sophierhymes

VP, thank you for your honesty on this thread. I came to this site because it's called veganBODYBUILDING.com and while I'm holding on to my vegan lifestyle, it's tough to keep up if you want to one day compete.

I second threeloaves' advice. I plan on competing in my first show next summer and I was having the same problem as you. With the help of gemma, rice and soy protein powders, I can usually squeeze in 1 gm. of protein per pound of body weight. I know other competitors get much more protein, but being vegan means you have to do things a little differently. If you want to PM me, I'd be happy to give you a sample of my diet. VeggiePrincess is a great resource as well. She has MUCH more experience with this than I do. Her banner ads are posted all over this site. Good luck with your comp and keep us posted.

That's why I cycle so that the low days are few compared to the high days!!

I dieted down to about 13 - 14% bodyfat on 125 grams of carbs with no carb cycling, so its not necessary to go to 100 grams. But I could have never done it on my own. I hired a professional to help me figure it out. I honestly thought about hiring you, but my budget won't allow it right now. I guess all I can do is continue on with the plan and see where it takes me. Thanks for your input!!

Me too!!! If there ever was a carb lover, it's me!!

Thanks for the advice. This is kind of a trial run for my first comp, which is not until next summer. Right now it's basically higher carbs on my 2 leg days a week, moderate on upper body days and as low as I can go on off days. The lowest I've been able to get is 90-100 gms. If I get any lower, that usually means I haven't gotten enough cals in. Honestly, I've only been cycling for a couple of weeks, so 100 gms, may be low enough, but I doubt it. I could handle cutting out pasta, rice, and even oats (that would be a tough one though), but I don't know about cutting out fruit. I feel like fruit and the carb-heavy breakfasts that I usually have are what fuels my workouts. As for cheat days, sometimes its brownies if i want something sweet and sometimes it's cheeseless pizza or french fries if i want something salty.

I do plenty of cardio. Usually 4-5 days for 45 mins unless its HIIT. The problem is my body fat has been hanging around the 17% mark for a while and I'm experimenting to see if I can cut more fat. I'm not saying I want to cut carbs down to the Atkins level (20-30 gms/day). A low day for me is 80-100 gms.

Welcome!!! Congrats on taking control of your ED. I've been an "off and on" bulimic for 5 years now, but with the help of a wonderful boyfriend and an equally wonderful therapist, I've finally overcome my ED. I'm not sure how far into your recovery you are. When I was in early recovery, my metabolism was shot and it was really hard for me to gauge my "true" hunger. Tracking your calories can be a very effective tool, but if you are new to recovery, it may not be the best option. If you have a therapist, I would ask them what he/she thinks about tracking your food. For the most part, I would focus on what your body is telling you. Eat as many whole foods as you can and try to make the majority of your diet vegetable based. Like some of the other posters said, it's a trial and error process of knowing how many calories you should be consuming. Most would agree that females should intake at least 1200 cals per day. I would say somewhere in the 1500 range would be good for you. I'm 5'1" and my cals range between 1300-1700 depending on my workouts. Most of all continue to love yourself and know that you are doing the best thing possible for yourself, for all animals and for the environment. Feel free to PM me for samples of my diet. However, there are many people on this site that know much more than I do.

My current goal is fat loss and I'm trying carb cycling to see how that works for me. The problem that I'm having is that I can't seem to get my carbs below 45%. This is fine for highg or moderate days, but on low days I'd like the macro to look more like 30%. It's a snap for meat eaters, but I'm having trouble figuring it out as a vegan. Below is a sample mean plan. The only thing I can come up with to reduce carbs on low days is to drink more than one protein shake, but I would rather not do that. Does anyone have any good low-carb suggestions? Thanks a bunch! M1: Tofu scramble w/ whole wheat tortilla and .5 cup black beans M2: banana M3: Small piece of lasagna made with spelt noodles, spinach and tofu and a green salad with avocado, tomato and cucumber M4: (post workout) Gemma protein shake w/ H20 and a piece of fruit M5: garlic hummus, tempeh and sprouts on two pieces of nori; handful of almonds

"The Pathway" by Laurel Mellin helps walk those of us with any sort of crutch or addiction (over eating, sex, drugs, etc). She uses what she calls cycles to help get to the bottom of why we do these things. Basically she believes that as you work on changing your habits of thought and reaction, your urge to binge just fades away. You learn to no longer need a coping mechanism. Another good one is Milton R. Cudney's "Self-Defeating Behaviors: Free Yourself from the Habits, Compulsions, Feelings, and Attitudes That Hold You Back."

I agree with Jessibot. From a quick glance, it looks like your diet is right on track but it's hard to tell without listing the exact amounts of everything. Way to go on following the Thrive Diet!!! Some other calorie-trakcing sites are http://caloriecount.about.com and fitday.com.Good luck!!

This is your second post about carbs... trying to avoid carbs, now you've taken out all gluten and wheat, but still want to eat Vegan. Sounds to me like you are putting up too many roadblocks for yourself. Now you say your taking out other foods. Don't you think your trying to be too strict and your body ends up rebelling and binging? You have to have some carbs. Losing 25 lbs is not an easy task to do without a game plan. Go on something like the Southbeach Online diet. You can filter it for Vegan choices. It's a good plan for someone looking for a solid diet. It sounds like you have two many contradictions and thoughts swimming through your head to be successful losing those 25 lbs on their own. There's no shame in that. I SURE AS HELL CAN'T WING IT. Everything for me needs to be measured out, portioned, etc or I won't lose fat. I'd hate to lose you as a Vegan just because you have alot of conflicting info. Sign up for the South Beach Diet or sign up for my online program (which is very affordable), so you can lose the weight you want Vegan style and then you can loosen the belt, have a few more carbs and be a Vegan for life! Great post Veggie Princess. Coming from someone who's been there, too many limitations on a diet is not healthy. For myself, I spent so much time and effort stressing about my diet, that I ended up gaining weight from binging and the stress factor. Balance is key to a healthy lifestyle.

Thanks for checking in! They're going well. I've been super busy and my trainer has me on a cardio-only prescription for the next month so I haven't been posting. I can't wait to get back into it though!

I contemplated starting a whole new journal, but decided to continue with this one. Long story short, I've been dealing with a lot of stress and most of it was stemming from my job. It was affecting everything...my relationships, my workouts, my diet, everything! So I quit and the relief is unbelievable. I;m taking this opportunity to really start hitting it hard at the gym again and returning to my clean diet ways. If you could've seen my diet during the past few weeks, I probably would've been kicked off this forum! Let's just say it was shameful and I've got 8 extra pounds to prove it. Today is the start of me taking control of my life and reclaiming the old me! I'll be posting workouts and diet like I used to and weighing in once a week to track my progress.

Hi there, I've been reading your journal and it seems you and I have a lot in common. I, too, am trying to get my binging tendencies under control. So far, you've gotten some really good advice. I agree with zinzen's suggestion about tracking calories. http://caloriecount.about.com is a site that I like a lot. It's easier to stop the mindless eating when you realize how detrimental "one little bite" can be. Throwing away the scale was something that I did too. I would weigh myself and not be happy with what I saw, which made me upset and less likely to give it my all in the gym and more likely to pig out! I even had to toss the nuts like you too! I have a nut addiction and I'm not afraid to admit it. I pretty much threw out anything that was easy to snack on like crackers, etc. Even though they may be "healthy," it's extra calories that I just don't need. I find myself with 8 pounds to lose like you, so maybe we can hold each other accountable. PM me if you'd like to chat and good luck with your tests!!!

I, too, have thought about this more than once!

I drink one cup of coffee almost every day and try to drink one cup of green tea each day also. I figure that if I keep the caffeine to a minimum, I should be alright. My family owns a coffee company based in New Orleans, so I know the beans are fair trade/shade grown.

It's been a while since I posted on here, but I couldn't resist this one. I tried the 5-6 meal/day thing for a few months and it just didn't work for me. I actually found myself hungrier and less satisfied than I am with 3 substantial meals and a snack. There was also a psychological side to it for me. I felt so much pressure to make sure I had all my meals packed and planned for the day and became quite stressful. Because I was eating so often, I felt like a pig even though I really wasn't eating any more than I do now. I'm sure there are plenty of benefits to eating 5-6 times per day for people that are looking to gain lean mass, and while that is a goal for me, I'm not going to sacrifice my mental well-being to reach that goal.

I too am interested in supplementing with creatine. The only supplements I currently take are a multi-vitamin and glutamine. What's a good synthetic creatine and where can you find it?

So I know I haven't posted in a while. I've been pretty busy, which is still no excuse. My diet seems to be better than ever and it's because I've really taken the time to put together a diet that reporesents a vegan athlete. It may not be perfect, but it's a definite improvement. This is what I ate yesterday: M1: Protein Banana Muffins M2: Rice protein & H20 M3: Broccoli, cauliflower, carrots w/ Pesto Sauce over raw spinach M4: 1/2 Apple, 1/2 banana and 25 gms. natural peanut butter M5: Broccoli, yellow squash and seitan 53% carbs, 29% protein, 18% fat I also have a little story to tell if anyone actually reads this. My brother has recently converted my parents 30 acres in Louisiana to an organic farm. He's only farming about 5 acres now, but wants to make it fully functional by the end of the year. He also has about 18 chickens that he uses to sell their eggs at the market. I was visiting there last weekend and decided to take my dogs for a walk around his gardens. Now my dogs are "city" dogs. They turn there heads when they see potential prey such as a mouse or bird. That's why I was shocked when my 10 lb. miniature pinscher took off after one of the chickens. I mean she was full speed ahead and neck to neck with this chicken. Well, I naturally freaked out and was able to corner the dog and get her away from the chicken. I carried her away until I thought we were far enough from chicken territory. Right as I put her down she took off again. By the time I caught up with her the second time, she had the chicken pinned down and was in an all out battle with poultry. I didn't know what to do and instantly became hysterical at the site of this poor chicken being tortured. My mom came running and as she went to help the chicken, my other dog went in for the kill and took the chicken out by the neck. I WILL NEVER FORGET THAT SIGHT! My innocent, sweet baby taking a chicken down by the jugular. Now I know this is nature and I know a dog's instinct is something much different than that of humans, but that didn't stop this event from making it's mark. I'm still pretty upset, but in a way it only strengthened my vegan convictions.

I was wondering about freezing it because I would much rather make this in bulk. Thanks for the tip!!

I found the following in a figure competitor forum. I wanted so badly to respond to this, but I feel I lack the knowledge to respond correctly. Let me know what you think...

Marcina, I totally understand where you are coming from. I've been so obsessed with losing 4 or 5 pounds lately and I thinks that's part of the reason I've been doubting my veganism so to speak. So I've decided to eat when I'm hungry, stop when I'm satisfied, stop tracking my calories so closely and just focus on putting good things in my body. If I'm 5 pounds heavier than I want to be for the rest of my life then so be it. At least I'm happy and I'm not wasting all my time and energy on obsessing.

I'm about 95% sure I'm not...I wish I could blame it on that! Thanks to everyone else for their words of wisdom. Cubby, you're right about the processed foods. You're also right about the legumes. I eat a lot of fruit, so maybe I should start replacing a serving of fruit with some beans. Vegan Master, you're also right. I tend to limit my starch intake, but that could be the reason I'm never really full. Thanks again everyone!!! " title="Applause" />

So I haven't been on this site for a while. I've been extremely busy...I just got engaged and my fiance and I are starting our own business. Anyway, the reason I am asking for help is because I've been dealing with some deprivation issues and I believe they're connected to my vegan diet. Obviously, I enjoy lifting weights and working out, so to me, eating clean goes hand in hand with that. Lately, however, I've been getting cravings for things like eggs, tuna, and of course chocolate. I've been denying myself, but the denial seems to rapidly turn in to bingeing on pretty much anything I can find in my pantry. I feel like there is not one minute of the day when I'm not hungry. I'm very conscious of my weight and watch my calorie intake, but I feel insatiable most of the time even though my calories are usually between 1300-1600 each day. I don't know if I'm even making sense, but I do know I'm not ready to throw in the towel on veganism yet. The first six months were relatively easy and now I just feel stuck. I guess I'm hoping for someone out there to relay their own story. Thanks in advance!