p90x for vegans

ta-ta

2011-06-30T10:48:00.000-07:00

I have gone raw, and started insanity. I am not going to be posting any results from those, but I do hope all the fit vegans get something out of this page. Keep pushing play!

On the Double

2011-01-30T23:59:00.000-08:00

I am going on my second week of doubles. Ouch!

I had a body image revelation. I want to look hot. And to me that means having great abs (that I can see), and a fit and toned body. I had this idea before but somehow thought that I would have some attachment to ego or be arrogant about being hot. I realized that is a terrible way to look at it. I am working hard on my body and yes I want to be at a place where I will show it off and be proud of my work. I am not going to turn into a jerk because I look good... I have no clue where i got the idea that getting a six pac comes with a bad attitude, but it is no longer in my mindset.

So with my complete acceptance and willingness to have the body I want, I have decided to step it up to doubles. I am sore. It is hard work. and I am keeping a positive attitude and I am set on my goals.

Hungry!

2011-01-18T00:01:00.000-08:00

I think my metabolism has been picking up. I no longer am timing my eating to every hour, I am hungry throughout the day. The last two mornings I have woken up around 8am very hungry. I get up and make a shake and go back to bed. I a night person so 8 is pretty early. If I can I am going to work out while I am up, or at the very least do some yoga. I can already see the results from this round of working out. I am on day 19. I am heavily considering doing doubles. I have tried working out twice during the weight days of last week, and yes I am more tired and more sore, but it seems to be manageable. I am going to continue to do doubles on weight days this week and possibly on recovery week. I am going to reference the doubles plan. I have been adding Cardio X to my day. I like it. I sweat, get my heart rate up and feel great after doing it. I also want to get back to where I was at before my concussion faster. I am about 5lbs away from that goal. I am more concerned about how my clothes feel and how I look than weight. I feel like I am putting on, and toning muscle right now so I do not expect my weight to reveal much anyway.

Amazing Lentil Loaf

2011-01-16T16:24:00.000-08:00

Like all the recipes in here this is my original work and I ask that you give me credit if you re-post or publish this ENJOY!!

Lentil Loaf
1 1/2 cups red or mixed red and yellow lentils
2 slices of bread
1 cup walnuts
1 or 2 cloves garlic
1/2 white or yellow onion
2 "eggs" (1/4 teaspoon xanthan gum, 1/2 teaspoon potato starch, 1/4 cup soy or rice milk, 1/2 teaspoon oil)
1 teaspoon baking soda
about 10 white, crimini or baby bella mushrooms
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon pepper
1 teaspoon garlic granuals
1 teaspoon onion powder
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1/4 cup oil
24 oz tomato sauce (sweeter tomato sauce works best)
1/2 cup flour
1 tablespoon agave
Large mixing bowl
Casserole dish

Soak 1 1/2 cups lentils overnight
Drain lentils and set aside
Preheat oven to 350 degrees
Make "eggs" whisk ingredients together and let stand

In a food processor pulse bread until fine, remove to bowl
In a food processor pulse walnuts until fine, but not powdery, remove to bowl
In a food processor pulse mushrooms until finely chopped. do not over mix. remove to bowl
In a food processor pulse garlic, add onion until coarsely chopped add to bowl
add seasonings to bowl
add flour to bowl
add baking soda to bowl
In a food processor pulse lentils until split into pieces of about halves and quarters. you may need to stir lentils and mix. Do not over mix lentils. should be course and have texture. Add to bowl and mix
add 12 oz of tomato sauce to bowl and mix
add eggs to bowl and mix
add 1/8 cup oil and mix

mix 1/4 cup of tomato sauce and 1/8 cup oil in bottom of dish and spread around
glob mixture into dish and smooth out
Pour remaining tomato sauce on top evenly, add agave and spread evenly on top. you may also drizzle catchup on top for extra flavor.

bake for 20 minutes covered and 30 minutes uncovered

I have not experimented with making this in a bread pan. I have made half this recipe in the same size pan, it was shorter, but turned out very well. with the half recipe I baked uncovered for 40 minutes.

trying something new

2011-01-13T00:07:00.000-08:00

I am exploring my relationship to food. I love food. I love cooking even more. I have decided to try to eat something small every 1-2 hours. I have a bowl that would hold about 8-10 fl oz that I have been using as my portion control. I set an alarm to go off every hour, and I either have something left over, start cooking, or have a shake. In addition to protein shakes I am trying out Garden of Life's Raw Meal. It has many minerals and vitamins and tastes pretty good. RAWMEAL . I have also been staying with the mostly whole foods diet. Lentils are a friend of mine. Red Lentil soup is one of my favorites. I have also created a meatloaf that is actually really good. both recipes to come.
I am on the third day of eating 10 times a day. I feel great. I feel hungry about every hour and am satisfied with the small bowl portion.

Round 2

2011-01-12T00:34:00.000-08:00

Okay.. So my results were short lived. I got a concussion and could not work out for two months. In addition to not working out my bruised brain was telling my body to eat fat and sugar. Makes sense, the brain is made of fat and runs on sugar. My hard work was fading fast.
So I am now on round 2 week 2 of P90X. And I am very excited about this! From receiving some positive response from this blog I have decided to blog some more. I will be posting soon! BRING IT!

Final Results

2010-09-30T15:00:00.000-07:00

weight: -10.6 lbs

waist: -5"

bicep: -.25"
thigh: -2"
vertical leap: +3.75"
push ups: +35 (on knees)
toe touch: +6.5"
wall squat- at 60 days (+3.07)
bicep curls (10 lbs): (+43 reps)
pull-ups: +9
in and outs: +99

The final countdown!

2010-09-18T03:15:00.000-07:00

Down to the last week. I must admit that I have gotten pretty tired of working out. I took a couple of days off. I now going to finish strong. Overall, I did well with the diet, and my best with the work outs. I feel great. I look good. I noticed tonight how easy it was to move. I did not realize how much my extra pounds affected me. Glad to be rid of those and hope to keep it off. My work out plan post p90x is going to be going to the gym, and the couch 2 5k. I am going to keep with the carb/whole food diet while I have fresh and local veggies available. I am very likely to do p90x again in the future. I would also like to try out the insanity work out. I will post my final results soon. Thanks for reading!! I really hope that this page helped anyone trying this work out. And thanks for being vegan!

pull-ups

2010-08-25T11:41:00.000-07:00

Last night during leg and back I did 8 pull-ups during the work out. I was not all the way down, but I am happy with what I can do. I was able to do 3 in a row the first time, where I was only able to do 1 during the fitness test a few days ago. I had never been able to do pull-ups in my life.

60 day results

2010-08-24T12:13:00.000-07:00

I am pleased with my sixty day results, and I am going to work really hard on this last 30. It seems like the pictures people have posted online have the biggest difference from day 60 to day 90. Lets see if that works for me too. I am loving my diet for this round. so much delicious food. And I can eat all day because most of what I eat has hardly any calories.

these are the results comparing day 0 to day 60

weight -9.2lbs
waist -4"
bicep -.5"
thigh -2.5"
vertical leap +3.25"
push-ups n/a (it was hurting my shoulder to do them, so I didn't)
toe touch +4.75"
wall squat +3:07
bicep curls +43
in & outs +70
pull- up 1

phase 3

2010-08-18T00:31:00.000-07:00

Today I began phase 3 of the nutrition plan. It was a little bit of guessing and lots of good food. I shared a cupcake from city cakes who happened to be at the farmers market. It was delicious and a special treat. Now back to work. I am going a little crazy with this phase and I am going to try to do raw as much as possible or at least often. If not raw, then whole foods. I have little experience with raw, so I am going to do what I can and have fun with it. I am going to be pretty strict with the diet and limit foods to whole foods. Nothing processed. We made this decision a few weeks ago and stopped purchasing new food and rid our cupboard and fridge of most processed foods (at least anything tempting or perishable). 30 days left, and 30 days of eating healthy. Today my foods were: dried apricots, portabella burger on sprouted bread (not raw), banana smoothies, dried and seasoned corn, dried dates, and oatmeal. My calories only reached 1604. I made some raw bread/crackers that will be ready tomorrow. I am also looking into making a raw cheesecake. my fat was pretty low so I think this is actually feasible (the ingredients include nuts and coconut). I was also lacking in protein so I added some protein powder to the smoothies I had. I think beans or lentils might be a good way to replace the protein powder. I have some soaking along with nuts and seeds. I expect raw food to be work and planning, and I am going to do my best.

update

2010-08-03T01:29:00.000-07:00

Updated opinions of workouts: these were my first thoughts of the workouts, and ordered from most liked to least liked
1. Kenpo X-- this was fun and quick
2. Shoulders and Arms-- I like working these areas. It is easy to feel the muscles being worked.
3. Legs & Back
4. Plyometrics
5. Chest & Back
6. Ab ripperX-- it's tough
7.Yoga X-- ashtanga yoga is my least favorite type of yoga, but at least it is only half of the video

Now: (of the second training block)
1. Kenpo X-- Still love this. It is fun and a great workout.
2. Back and Biceps-- It is over fast and my arms are on fire when it is done. I like how I can do everything in this video well. Also Tony seems to be in an extra good mood in this video.
3. Ab ripper X-- never thought i would like this one, but I do. I can now do the entire video and I push myself to do it better every time.
4. Chest, Shoulders, Triceps-- again, now that I am able to do the exercises I actually like them. There are tons of push-ups and it doesn't bother me at all. I currently struggle with pull-ups still. my apartment has a very low ceiling and instead of a chair I am using a milk crate for help. Tried bands out today to replace pull-ups and I am going to try to mix it up between them.
5. Yoga X-- has gotten easier, still not happy about it on yoga day
6. Legs and Back-- I feel neutral about this video and the exercises, I feel like working out my legs is the most difficult and leas enjoyable.
7. plyometrics-- over it.

bringin it

2010-07-31T22:48:00.000-07:00

I love carbs. I can work out so much better. I am excited to see the results of this month, I want to see how the efforts of working hard pay off.

When the going gets tough...

2010-07-29T09:25:00.000-07:00

I am ready for that beach body.... and its not here yet. I have been lacking motivation the last couple of days. I posted to veganbodybuilding.com for some motivation suggestions. This is a great site for tips on fitness and bodybuilding, and there are many active participants. I am confident that I will be continuing. I just feel a little lazy lately.

Carbs!

2010-07-25T00:02:00.000-07:00

carbs are the new joy and struggle in my life. I love that I can eat carbs again! I am remembering to be careful of what type of carbs I eat and I try to stick to whole grains and veggies. I feel like I am at the beginning again with figuring out the ratios, but I am sure it will be easier after a couple of days. Today I enjoyed pancakes made from oat flour and buckwheat flour with apple butter and agave for topping (sparingly on the agave). Also, strawberries and apples have pretty reasonable numbers so I am excited to add those wonderful treats into my day.

Workouts have been awesome. The carbs add energy and I can work out harder. I noticed the difference right away. Yesterday I did back and biceps for the first time and my biceps were about to rip out my skin at the end and I was still "bringing it" for ab ripper x, I have been doing my best to keep up and falling short on the reps, but yesterday I paused the video and did the reps all the way through, I think I was only missing about 30 reps from the "349 ab slash core exercises."

P90X is now fun and I look forward to my workouts.

30 day results

2010-07-22T23:46:00.000-07:00

I am very pleased with my results of 30 days. I feel great. I look better.

some highlights:

vertical leap increased 1.5"
wall squat from 1:35 to 3:05
added 3.5" to my to touch flexibility
lost 3" off of waist
lost 4.2 pounds

traveling

2010-07-13T09:48:00.000-07:00

I brought my computer and bands with me while i am out of town. I am happy that week 4 is the week that i am out of town so bands should be all i need. I like to do some of the moves with weights more than bands. Also there is the wonderful trader joes where there are packages of vegan gluten high protein mock meats to dine on. I got the beef strips and the bbq chicken as my main source of food. I will be making a carb exception to enjoy the wonders of green vegetarian restaurant (my absolute favorite!) while in phoenix. I highly recommend this place to anyone.

I did the kenpo video twice in a row yesterday. I had too much pent up energy from spending so much time in the car, plus I did make a stop at ronalds in vegas, so I worked extra hard to burn off that doughnut. Surprisingly, I am not sore. I guess this is how the third month of the nutrition plan works well, eat lots of carbs and you have tons of energy. I am happy to have stability again with food. The road trip was hard. I know i did not consume enough calories or protein and too many carbs. I packed with me some mock fish from the asian market for the trip. It held up pretty well and It was a great meal source. For snacks I had some spicy nori strips which have some protein and some carbs, but not really enough to count. Just something to munch on on the drive. I did eat a builder bar which is not the correct ratio, but at least I kept my body fueled and nourished. I had some protein powder with me and made a shake as soon as i got to phoenix.

Beginning week three

2010-07-07T14:20:00.000-07:00

I am enthusiastic this week. I am seeing and feeling results in my body. I feel lighter and more agile, I look more fit, and I have tons of energy. I have not started the work outs for this week yet, but I am looking forward to starting them to move out some of this energy. I am also looking forward to adding more carbs into my meals.

chili dogs

2010-07-06T21:53:00.000-07:00

chili dogs are amazing. adding chili to the high in protein smart dogs is a treat and it gives some variety to my life. I made some chili from ground, veggies, and lentils and spices. If you make a large batch it goes a long way and makes getting protein tasty and easy.

week two

2010-07-05T10:15:00.000-07:00

week two has gone by very fast. I had found myself unmotivated, but the work outs seemed to be half as hard this week. Even the yoga was manageable. On day six of week two I have motivation again. and am already looking forward to next week.

Week One Complete!

2010-06-28T23:08:00.000-07:00

day 6: I have a handle on the diet, and am happy to have one week done.
In order from most liked to least liked exercises
1. Kenpo X-- this was fun and quick
2. Shoulders and Arms-- I like working these areas. It is easy to feel the muscles being worked.
3. Legs & Back
4. Plyometrics
5. Chest & Back
6. Ab ripperX-- it's tough
7.Yoga X-- ashtanga yoga is my least favorite type of yoga, but at least it is only half of the video

adjusting

2010-06-27T14:04:00.001-07:00

Last night I felt hungry for the first time since starting this diet. I think that I have adjusted to the amount of food I need to eat.

mmm breakfast

2010-06-26T11:03:00.000-07:00

Today's breakfast was very good. I made a spinach florentine. You can find the recipe in the recipe section. Let me know what you think!

supplements and food

2010-06-25T18:40:00.000-07:00

p90x nutrition and supplements

2010-06-25T16:57:00.000-07:00

I have started the p90x this week and my biggest struggle as a vegan has been the food. I imagine that my body will adjust to eating so much food as i need the extra calories and protein.

The nutrition is broken down into three parts, the first and most difficult for vegans is the fat shredder. This plan has a ratio of 50% protein, 30% carbohydrates, and 20% fat (50-30-20). Later in the program more carbohydrates are added and protein is reduced, but for the first month getting these large amounts of protein can be difficult.

P90x offers a great nutrition plan for non-vegans, but if you are vegan, it is best to keep the ratios in mind when making meals rather than choosing from the list of items. The first level of fitness requires 1800 calories. 1800 calories broken down to the above ratio means that we should be consuming 225 grams of protein, 135 grams of carbohydrates and 40 grams of fat.

It is possible to meet these requirements by taking soy isolate only, but that leaves out variety and nutrition. My suggestion for those attempting this plan is to come as close as possible to the ratios and calories. The ratio that i have gotten to so far is a (45-47)-(35-33)-20 ratio at about 1600-1650 calories, (this is my first week and i hope to improve).

P90x also offers a supplement drink called a recovery drink. This drink is not vegan, but much of the effect can be substituted with vegan products. A vegan protein shake will also make obtaining calories and protein easier. I use a rice shake to avoid getting all of my protein from soy products.

The recovery drink contains supplements that will make your recovery easier, and your work out better. The supplements which should be included (only in vegan variations) are creatine, l-glutamine, vitamins and minerals.

Creatine allows for more oxygen in the muscles allowing for longer work outs and better oxygen levels.

L-glutamine helps repair damage done to the muscles. L-glutamine is intended to help with muscle soreness, and if supplementing can be taken before and after workouts.

B-vitamins help with maintaining energy.

Calcium has been reported to aide in losing weight.