Getting Strong Veg Style

[marygrace]

Originally Posted by GinaKina

Mmm, that soup above does look good.

The question I had asked was about getting in enough protein. As a vegetarian, I CAN reach the 40%, but I have to eat SO much dairy, and I try to buy organic dairy and....it's SUPER expensive! So I was wondering if people were having success without following that macro split. To be honest though, I'm feeling more full with this than I was before. My thoughts now are to try a different kind of protein powder, so I think I might try the pea protein, since you seem to like it.

Those are awesome stats! I'm glad to hear that the program is working for you

Gina-
If you want to drop the dairy, getting your 40% of protein is still definitely do-able. I don't normally track my macros, but did for a couple of days to see if my average diet was on track with the program. I was definitely getting plenty of protein, and I don't eat any dairy or eggs at all. While I definitely rely on protein powders to help me meet this quota, I mix them into things like oatmeal, homemade protein bars, smoothies, and applesauce so I'm still eating real food.

[marygrace]

Re: bloat; in my experience this has happened when I add additional protein to my meals and/or switch up the protein "type" --such as the case w/ the powders.
Your diet inherently has a lot of fiber in it & I've found, in similar cases, that sometimes this is a bloat-y combination.

It never occurred to me that my sudden bloat was the result of a different kind of protein. I've been veg for years so my body is pretty used to the high amounts of fiber, but I just started on the pea protein last week. Maybe that affected me.

Great Results!!!!

Thanks Dilly =D

Another thing RE bloat to consider is sodium intake. This esp if you are doing veg style as so many veg things are loaded with sodium. An excess of sodium will make you puffy (as my trainer puts it)

This is a good point, and one I try to remember. I consume very little in the area of processed foods, so I normally don't think that my sodium level would be much different than meat-eaters on a clean diet, but who knows. Maybe I did have a little more sodium over the weekend. I'm always weird with salt, because while I know it causes bloat, I have really low blood pressure (to the point of passing out if I stand without moving for too long) and doctors have always told me to try to have more salt to raise the pressure a little bit. I can't win at everything, I guess!

[Kirjava]

Marygrace, great work--nice to see the higher weights. I'm just a hair behind you, but I'll use your numbers as a motivator as I try to get comfy with the Stage 2 workouts.

I saw you had some pistachio-crusted tofu--that sounds delish. Tonight I'm making tofu, and I have almonds....should try something like that!

[marygrace]

Originally Posted by Kirjava

Marygrace, great work--nice to see the higher weights. I'm just a hair behind you, but I'll use your numbers as a motivator as I try to get comfy with the Stage 2 workouts.

I saw you had some pistachio-crusted tofu--that sounds delish. Tonight I'm making tofu, and I have almonds....should try something like that!

Thanks, and good luck in stage 2! Its definitely more challenging.

The tofu was really good, I put a little bit of marinara sauce over top of it. I actually wanted to use some almond meal instead, but didn't have any left. I bet it would be really good because its pretty fine like flour, but much more nutritious (and tasty, IMO).

[marygrace]

I completed workout B3 today. I can't believe I'm already nearing the end of Stage 2!

Wide-grip deadlift from box: 2 x 10 @ 70 lbs
Up 5 lbs from last time. Does anyone have an awkward time lifting the bar off the floor when you're on the step?

Bulgarian split-squat: 2 x 10 @ 25
Underhand grip lat pulldown: 2 x 10 @ 65 for first 5 reps, 60 for last 5

Reverse lunge from box w/ forward reach: 2 x 10 @ 20 lbs
Dumbbell prone Cuban snatch: 2 x 10 @ 8 lbs
I hate these.

Swiss ball crunch: 2 x 10 with long arms, holding an 10 lb weight
Reverse crunch: 2 x 10 on an incline
Lateral flexion: 2 x 10, side flexion 3

Prone cobra: 2 @ 60 sec

Finished with 15 minutes of HIIT.

Lots of little gains in my workouts. I'm raising the weights and doing more difficult versions of exercises. I'm also getting faster during my intervals. I'm thinking about incorporating some hill sprints soon to keep things interesting. I'm also still feeling kind of "fat," or at least "fatter" than during other points of this program. Not sure why this is. I've lost about 1/2" on my waist, hips, and thighs, but some of my pants feel a little tighter. None of them really feel looser. I also lost a couple of pounds when I first started the program, and now they seem to be coming back. I'm not sure what's going on.

Eats for today-
Breakfast - oat bran with almond milk and soy protein, 1 T peanut butter
PWO shake of pea protein and almond milk
Lunch - high protein (20g) hemp bagel with hummus, shredded carrots, and spinach
Snack - clif builder bar
Dinner - chickpea cutlet with marinara, sauteed spinach and mushrooms, broccoli
Snack - almond bread (almond meal and flax, no flour)

[marygrace]

I had some free time today so I went to the gym and did some HIIT on the treadmill for a little while. My legs were kind of tired from lifting yesterday so the intervals were a little slower but it was still good.

Eats for today:
breakfast - oat bran with almond milk and soy protein
lunch - bean burrito and sauteed broccoli (i normally wouldn't bother with something like a tortilla but spring break starts tomorrow and since i'm going home i had hardly anything left in the fridge)
snack - clif builder bar, 1 T peanut butter
dinner - greek salad (no feta) and hummus
snack - almond bread

[marthand99]

Great workouts, marygrace! I really enjoy reading your log.

I was wondering if you've been tracking BF% in addition to weight? I got sick of guessing whether I was putting on fat/muscle/water and finally invested in an Omron and a set of calipers. I just started tracking everything yesterday, so we'll see how it goes.

Also, every time I read your log and see you had a chickpea cutlet, I want whatever that is. I love chickpeas!! Do you know if the recipe is available online anywhere??

[marygrace]

Originally Posted by marthand99

Great workouts, marygrace! I really enjoy reading your log.

I was wondering if you've been tracking BF% in addition to weight? I got sick of guessing whether I was putting on fat/muscle/water and finally invested in an Omron and a set of calipers. I just started tracking everything yesterday, so we'll see how it goes.

Also, every time I read your log and see you had a chickpea cutlet, I want whatever that is. I love chickpeas!! Do you know if the recipe is available online anywhere??

Hi! Thanks for stopping by!

I haven't been tracking my body fat because right now I don't have any reliable method of doing so. I'm interested in doing it at some point though, maybe getting someone to do a skin-fold test on me.

The chickpea cutlet is a recipe from Isa Chandra Moskowitz's cookbook, Veganomican. It calls for vital wheat gluten, which is basically the protein element of wheat, so these cutlets are pretty high in protein. You can get the vital wheat gluten at natural food stores, but my ShopRite has it in the natural food section as well. If you choose to bake the cutlets, they might get a little dry and would benefit from some kind of sauce on top. I like marinara.

Here's the recipe!

[marthand99]

Thanks marygrace! I'm making it this weekend!

[marygrace]

Stage 2, workout A4. As soon as I started getting really comfortable with these exercises, its time to move on! I guess that's a good thing though, to always keep challenging myself and keep my body guessing.

Front squat/push-press: 2 x 6 @ 45 OLY BAR!
Its spring break this week so I came home, and the gym here didn't have pre-set bars. So it was either a 25-lb EZ bar or the big one. I decided to use the big one and did as many reps as I could.

Step-up: 2 x 10 @ 20
DB one-point row: 2 x 10 @ 20
Still having a hard time keeping balanced on my right leg. It is so much weaker than my left, even though it is my dominant leg.

Static lunge, rear foot elevated: 2 x 10 @ 25
Push up: 2 x 10 @ bw

Plank: 2 X 60 sec
Cable horizontal wood chop: 1 x 10 @ 35, 1 x 10 @ 40

Did 10 minutes of HIIT at the end and plan to go to the gym tomorrow and do 25-30 minutes of HIIT.

I wore my Converse sneakers to the gym today. I had been wearing my running sneakers and was always having a hard time with squats and deadlifts because I would be rocking back and forth. The Converses worked great for my push-presses, but doing intervals didn't feel great. I guess I'll bring two pairs of sneakers from now on.

Eats for today...
breakfast - oat bran with almond milk and 50/50 mix of rice and soy protein powder
pwo shake of almond milk and 50/50 mix of pea and soy protein
lunch - salad with romaine, chickpeas, broccoli, olives, dried cherries, and olive oil
snack - rice protein bar
dinner - brown rice vegetable sushi with edamame
snack - frozen banana and cashew butter

[marygrace]

Workout B4 today, all done with Stage 2! Moving on to Stage 3 on Wednesday.

Wide-grip deadlift from box: 1 x 10 @ 70 lbs, 1 x 10 @ 75 lbs

Bulgarian split-squat: 2 x 10 @ 25
Underhand grip lat pulldown: 1 x 10 @ 65 for first 5 reps, 60 for last 5, 1 x 10 @ 65 lbs

Reverse lunge from box w/ forward reach: 2 x 10 @ 20 lbs
Dumbbell prone Cuban snatch: 2 x 10 @ 10 lbs

Incline crunch: 2 x 10 w/ 10 lb plate. I find these a lot more challenging than any of the Swiss Ball variations and will probably stick with them.
Reverse crunch: 2 x 10 on an incline
Lateral flexion: 2 x 10, side flexion 3

Prone cobra: 2 @ 60 sec

Finished with 15 minutes of HIIT.

I made another protein bar variation that I'm pretty happy with. It uses a mix of rice and pea protein, and has similar ratios to Cassandra's recipe. It uses cashew butter instead of peanut butter, and since the pea protein was vanilla and rice was unflavored, I added a little bit of melted chocolate chips to the mixture to give it some flavor. They taste pretty good.

I'm not sure what my food plans are for today yet, but here's food for yesterday.:
Breakfast: oat bran with almond milk and 50/50 mix of rice and soy protein
Lunch: Roasted shallot and hempseed hummus with steamed broccoli and asparagus
Snack: rice/pea protein bar, 1 T cashew butter
Dinner: Sauteed kale, eggplant, shiitakes, and tofu with marinara
Snack: Frozen banana and cashew "ice cream" (just blended the two ingredients together with a little almond milk)

[missjane]

Don't worry, Stage 2 comes right back as Stage 4 in 3 weeks!

[Kirjava]

Great job on the workout! Your strength is gettin' up there for sure. Congratulations on finishing up with Stage 2!!!
That cashew/banana "ice cream" sounds killer!

[marygrace]

Don't worry, Stage 2 comes right back as Stage 4 in 3 weeks!

I'm really excited for it! I was just starting to feel really strong with the push presses, using the oly bar and all. I'm looking forward to doing more of those.

Great job on the workout! Your strength is gettin' up there for sure. Congratulations on finishing up with Stage 2!!!
That cashew/banana "ice cream" sounds killer!

Thanks =D

[pharma_gal]

How do you make the almond bread?

[kfisherx]

Congrats on completing yet another phase girl... I see the weights going up with time just as it should be. Are you starting to see any muscle yet?

[marygrace]

How do you make the almond bread?

I modified the recipe from breads. Since I don't eat eggs I replaced them with 2 T of ground flax blended with 6 T of water. The bread is really tasty, and since its made almost entirely of almonds, pretty rich and filling.

Congrats on completing yet another phase girl... I see the weights going up with time just as it should be. Are you starting to see any muscle yet?

Thanks! I'm always wondering if I'm increasing my weights as I should be, since it seems like almost every woman participating in the program is at a different place. I'm seeing a lot of definition in my arms, shoulders, and upper back, not so much yet in my lower half, but that's where most of the fat is. I know my legs are really strong from running but my thighs still have jiggle. I'll get there!