Women and weightlifting

Finding vegan protein powders are hard but I have heard of SunWarrior, but I do not know anything about the taste/ price comparison to non-vegan powders. (Usually protein powder has milk and/or milk by-products) But for protein, quinoa, pumpkin seeds, soy/ almond milk, and basically any bean are all good protein sources. A main reason why I ( and presumably others) like protein shakes is that they are easy, cold, sweet and are sort of like a milkshake. A "job well done" sort of treat. A protein shake with soy or almond milk, vegan powder, peanut or pumpkin butter, and a banana would be tasty and have lots of protein, but the fat and calories can get out of hand somewhat easily with those. But a salad with quinoa and pumpkin or sunflower seeds would be a pretty good protein meal, although obviously not nearly as easy/ quick as just throwing some stuff in a blender real quick.

As for what to do first, I suggest doing both. If you only lift, you probably wont lose much fat/ pant sizes, and if you only do cardio, you'll lose, but obviously no gain any real muscle. I'm doing both and from what a lot of others on here have suggested, if you do both, you will have all this lovely muscle under there once you slim down.

Hi,

I had the same thing here. A few weeks ago I started doing the Stronglifts program. It's a weight lifting program, that is easy to commit to (not saying the workouts are easy). You lift weight three times a day. You can find it on Stronglifts.com .

Men and women do it, although more men than women, but I think that's with all weight lifting.

I joined their inner community a few days ago and things are progressing amazingly. I'm already stronger than I was, and even though the scale won't budge, centimeters are. The biggest eye opener for me was that weight lifting with a large deficit is a bad idea. Just today I was directed to
http://scoobysworkshop.com/calorie-calculator/

Where you specifically can indicate to lose fat, but still want to build muscle. It showed me I was eating too little for doing weight lifting. I bumped my calorie goal here up from 1350 to 1700. (Although I won't add extra calories for the workouts itself.)


For Stronglifts you don't do cardio, just weight lifting, three times a week for about 45 minutes. The workouts itself get your heart rate going, though, so cardio is not necessary and especially in the beginning not advised. The website may seem a bit overwhelming and like the holy grail, but to be honest, for me it was.

It offers a nutritional program where it says simply to eat 6 times a day, whole foods, not processed, and limit carb intake to one meal a day. That way you don't have to count (I do it still anyway). I did get some whey / protein powder myself, but only because I often don't feel like eating breakfast, and a protein shake is then very convenient. I try to buy mine with as little ingredients as possible, in the end protein = protein. Although something called L-Creatine or T-Creatine seems to benefit with fat loss. (Seems to....)

Well that's what I can offer, if you have any questions just ask me in a private message. There is a LOT of information on nutrition and weight lifting in the community I'm in.

Of course, you can always lift weights any way you want. This is not THE one method (and I am not hired to advertise it, mainly because the basic plan of doing it, is free), just one method I thought I'd share.

The biggest eye opener for me was that weight lifting with a large deficit is a bad idea. Just today I was directed to
http://scoobysworkshop.com/calorie-calculator/

Where you specifically can indicate to lose fat, but still want to build muscle. It showed me I was eating too little for doing weight lifting. I bumped my calorie goal here up from 1350 to 1700. (Although I won't add extra calories for the workouts itself.)

BULK AND CUT :drinker:

I'm a vegan and I'm bulking and usually have no problem hitting 100 grs of protein w/o a protein powder but they're always handy to have around just in case you have a low protein day.

I am currently bulking. I'm eating around 2100 calories a day (500 over my TDEE, I'm petite). My lifting program is All Pro's SBR - I go Monday, Wednesday, Friday. I have about a month to go for my bulk and then I'll be cutting to rid that gained fat and show some definition :happy:

Feel free to add me if you need a vegan lifting buddy!

As a vegan, there are a lot of protein sources. Don't forget, protein is in everything! It does add up. Plant based protein powders are easy to find in most large grocery stores. They can be soy, hemp or pea based. Amazon has a ton too at good prices.

That said, I'm not certain you have to supplement.

http://michaelbluejay.com/veg/protein-strength.html

And just remember, that the recommendations in that link are for kilograms, not pounds when you calculate. Those recommendations are pretty easy to get on a well done vegan diet.

Good luck!

I went here too. It had my BMR at 1600 & Calories based on goal as over 2000! How can that be right?

If you're relatively tall and relatively active this isn't that farfetched.

My BMR is around 1800 and I eat 1920 calories a day plus about half my exercise calories... which puts me well over 2000 most days. I'm losing a steady lb or so every 9 or 10 days, and I'm pretty sure it's bodyfat because I look like I'm losing 5 lbs a week :laugh: No complaints here.

I went here too. It had my BMR at 1600 & Calories based on goal as over 2000! How can that be right?

If you're relatively tall and relatively active this isn't that farfetched.

My BMR is around 1800 and I eat 1920 calories a day plus about half my exercise calories... which puts me well over 2000 most days. I'm losing a steady lb or so every 9 or 10 days, and I'm pretty sure it's bodyfat because I look like I'm losing 5 lbs a week :laugh: No complaints here.

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/forums/show/4618-stronglifts-5x5-for-women