gabrieldj

Tigress, Thanks for the information! I feel pretty good about my nutrition right now. I'm doing 2500-3000 calories a day spread out over 5-6 meals, usually about 3 hours apart. I've gained about 25 or 30 pounds of muscle (mostly) since the beginning of November. Based on the research I've done, I'm going to give the T-Bomb a shot. As I said, I'm confident that my trainer wouldn't recommend something that he didn't believe to be beneficial (especially since they don't sell supplements at the gym!). Nothing I've read leads me to believe that there would be negative side effects from this. Thanks for your help, everyone!

We don't have a velodrome yet (though there is an effort to get one built), but we have an awesome veloway, and other great hike and bike trails around the city. I'm sure there's a more exhaustive list, but here's something I found before I have to run to the gym! http://www.ci.austin.tx.us/parks/trails.htm

Thanks! I appreciate any informaton!

Yep!

Welcome! I'd never heard of sXe until your post. Now, thanks to the Internet, I learned something new AND had something to do at my boring job for 5 minutes! Thank you, Internet!

Has an event ever been planned in Austin? Robert has said that, other than Oregon, there are more members on this board from Texas than anywhere else. I think Austin would be a great Vegan Vacation or smaller gathering. It's close to Dallas, Houston, and San Antonio, and there are many wonderful vegan restaurants and organizations here. PLUS, we have: * The largest colony of Mexican Free-Tailed bats in North America living under Congress Bridge. They come out every night from May - October. http://austin.about.com/cs/bats/p/bats.htm * An awesome animal-friendly rescue zoo that, "provides sanctuary to displaced animals from a variety of unfortunate and often neglectful situations." It's the only zoo I can visit and feel good about! http://www.austinzoo.org * One of the best live music scenes in the world. * LOTS of great outdoor stuff to do, including zip-line canopy tours, plenty of water activities, hiking, etc. Anyway, I love Austin, and think it would be a great place for an event!

I am very lucky to live with my partner, who is such a great vegan cook, he could totally open a restaurant. We have omnis over all the time who don't even know they've had a vegan meal until we tell them. When we met, he was a total carnivore, and had been trained by a French chef. At the time, I was vegetarian, and after cooking vegetarian food for me all the time, he made the switch himself. When I told him I wanted to start making the transition to veganism, he was frustrated to say the least, but eventually made the switch himself. I think the challenge of learning to cook with vegan ingredients has made him an even better cook! I can't tell you how many times I've said something like, "I miss Egg McMuffins," and he whips them up the next morning. Wow, this was a longer post than I intended. You can tell I'm bored out of my mind at work right now!

I would never do steroids, especially after seeing first-hand what they've done to friends. Of course, I also want to steer clear of anything that's a waste of money, but my trainer recommended this, and he's been pretty reliable so far. He's also pretty damn cheap, so when he tells me something is worth the money and effective, I'm inclined to give it a shot.

Currently, N.O. Explode (BSN Nitric Oxide product) a couple of times a week or so and Cell Mass (BSN creatine and recovery) every day (plus vitamins and flax seed oil). Thanks!

Has anyone had any experience with T-Bomb? It's a pro-testosterone, estrogen suppressor. My trainer wants me to take it and I'd like to hear if anyone has had any positive or negative experiences with it. Thanks!

OK, so I started working out again and eating like a horse in early November. I was 150 pounds, about 5'10". I had been eating around 1200 - 1500 calories per day. My trainer had me up my calories to 2500 per day, 150 grams of protein, and 96 oz. of water. Things have been going well, and I'm up to around 175 pounds. Lately, I don't feel as pumped full of energy at the gym, and although I'm still putting on muscle and moving up on weights, it doesn't feel as effortless. Is this just a normal thing after three months of a program like this? Should I be upping my calories now that I've put on more muscle mass? Thanks for your insight! UPDATE: Maybe I wrote this too soon! I just came back from an awesome shoulder workout. I went to NYC last week and had the flu first day I was there. I thought I was fully recovered, but maybe I was still on the mend. Hopefully, I'm back to rockin' it at the gym! Thanks for your suggestion, Potter. I'll give it a try!

Veggie Heaven is awesome! In fact, I might have to hit it this weekend

My name is Gabriel, I'll be 29 next month, and I've been vegan since 2002. I'd been lifting since I was 18 or so, but never saw results that would justify the time I spent in the gym, so I became frustrated. Last year, I decided to give Astanga Yoga a try instead, and had been doing that 3-5 days a week until I started grad school this fall, at which time my yoga dropped down to 2 times a week if I was lucky due to class schedules. I decided to head back to the gym so that I can workout more regularly, and that this time, I would get a trainer and make sure my time is well spent. My trainer has me lifting 4 times a week, eating 2500 calories a day and 150 grams of protein. I'd never really added up my caloric intake before, and now know that I was taking in about 1500 calories a day prior to this Sunday. Needless to say, this is a change! Learning how to reach these nutritional goals in a healthy way is definitely an ongoing process, and I've been helped already by the substantial collective wisdom of all of you! Thanks, and I'm sure you'll be hearing more from me! Gabriel