbs twice and 80 lbs once - just to put it all back with on with interest due to illness or injury (and a complete lack of support, conflicting dietary information, and a couple of wacko doctors.) Seriously, Sisyphus has nothing on me. I've spent a small fortune on gizmos, equipment, books, pills, videos and memberships. One time - with a *TRAINER* - I worked out harder than I ever have in my life, over three hours per day, just to be told, at the end of my 3 month program, that I had lost 3 to 5% of my muscle mass. (They used a fancy digital infrared tool to measure before and after.) I fell into a full on depression. I had spent 100% of my savings & put in a huge effort. I cannot stress enough how much of a difference these 2 information/support sites have made. I practically live on a different planet now. I *really* wish I had found this combination of a vegan diet, online support (even though I just lurk here for the most part) Scooby's strength training info (friend him on Facebook) and the occasional free yoga video on youtube or elsewhere (to keep me from getting stressed out and overtired) sooner. It is perfect, fits into any schedule, and keeps me from being sensitive to all the criticism I'll get from my extended family & associates. All for free. OK - to make sure I'm not being less than 100% truthful/accurate I have spent a little bit of $. I have a membership to the municipal pools in the area - which is cheap - about $160 for the whole family for 6 months - because when I'm too sore or tired to walk/jog/other I can still swim, and sleep like a log afterwards. And a couple of bucks on a library card (I was surprised by the number of workout DVDs - over 200, and new ones added each week- that I can borrow for free.)
  2. 240 lbs. Almost one quarter of the way there. No big effort re: food - just eating lots of greens & beans. Need to get out more, but I keep catching colds. I was just on antibiotics for 7 days for bronchitis. It's difficult to exercise when I feel like I can't breathe. But, I just keep reminding myself that the asthma will get better as my weight goes down. It's a little frustrating, as I'd like to get the extra weight off *NOW*, but I'm making progress. Thank you again, everyone, for the encouragement & inspiration.
  3. @ Lyric: re: agave nectar I will have to try that ! Right now I have some apple juice in the fridge, and I'll put a little in my tea. Chocolate Bunny day with Bruno's Grandparents/Grand Aunts/Uncles coming up (all weekend, really.) I will have to reread your STFU post a few times before heading out. I plan on just smiling and saying "no thank you" and "I don't feel like it" if pressed for a reason. It's weird, I have 2 cousins who have been vegetarian for many years, but no one bugs them. I get offered alcohol (I haven't had a drink for almost 10 years) and sea food (allergic) etc. all the time, with arguements. "Just try it," etc. (Husband's family is actually much more tolerant.) Oh, well. With any luck my will power really will get stronger with exercise.
  4. Lyric: re: "harsh" No problem. (What the heck - *they* won't be reading this, right?) Actually, it's nice to feel like someone is on my side, and sticking up for me. Thank you. I will check out the Earthlings video when I get a private moment, which might be after the holiday weekend (hubby's off till Tuesday.) I am refraining from eating dead people (animals are people, too, really. Human beings are a kind of animal - from the primate family. Seeing it this way really makes it easier for me.) Now I need to kick the artifical sweeteners (spenda and aspartame.) Tamie
  5. Thank you for your time and input, Lyric. I need to tell a lot of people to STFU. (Most of all my inner critic, of course.) So far, I've joined "The Running Room" walking clinics (my sister signed me up) and have been working up to doing 10,000 steps per day. I find this (rapid walking) seems to be the best thing for my back - and the most strenuous cardio I can do right now. My weight lifting has been limited to my sister's basement, and she's in exams right now, so that will be on hold till next week..... well - I can still lift my son. I could probably get creative, and keep him entertained at the same time... hmmm.... I'm using my inhaler less - not avoiding using it, just not needing it, lately. Also, generally getting out of the house more. I'm not looking for quick fixes, or anything magical. I know I can lose the weight - I've done it 3x before, and it takes time and effort. I just want to avoid the heartbreak of putting it all back on again, and I'm convinced that becoming a vegan, putting on some more muscle, and continuing to work on cardio and endurance is the mostly likely route to maintaining a healthier BMI. I did finally tell my sister what I was thinking of doing. I'd like to give myself a birthday present (I have a b-day coming up next week) of going vegan. She wasn't against it for any health/nutritional reasons -she thinks that it's too big a step, and that I should set attainable goals. She believes that if I switch to vegan eating 100% really quickly, instead of making a gradual change, that I'm going to feel awful. While I think that it's possible that I might end up 'detoxing' - how bad could that be? A few weeks ago I felt horrible - how would switching to eating vegan make me feel worse? Well, I've been off the wagon, as it were, and after typing this I feel I won't have any problems going back to eating healthy, living food, right now, right this minute. I need to tell anyone who tells me to do things differently to stick it. (Or smile, and say "thanks for sharing" maybe?) Ok, I need to get a spine.
  6. At the risk of sounding like a moron, why would non cyano (blue) form be preferrable?
  7. holy cow ! I take a *lot* of vitamin supplements. We're talking major cash outlay here - and I can barely swallow these stupid things without wanting to barf (esp. the B complex one - that stinks). Maybe I should just forget about them for a while and see if I feel any different. Thanks everyone for the support & info.
  8. Hi ! I am not (currently) a Vegan, or even a Vegetarian, although I've read a lot of stuff that would lead me to believe that this is the healthier way to eat, for myself and the planet. Unfortunately, every time I take a step in that direction, I end up listening to friends and relatives that are adamantly against the idea. So, here I am, 100 lbs overweight, on zantac (just switched from nexium) lactaid tabs, pepto bismal, anti-depressants and concerta (a slow release ritalin). I don't feel like I have enough energy to move without two cups of coffee. I've turned into a big blob. Up until 2001 I used to go to L.A. Fitness after work and work out for hours, until I was too tired to continue, then swim until I was asked to leave. I was still fat, but I was hopeful. At 180 lbs, 5'7", size 8 - I could believe that with enough work I could eventually look and feel better. I moved back to Canada in 2001 and had a much harder time finding a job than I anticipated. I've never actually been unemployed before. Finding a job became my first priority, (and re-learning business French) and I basically did no exercise. The crummy, frustrating, depressing jobs I took to "hold me over" until I got something good took any other remaining time. After 6 years, I got a job at Michaels (a craft store) - totally out of my field - making frames for art, and stocking shelves, and I had a great time. I stopped looking for a better paying gig. I was lifting lots of heavy boxes, making things with my hands, talking to nice people. Since I didn't have time to cook a meal, I'd re-use a litre yogurt container and pile it with green salad, sesame seeds, a little vinegar and whatever was around. All veggie stuff because I was suspicious of how much bacteria would accumulate in any egg/diary/meat products until lunch time. As I was running out the door I'd have my bagged lunch and a "shake" of water, a little juice and a spoonful of some powdered veggie stuff that had spirulina, and lots of other veggies in it. I got so healthy I actually (finally! - at 40) got pregnant. Then I started catching colds - a lot - and I couldn't lift anything over 5 lbs without endangering the baby. My doctor insisted I stop working. Instead I got another job where I could sit: data entry (yuck) and caught pneumonia. Finally, I had to give up, go home, stay in bed or at least take it easy, and take lots of antibiotics. Bruno was born at 10.5 lbs, healthy and happy in Dec 2007. But I had ballooned up to 250. My lungs never really recovered. I've been using an inhaler, but not as often as I should (one of those things I really need to change). I became really sedentary. The worse I feel and look, the worse my self-esteem gets. I barely leave the house. Now I'm 264 lbs. This is awful. I want to start exercising again, but I really want it to *work* this time. I can put a lot of time and effort into it, years worth, but if I don't see good results, like getting down to a decent fat percentage, and having some more energy, I won't be able to stick with it forever. Meat, dairy (esp. cheese) and eggs (esp. yolks) are very calorie dense. Staying under 2000 calories with these things in my diet leave me still hungry. My Dad is a beef farmer, so the meat I get from him, I don't have to be as suspicious of - I know these cattle are ``organic``, but this is still calorie dense, and I don't believe I'm doing my GIT any favours (I have IBS on top of everything else.) I believe that if I change the way I eat I can clear up a lot of my health problems, or at least make them less bad, especially my weight. I need to figure out how to get enough protein, and B12 to stay healthy. And, I want to do all this surreptitiously at first, at least until I have some numbers on my side - concrete evidence in the form of blood test results, decreased meds, lower BMI etc. I need to make an effort not to get hung up on the scale (it's really depressing to see that dial go all the way around and back to 0) and just concentrate on getting healthy. On the up side: My arms have been getting bigger from just lifting my son - he's now 40 lbs, and for the first time in my life I can do a real push up! OK, just one, but that's a start. My sister has equipment in her basement and yesterday I walked to her house and worked out for a bit. She's in the army and has to stay in shape. I'll go again on Saturday, and hope to eventually go every day. My husband starts work at 9:30, so if I can get back before 9 AM every day, there will be no static. In the past I was never a ```hard gainer`` and put muscle on pretty quickly - it was burning the fat that was the hard part, but now I'm in my forties, so I know I have to be really committed to this to get anything done. If I don't discuss this with anyone here - my sister is not a proponent of abstaining from meat. ```You need protein`` she'll say. (I know I can eat beans and rice and get more protein without the fat and hormones.) And, I mentioned being proud of myself for doing 1 pushup properly last night to my husband and got a loud, long lecture about how I'm ultimately going to break my back and get no sympathy from anyone if I do it to myself. He says to just stick to bent knee push-ups. (What I call ```Girl push-ups``! Ugh - anyone can do those. I want to work up to doing 25+ *real* push-ups, from the plank position. How could this put stress on my *back*??!!!) I shouldn't let him get to me - but he's my husband, and it's a total downer to hear that he's against any part of this plan of mine. So, I need to keep my big trap shut. I feel kind of alone. I had no friends outside work - so now I have *no* friends aside from family members, and they are very close minded and critical. I will need some kind of support, and hoped to find some here. I've joined some other weight loss groups in the last week but, of course, they all have their own ideas about what people should eat, so I'll take what works, and leave the rest. Ultimately, though, there's only so many hours in a day. I hope I've found the one forum that will replace time spent at all these other places that don't really fit. Apologies for length. Thanks very much for maintaining an active vegan bodybuilding & fitness forum - I wish I'd found this sooner. eimaT
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