muchidna

hi carol, i don't have a ratio in the traditional sense, i usually just aim for 2+g/kg of protein and after that, just go for my calorie goals for the day, i usually find that i get just enough fats just from eating my regular foods

i find it's really hard to maintain much more protein than that while still eating good wholesome foods, fruits and vegetables and still enjoying the diet

Thank you, Forklift! I know and use these foods too. How about mass-gaining powder?

I'm not really a big believer in 'mass gainers' as they tend to mainly up the calories by increasing the sugar and fat content.

 

That's why I suggested you stick to a good clean protein source and add in your own calories

definately +1 for this, especially on a vegan diet, you really won't need to supplement carbs or fats as there are plenty avaliable, i certainly wouldnt sub a sweet potato for some processed waxy maize starch powder

bananas are good also

Hi edens, the reason i think people say this is because it gives you an insulin spike, and will make it harder to fall asleep, there's others who say it will make you fatter because it sits in your stomache all night digesting or something (i don't believe this)

anyway, i personally sometimes don't have a choice but to eat some carbs even just before bed to get my calories in for the say, and it does effect my sleeping when i do this

anyway, i think the best option for eating carbs in the evening (say within 2 hours of going to sleep) would be non-processed, complex carbs, and not high in sugar (not sugar sugar, but sweet fruits like oranges etc) stuff like vegetables, beans, grains, legumes, and possibly wholemeal breads, but i would hope by then you would have all your calories in for the day and you wouldn't have to eat

if it's not within 2 hours of bed, i'd say it won't make any difference

this post may contain broscience

whenever i have 2x shakes in a day, i just feel stuffed for the whole day, makes it painful to eat the rest of my calories

Could you post a meal plan for your low carbs diet?, would be interesting to see how reliant on supplements it is

couple things that have worked well for me with them

cut in half + sandwich pressed with soy, garlic, lime, ginger sauce

cut in quarters and added to stir fry with similar sauce

i never really had them growing up bc my parents hated them, i've only just tried them for the first time in the last few weeks actually

carbs and fats shouldnt be much of a problem, nuts will help with fats & protein a little, beans, quinoa, leafy vegetables (not very dense but eh) are all good, i think it would be exceptionally hard to hit your macros unless you considered some "Raw" powders like sunwarrior (i don't like the taste, but they claim it's raw as they use some water extraction point, and it's never heated above some certain point)

lentils, chickpeas, yellow peas

perhaps you can get your hands on some edamame? i have no idea how it tastes raw, but it's essentially immature soy beans, so it's bound to have some protein

but yeah, most vegan sources of protein also have much more carbs than protein in them

-- oh just remembered, no grains, carbs might be a bit harder then, i expect you'll just have to eat loads of fruit and salads and vegetables, eh it won't be a problem, everything vegan is loaded with carbs lol

anyway i'm not raw, i sometimes go raw when i get a cold or something, i'm sure some of rawies here will have some tricks for you

good luck

i think i've only tried tempeh once, i can't remember exactly what it tasted like, but i remember thinking it tasted bad but it would be good in a taco, and wouldnt be too bad on the macros either

i'd probably have it with lettuce, tomato and salsa,

here's what i think

cardio training

if you're attacked, you can just bugger off and run for a few miles, much safer than trying to fight the attacker

i often dont manage to, i pack stuff like bananas, and lebanese bread with spread on it, and eat most of my calories once i get home

Hi guys, i've always been rather spartan about supplements, only using protein and creatine, however i'm going to be making a new order for protein within the next week, and i want to try some new stuff

i was hoping for peoples opinions on alternative supplements such as beta alanine, amino acids, bcaa's, just tell me what your experiences have been with supplements

the website i'm ordering from is http://www.bulknutrients.com.au/view/bulk-nutrients-product/products , so i'm willing to giv eanything avaliable there a try

thanks

bulknutrients ships overnight lol

Mm, I steer clear of those premium proteins, they coat 3x as much as what I get from bulknutrients, and the ones I've tried were nasty, not to mention, most aren't sold in au

I found sunwarriort revolting, I have tried several different brands, favours, sources, and.the best.tasting for me was flavored rice from a bulk seller, mixed with pea for amino spread, flavored pea is good also but has a slight bad taste to it, whereas rice is almost tasteless, 1 scoop of each with handful of ice, 135g frozen banana (about 1.5 big bananas), 2 cups soy milk blended to oblivion, very very palatable, using warrior or flavored proteins would spoil it

Also, generic soy protein is nasty

hi edens, it really depends on what you can do with good form, many of these exercises are done by time, not reps

start off with 1 minute plank, go for as long as you can (i usually do 2 or 3 minutes)

then straight on to do 40 russian twists (each turn is 1 rep, not each time you go back to where you started)

then straight on to 30 crunches

then a minute of pedals

then 30 leg raises

then a break and do it all 2 more times

and just change the times according to your own core strength, just make sure you have good form, especially on the plank and crunch, many people have trouble with the plank, so if your ass falls out of form, swap to next exercise

as you get stronger, you can rest plates on your back for the plank, hold them at chest for crunch, and for the russian twists, i use an adjustible dumbbell, and can go up as i like it

for the russian twists also, make sure you are controlling the movement, your legs are raised off the ground (or you can leave them on the ground if it's too hard), and you're twisting your body and try to take out as much inertia from the movement as you can, so you're not just throwing the weight from side to side, but making your muscles work

again yeah, it's a good idea to do this at home, i used to do it at gym and i hated splitting up my other days, or adding an extra 15 mins or so to the end of a workout

Hi amber, sadly a vegan diet won't make you lsoe weight, it will certainly benefit cholesterol levels and much of the (non processed) foods will contain much more fiber than processed/non vegan alternatives, but i believe in the end it's as simple as calories in vs calories out, as well as some carb bull$&*# lol

i personally am not a fan of low carb diets as many carb sources have alot of good stuff in them, not to mention they are the bodies main energy source, i know they do work but they are even harder to maintain on a vegan diet, where most unprocessed protein sources are also fairly high in carbs

my suggestion would be this

since your weight is fairly stable (slowly dropping), i would track my calories for a week or so, then average what i got, i would then reduce it by about 200-500 per day depending on how high it is

i am a strong advocate for tracking calories, it's very easy to eat too much or too little if you have no idea where you're at, you could be doing 3 hours of cardio each day, lifting weights, eating low carb, but still eating 500 more calories than you're using, so it's turned into fat

as for protein shake, well, this is the recipe i usually use, as its simple to make and almost spot on hits my macros, and is a fairly complete meal for me

1 scoop (40g) rice protein unflavored

1 scoop (40g) pea protein unflavored

135-150g frozen banana

1 3/4 cup soy milk (lite works too, but i sometimes have troubly hitting fat macro so i just use whatever i got)

and a squirt of agave syrup

blend

drink, no nasty protein taste

oh also, drink lots of water, especially if you've been feeling sluggish- but also especially if you arent just drink lots of water

so yeah, i really hate splitting my gym days into abs days, when i can do that stuff at home, and focus more at the gym

i personally do stuff like this

russian twists (with weights)

crunches (with weights)

pedals

plank(with weights sometimes)

leg raises

and i do like 3 supersets of those things

Hi edens, definitely, I have found for me atleqst that I'm able to hut and a few times a week, and they recover faster for me, and its very convenient as I can do it with minimal equipment, also helps me feel better ably bulk fat bc of the pump and occasional soreness, ill post more when I get home in an hour

I don't really have many temptations, my main one probably isnt even that unhealthy, sugar free soda- i rarely have any, but i know water is much more natural & less full of chemicals, i sometimes have a mouthful if someone in the house has some in the fridge

my other temptation is very very dark chocolate, the stuff that's so dark, there's no room for dairy (75%-80% cocoa) which i might buy a block of once or twice a year

my biggest strengths would be

highly processed foods, such as white breads, sodas and biscuits

junk food, such as chips, fries, burgers, ice cream

sugar

meats and animal products (duh lol)

really the idea of eating any of these trashy foods is just very unappealing to me

Hey, this thread is for you to post your biggest temptations, and the foods you're stongest against, and most able to resist

*snip*

well, if i went much higher my whole days food would be protein smoothies lol, i work out for fun, stress relief, not for a living lol

it's a little higher than what i said, as i usually have like 600 or 700 more calories to eat after getting 2g/kg

i usually aim for 2g/kg, after that i just try to get my calories for the day

15 hours high intensity cardio!?! eek

this isn't helpfull, but a regular at my gym uses alot of kettle bells, alot of very compound movements involving most of the body, he's not built very big but you can tell he works out