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Beginning Woman Needs Help


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Hi everyone,

 

I'm new to this site and the fitness side, but not new to veganism. I've been vegan for almost 5 years and I've loved every minute. However, I haven't always been the healthiest vegan. I fell into the trap of eating too many processed foods and thinking it was okay because it was vegan. So, here's my situation and my goals:

 

9 years ago I gained a lot of weight (over 100 lbs.) during my pregnancy (I was not vegan at the time) because of health complications. I lost some of it, but then gave up. I thought when I went vegan that I would naturally lose the rest of it, but I wasn't eating foods that were good for me(a lot of processed foods). So, about 3 months ago I decided enough was enough. I changed my diet to low carbs (like I did when I was a meat eater and lost weight before) and started walking/jogging and strength training. I dropped 10 lbs. in the first month. Now, I'm in my 6th week of P90X Lean Version (which I love), and have felt sluggish since I started and have had some digestive issues. My weight loss has slowed down since I started P90X (2 lbs. in 6 weeks). I realize that I'm gaining muscle and my measurements are reflecting that, but I want to make sure I'm burning the fat as well as gaining the muscle. I believe the my diet needs to be adjusted to make sure that happens. And that's where I need help. What does a typical day look like? Should I be concerned with calories? If so, how much? How much protein? How much carbs? How much fat? Should I do a protein shake? Etc.

 

I would appreciate any help and suggestions!

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Hi Amber,

 

I hear ya, its easy to fall into the world of processed foods when you don't eat meat the food industry tells us soy protien isolate fake meats are what we are supposed to substitiute.

 

Honestly even though there are thousands of members on this forum you will have much better results on getting feedback and your questions answered if you as them directly on other peoples threads that just by posting your own like you did here. Try the Training journals section and find someone that seems knowledgeable and actively posts.

 

Goodluck,

 

-Dylan

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Hi Amber

 

Your story is very similar to mine.

 

I've struggled to get myself sorted out but after finding Ella Magers 'Sexy Fit Vegan' website, I feel like i'm finally going to 'crack it'

 

Take a look at Ella's website www.sexyfitvegan.com and sign up for the newsletters, you'll get an e-book and sample meal plan straight away which should help to get you started. Ella is also a member on here aswell, she's very friendly

 

Hope this helps!

 

Steffie x

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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

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