Jenuwyn’s BodyBlog

About a month or so ago I completely cut out all animal products & decided that vegan life is here to stay for me.  With my diet change I can’t believe how fast I am dropping body fat (at least in the mirror — I haven’t had my bodyfat measured lately, but perhaps will do that today).  I’ve been keeping the same workout schedule, and my lifts are still going up & I feel great.  So, the myth about vegans being little string beans that just want to do cardio all day definitely isn’t true.  : )

My new diet staples are: beans (of course!), rice of all sorts, TVP (texturized veggie protein), oatmeal, homemade vegan whole grain breads & every sort of veggie I can get my hands on! : )

People always tell me, "Jenn, you won’t have any energy without meat" or "I don’t understand how anyone could be vegan".   And I understand that most people don’t have the ambition to take such a drastic diet change into their own hands.  To them, I just point them to the peta.org website & kindly point out that the big cow muscles they eat are not built by the cow eating the meat of other animals — they are built by the cow consuming plants.  And a diet of varied plant products provides ample amino acids for protein synthesis. Assuming, of course, that the muscle is stimulated & requires repair & growth. 

 So, that’s my little blurb on being vegan.  I love it & am very proud of the animal lives I am saving from the slaughterhouse & also proud of the purity of the plant-based products that I put into my body.  And, of course, I’m the most happy of how I feel - my body just seems to function better & my mind is so much clearer.  Love it, Love it, Love it : )     

Oy, ’tis the time of year when I pull out all of my costumes & try them all on to see which I like best — problem is, I have so many it’s hard to decide!  And in honor of my favorite holiday, I’ve changed my diet a bit to account for all of those awesome costumes.  Cut out starchy carbs, except for one day a week - I don’t know what I’d do without a ‘cheat day’. I may be going crazy without it! 

My workouts have been the same, fitting in all four each week.  That was difficult the week prior to, and following, the Breast Cancer 3-Day Walk I did a couple weeks ago.  My lower body was quite sore for about 4 days or so after, and my knees definitely told me that walking lunges weren’t a good idea that week.  But, all-in-all, the walk (60 miles over 3 days) was very powerful & moving & I loved every mile! But camping in a tent was awful! The first night was so cold I hardly slept a wink! Luckily, my boyfriend was able to bring me more gear for the second night, which made it much more tollerable & I slept like a baby that night - I was exhausted! : ) 

More pictures to come in the next week or so, as well as updates on lifting stats. So, until then, ciao!

Today is "catch up" day, I guess you could call it.  Didn’t fit in my last workout last week, so today is Back day.  So, this week is a 5 day week, but I’m actually looking forward to it — as crazy as that sounds.  My eating has still been clean (and by clean I mean no fried food, no sugary stuff, etc.)  If I’m hungry and want to eat, I eat - as long as it has lots of protein and has good nutritional value.  I am keeping a detailed food log, but only for the purpose of being able to change my eating further down the road.  For right now, though, as long as my weight is staying about the same and my bodyfat is decreasing, I’m a happy camper. : ) 

 I’m also participating the the Michigan 3-day Walk for Breast Cancer in about 2 weeks, and I haven’t been training much for that.  I just feel that doing such long, long, long, walks will be detrimental to my heavy weight training.   So, that is also something that I will just play by ear. And if it means that at the 3-day walk I’m totally beat to a pulp, then so be it.  After all, it’s only 3 days. : )   

So, I’m officially starting week 2 of my training today.  And I’ve been feeling great, so I’m looking forward to a great chest workout.  Pretty much my chest is the only part of my body that isn’t sore anymore, so that must mean it’s definitely time to hit it again. 

My eating has been clean, and I keep a very detailed food log of every single meal (meal number & time, protein intake, carb intake, fat intake).  So next week when I take another bodyfat % measurement, if I don’t see a decrease, I’ll know right where to look and will be able to adjust my diet and/or increase my training. 

Halloween will be here soon, as will my girlfriend’s wedding, so my goal is to lose about 5-7% bodyfat before then.  And that’s totally attainable.  : )