Posts by soy_vey

I will agree with the others that say you do not need to stop being vegan. Yes, you probably need your Omegas, but you don't need to eat fish oil(yuk!) to get them. Eat a handful of walnuts a day, and add 2 TBSP ground flaxseed in to either smoothies, oatmeal, over cereal, or on salads. Makes sure you're using the ground kind, not the whole ones, because grinding helps release the nutrients in the seeds. Flax is one of the most wonderful, and important, ways that vegans can get all the nutrients they need. They also are high in protein and fiber and other fabulous vitamins. You can buy them in most natural food stores, or places like Whole Foods. Get the kind that is refrigerated if you can, or a sealed airtight pack that you can stick in the fridge after opening. This is b/c the oils in the seeds are perishable. You can also buy flax seed oil and use it in cooking, such as in salads, but not for high heat.

Flax is a tad pricey, but don't let that keep you from buying it. It really is an important part of a healthy vegan diet.

In addition, there are fortified cereals and breads that have omegas in them. However, I'd be careful as to which ones you buy, and check ingredients, b/c they can be from animal sources-such as fish. Natures Path makes some fortified breakfast cereals that I know of, and also many places that have bulk food have FlaxPlus granola.

I'm a vegan, I eat my flax and all my other important supplements(like nutritional yeast for B12s, for example) and my blood levels are fantastic.

:)

Original Post by toridl:

Sadly, you're going to gain fat but fat a) isn't neccessarily a bad thing and b) you can work it into muscle as time progresses. 

You can not turn fat into muscle. They are entirely different body tissues.

Original Post by helphelpskinny:

goal: gain 10-15 pounds of musscle only.

i just feel real bad after a hugeeee binge today (first one in a while!) :(. i'm very disappointed and upset at myself now :(. damn those icecreams and cakes. STUPID STUPID STUPID. those were all trans and saturated fats i dont need. i forgot to CONTROL CONTROL MYSELFFFF..... WHEW. just remember to eat for health, not for "just b/c i need to gain".... EAT FOR HEALTH. eat for pleasure, not JUNlK
I havent been doing well this month.......... i'll admit that... with the whole gaining and eating thing.... i've been so stressssssed.

Gaining 15 lbs of muscle, with the perfect diet, perfect weight training program, and perfect nutrient partitioning, would take you probably at least 6 months. You'd still gain fat. It's impossible not to.

I recommend eating maintenance calories and starting  strength training program. You will see beginner gains for a while, and then when you even out you can up your calories and continue gaining strength. Eat complex carbs, protein, and try to eat clean- meaning whole foods as much as possible and avoiding processed foods and added sugars.

Focus on compound movements, and do free weights if you can. Get a coach if that's possible, or take a weight training class. 3x a week full body would be fine. If you do more than that your body won't have time to recover. There are a lot of good resources in the fitness section of this sight about weight training and where to begin.

I do agree with the previous poster that said your posts seem a bit manic and scared. Try to focus on one thing at a time, and don't beat yourself up over perceived mistakes. This is a process, and we can't all be perfect all the time. If you can't give yourself some room to screw up you won't be able to learn from your mistakes and grow.

All is well, and good luck.

Okay, that's what I thought. Good to hear it explained more thoroughly. Thanks guys.

I would log it as light. You are not sedentary.  A sedentary person is someone who works a desk job, comes home and sits in front of the computer/tv/desk/reads, and doesn't work out.

Your activity level sounds similar to mine when I'm trying to lose weight, and I have mine set at light activity and I don't log my workouts. I had it set at sedentary for a while and I ended up eating way under on calories and slowed my  metabolism way down.

3:1 being 3lbs muscle, 1 lb fat? or 3lbs fat 1 lb muscle?

I'm crossing my fingers hoping you'll say the former.

{EDIT} Okay, 3lbs muscle to 1 lb fat. I can accept that!

Original Post by rnjt:

im curious too. but its going to take a long time to gain 6lbs of muscle, especially for a female. according to some guys that i've talked to from their experience, if you are a male & doing everything, AND i mean everything right you could gain 2lb of dry muscle per month. as you know we women aint so lucky, our bodies would rather put on fat. you might gain about 1/3 of fat while building muscle. but i think if you are a newbie lifter your results would spike at a faster rate than normal.

I've been lifting for a year, and have been doing free weights since the start of the summer, so I'm way too in for newbie gains, unfortunately, which is why I have  to do a bulk/cut cycle.

From articles that I've read, including some on figureathlete.com, it is possible to gain between .5-1 lb of muscle per week, including for women. I'm just not sure how much fat should go along with this.

alevin- I don't really trust the scale much either. Fortunately, I had my body comp done with calipers about 2 weeks ago so I know what my starting BF is. That way I already know that the scale is 2% off (it says I'm at 22 when I'm at 20). Mainly I'm using the scale for change over time. :)

Original Post by jareya:

... you never break a sweat.

Hoping to learn some key indicators... signals that I need to push a little bit harder during my workouts... am I right about the sweat? And, any others?

 You're not training  hard enough if:

-You can hold an easy conversation while doing your sets.

-You don't want to cry "uncle" on that very last rep. (this isn't always true)

-You are flipping casually through a magazine while running.

-You are talking on your cell phone while working out

-You are worrying about how you look when you are doing it (unless you're checking form).

I disagree about the sweating. Some days I sweat when I lift, some days I don't. If I'm lifting heavy, for short reps, I don't sweat. If I'm lifting for endurance, I might. Some days I can run 6 miles and barely sweat, some days I am soaking wet.  It depends on the person.

I agree with you about the isolation exercises. I haven't decided for sure if I want to start the program. For the last two or three months I've been doing a full body, 3 times a week, focusing mainly on compounds with a few isolations thrown in at the end of the workout, usually doing each muscle group once a week.

This routine is part of the Get Jacked(part one) program. I had to look up half the exercises in the program because I'd never heard of them before, and it really seems to me that if I could eliminate some of the isolations for compounds- for example in the workout I posted here it seems like I could just do assist dips, incline pushups and assist pullups and cover everything.. which is what I've been doing anyhow.

Thanks though, for explaining that to me. I don't think I'd really like this strategy.

*Stands corrected*