Like the title says I've been vegan 2 months, I lost 15 lbs going from 150 to 135. It has been the best decision I could have made. Since being vegan I've worked out every day (or try to), but here's the thing, I'm starting to feel weaker on my workouts.
This is incredibly frustrating. Physically I can see the results but I feel so bleh when I'm doing it, like I'm going backwards. Here's some things I think might be incorporating to this.
I haven't bought a b12 supplement yet (PLEASE DONT YELL AT ME I KNOW I SHOULD HAVE SOONER), but my friend gave me her leftover bottle of b complex today. I'm going to take them every day.
I don't know if I eat enough, I think I may slightly have a body image issue. I say this because if I don't work out I stress the whole day, I got so many "you lost so much weight!" comments, I want to hold that standard. Ive never been able to properly eat healthy so this is the first time I've felt successful but I think I'm taking it too far (not being vegan, but restricting).
What I'm eating. I eat a lot of fruit, a ton. I love it. I showed it to my food diary to my friend though and he said I need to be getting more fats and proteins.
I'm really ignorant when it comes to health and fitness and when I was younger I had a horrible problem yo yo dieting. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Oh, and my workouts are like this. 20-30 minutes of cardio, and 15/20 minutes of toning exercises, usually doing 3 a day.
(3 x 10 squats, leg lifts, sit ups)
That's great, fruit is awesome tasting, healthy, and low calorie.
However! I think your friend might be right in regards to protein and fat. It's a common mistake, I think, that noob vegans make to go crazy in the fruit and veggie department, which is wonderful, but really, nutritionally speaking (Protein, fat, certain minerals), the vegan replacements for animal products is beans, nuts, seeds, foods of that nature.
I think if you incorporate more of those kind of foods in your diet, you will find that you will start feeling much better.
@awjaques0819 Yeah I'm gonna second /@mtunnell02 and say make it easy on yourself and use cronometer or My Fitness Pal (athough with MFP make sure that you are eating a minimun of 1200kcals a day even though they will allow you to input less, it's the minimum requirement for women to not create deficiencies). Somethings I found difficult when I first went vegan (I've dealt with disordered eating and extreme dieting in the past) were realizing that I not only could eat much more but I needed to eat much more volume than before and also getting over the idea that carbs are bad. Carbs are good! Whole grains and starches are the main source of fuel for the body and are also full of lots of minerals and nutrients that your body needs, including protein. I'm not saying go binge on fries, chips, and white bread (although if you stay in your calorie allotment for the day you won't gain weight, but it's just not very filling or nutritional) but oats, potatoes, sweet potatoes, varieties of rices, millet, amaranth, quinoa, barley, wheat berries, are all great foods to add into your diet and make friends with. Along with that, another great addition for added proteins, fats and micro nutrients are seeds and nuts. Different seeds are a part of my breakfast everyday. Because of the high fat content in nuts they are more of a treat or indulgence when I was want something nice and fatty, but that is fairly regularly and both are important parts of a well balanced vegan diet. There are also a ton of good YouTube channels for vegan fitness meal ideas. Just remember that on your fitness journey there are gonna be ups and downs but the main goal is find a healthy medium that is sustainable as a lifestyle long term and also one that doesn't make you turn away from veganism. One of the great things about being vegan is learning to fall in love with all the variety of bountiful foods the Earth provides. Congrats on your switch to veganism and on your fitness journey.
@wem86 What an amazing reply! All the replies here are so awesome and welcoming.
Thank you so much for this advice. I really like the part about ups and downs, I have to remember that. I saw my weight shed so fast I feel like subconsciously I'm so afraid to put it back on so I don't eat enough but I know that's not doing my body any good. I can't wait to start experimenting more with different foods and feeling fueled and full of energy during my workouts
@awjaques0819 Your friend is right. Make sure you're taking a multivitamin, getting around 0.8g of protein per lb of target bodyweight per day, and getting enough calories.
@awjaques0819 Hi. I'm a new vegan as well. I'm an avid gym goer, and had the same problem. Turns out I needed much more protein in my diet, and that pretty much fixed. I would recommend (This is what I did, and for the record I am 170lbs male) a cup of beans per day (black beens have almost 40 grams per cup). I also bought vegan protein powder, and I add 30 a day from that. I feel much stronger now, and it only took a few days to notice.
@awjaques0819 The body produces ~1g of creatine a day. The average omni is getting ~1g from flesh on any given day. Even if you weren't an athlete you should consider supplementation since you're effectively operating at half of what you've known up until 2 months ago.
Secondly, in cutting it's important to remember that you will lose muscle if you aren't keeping up your protein. Count your calories with something like MFP or Cronometer and aim for upwards of .7g a /lb in protein during this process so that you're not seeing loss and are still able to hit the same reps/sets/whatever.
@awjaques0819 It’s very hard to really ramp up your strength and reduce your bodyweight at the same time (look at the build of a powerlifter as an example).
I’d actually consider cutting back on your workouts or at least switching them up so you’re not doing the same thing every day (as you’ll eventually burn out those body parts/your CNS and risk injury especially if you’re using weights).
Go easy on yourself and look to calculate the proper amount of calories you need alongside a proven workout plan.
