Vegan Diet/Workout Help!!

I have been a Vegan for 12 days now but I have been a Vegetarian 9 years prior to this switch. I'm sort of getting a feel for what I need to do to have a structured diet, but one thing puzzles me and I know this is going to be a dumb question but it says I need to have 1567 cals/day to reach my goal, but it says that I need to burn 2500 to reach my goal. How do I compensate for the cals I need to have and the cals I need to burn w/o compromising my diet or eating more than I need to? Basically, how exactly do I figure a diet and workout for myself?

What is your goal? That math seems weird. I know the basic formula for healthy weight loss is to create a deficit of 3,500 calories a week or 500 a day. So you need to consume less calories and burn more calories to do that. Like, cut out a 200 calorie latte and burn 300 calories by working out. Fill out your plate with a lot of low calorie vegetables to keep you full. Soups are very filling and low calorie usually. Eat healthy foods and don't let yourself get too hungry. Does that help at all?

My goalis to weigh 115. I am 175 now. I want to be an actress, so that is the 2nd reason I am trying to really make this diet work. First reason, of course, is my health. Well, it said that I need to consume 1567/day based on my activity level, age, height and weight. And I talked it over with my mom last night and she said something that makes a lot of sense. Take in 1567 or a little less depending on the day and then when I workout, do exercises that alltogether will burn 2500 calories. That way I will be burning way more than what I consume and the pounds will drop.

Yes, you were very helpful. I love to eat Progresso Light Vegetable & Noodle soup. It's incredibly tasty.

Oops! I meant to say 3,500 calories a week.

I wish you luck! Keep me posted on how it goes. What kind of workouts are you doing? I've been kind of slack over the winter but I'm trying to go to the gym more regularly again. I like to take cardio kickboxing and pilates. I also ride my bike a lot during the warmer months and get really fit doing that.

What kind of acting do you do?

appleready already answered your question well, but i just wanted to note that progresso light vegetable & noodle soup has chicken broth.

This is my workout:

SCHEDULE: Mon #1, Tue #2, Wed #3, Thur #4, Fri #5, Sat & Sun OFF


*#1*
1) Barbell Squats 4 sets of 6-8 reps (4x6-8)
2) Leg Press 4x6-8
3) Leg Extensions 4x6-8
4) Leg Curls 4x6-8
5) Straight Legged Deadlift 4x6-8
6) Ab Crunch 4x15

*#2*
1) Dumbbell Bench Press 4x6-8
2) Incline DB Bench Press 4x6-8
3) DB Flies 4x6-8
4) Decline DB Bench Press 4x6-8
5) DB Pullovers 4x6-8
6) Leg Raises 4x15

*#3*
1) Wide Grip Cable Row 4x6-8
2) Bent Legged Deadlift 4x6-8
3) Lat Pulldown 4x6-8
4) Underhand Bent Over Row 4x6-8
5) Incline Bench Pull 4x6-8
6) Oblique (side) Crunches 4x15

*#4*
1) Seated Incline DB Curls 4x6-8
2) Preacher Curls 4x6-8
3) Overhead Pully Curls 4x6-8
4) Tri Rope Pressdown 4x6-8
5) One Arm Kickbacks 4x6-8
6) Skull Crushers 4x6-8
7) Decline Reverse Crunch 4x15

*#5*
1) DB Shoulder Press 4x6-8
2) Lat Raises 4x6-8
3) Behind Back BB Shoulder Shrugs 4x6-8
4) Standing Calf Raises 4x6-8
5) Rocking Standing Calf Raises 4x6-8
6) Seated Finger Curls (Arms Flat On Bench) 4x6-8
7) Seated Overhand Forearm Curls (Arms Flat On Knees) 4x6-8
8) Seated BB Twist 4x15

I havent done any acting yet. Im trying to get myself in shape so that I can start, though. I cant wait until that day gets here!

*ABOUT THE CHICKEN BROTH*

I did not even know that. I read the ingredients before I ate it, but I must have overlooked it. It just makes me sick to my stomach.

Sounds like your workout is really just weights.  I would recommend adding cardio intervals for a better fat burn.

Oh, I do cardio too. I just forgot to put it in there. I do it on tuesdays, wednesdays, thursdays and fridays.

Oh, you're good then!  :)

ha, yeah, i feel your pain. :( i used to love those soups and freaked out when i read the labels.

I know. When I first saw that soup, I was really happy b/c I found something else I could eat and it's something you wouldn't think would have chicken broth in it. Makes me mad.

Many soups contain animal broth.  Even at restaurants.  French onion soup is usally made with beef.  Once my hubby ordered vegetable soup at a restaurant and the waiter noticed we had ordered veg meals, so he told hubby that the soup was made with chicken broth, is that OK?  We thanked him for letting us know and cancelled the soup order.  You can't count on  servers volunteering this information, though, so be sure to always check.

Thats good to know. Thanks.

My son recently started training in a top restaurant (they do a la carte as well as bar meals) and he has told me that pretty much everything uses meat products.  That might be his exaggeration but when I asked - like what - he said (as you have already mentioned), all the soups but also chips and sauted potatoes (they use duck or goose fat "for flavour")

That's ridiculous!

And gross! Those poor potatoes!

Also, where I work we use vegan boca burgers for the veggie burger, BUT the cook smears mayonnaise on it before putting it on the grill! Except when I order it I ask him to use oil, which he does.

Original Post by feliciamdy:

This is my workout:

SCHEDULE: Mon #1, Tue #2, Wed #3, Thur #4, Fri #5, Sat & Sun OFF


*#1*
1) Barbell Squats 4 sets of 6-8 reps (4x6-8)
2) Leg Press 4x6-8
3) Leg Extensions 4x6-8
4) Leg Curls 4x6-8
5) Straight Legged Deadlift 4x6-8
6) Ab Crunch 4x15

*#2*
1) Dumbbell Bench Press 4x6-8
2) Incline DB Bench Press 4x6-8
3) DB Flies 4x6-8
4) Decline DB Bench Press 4x6-8
5) DB Pullovers 4x6-8
6) Leg Raises 4x15

*#3*
1) Wide Grip Cable Row 4x6-8
2) Bent Legged Deadlift 4x6-8
3) Lat Pulldown 4x6-8
4) Underhand Bent Over Row 4x6-8
5) Incline Bench Pull 4x6-8
6) Oblique (side) Crunches 4x15

*#4*
1) Seated Incline DB Curls 4x6-8
2) Preacher Curls 4x6-8
3) Overhead Pully Curls 4x6-8
4) Tri Rope Pressdown 4x6-8
5) One Arm Kickbacks 4x6-8
6) Skull Crushers 4x6-8
7) Decline Reverse Crunch 4x15

*#5*
1) DB Shoulder Press 4x6-8
2) Lat Raises 4x6-8
3) Behind Back BB Shoulder Shrugs 4x6-8
4) Standing Calf Raises 4x6-8
5) Rocking Standing Calf Raises 4x6-8
6) Seated Finger Curls (Arms Flat On Bench) 4x6-8
7) Seated Overhand Forearm Curls (Arms Flat On Knees) 4x6-8
8) Seated BB Twist 4x15

 

I havent done any acting yet. Im trying to get myself in shape so that I can start, though. I cant wait until that day gets here!

 

*ABOUT THE CHICKEN BROTH*

I did not even know that. I read the ingredients before I ate it, but I must have overlooked it. It just makes me sick to my stomach.

so to summarize:

Day 1 - 3 low body focused compound exercises, 2 isolation leg exercises and abs

Day 2 - 3 chest focused compound exercises, 1 chest isolation, 1 back focused compound, abs

Day 3 - 3 compound back focused exercises, 1 lower boy exercise, 1 chest exercise, abs

Day 4 - 3 bicep isolation, 3 tricep isolation, abs

Day 5 - 1 compound shoulder focused exercise, 2 shoulder isolation exercises, 2 calf isolations, 2 forarm isolations, abs 

Some thoughts:

1. 4 out of 5 days are focused on your upper body, why is that? close to half of your muscles are on your lower body, don't ignore them. (your spending more time doing arm isolation exercises than you are working an entire half of your body.)

2. Unless you are a competitive body-builder you don't need to do isolation exercises. In other words, drop the leg-extensions and leg-curls (see #3 for more reasons to drop them), the flys, all the bicep/tricep stuff, the lateral rises, the shrugs, the forarm curls, etc.

3. Machines are less efficient than free weights (you won't build as much muscle as fast) and can cause unneseccary joint pain/injuries, see this article for proof: http://w2.ideafit.com/fit-tips/february-2008/ strength-gains-fixed-vs-freeform-equipment

4. Working one muscle group a day will lead to underworking your muscles, you don't need to rest a muscle group for an entire week, it doesn't matter how hard you work them, they don't need 7 days to recover.

5. If you feel the need to do more than one exercise per muscle group in a workout make sure they aren't on the same plane.  In other words if your doing a incline bench press (a horizontal pressing exercise) don't do another horizontal press for your chest, do a vertical press (i.e. dips)

6. With all the ab exercise you're doing I assume you want your waist to get bigger.  Can I ask why?

My advice is to find a professionally designed lifting program, either full body (2-3x/week) or a upper body/lower body split.  Get a copy of The New Rules of Lifting for Women, or check out Stumptuous.com to find examples.

Wow! Thank you so much. I knew the workout felt weird, but I got it off of bodybuilding.com and it seemed to be doing the trick, but like I said I never really felt good after the workouts. Thanks so much for you advice! I'm taking it to heart!