[#2] I am a personal trainer with 6 years of experience and have been a vegan for the past 5. I'm here to help, ask me anything

[crossdrivenwriter]

@extraneous Hello! I’ve been vegan for the past 4 years. I’ve been able to gain some healthy weight since becoming vegan, but now I am looking to tone up even more. I do some light weight lifting and regular cardio, but what is a good routine to get more defined muscle tone? Are there any specific protein products (pre-workout/post-workout) that you’d recommend? Thank you for any tips or advice!

 

[extraneous]

@crossdrivenwriter I need more information on your current workout routine to help training-wise. But as a disclaimer: the most important factor that keeps us vegans from gaining mass tends to be caloric intake. Our diets are rich in fiber and water, making them healthier but less efficient for bulking. Caloric intake throughout the day is immensely more important than pre-post workouts as the anabolic windows post-workout have been shown to be way longer than expected and the most important nutrient your body needs after them are sugars.

Again, give me more information about your current workout sessions, how long have you been doing them and what's your previous experience and I'll help you with that.

 

[authorrobsigmon]

@extraneous Thoughts on the military industrial complex?

 

[extraneous]

@authorrobsigmon Terms such as defense industry, defense spending and budget are clear examples of orwellian political speak. A system of lobbies that allows the perpetuation of inhuman practices such as country invasions and development of weapons of mass destruction should simply not be allowed to exist, and there is little point at maintaining such a ridiculous anual spending on military as the US has.

There are many things that have to change in first-developed countries to adapt to the new industrial revolution, replacing our outdated ways with new strategies is paramount if we want a planet our children will be happy to live on in 30 years.

 

[morgandeb]

@extraneous How was your day?

 

[extraneous]

@morgandeb Whoops, I missed this one! My day was fine, thank you. What about yours?

 

[dawn16]

@extraneous Do you recommend creatine as a vegan, if so which one?

 

[extraneous]

@dawn16 Yes, as an ergogenic aid, synced with your strength mesocycles. Creatine improves CPr storage on any diet and it's synthethized in a lab. Any creatin monohydrate powder from a reputable brand is good enough (they change from country to country). Most of them are the same, as they're all obtained via the same method.

The dosage is 0.066g/kg once a day for up to six months between having to rest 4-6 weeks, unless you need to do a load phase, which will be three intakes of 0.033g/kg a day (one every 4-6 hours) for 7-10 days before transitioning to 0.066k/kg. The load phase is used to achieve the effects faster, but it can produce diarrhea (which is common when starting to take creatine).

 

[dawn16]

@extraneous Any brands at Walmart you’d recommend?

 

[extraneous]

@dawn16 I'm European, sadly we don't have Walmart here.

 

[christ_our_lord]

@extraneous On the go protein source..... Barely home... Trying to reach the 0.8xlb daily intake.im no where close. What do you suggest?

 

[extraneous]

@christ_our_lord Are you on a caloric surplus or a normocaloric diet? If you can get enough calories out of it, the healthiest sources are cereals (bread, rice, quinoa) and beans. But they're too high in fiber and water for some people to eat enough, so a bit more processed foods such as hummus and other bean spreads are the second best choice. If there's nothing else you can do, supplement with protein, but at this point the problem most likely will be not enough caloric consumption not macronutrient percentages.

 

[illustratus]

@extraneous An samples of menus to follow for weight loss?

 

[extraneous]

@illustratus Menus have to be adjusted to your lifestyle. Following a whole-foods plant-based diet it's really hard not to lose weight eating anything that fits those parameters. If a vegan isn't losing weight it's simply because they're eating too much processed food. I wouldn't even try to follow a strict diet as a vegan, I'll try to add changes to my current diet to improve it (mainly removing processed/junk food and oil intake in favor of whole foods).