jaguar

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Hey, I hope you feel better soon, sending you internet hugs... hope the blood test goes well, being healthy in body will help you be happy in your mind, remember that!!

Thankyou Joanna, vegan_rossco and warrior8! I'm definitely thinking of starting to make my own weights. Ohhh so much on my to-do list :/ Also need to note that I'm currently on something of a break. Purely because I'm moving house and I have SO much to do all day, plus going to work. I just am not fitting in work outs or tracking my diet at the moment. I'm still doing pushups and sprinting every day and its hard enough to fit just those small things in. There is so much work to do on my new rooms!! So, I'll check back in here when I am focusing back on my training again. Til then I hope to occasionally log on and keep posting, but I might not find the time :[

Took some progress pictures. End July to end September. I've still got work to do but I'm definitely heading in the right direction it seems!! link

71 again. We's at 79428

So I fell over while sprinting and cut my knee, hand in two places and my wrist in three places! I've had THE most accident prone week. It's been horrible and everything else has sucked too, from missing buses to work going wrong (I quit my job) and having no internet access when I really need to just unwind. Ummm. I still have been doing workouts, but limited because of my knee and palm injuries. (Shoulder stopped hurting after a couple of days, that's something I guess!) My diet has been totally clean for 8 days and I feel like I've gained body-fat! I'm not sure how that's worked as I haven't changed total calories or macros in any way. Generally feeling under the weather but trying to soldier on. Thanks for the comments, good to hear from yous!

Brill progress there. Arms looking nice and ripply! :]

endcruelty - personally I love my pea protein and wouldn't get anything else! It's versatile too, I've done almost everything possible to do with a protein powder, from sweet to savoury. Nomnomnom.

I saw that!! Do we really have to wait for science to tell us things that are obvious?!... well, clearly we do (and still, most people won't believe it! Sigh.)

Awesome awesome progress! You have a truly stunning set of muscles there. You must feel wonderful. Congrats!

This is a concept I'm starting to believe... Food at the end of the day is simple. It's just protein, fat and carbohydrates. Everything else is in tiny amounts and as long as you're eating (preferably organic) fruit + veg you will have enough. (Optimally, you can supplement or eat flax oil but I don't believe this is 100% necessary) If you eat enough protein fat and carbohydrates you will gain. It doesn't matter where they come from. Yes it can be harder to do when eating a diet that you aren't 100% used to (ie, grew up eating) - that is, a vegan diet for most people. Hell it can be hard to get the right balance nutrients on any diet, witness the obesity epidemic - meat eaters and veg*ans alike suffer from overeating issues due to the wrong food. The answer, IF you are having problems gaining/losing (if not, then no problem!) is to not 'trust your instincts' because you may not be getting enough, or even getting too much of something. In short, you have to track your food at least for a while until you learn what the diet is that is optimal for you and your goals. I'm working on a simplified way to track macros (I don't bother with calories any more) which means I can do it all in my head and keep tabs on myself all day without needing to carry around a notepad or computer. But, due to my lucky status as life long vegan and the fact I've been experimenting for a while, I'm very close to the point where I know how much to eat to suit the type of day I'm having without needing to add figures up in my head. This is obviously my goal. Its taken a lot of hard work to get there though and (I'll stop rambling now!) this is my point: in order to make any kind of changes, bulk or cut or whatever, you need to put some effort into figuring out your optimal targets and how you can stick to them. This goes for anybody, vegan or not but there is less conventional wisdom around for veganism, so it can definitely be harder! Just take a clinical look at every kind of food - and work out how much of it you need! That's my long-winded advice anyway, and good luck - its a constant experiment!

Hey Joanna! how was your swimming and have you still avoided sugar? :]

Thanks James! Day four without sugar today I ate a few too many apricots yesterday but apart from that there haven't been any cravings! Its too early to tell if this is having any good effects yet. I give it at least a week. I'm nursing a shoulder injury in my right arm though, it was so sore last night I couldn't sleep properly but I don't know how I did it - I've had two rest days in a row. Might have been the DIY work I was doing yesterday, holding pieces of board for long periods, I've definitely pulled something in it. I can't do pushups or bear any weight with it today. Gah! Hope it feels better tomorrow. If so I will just do today's workout tomorrow. Today I'll stick to leg work. Anyone recommend a great leg exercise that isn't a squat or a lunge or a leg raise? Heheh.

I occasionally approve of their messages. But NOT the way they are put across. Partly because their activists come across as crazy people to the nonvegan world. Partly because they're ridiculously ignorant of any other aspect of political feeling (ie, feminism) and don't take a holistic approach to healing the problems they are highlighting. And of course, anybody who is vegan tends to get tarred with the "oh, you must agree with PETA" brush which isn't helpful for anyone when trying to talk or argue sensibly about not eating meat or dairy.

Hello, brief update because I've done nothing but work today! It's day 3 without sugar and I'm enjoying it a lot! Hoping to see good results from this month. I'll post my workout details tomorrow.

Hey again Joanna I decided to join you in your challenge of stopping the sugar! I'm starting tomorrow. It looks like you already have some great musculature.. Yes my legs hurt too when I run on roads, compared to running on the trails, it's a very different kind of impact. I prefer running off road for that reason, but I don't run much any more, I don't have time or any desire to do much cardio - my job is very active and I cycle a lot, which at least is a low impact exercise Maybe it would help you to get more protein, eat lots of beans pulses kale and spinach and that should help with the cravings I get pea protein powder and add it to everything - that works really well! hope you're doing good today

Hi Joanna, Thanks for your comment and I must admit you've majorly inspired me... I've given up sugar before for 30 days and it was brilliant. Totally stopped craving it and everything else tasted better. Of course it crept back in in small amounts, then became a habit again. So I've decided it's time to clean things up again and go sugar-free for at least 30 days!! Hope your challenge is going well - I plan to start tomorrow! (Too late for today already unfortunately!) I'd love to swim more, I don't like the local indoor pool at all though :/ I wish I lived near the sea! My sister has a beach near her house and I'm so jealous! So I have had a couple of days off training, mostly, because I've had a bad migraine :[ I think I triggered it by staying up too late watching films on Thursday night... I managed 50 pushups today though and I do feel a lot better. Back to normal tomorrow.

OKAY I did some today!! +71. Total 78702

Journal log for Thursday 20th: TRAINING 71 pushups (15, 21, 22, 5, 5, 3) Step jumps 3x3 and 2x2 Squats x10 Assisted pistols x5 both legs 5 Pullups (2, 1, 1, 1) 20 Leg raises (10, 5, 5) 20 Side leg raises (10 either side) Plank: 2 minutes NUTRITION Toast and jam, a protein shake blended with greens and flax oil and coconut and maple syrup, chickpea and cucumber salad, coffee x3, chocolate soya milk, slice of fruit loaf, some whole nut granola with a banana, and a homemade cauliflower/aubergine bake. Lots of good stuff. But sugar's creeping in! Tomorrow will be better.

Hello Yosevu it's nice to meet you, I'm new here too =D I know a little about Korean vegan food, such as kimchi... I have a great vegan recipe book which includes a Korean section so if you like I can give you some recipes and names of dishes to look out for (I'll have to fetch it back from my friend's house first though!!) Do you currently do any training or track your food at all? Enjoy the forum! Opal

Decided that wasn't necessarily enough training volume or detailed enough so I'm continuing to develop it... Monday: AM: 5 mins metabolism boosting workout (box jumps, squats, ohp). PM: 45 minutes workout (pistols, pull ups, leg raises, side raises, hollow hold) Tuesday: Pushups/sprints AM. Wednesday: Barn work. Thursday: Workout 10 mins AM (sprints, box jumps, squats, ohp, pushups, L-sits) 45 mins PM (bridges, handstands, pull ups, leg raises/dragonflies/side raises, planks, hollow hold). Friday: Sprints/pushups AM. Saturday: Sprints/pushups AM. Walking. 30m workout (pull ups, leg raises, squats, wall sits). Sunday: Rest day. So I'll be doing the major bodyweight moves 3x week, legs 3x week abs 2x week sprints 3x week.

I'm currently working on a weekly plan. Opinions much loved! Monday: Sprints/pushups AM. Medium impact workout Tuesday: Rest day Wednesday: Barn day. Thursday: Sprints/pushups AM. Heavy workout Friday: Sprints/pushups AM. Saturday: Sprints/pushups AM. Walking, light workout. Sunday: Rest day.

Hey, everyone! So, my goal is simply to get to a high level of strength and fitness. Obviously, I will be sticking to a vegan diet which should be easy for me as I have been vegan almost my entire life, and never even tasted meat. I'd love to have lower than 20%bf, to be able to sprint a 5 minute mile, do a handstand pushup... yeah I think those are all my main goals! Here are my current pictures - as you can see I'm not really massively overweight but not in great shape either: Front http://i.imgur.com/Vy0rP.jpg Back http://i.imgur.com/dRMP6.jpg and those elusive abs-to-be... http://i.imgur.com/kAAYP.jpg SO. how am I planning to get to where I'm going? Dietwise: I need to eat CLEAN. My local supermarket has some ridiculously irresistable vegan orange chocolate and I keep making people cake and eating it too. All this sugar has got to be eliminated. I'm pretty good at getting plenty of protein, and I eat a lot of greens and vegetables - it's just adding the junk food on top that is holding me back right now, I think. Solution: stop it! and stay accountable by posting my food here in this journal. Training-wise: I'm not entirely sure if I'm on the right track here. My problem is that I don't go to a gym and I just can't see me affording it any time soon, and even if I did find the finance, I wouldn't know where to start and I'd probably be a little too nervous to walk in on my own without knowing what I was doing. So that rules out heavy lifting unless I make some weights or something. - I've been training with bodyweight exercises 3x a week and making huge gains. Like, I couldn't do a chin up at the beginning of the summer, and now I can do four sets of 2! I also love bridges, planks, leg raises and one legged squats. I am trying to get good enough at pushups to be able to hold myself in a handstand. I can do 18 chest-to-floor right now. - I have a pretty active lifestyle. I have a job where I'm on my feet rushing around all day. I also cycle six miles a day and I sprint intervals most mornings, including hills. So... I need to write myself a proper schedule for my training, though I'm not sure what it should look like - or how long I should train every day, considering I can't do the really heavy impact stuff - maybe I should do morning and evening training?... lots to think about! I'll keep this regularly updated with my activity as I know it'll help me to look back later and see what worked and what didn't...

Oops, sorry Richard forgot to mention the IFing. Well I'm not doing entire days of fasting at the moment, but when I do I won't eat anything just drink lemony water and rest up. I always feel strangely energised afterwards and it definitely helps with weight loss! But as I'm very busy with work and such, I haven't been able to take the time out. I saw the documentary, it was pretty interesting how going without food seems to sharpen up the brain as well as give digestive system a rest, etc.

Richard- I'm in the southwest, near Bristol, good to meet a fellow brit-ninja-fan! beforewisdom- thanks for the links, I agree there is a ton of nonsense out there and I am never fully sure who to believe (generally I just follow my instincts, of course that can go wrong too lol) Dylan- oh I know it so well... this year I have gained 10lbs while losing 3 inches round my waist... lol. The scale is pretty much no better than a random number generator, for me. I rarely bother to look at it. The main thing I need to do is get onto a regular program of training as it's been a bit haphazard this week, and also I've been eating a load of junk so I need to keep an eye on that. Off to start a journal now..