cmurphy04722

You are all so amazing, thanks for all the links! I think I'll go to the vegan bake sale tomorrow in Takoma Park, maybe pick up some recipes while I'm there. Aluck, yes I want to start taking classes more to put variety in my workouts, but I'm waiting until June or July to put that kind of money forward. I want to prove to myself that I can truly stay dedicated to my fitness by getting up for the gym or skipping happy hour to get a run in before dinner. I think I'll stop being stingy with the moneys in another month or two. There is a parkour gym in DC and I know a lot of the people who are trainers there for either parkour or crossfit so it'd be a natural start for me. And cardio usually lasts for 30-90 minutes. Half an hour is my minimum and sometimes that's all I have time for, but I like to go for about an hour. Looks like I have a lot of researching ahead of me and I find that exciting! Thank you all for the support, I look forward to becoming more active on this site and bettering my health.

For current diet, I'll give a rundown of what I ate today: Breakfast: organic rolled oats, unsweetened soy milk, cinnamon, a few raisins Snack: Almonds, peanuts, and dried strawberries Lunch: Spinach, yellow peppers, grape tomatoes, black beans, and mango vinaigrette Snack: Cauliflower and red pepper hummus After work snack: oven baked sweet potato "fries"-with olive oil and cayenne pepper Dinner: Sweet potato and red pepper quinoa salad And I might have some watermelon later this evening. For my workouts, I work out 6 days a week, generally. I do cardio 5-6 times, circuit training 2-4, and weight lifting 2-3. I basically have 1-2 hours every night after work or late night, and then on Saturdays I go hiking/rock climbing with my boyfriend. For cardio, elliptical or row machine usually, but sometimes the bike or the treadmill now that I have Vibram Five Fingers and running feels more natural to my flat feet. For circuit training, I have workout DVDs or do circuits in the gym with walk-out pushups, abs, and squats with arm work outs. I'm female, 23, 5'4", and about 157lbs. I have a curvy figure and feel I am at my healthiest weight around 135-140. At my largest this summer/fall, I was at 174. Not fun. I used to have protein shakes after my workouts and ate eggs semi-frequently for protein. I have new thoughts toward protein now that I've researched more, but I would love to hear more from the pros on here

I've had migraines since I was a child and while doing one of my elimination diets in high school, I went vegan for 3 months to see if animal protein was a trigger for my migraines. I felt amazing, but when college started I brought dairy and eggs back into my diet. In the last year I've also brought fish 1-3xmonth also. I started seeing a new neurologist recently after a bad reaction to one of my prescriptions and he asked about my diet. He was surprisingly very open and knowledgeable about the vegetarian diet. When I told him that I had felt amazing on a vegan diet, he asked why I hadn't tried giving up casein again now that I've been out of college for awhile and cook my own meals. I had no answer other than cheese was a comfort food. So it's been 4 days since I've eaten dairy, eggs, or fish and it's been over 4 years since I've had meat. I'm looking for some support as I continue to increase my fitness level. I had gained a lot of weight in college and the 3 months of unemployment following graduation, but I am down 20 pounds from that and hope to lose another 20 while toning my body. After getting down to a better weight, I aim to continue softball (pitcher all through high school and college), start boxing, and be able to join my boyfriend and his parkour friends. I want to be a rock I'm open to advice and tips from anyone and everyone!