muchidna

well, i personally have only been eating the 100% peanuts stuff, i don't see why it's bad for you, i'd imagine almond butter is probably better for you, but yeah, it contains fats, protein, good nutrients

but yeah, the only reason i can think for it to be "unhealthy" is, it's pretty dense in calories, which is only "unhealthy" if, idk, you're cutting or have diabetes or something like that

that, and the more sugar filled peanut butters, obviously have sugar and oils (palm) added, i'm not too critical of that either, i avoid them myself, but they still have some good aspects

anyway, first define "healthy" or "bad for you", i gurantee you cant, "it's all fat", so? fat isn't bad, too much fat might be "it's so bad for you", define bad for you.. bad for your figure? nonsense, anything in excess will do that, toxic for you? i doubt it

perhaps you could try grinding half the seeds for a different texture?

cool, just googling it, it looks like those things they put on some beaches, you can do dips, pull ups (sort of) and a bunch of other cool stuff on them

if you're bulking it's natural to gain fat aswell as muscle

3500 calories doesnt sound like maintenance or cutting calories to me, that depends on your weight though

i also have a weird problem kinda related to this, my weight is staying the same, but according to my body fat scales, my body fat % is going up, i'm just guessing the scales are wrong & will be upping my calories soon

all i know is

it tastes good

i eat lots of soy

i don't have gyno

as far as i'm concerned, no other non-dairy milk tastes any good, nothing comes close to tofu/bean curd, aswell as many soy products being enriched with stuff that's kinda hard to get, like calcium, and b vitamins

i really havent taken the trouble to become informed about soy, simply because it's hard to wade through the bullshit, uninformed opinions and propaganda

i wouldn't use soy protein powder myself though, that stuff is nasty

bottom line is

i remain ignorant for now, and keep using soy, if i ever do research on it in the future, and find it to be bad for my health, i expect i'll cold turkey it like every animal product i've given up in the past (when i went from vegetarian to vegan)

hi, i bought 3 packets of tempeh last time i was at the shops, i haven't cooked it before, but i just tried cooking it in a pan, with a small amount of oil, and some sauce, then put on skewers

anyway, the texture was very gooey, and very unappealing for me, how do you guys cook tempeh? i couldn't eat what i had cooked and threw some of it out

well, it's just a blend of spices lol, it's not like a sauce or anything, i make my own also, just use cumin, garam masala, turmeric and chilli

hi mythil, i curry, not soup, just buy some curry flavoring paste or something from the shops (tikka is good) or just make your own up, cook it up in a saucepan (i can give you details if you like, but it really doesn't matter how you cook it)

when i make it, i either have a specific ingredient i want to use (like beans, split peas or something for protein content) or i just want to use up some vegetables

Just wondering how you guys approach cheat days?

my own approach is usually just to take a day off of the macros, eat lots of carbs, lots of salads, and take no protein supplements,also meaning i'm able to eat more less calorie dense food

but yeah, on my cheat days, i usually just end up taking in about 50-70g less protein, more carbs, and less calories , and not worry about stuffing my face with the amount of calories i need, i usually still try to get good sources of protein in on "cheat days" , like tofu, beans, grains etc, just avoid the very filling protein smoothies, and fit in more, i think refreshing things like just raw vegetables, fruits, salads, less calorie dense stuff

i don't usually have cheat days like this, i often have days off of training where i just have half as much protein powder, get a little less protein, but still work to get my caloric goals, and relax a little

anywho, just curious if anyone else has "cheat days", and how do you approach them

do you eat junk food?

do you go over your calories, or under?

do you forget macros and just relax?

i should also say i usually don't do this, i just do regular pushups between certain sets like bench and tri stuff and a few on my off days too

when i want to make it harder, i put my feet on a stool or step up thing, and put a backpack on with weights in it (really tight, so it's up near the shoulders), i don't think you'll have room for a front pack

just wondering what sort of vitamins/minerals etc you guys take, which ones do you think are necessary and which ones have given you acute/noticeable changes

i take

b12

d2

and a multivitamin

all made by diva

since i started taking them, i haven't had any cramps (i had calf cramps in my sleep rarely beforehand, like once or twice every few months)

and a weird twitch in my eye i had occasionally has also gone away

not sure if it's due to the vitamins but they went away when i started taking htem

ergh, so much misinformation

b12 deficiency? well that's true, it's not hard to supplement that, and it's easy to pick out a couple deficiencies of a vegan diet, every diet has deficiencies

"Animal protein contains all the essential amino acids in the right ratios. It is important for muscle mass and bone health, to name a few. Vegans don't get any animal protein, which can have negative effects on body composition (2, 3, 4, 5)."

isn't plant based protein good enough?

"3. Proponents of vegan diets use lies and fear mongering to promote their cause."

seriously, this just states that vegans generally use ... fear mongering? to promote the cause?

no sources? references? of course not, i'm happy to tell people that a carniverous diet has higher cholesterol, more chances of heart problems and (in my opinion) is morally wrong, i certainly dont push my diet on people, or even talk about it unless they coax me into it

"4. Vegan diets may work in the short term, for other reasons."

really? no shit, the reason i believe a vegan diet works for some people, is, it's a good medium to essentially detox, a way for people to give up processed and junk foods.

5. There is NO health reason to completely avoid animal foods.

We evolved this way.-- really? we "evolved" to eat meat? seems like more of that religious reasoning "god designed us to eat it", not to mention we also evolved to be able to think rationally, almost this whole section rather than saying vegan diets suck, it explains why some carniverous diets can suck less than other carniverous diets, not to mention this isnt even the main reason alot of people adopt the diet

dha&epa omega 3 fatty acids

well, there are vegan sources for this, with that said, i've read about these being less needed while on a vegan diet (don't quote me lol, i'll have ro read up on it again)

i think the main health benefit of being a vegan is, usually having a vested interest in your diet, and more conscious about what you eat, not to mention most junk, shitty foods contain animal products, sour cream, cheese, hamburgers, chips, flavored milk, most of which are cut out with a vegan diet

anyway haters gonna hate

i beans, it was a gym competition a couple months after i started going to the gym, would basically just do one hang for as long as i could, to failure (literally till my fingers slipped off & couldnt hold anymore) just before i started workout, then would continue to workout (the idea was to get the most time on there for the competition so i would do it fresh)

anyhow each day i did it, i gained about 10-20 seconds

anyway the competition ran for i think a week and a half and ended up almost doubling my grip length after i think 3-5 sessions, not sure if it's because i never really trained my grip before or something else, but yeah, worked for me

hopefully your forearm issues won't beincreased by doing this so just be careful

stir fry with mountains of quinoa & bean curd (tofu?)

752 calories, 77g carbs, 25g fats, 40g protein

found a product called "bean curd" in the tofu section, same brand has hard tofu in the same container also, so i thought it must be a different thing, also has impressive protein content (over 18g for a 125g serving), it tastes/feels like just a very firm tofu

Here's the exercises I did to develop my grip strength into a strong point, and I still do them every week...

 

BAR HANGS - hang from a bar and work up your grip strength so that you can hang for 3 x 1min. You can also try these one-handed

i did bar hangs for a couple weeks a while ago, each time there was a noticable increase in grip endurance, by week 2 i had doubled my grip length, not sure how this translates to grip on deadlifts etc

i think the smaller ones were better tasting, less oats, but also means the banana & agave syrup has to be spread out less, also figured out something today, eating strawberries or oranges with these pancakes is great, nice tangy, very nice contrast, especially to the choc ones, but yeah, the strawberries really help the taste of them

Should use a swiss ball, may be easier to regulate the strain on your back& core

Tim, amber? Lol

No idea what that "protein myth" a few posts above refers to

But yeah, no reason a began needs a different routine, maybe just go to your gyms trainer.and he can make you a split, he/she can show you the form and proper warmups for exercises.too

Hi tony, i'm on the central coast & have a similar story to you, also seriously considering studying a fitness certificate next year to become a personal trainer

maybe we could meet up some time

it had nacho topping, avocado, tomato and lettuce

0 meters haha

i do some running closer to my sport season, right now i jog though

when i do run, i usually do it to a time, rather than a distance

awesome, good work, you looking lean, just wondering, are you much stronger on your right side? your right arm looks a bit bigger than your left to me

^^

yeah, all the intense cardio isn't going to help

i'm in the same boat, i have a hard time gaining weight, the solution is simple

stuff your face, the only thing that worked for me was just eating till i was full, then eat more, figure out a goal for your calories each day, it will be something like your TDEE, then + about 400 or so calories or more

401 calories 60g carbs 2g fats 29g protein

trying to use yellow split peas in a recipe, due to their cheap cost and high protein content, in my past attempts to use these significantly in recipes, they didnt taste that good

this one turned out pretty good, definately edible