Actively vegan. (Veganly active?)

fat bloke

Hi there.

First time poster to this section.

I'm a three month old vegan. I usually hang around the cycling section of boards but in an attempt to better regulate my calorie intake and my weight, and ... also for the laugh, cos I'm a keen amateur cook and I thought focusing on veg only would be an interesting challenge, I decided to go completely vegan for a bit.

I find it great I must say. I don't buy any pre-prepared foods (never did really) and I don't have any interest in meat-alikes and I-can't-believe-it's-not-chicken sort of things. So, lots of beans and lentils and grains of all sorts. Lots of nut butters and my banana intake has gone off the charts altogether.

Anyway, I suppose the reason I'm posting here is that I do a lot of cycling - competitive and recreational, training and racing. Before going vegan I heard nothing but shock stories and stern advice about protein deficiencies and nutritional imbalances so I did feel like I was venturing into unknown territory somewhat, so I'd love to hear from others who train regularly on a vegan diet and how it works for them.

So far, as I say it's been great. My weight is a fairly constant 69kg (I'm 5 eleven or so) and I don't find that I have to calorie count anywhere near as much as I used to. I just eat when I'm hungry and eat whatever I like, which is an enormous freedom and a relief after a lifetime really of trying (often in vain) to watch what I eat. My energy levels are great - much more consistency, no peaks and troughs. Ditto with my moods.
The most surprising boost is how well I'm going on the bike. I thought maybe my athletic performance would suffer, but... not so far anyway.

I must get a blood test done when next I get the chance, just to see if everything is ok. I went and bought B12 supplements a few weeks ago but I haven't bothered to take them because I'm not feeling any tiredness or lack of energy. I was also thinking of starting a general all purpose vitamin/mineral supplement, but they're bloody expensive and if I'm feeling healthy and well then... why supplement where it's not needed.

Any other athletically active vegans who have been down this path before?

Level 5 Vegan

There's a couple of lifters and gym goers here but no serious cyclists/runners I don't think. Anyway, welcome!

tommy_tucker

You spoke too soon Level 5 vegan, your talking to a competitive vegan cyclist/triathlete, did the nationals last week(not well but did them). its the only way to go for me as i battled with my weight on a standard diet and find it far easier on a vegan diet

also on the B12 front, you probably won't get a deficiency in it for a while because your only vegan 3 months but eventually your levels will run low so its probably not a bad thing to be taking it every so often to keep it topped up. once or twice a week would be grand, those capsules usually have 1000% gda anyway.

fat bloke

tommy_tucker wrote: »

You spoke too soon Level 5 vegan, your talking to a competitive vegan cyclist/triathlete, did the nationals last week(not well but did them). its the only way to go for me as i battled with my weight on a standard diet and find it far easier on a vegan diet

also on the B12 front, you probably won't get a deficiency in it for a while because your only vegan 3 months but eventually your levels will run low so its probably not a bad thing to be taking it every so often to keep it topped up. once or twice a week would be grand, those capsules usually have 1000% gda anyway.

Fair play on the nationals. If you finished at all, then you were doing exceptionally well!

The only other thing I was conscious of was iron levels and anemia. I'm eating a reasonable amount of green stuff but I wondered if maybe an iron supplement would be an idea.

Or is the handiest thing to just take a blanket multi vit rather than trying to micro-manage rare earth mineral intakes

Tar.Aldarion

The best thing to do is get a blood test with all these and see how you are getting on, adjust your diet accordingly. I'd say the best things to supplement if your diet is good is omega 3, B12 and vitamin D. I get bloodwork done now and again for this, ask for anything you want to be tested.

IWJ

fat bloke wrote: »

Hi there.

First time poster to this section.

I'm a three month old vegan. I usually hang around the cycling section of boards but in an attempt to better regulate my calorie intake and my weight, and ... also for the laugh, cos I'm a keen amateur cook and I thought focusing on veg only would be an interesting challenge, I decided to go completely vegan for a bit.

I find it great I must say. I don't buy any pre-prepared foods (never did really) and I don't have any interest in meat-alikes and I-can't-believe-it's-not-chicken sort of things. So, lots of beans and lentils and grains of all sorts. Lots of nut butters and my banana intake has gone off the charts altogether.

Anyway, I suppose the reason I'm posting here is that I do a lot of cycling - competitive and recreational, training and racing. Before going vegan I heard nothing but shock stories and stern advice about protein deficiencies and nutritional imbalances so I did feel like I was venturing into unknown territory somewhat, so I'd love to hear from others who train regularly on a vegan diet and how it works for them.

So far, as I say it's been great. My weight is a fairly constant 69kg (I'm 5 eleven or so) and I don't find that I have to calorie count anywhere near as much as I used to. I just eat when I'm hungry and eat whatever I like, which is an enormous freedom and a relief after a lifetime really of trying (often in vain) to watch what I eat. My energy levels are great - much more consistency, no peaks and troughs. Ditto with my moods.
The most surprising boost is how well I'm going on the bike. I thought maybe my athletic performance would suffer, but... not so far anyway.

I must get a blood test done when next I get the chance, just to see if everything is ok. I went and bought B12 supplements a few weeks ago but I haven't bothered to take them because I'm not feeling any tiredness or lack of energy. I was also thinking of starting a general all purpose vitamin/mineral supplement, but they're bloody expensive and if I'm feeling healthy and well then... why supplement where it's not needed.

Any other athletically active vegans who have been down this path before?

Although they're just labels, I consider myself to be somewhere in between a vegetarian and vegan i.e. I don't eat meat nor do I eat eggs, milk, butter etc. in their whole form but I will eat them inside, say, a dessert. I also occasionally indulge in veg pizzas. However, my diet consists pretty much of only whole foods like yourself, and I also have a new found love for ripe bananas :P

I've been this way for just under eight months now and the benefits I've experienced have been amazing, both inside and outside of the gym. Although I'm not currently going to the gym (am starting back tomorrow), I did notice great results very quickly when I was hitting the gym regularly several months back.

I was constantly noticing great muscle and strength gains (surprisingly quickly) on 70- 100 grams of protein per day. I'm 5 foot 8 and just under 70 kg. I honestly felt like a beast when it came to both resistance training and cardio. I believe the reason for the increased energy was all the carbs that I was consuming, especially slow releasing carbs like oatmeal, sweet potato, etc. Just as an example, after training seriously for about 3-4 weeks as a near vegan, on my cardio day I'd run around seven km in 30 mins, hit the boxing bag for 4/5 three minute intense rounds, and then cool off by skipping for another 10/ 15 mins. I'd be very tired and hungry afterwards, but nowhere near exhausted. I was very surprised by the sustained, powerful dose of energy throughout my workouts.

Of course, it wasn't just the vegan diet alone that got me there but the synergistic affect of a clean, nutritious lifestyle and very hard work in the gym. By the way, two years ago I was a SERIOUS chain smoker and had been smoking for 7 years. Just goes to show what a positive mind set and hard- work can accomplish. P.S. Just for some background info, I did weight training for the very first time in the summer of 2014 for 2 months, and then pretty much only ran afterwards, but was not a vegan at that stage.

However, over the past few months due to certain stresses I lost the motivation to keep going to the gym and lost my appetite over the course of two months. Obviously this has resulted in the loss of muscle mass and strength, but I'm confident that I'll get back to, and exceed my previous fitness levels.

Touching on the subjects of weight loss- I constantly lost unwanted fat all over my body and it has somehow managed to stay the same ever since since I stopped going to the gym. Like you, I eat when I'm hungry and stop when I'm full- eating a good variety of fresh produce and whole grains. Not eating meat, dairy, eggs really seems to do the trick. I can say this since I battled with being overweight most of my life.

Six months into the near vegan whole foods lifestyle, I decided to get a full blood- work done. Although I have yet to collect the copy of the results to see the exact details, I was told by the doctor over the phone that everything was fine. I was taking zero supplements in the six months leading up to the test. However, having done some research I understand that B12 and Omega 3 are difficult to obtain as a vegan and should therefore be supplemented. B12 deficiency can apparently result in permanent damage so this is important. I'm not a healthcare professional so please do your own asking and research here.

All in all going vegan has pretty much changed my life. I can list benefits on top of benefits.

To be fair I will say that it takes some time and experimentation to gauge what exactly and how much one needs to eat for success in the gym. Also, as mentioned, I have (naturally) lost muscle mass and size over the last two months but this has been due to the reduced appetite and absence from the gym. If I was still eating meat perhaps I wouldn't have lost as much muscle, but I would have still lost size and strength because a calorie deficit is a calorie deficit.

Anyway, I hope this helps you and any other prospective vegans lurking about! Any questions fire away!

Lazy Bhoy

fat bloke wrote: »

Fair play on the nationals. If you finished at all, then you were doing exceptionally well!

The only other thing I was conscious of was iron levels and anemia. I'm eating a reasonable amount of green stuff but I wondered if maybe an iron supplement would be an idea.

Or is the handiest thing to just take a blanket multi vit rather than trying to micro-manage rare earth mineral intakes

I just wanted to let you know that if you were worried about your iron levels then you should look up blackstrap molasses. Just two tablespoons per day gives you 100% of your recommended iron. It is not easy to eat because it is a sticky treacle type of substance which tastes kind of like sweet licorice. But I usually stick a tablespoon in a mug of boiling water first thing in the morning and then stir it until it melts in. I repeat this in the evening and that is my iron sorted for the day.

I get it cheap on Amazon in their subscribe and save offer by buying 6 jars at a time. (A jar usually lasts around two weeks) I posted a link below but I am not sure if it works. But look up Meridian organic molasses on Amazon and you should find it.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B009M3V5KA/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o08_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1