Becoming vegan + training

[chainedpunkgirl]

Ok, I didn't know where to put this, but I'm kinda lost on how to navigate this site. Lets start:

 

I'm 23 (in a few days! ^_^) and I'm slowly going vegan, and I live with my vegetarian fiance, and an omni roommate. I don't have a job, and they are both keeping us afloat with money. Vegetarian foods are pretty expensive and my fiance is not fond of a lot of a lot of foods I try to make... (example: he loves indian food, yet hates lentils).

 

2 years ago, I went vegetarian, and in a years time, I went down from almost 300lbs to 230lbs, where I plateaued.. I was working at a shelter and lost a lot of weight and gained muscles, but at the end of last year, I lost my job. I haven't been able to find a job and went back up to 255.

 

At one point I went vegan and was vegan for about 2-3 months. It was difficult, but my friends helped. Then, once I lost my job, it became almost impossible to make meals without practically making separate meals, which ended up costing MORE money.

 

Now, I'm tired of being fat, and I want to lose weight, gain muscle, and eventually go back to being vegan. My fiance is worried I'm not getting enough protein (while he was working out, he was eating a lot of nuts and soy powders; something I'm not doing).

 

How vegetarian am I: No meat, no fish, no lard, no gelatin. I eat honey, I don't drink milk, I don't eat butter, and I don't eat eggs, though I do eat products with those things in them. I do use bone char sugar and flour... because everything seems to be made with bone char... >_<

 

Here's me:

http://a471.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images01/116/l_c536ee9b6e0c4bffa47779b739b2045e.jpg

http://a645.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images01/37/l_28c34846af4ad8eeb69a61f06b75199c.jpg

 

Ok, to skip the long story: I'm trying to build muscle and lose weight, and go vegan. I need help learning how to do these things, while not having a job, and only having so much equipment given to me by my apartment complex in the work out room.

 

What I've been doing: 10 minutes on the treadmill, 20 minutes on the eliptical, 20 sit ups, 20 pushups, 10 minutes on the treadmill, 20 sit ups, 20 push ups, 20 minutes on the elliptical, sauna, shower.

 

Anyone willing to help a poor veggie wanting to become vegan?

[Amy]

Welcome! There are many people on Vegan Body Building that can help you. I have learned so much from just surfing all of the different posts and asking questions. Enjoy your time here! Oh, and Happy Birthday (in a few days)

[Richard]

Welcome to the site, that's great you want to become vegan. Definitely, deciding to become vegan or not is the hardest part, in my opinion, so if you've made that decision, that's the toughest part out of the way.

 

Depending on your personality, I'd recommend a couple of ways to actually go vegan. If you are a person who likes boundaries and rules, then it might be best to just set a date, and say "that's when I will be vegan", and in the meantime, find some vegan foods that you like, so that when you make that transition you're all set. The other way to do it would be to do the same thing, except choose to cut out individual ingredients / products. So you could say "this week, I am going to cut out XYZ" whatever, certain brand of food, or certain ingredient. Then over a set of weeks gradually cut out everything you want to take out. I personally wouldn't like that approach because I'm good with strict rules to follow, but for other people it could work.

 

In terms of cheap food, for losing fat and maintaining / building muscle, I guess I would recommend:

Vegetables (especially green leafy vegetables)

beans

lentils

nuts

rolled oats

water instead of any other kind of drink

Fruit

 

Lentils are cheap too right? I don't eat them so I don't know

 

How often are you working out? If you're doing what you said every day, that's a great start, however you may not grow much muscle this way, but what you're doing will burn fat very well. If you buy some dumbbells, you can target other muscles, and they won't cost much. If you don't want to buy dumbbells, you can use anything heavy that you have, bag of flour for instance, or a bucket of water, or heavy chain... anything you can get a good hold of with one hand which gives you resistance when you tryt o lift. Then you can do bicep curls and shoulder raises or shoulder press. Additionally, just with your own bodyweight you can do squats, or you can hold something heavy whilst doing the squats.

 

A good investment is a chin-up bar, they don't cost much and allow you to do back exercises which are otherwise pretty hard to do.

 

Hope some of that was appropriate for you, feel free to ask any specific questions, there are other members on the forum who know way more than me

[xjohanx]

Welcome to the forums!

Richards advice is great. Legumes, vegetables and fruits is probably the best thing for you.

 

How vegetarian am I: No meat, no fish, no lard, no gelatin. I eat honey, I don't drink milk, I don't eat butter, and I don't eat eggs, though I do eat products with those things in them. I do use bone char sugar and flour... because everything seems to be made with bone char... >_<

 

You seem to be on good way to becoming vegan. This is how I ate before turning vegan also. But if you want to loose weight milk isn't really good and neither is eggs. What sort of products containing them are you eating?

If you eat bone char sugar, flour and honey and want to it's your decision but if you want to loose weight I would cut them all out since it's proccessed high calorie foods.

If I were you I would buy some litterature on loosing weight. Diets and training becomes a lot easier with the right knowledge. My favourite book is Eat To Live, it's written by Joel Fuhrman who is a M.D. that knows what he's talking about.

Good luck!

[blabbate]

2 years ago, I went vegetarian, and in a years time, I went down from almost 300lbs to 230lbs, where I plateaued.. I was working at a shelter and lost a lot of weight and gained muscles, but at the end of last year, I lost my job. I haven't been able to find a job and went back up to 255.

 

Now, I'm tired of being fat, and I want to lose weight, gain muscle, and eventually go back to being vegan. My fiance is worried I'm not getting enough protein (while he was working out, he was eating a lot of nuts and soy powders; something I'm not doing).

First, and most importantly, happy birthday. Second, about 15 months ago, I was in the same spot as you. I was 280+ lbs and tired of it. Now I'm 175. If you go vegan, stick with it, and exercise, you will lose the weight.

 

As for protein, we can tell you how to get plenty. Yesterday I had 192g of protein and very little fat. Only about 50g of that protein came from powders. The rest came from beans, lentils, whole grains, sprouts, vegetables, low-fat tofu, vegan boca burgers, etc. If you're on a budget, bulk beans, lentils, and grains (quinoa, couscous, rice, etc) are cheap and packed with protein and nutrients. Green veggies are low-calorie and full of fiber and vitamins. Get them fresh if you can, frozen if it's a lot cheaper. For quick, raw sugars, fresh fruit is probably the best.

 

Drink only water, if possible. I used to brush off this piece of advice, but once I finally buckled down and stopped drinking coffee and other diuretics, things got a lot easier. Your body needs water to burn fat, to store energy, and to cleanse your system. Also, sleep. Get as much sleep as your body requires. Don't cheat it.

 

How vegetarian am I: No meat, no fish, no lard, no gelatin. I eat honey, I don't drink milk, I don't eat butter, and I don't eat eggs, though I do eat products with those things in them. I do use bone char sugar and flour... because everything seems to be made with bone char... >_<

Stop eating things with dairy and eggs in them. They're just as bad for you as the dairy and eggs themselves. You're already 90% vegan, so might as well make that last push.

 

Ok, to skip the long story: I'm trying to build muscle and lose weight, and go vegan. I need help learning how to do these things, while not having a job, and only having so much equipment given to me by my apartment complex in the work out room.

 

What I've been doing: 10 minutes on the treadmill, 20 minutes on the eliptical, 20 sit ups, 20 pushups, 10 minutes on the treadmill, 20 sit ups, 20 push ups, 20 minutes on the elliptical, sauna, shower.

 

Anyone willing to help a poor veggie wanting to become vegan?

That's a good workout for burning fat, but it won't help you retain much muscle. As someone else mentioned, find a cheap set of dumbbells or anything heavy you can grab ahold of. I have a 23lb cat that works in a pinch. With just those weights you can do a wide variety of exercises. Squats, lunges, split squats, step ups, etc for the lower body. Shoulder presses, incline/bench presses, curls, push backs, rows, cheks, push-ups, etc for the upper body and back. Crunches and twists of all sorts for your core. Two weight sessions per week should be enough to retain muscle. Of course, as you lose weight and stay strong, expect to need heavier weights.

 

If your primary goal is to lose weight, focus on the cardio. At least three times each week, maybe 4. See if you can do longer but fewer sessions on each machine during a single workout. Once your heartrate is up, you want to keep it there. If you can't (and I couldn't at the beginning, believe me, but it sounds like you're in better cardio condition than I was), shift back down to an easy pace, then back up when you have the energy. And feel free to mix it up: elliptical one day, treadmill the next, jumprope, bike, whatever. Run outside instead of inside. Whatever keeps you interested in the exercise.

 

And if you can, keep a schedule. If you know you absolutely have to do cardio Mon/Wed/Fri/Sat and weights Tue/Thu with a rest day on Sunday, you're less likely to skip a workout.

 

And if you have any questions, come on back and ask them. I'm new here, but the people are friendly and knowledgable, so take advantage!

[chainedpunkgirl]

Thanks for all the advice so far.

 

For the most part, I really don't drink anything but water and cold tea with honey in it... when I work out, I drink almost half a 2 liter of water and drink lots of water throughout the day.

 

I'm not really good with setting goals for myself... I told myself at the beginning of the month I was going vegan... that lasted 3 days. D=

 

I'm really surprised at myself, it's been a few days and I've been keeping pretty consistent with my workout.

 

Now that I'm thinking about it, I'm not REALLY looking to bulk up a LOT, I'm mostly interested in losing weight and going vegan; those are my main goals.

 

Cooking greens ends up taking a lot of the nutrition out, yes? I try to buy raw spinach to use in sandwiches, but it ends up going bad before I can use all of it, and that's just more wasted money. I'm pretty proud of myself; I'm growing my own alfalfa sprouts! ^_^

 

I wish I had more money! D=

 

edit: Also, the reason I'm not full vegan: cheese. ;_;

[Richard]

You'll get different answers about raw food depending on who you talk to. From what I understand, eating raw vegetables means you will get the maximum amount of micronutrients for that vegetable, steaming it will give you less, and boiling it will give you even less. However, that's not to say that eating boiled or steamed vegetables is bad or that they lack nutrition, it's just less than if you were to eat them raw. I'd recommend eating raw vegetables certainly, but if there are vegetables that you only feel like eating if they are cooked, then also eat those cooked. Also, if you can eat significantly more vegetables if they are cooked - then you'll be getting more micronutrients total than if you ate fewer raw vegetables, if you see what I mean.

 

Cheese is definitely a road block in terms of trying to lose weight, it's not helping you to be eating that. When do you have it, in what meals? Maybe there's a way to have the same meals but without the cheese, with something else instead. I had a great cheese-less pizza the other day

[blabbate]

Now that I'm thinking about it, I'm not REALLY looking to bulk up a LOT, I'm mostly interested in losing weight and going vegan; those are my main goals.

Yeah, that's why you should focus on the cardio and only do enough weights to retain muscle.

 

Cooking greens ends up taking a lot of the nutrition out, yes? I try to buy raw spinach to use in sandwiches, but it ends up going bad before I can use all of it, and that's just more wasted money. I'm pretty proud of myself; I'm growing my own alfalfa sprouts! ^_^

It's hard to quantify how much nutrition is lost. Yes, some is lost no matter what. Boiling is the worst. Steaming is generally the best. But different veggies lose different amounts. A good rule of thumb is just not to overcook. And if you like them raw, by all means, eat them raw.

 

edit: Also, the reason I'm not full vegan: cheese. ;_;

Oh no! Cheese might be the absolute worst as far as sabotaging weight loss. And there's no good vegan replacement. It's just something you'll have to eliminate as soon as you're ready. You'll miss it for a while, but it's for the best.

[Im Your Man]

Hi, I like your nickname and your avatar with the artistic makeup

 

The exercices you're doing seems good. Any exercise is good to lose weight. If you wanna gain muscles, yeah the pushups and situps can help but you could also lift some free weights.

 

For a vegan diet, just skip the honey, this is expensive anyway, or replace with agave nectar or maple syrup, brown rice syrup, stevia, raw sugar...

 

Avoid white flour and refined sugar. There will be only the processed stuff, food products you buy that are still vegetarian not vegan. I suggest you to cut this suddenly, not buy any in the future. Transitionning slowly can work but takes eternity. If you stop in one day, it may seem hard and frustrating at the beginning but it's the best way and after this it's easy.

 

P.s: yeah the cheese... there's good replacements, soy cheese, but I guess blabbate said it's not "good" because not so healthy afterall, and more expensive than cheap cheese. But it's like any other thing, you don't need this to live, and you'll notice that after a few weeks without it. Cheese is just a concentrate of casein and fats in a culture of teeming bacterias, with a load of salt, and enzymes from the stomach of calves, all this ferments for months and it stinks.

[blabbate]

P.s: yeah the cheese... there's good replacements, soy cheese, but I guess blabbate said it's not "good" because not so healthy afterall, and more expensive than cheap cheese. But it's like any other thing, you don't need this to live, and you'll notice that after a few weeks without it. Cheese is just a concentrate of casein and fats in a culture of teeming bacterias, with a load of salt, and enzymes from the stomach of calves, all this ferments for months and it stinks.

Heh, all I mean is that the replacements don't taste anything like real cheese. Soy cheese, nutritional yeast, cashew paste, whatever. It doesn't really taste bad, per se, but it certainly doesn't taste like actual cheese.

[Richard]

Maybe get pregnant and make your own human milk and human cheese, that'd be a good substitute

[hsorlando]

I hope someone else didn't post this, I just glanced at a few replies, not all of them. First of all congratulations on taking care of yourself. It does get easier! Don't be afraid of bulking up, you won't do this unless you lift extremely heavy weights, and go for low reps. Even then it's pretty hard for women to get that big and bulky, due to low testosterone levels.

I'm not an expert but I do have some advice for you. As far as weight training goes, it's really good for speeding up your metabolism, thereby letting you burn more calories even at rest. And as you lose weight from cardio, your muscles start showing, and you look fitter, and more healthy.

Cardio is of course the key to losing weight, but the good news is you don't have to hate it. Find an activity you like to do, like walking, or dancing, and do it. There are tons of exercise videos out there. I know that public libraries have them to rent out for free. Going vegan can be hard, and it can also be easy. Everyones reasons forgoing vegan are somewhat different too. I know for me that when I watched Peacable Kingdom I just knew I couldn't eat dairy products anymore, because it wasn't being kind to the animals. I was vegetarian, but if I just ignored the reality of factory farms, for me anyway I wasn't exactly being a compassionat vegetarian, so the next step was becoming vegan. Don't worry about protein, that was my dilemma too, or so I thought! I soon learned though that vegans get plenty of protein,and it's not always from powders. I get most of my protein from beans, tofu, soy products, and seitan. I also continue to get stronger, so I guess that means I get enough.

[duriandork]

Hello! I noticed that $$ is a big issue. My suggestions are to shop at discount grocery stores. In Los Angeles for instance, there is the 99 Cent Only store and it rules! They have organic produce and soy milk there too. Its crazy! I shop there mainly for all of my food and I try to keep things around $30 per week. Here is a list of cheap vegan foods:

 

potatoes

sweet potatoes

beans "all kinds"

brown rice

onions

garlic

carrots

celery

rolled oats

*other fruits and veggies depending on the season

 

I would definitely find a few really inexpensive recipes to start on. I make stews and soups such as chili, split pea, borsche, potato/leek, etc.. Cut back on the oil, and refined starches and focus on the beans, veggies and fruit. Try drinking shakes too. I blend some soy milk, fruit and protein powder and drink this combo throughout the day. It will help make you feel satiated and provide you with energy. I buy my protein powder online. I go for the cheapest stuff out there. All of the protein powders can taste good in my opinion once you blend them with fruit and soy milk, but that is just me. I would go on google.com and do a search for cheap soy, rice, or hemp protein and then buy in bulk. I'll usually buy 2 or 3 "5 lb containers" of protein at a time to help drive down the overall cost. I hope some of these ideas help.