Workout routine and meal planning advice

[andsoweare]

Sorry in advance, this turned out to be a long post, but hopefully is helpful for others too!

Hi all, I've been v*gan for almost 3 years now but new to Reddit. I've gone on and off working out for about 7 years and never made much progress. I'm starting again; I've never asked the internets for personal advice but have trawled through hundreds of articles on bodybuilding/strength training and vegan diets - as you can imagine there is a lot of contradictory advice and it is overwhelming. I see myself as a hardgainer and like the site bony to beastly (although have not signed up to their programme). I wondered if you wonderful people could give me your thoughts on my current program. As a caveat, I have probably always overestimated what I eat and how much protein, and probably never quite stayed at the 3 or 4 days work out per week that I intend, although I have gone months and months of being pretty good, but the lack of results is a determination-killer.

Here are my stats:

30 year old white male
156 lbs, 179 cm, 16 or 17% body fat (I see myself as skinny fat, quite lean but with a bit of a belly).

I cycle to and from work, 1 hour a day.
I've just started playing field hockey again once a week.
I try to work out 3 times a week.
When doing TDEE I say I'm moderately active.

I use Cronometer and JEFIT, and calculated I need about:
2700 calories,
130 - 170 grams of protein
50 - 80 grams of fat (I'm trying to reduce fat and increase carbs in the hope this will help my fat %
rest from carbs - 350 - 450g

I'm looking for 5 meals a day, my breakfast, mid morning snack and lunch doesn't change:

7.30am: 4 weetabixs with 300ml soymilk and hulled hemp seeds (25~g protein) or
100g oats with 300ml soy milk and hulled hemp seeds (25~g

10.30am: 50g hemp protein in green smoothie (apple, celery, cucumber, kale/spinach)

12.30pm: 3 tortilla wrap with spinach/watercross/rocket + either 100g hummus or half a tin of refried beans + sweetcorn and peas

This comes to 1500 calories with 75g protein, 50g fat, 200g carbs

I need another snack I can eat at work around 3.30pm/4pm, as at 5pm I cycle home then want to work out straight away, but often need to eat something first, I know I won't workout later in the evening. I might have peanut butter on toast then workout from 6.30pm - 7.30pm then cook and eat aronud 8/8.30pm. This means no post-workout shake or one before bed as I am just not hungry.

I'm trying to have lentils, chana dal, chickpeas, soya mince, tofu etc for protein for dinner, struggling to keep carbs up and fat down. Tips on my afternoon/evening food would be awesome. Is my morning/lunch okay?

I take a multi-vit from Vegan Society which covers B12 (as well as iron, B6, selenium, vit D).

Am I missing anything from my diet? I feel I have omegas covered with the hemp. Cronometer normally says I'm fine but I think I do tend to eat better when I'm using it!

My workout (at home with free weights and a bench): week 1: ABA, week 2 BAB (got from aworkoutroutine.com, I still consider myself a beginner)

A=
Goblet squats 3 sets of 10 (currently at 20kg)
Dumbell bench press 3 sets of 10 (25kg total)
Dumbell bent over row 3x10 (25kg total)
dumbell incline triceps 2x12 (10 kg total)
Dumbell lateral raise 2x12 (10 kg total)

B=
Dumbell Deadlift 3x10 (22.5kg total)
Dumbell shoulder press 3x10 (16kg total)
dumbell one arm row 3x10 (15 kg total)
dumbell bicep curl 2x12 (15kg total)

TL;DR - vegan trying to put on some lean muscle mass - any advice on my workout and diet would be much appreciated.

Thanks!

 

[dawn16]

@andsoweare Go heavier if you want results start with 5x5

 

[jessielpowell]

@dawn16 This. You're not going to get bigger lifting just dumbbells, and definitely not by just lifting dumbbells two or three times a week on a split routine. As a beginner, you're better off doing large compound lifts. And you're going to need a barbell -- barbell squats, bench, deadlift, rows, OHP, etc., at least three days a week.

And try Starting Strength or Stronglifts 5x5. I personally like All-Pro's beginner routine.

Fat you eat doesn't get stored as fat. I don't think it makes sense to go lower fat and higher carbs. Keep your macros in proportion and monitor your total calories. If you're not gaining weight, you're not eating enough calories. (No estimating -- use a scale.) If you're gaining fat, it's because you're body isn't using all the calories you're eating for building muscle, so you either have to cut back on calories or lift heavier and/or more often.

My guess is that you're not a "hard gainer." You're still using dumbbells after several years of lifting? Sorry man, you're just not doing it right.

 

[dawn16]

@jessielpowell i mean it's better for the body to get more carbs as that can be proccesed easier but won't make a big deal

 

[andsoweare]

@jessielpowell Cheers dude, started years ago but very inconsistent so no surprise I haven't made progress, the bony to beastly guys reckon a home gym and dumbbells are fine especially to start with but point taken, I'll look at getting a barbell or joining a gym (again ) but hate them and the barbell racks etc are always busy :-(. Im weighing myself regularly including checking body fat, determined to do this!

Cheers all for advice

 

[veritas1899]

@andsoweare What do you mean by v*gan? I've never seen that before.

 

[dawn16]

@veritas1899 Vegetarian/vegan

 

[andsoweare]

Yep, trying to not start too heavy in order to keep proper form, adding a small amount if I reach the sets and reps with no troubles. I'll look at 5x5.

V*gan - saw it somewhere, just a joke i think, as if it's a swear word

 

[birdie1214]

@andsoweare

Yep, trying to not start too heavy in order to keep proper form, adding a small amount if I reach the sets and reps with no troubles. I'll look at 5x5.

Well, 22.5 is WAY too light for deadlift. You're not going to get much out of deadlift until you get to more than your bodyweight. If you have a gym near you, see about getting a membership. Even the people over at /r/bodyweightfitness often supplement their training with barbell squats and barbell deadlift.

 

[jessielpowell]

@andsoweare It's because in computer programming the asterisk is a pattern matching symbol that means "match any character(s) here." So the string "v*gan" would match... wait. It should be "veg*n," which would match vegan or vegetarian. "c*t" would match cart, cast, cost, cent, etc.

 

[dawn16]

@andsoweare Replace dumbbell deadlift with barbell deadlift. Where are chin ups?