I don’t understand the direction this sub has taken in the past months.

[darrendance]

Being a struggling vegan- one who tries to maintain the lifestyle out of love for animals and my own health, I find myself massively disappointed and dismayed at the volume of posts by obvious steroid users.

I’m not judging them, or you if you use them. It just feels so counterintuitive to the health benefits of being vegan and appreciate the clean nature of the diet.

And then to openly state that they’re natural-without being asked- when literally anyone who has trained for any reasonable amount of time knows they’re on SARMS or juice.

I just don’t get it. Is this the direction of the vegan movement? Clear abuse of performance enhancing drugs?

Thanks for letting me vent.

 

[alex1111999]

@darrendance This is not specific to vegan fitness, if you spend any amount of time in any other fitness community, especially on Instagram you’ll see the same amount of PED use if not more.

I’ve never looked at data regarding PEDs but it sure seems like they’ve gotten a lot more common in the last 10 years with people who aren’t professional athletes.

 

[ladywalsh]

@darrendance Maybe we could get a "natty" flair for posts

 

[mario1504]

@ladywalsh I think it'd work, I haven't seen a single person I thought was lying. Maybe omitting, but why advertise that? There are other subs for that.

 

[dahager3049]

@darrendance That's the whole fitness community and it makes no difference for vegans.

Health isn't the (only) reason for everyone to go vegan.

 

[george1295]

@darrendance I'm looking through the posts from the last few days such as here, here, here, here, and here and I'm just not seeing the "volume of posts by obvious steroid users" in this sub. These look like natural athletes to me. Can you provide a half dozen recent examples?

 

[riktelner]

@george1295 That’s what I’m wondering?? People are so dramatic talking about “is this veganism is becoming” because they saw one or two posts of someone looking juiced.

 

[rogueriver]

@riktelner Some of these people may not even be vegan and just want an ego boost

 

[manifestmktg]

@darrendance Sucks for these people that they have self-esteem issues where they need to juice up to feel good about their progress and look. But my understanding is that anabolic steroids are generally vegan, as they are synthetically derived. Please correct me if I'm wrong. You'll see in the vegan subreddit conversations come up about the negatives of eating junk food, and the typical response is, I'm in it for the animals. Health and environment benefits are nice side effects, but have nothing to do with ethical veganism.

It seems one of the drives of this subreddit is "fitness" in the sense of "fit bodies" that look good. Health is secondary. I don't see much about longevity, supplements, yoga, stretching, etc. So let's be fair, this subreddit is more about superficial looks. And if some people want to sacrifice some health for their looks, and it's still vegan, then it fits. This isn't a contest is it? What if people smoke weed or drink beer? You gonna get on their case about that too? It's still vegan. I'm personally all about health, and looks second, but I'm not going to begrudge someone who is a bit more edgy and has different goals.

The only problem I see here is that they are lying and giving others who are new to this some false ideas about what they can accomplish.

 

[lisaf]

@manifestmktg It is a bit depressing that young people see these Adonis physiques and assume hard work and diet alone can get you there.

I’m all for people doing pretty much whatever they want but this aspect of it is definitely harmful.

 

[zennah]

@darrendance If you think just switching to being vegan immediately makes you have a clean diet, I fear you haven’t met many vegans. Honestly that’s probably why a lot of new vegans quit because they become so unhealthy with a crappy vegan diet.

As for steroids, why does that matter? You can be just as healthy as the next guy assuming you know what you are doing.

I only know maybe 1-2 other non-natural people here and they are both open about it. So not quite sure where you are seeing this flood of juiced, lying users?

 

[j55]

@zennah I agree with some of your statements but to say you can use steroids and be "just as healthy" as someone who isn't is an incorrect and dangerous statement. Just because you have gotten lucky and aren't having side effects doesn't mean there aren't a host of short and long term side effects that come from steroid use.

 

[teg4]

@j55 Ummm, you definitely can be on steroids and be just as healthy as the next guy. That's precisely why HRT exists, lol, you can't really argue that point.
Obviously there is a level that is optimal for every person, and if you are not naturally producing enough to be at that level, using an external source can be perfectly fine.
That said, MOST people on gear are probably at a level that has some negative health impacts.

 

[j55]

@teg4 Sure, if you aren't at a normal level then getting there is great, but we can probably say that getting your testosterone to normal levels is not going to produce the kind of body OP is talking about.

 

[felicitypenny]

@darrendance What are you "struggling" with in remaining fully vegan?

Juicers are in every part of online fitness now. They are a self-perpetuating cycle that unfortunately won't end.

 

[darrendance]

@felicitypenny Fair question. I find it difficult to maintain muscle mass. I’ve been using online as a resource but just recently hired a nutritionist. I want to maintain the lifestyle out of a love for animals.

 

[marlenej]

@darrendance If you don't already follow him, Simnett Nutrition on YouTube is great for vegan food/recipe ideas and he's a really fit, built gym guy who shares what he eats. He's really helpful.

Thank you for caring about the animals! They need us to keep up the flight.

 

[darrendance]

@marlenej Excellent, thank you. I will check Simnett out this afternoon!

 

[foley0602]

@darrendance Are you counting calories? a lot of vegan struggle because they assume they're eating a ton of food but vegan food is less calorically dense so they might be eating more food by volume but they're eating less calories

 

[felicitypenny]

@darrendance Ahh gotcha. I'd say grab and eat more tvp, tempeh, tofu, and some protein powder and bars. You can add tvp to basically anything cause it's flavorless, even add it to oatmeal. Are you working out 5 days a week?