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Welcome Katabatic! You're at the right place if you want to get fit!

I have 5 flatmates. Who needs TV or reality shows in this situation?

Sun 6. Apr - Deep squats (finally): 10 x 50kg, 7 x 70kg, 7 x 70kg (after that my back felt a bit strange and I stopped since I cannot have a failure while training squats alone at home!) - Deadlift: 3 sets @ 110kg - Standing overhead expressions @ 54 lbs dumbbell, 3 sets ~ 10 reps. Body weight in the evening 79,2 kg... that's 175 lbs! Yeah!!

I'll soon reach 10! There were a few posted already when I woke up. I wish mods could ban the spammer bots one by one instead of deleting their posts one by one.

Thanks rob and L&G, you're too kind! I feel great if I really can motivate people. This forum gives me all the motivation I need to pump harder and harder every day.Bigger plates, more plates, more reps, more veins! My progression must be visible, since other people notice it without asking: I was at my friend's housewarming party yesterday with a tight t-shirt and I got told by several people that my arms have grown a lot! One guy asked me what on earth was I eating and some of my friends were kidding of me using steroids because I grow so fast. It's all good, they know I would never use such things. I also noticed that when we went to a club for a while, a large majority of men have smaller arms than I do. It's something totally new to me and I love it! L&G, we really need a forearm thread. I'll create one if no one else does!

Thu 3. Apr Rest Fri 4. Apr I was very very busy, I only took some bench presses. Wasn't the best train ever, best set 9 x 70kg. Sat 5. Apr - Some narrow grip bench presses, long sets with low weight, 50kg barbell. - Bicep curls @ 48kg (106lbs). 4-7 reps, 4 sets, curl bar - Bent-over row with curl bar 4 sets, best set ~ 10 reps @ 84kg (185lbs) I had a little headache almost all day, so I didn't train more than that. I feel bad for not training my lower body properly for several days but I'll try to fix that today. I think I ate&drank something like 5000 calories yesterday. All day, big plates, many of them. One of the best eating days I've had.

This is in the largest newspaper in Finland today, JP from vf representing!! http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v519/veganpower/DSCN2419.jpg I translated it for you guys here and vf. I was in a hurry so please accept my apologies for poor grammar.

I think it will be very hard to keep a diet in which you have to eat every two hours unless you have a LOT of spare time. I think eating every three hours would be a lot easier, but that's just an opinion. What I would leave out of your diet: - Waffles, not health food at all. - Maple syrup, too much sugar. - Sandwiches unless they're full grain. - Crackers (who even wants to eat crackers every day ) - Toasts unless they're full grain. You also take a huge amount of energy from protein drinks, I would prefer eating more real food. Chick peas, black eyed peas, kidney beans, white beans, more lentils... with a lot of vegetables and rapeseed oil. If you need more calories after all that, keep eating nuts and seeds anywhere you are between meals. You can get 1000 calories per day more easily by doing that. I also seriously doubt that you can really eat 2 boca burgers, a LOT of bread and 2 tofu hotdogs at the same meal. That also sounds like expensive but I'm not aware of your financial position so I don't say more about that. Remember that your body weight can vary about 3 kg whether you weight yourself in the morning with empty stomach and in the evening after eating a lot. Anyway, you seem to be very dedicated and I believe you'll have great gains in no time. Please think about what I wrote and if there are things that suit your diet let us know whether they work or not if you use them. At least I know what works for me, it doesn't work for all but I am eager to know if other people can gain with something I have made.

Welcome Amy! I would like to note that I prefer the term "full vegan diet" instead of "strict diet" because I don't think my diet is strict at all, I don't have to limit my eating. When you start eating vegan, you won't eventually even want to have anything non-vegan as you feel so much better without milk or eggs. Anyway, great to have another member to the forum!

P.B.C. in the place to be! (I could imagine one could make a great oldschool rap song starting like that) Great nick and great introduction, welcome!

I have heard that "googling" yourself is a sin and you may go blind. Be careful man! I agree with xjohanx, you're the most awesome vegan heavy metal ninja ever!

Another month, another pic. I'm once again a couple lbs bigger than before and a lot stronger. Brinin' on the forearm veins: http://img98.imageshack.us/img98/2903/forkutnb2.jpg ...and DAMN I look so small in the first pics in this thread. So tiny.

This is no fair, I would have wanted to vote all of them. Great pics!

By looking how intensively you train and by judging the way you look in the new avatar pic I would say that we need some progress pics. Damn!

Wed 2. Apr A change in plans, for some reason keeping the barbell at squat position felt weird in my shoulder so I chose not to train that today. Instead I gave punishment to smaller muscles: - 2 hours breakdance - Lateral raises 3-4 sets ~ 7 reps ~ 26 lbs dumbbells - Reverse bicep curls to work out my forearms 3 sets ~ 10-12 reps ~ 80lbs curl bar - Bicep curls 3 sets ~ 10-12 reps ~ 80 lbs curl bar - Bent-over rows 3 x 10-13 reps ~ 120 lbs curl bar I already have some vein definition in my forearms: http://img98.imageshack.us/img98/2903/forkutnb2.jpg

Tue Apr 1 I got home at 9 pm. I chose to eat and rest. However, I was so eager to reach a certain milestone I just had to try it: I strapped another 6 kg in the middle of my barbell so now I could finally try to deadlift 150kg. It was EASY! Tomorrow I'll squat a lot after teaching breakdance, I chose not to do squats today as I find it hard to do power moves with legs burning, sore and swollen.

Great to have you back! When do you think you're fully back in action and training?

Mon Mar 31 - 2 hours breakdance, not too hard because we had a photo session. Hope I can get the pics some day... I wrote an abstract of a scientific paper until 3 am last night so I had only ~ 5 hours of sleep. I was really tired, I'm going to bed soon. However, I did punish myself a bit: - Bench press @ 78 kg. First 6 reps + 1 assisted, then 4 (+ 1), 4 (+1) and 3 reps. I lifted 80 kg for the first time in my life on 19. February so I'm making a decent progress here. I think 92kg shouldn't be that far away since that 78 kg felt really easy in the first set. - Shoulder press with kettlebells, 3 sets. - Bicep curls with a curl bar @ 100 lbs, 4 sets 6-8 reps. For some reason I couldn't eat enormous amounts, a decent feeding frenzy but nothing compared to the best days. My body weight is really low, 77kg in the evening. Hope it's just dehydration or something like that. We'll see in a couple of days, but since I lift more than I've ever lifted, I'm not that worried that my bw progress isn't super fast. I really tried to force feed myself but couldn't do it. edit: I was just dehydrated. I drank a lot of water and felt much better instantly. Evening weight 78,8kg (~174 lbs).

Welcome! Great to hear of people who run fitness stuff and are vegetarians! I think you have a great opportunity to help people by showing what you can do while being a veg*n!

Welcome! By looking at your pics it looks like you really have changed a LOT! Great work man, I'd love to read more of how you've done such a wonderful transformation!

Well, at least my posture is much better now that I have stronger back. My shoulders are further back when I just stand straight. Also, bigger lats make you walk a bit wider without even trying to look big. I'd say that training can change your natural posture very quickly. Also, if you gain like 20 pounds of muscle and lose about the same amount from waist your posture looks different even if your back or shoulders are at the same position than before.

Welcome! The atmosphere here is really great, you'll be super motivated if you just visit here often.

Fri Mar 28 - Bench press @ 74 kg, dunno how many reps anymore :/ - Bicep curls with kettlebells, 3 or 4 x 8 reps one arm at a time. Sat Mar 29 Rest. Sun Mar 30 I got a good idea: I put my kettlebells between the plates in barbell so I could try new deadlift pb's. And I increased my pb in deadlift from 110 kg to 144 kg (~317 lbs). I think 150 kg should be still ok but 160 kg maybe not yet. Anyway, 34 kg increase to pb in deadlift! I'll take some bent-over barbell rows but I'll try to spare myself for total annihilation in a day or two. And of course, huge amount of lentils, pumpkin seeds ect. to help me gain once again.

A good start! Now all you need is consistency and a lot of food. I bet you'll look totally different in just 3 months if you just stick to eating a lot of healthy food and working out the way you've described. The only thing standing between great gains is some hard work and good eating. Be prepared that in no time you'll have an urge to get some heavy a** dumbbells or to go to a gym as your own bodyweight won't give you enough resistance soon.

Welcome makke! Don't worry about the bots, I've never seen so much spam here than yesterday so you just happened to join here at an awkward time. Usually the spam is instantly deleted by hard working admins but yesterday they were absent at the same time... Great to hear about your allergies going away! That is something worth telling all the people you know! That "if you wanna gain muscle you need meat" should be considered as a great motivator. Nothing beats the feeling outgrowing all the meat-eaters by muscle mass and strength. In my opinion, if you want to grow muscles and cut fat, there is no better diet than a vegan diet. Don't hesitate asking questions, also a training/food log is worth keeping, just to show your progress; you'll be motivating others if your progress is fast and if your progress is slow, people will tell you what you could do better and you'll eventually get good results anyway!