2 Years of Change...

Enjoying the hell out of the following:

- The 24 hour fitness @ Triangle Square; $30 a month, private showers, a clean gym AND towel service!

- Heart of a Champion workout program

- Being a vegetarian (coming up on 3 years!)

Here is a picture from progression showing changes.  The far left is Oct 2010, I was a year into vegetarian eating doing CrossFit and weighed about 148lbs.  The middle pic was May 2011 during my 'weight gain' phase; I was eating about 3500 calories a day and doing a traditional body building program.  The last picture is July 2012, I am eating around 2,300 calories a day and doing the Heart of a Champion program.

Honestly all three programs have helped me so much.  CrossFit was amazing and gave me such a foundation for fitness that I never had prior.  The body building phase let me put on muscle that I have been able to retain and the program I'm on now has really helped me bring it all together with the results I was always aiming for.

I'm also excited to say that in the same time I've raised my max pushups to 45 (from 25, 2 years ago) and my resting heart rate has dropped from 68 to 54.  Hell yeah!

Still lots of work, but not bad and 100% vegetarian.  No meat, no fish; I do eat dairy & eggs.

One more thing...

Do you want to lose weight?  If the answer is yes, then do this...

For the next 3 months drink:
- Black Coffee
- Ice Tea/hot tea with no sugar
- Water

No diet soda, redbull, sugar free redbull, OJ, milk, or any other drink with calories or ingredients.

If you aren't willing to do that for 3 months, then choose one of the following two options:

Option 1: Accept yourself as you are, it's okay to be a little soft, fat or obese.  You are the majority.
Option 2: Dedicate your mind to not getting what you want for a greater good.

Soft Drink = Soft Belly

Almost February, which means the gym should be looking more normal again soon.  

Now all the people that have 'thyroid issues', 'slowed metabolism' and need electrolytes during their 30 minute works yet can't figure out why they can't shed that last 10lbs (which is actually more like 40lbs) can start getting more sleep.

New years resolution almost done?  It shouldn't be.  

Here's a mistake most people make.  "This year, I'm losing 10lbs" or "This year, I'm getting a six pack" or whatever that end result is.  Make no mistake goals and desires are great to have, but often in life you can't control an outcome.  What you can control are your actions.

Here's my new years resolution.  75,030 crunches.  Seem stupid?  We'll, on December 29th, 2011; when most people will be making the same resolution as last year, I'll be working on finishing mine.

205 crunches a day.  Every day for 366 days (leap year).  You see, I don't care what the results are, my goal is in dedicating myself to an action, not a result.

And don't get me wrong, 75,030 crunches isn't my athletic duty for the year.  I'm still working out 4+ days a week and continuing with 1 soda/juice/slurpee a month & an overall balanced diet.  But, hell, I was already doing that so why not do something new and fun?!?

Here's another way to look at it.  Be > Do > Have

Most people focus on Have, "I want to HAVE bigger arms", then set the goal 'this year I will get bigger arms'.  But go back one step, what must you DO to HAVE bigger arms?  Then go back one more step, what must you BE to DO what you need to DO to HAVE bigger arms?  Confused yet?

To HAVE bigger arms you must DO workouts that will grow muscles and eat the right diet to promote that growth.  To DO workouts and eat right, you must BE dedicated to an idea of fitness and growth.

Everyone wants to HAVE a better body, some people DO some of the work, but those that HAVE what you want are the ones that BE.

So what do you want to BE?  Who do you want to BE?

Side note, Jenni and I are now at the 24 hour fitness at Triangle Square.  It is epic.  I've never in my life seen or been to such an awesome gym.  So much fun!!!

Weight Gain Results

So my actual weight gain phase is done.  I'm a little sad as my caloric intake will drop, however, I am very happy with the results.

I went in for a water-submerssion body fat test, which is generally known as the most accurate body fat test.  I do wish I had gone in right before my weight gain phase, but it's no biggie, I will factor in what I did and the results.

10/06/10
Weight: 148
Body Fat: 12.4%
Lean Body Mass: 129.6lbs
Fat Mass: 18.4lbs

From this point until January I was doing CrossFit 3 to 4 times per week and kept at the same weight the whole time.

January and February I began eating considerably more calories (from about 2200 to about 3100) and intaking a lot more protein of various forms ranging from 150g/day to 250g/day.

As of March I weighed in at a very steady 158lbs, I'm not sure what my body fat was at but I had put on some muscle and some fat.  This is when I started my traditional body building program and kept calories around 3100/day.

End Results:

5/28/11
Weight: 176
Body Fat: 16.5%
Lean Body Mass: 146.9lbs
Fat Mass: 29.1lbs

Total Muscle Gain: 17.3lbs
Total Fat Gain: 10.7lbs

I am very happy with these results, especially in the time I got them.  I've also had substantial increases in measurements and in how much weight I can push/pull.

==========================================

My plan now is to do a cut phase, focusing on fat loss with minimal muscle loss.  Should be fun and I'll keep the results posted.

Round 1 Done

So my first round of 'body building' is done.  I'd say it was a very solid success.

My weight went from 162lbs to 173lbs in about 5 weeks of training.  I took almost 3 weeks off due to work/travel and went off creatine.

I dropped back down to 171, still a pretty impressive gain with a noticeable increase in muscle.

Today I did 1RM's on Back Squat, Press and Deadlift.

I PR'd on all 3 lifts.  Here are my new and old PR's.

Back Squat: 195lbs vs 160lbs
Press: 115lbs vs 101lbs
Deadlift: 325lbs vs 308lbs

I'm pretty happy with these numbers and looking forward to hitting another round of body building style workouts.

I don't need meat to be faster

3 months ago I decided I wanted to gain weight.  A little research and a little help landed me on deciding to intake about 3100 calories a day.  A significant jump from the 1800-2200 I was eating each day.

Here I am 3 months later, I've gone from being stuck at 148lbs for 6 months to a happilly increasing 168lbs.  My weight is up increasing, every week I'm increasing the weights I'm lifting and I'm felling great.

All without 1 bit of meat.  No beef.  No chicken.  No fish.  Nothing, not even broth.

I'm sorry to all those vegans out there, but I am actively stuffing my face with eggs, milk, cheese and the like.  But I still am having all the vegan classics like tofu, hemp protein, spirulina, chlorella, quinoa, etc.

Almost all resources on 'gaining weight' say you must eat meat.  Hell, CrossFit lives and dies by the Paleo diet, but seriously has anyone ever tried doing this on a vegetarian diet?  I'm get the same results I see and hear about from other CrossFiters and weight lifters, my wife is in better shape than most women that workout (yes including crossfiters).  Yet she hasn't eaten meat since she was 14 or so.

Here's an interesting study:
http://www.annals.org/content/153/5/289.abstract

This is a 20 year study (20 YEAR!) with over 130,000 subjects run by The Annals of Internal Medicine and funded by The National Institute of Health ie the Government.

The conclusion:
A low-carbohydrate diet based on animal sources was associated with higher all-cause mortality in both men and women, whereas a vegetable-based low-carbohydrate diet was associated with lower all-cause and cardiovascular disease mortality rates.


The Annals of Internal Medicine is as close to a non-biased source as you could have for a study like this.  They have been a cornerstone of the medical community since the 1920's.  The funding came from the US Government, not freakin' PETA.

What's my point?  My point is this...  I love CrossFit and working out, but everyone jumps into crossfit and starts doing lo-carb.  Yes, low-carb can have quick weight loss benefits, people get great results in 2 months and all the sudden CrossFit and Paleo are the ONLY answer.  Neglecting that doing CrossFit is actually what got more results, why do I say that?  Because I saw the exact same immediate improvements when I started crossfit as a vegetarian.

If the only 2 people I know that actually have done Crossfit on a vegetarian diet (and I'm not talking about a crap vegetarian diet where you just eat french fries and white toast all day) do just as well as others on a Paleo diet.  Why is it not only only an option people don't consider, but they shun?

Day 3...

Well... Day 3 of this new program.

Today, it hurt to straiten my arms.  Stupid bent over rows.

My protein intake is at record highs, sorry vegan friends... milk, eggs, yogurt, cheese come one come all give me more.  Though I did also indulge in tofu, spirulina, and chlorella, enough to make any hippy smile.

Todays big movement was the standing Press, but lots and lots of other movements.  So very very soar.

Good stuff, so far I'm enjoying the program.  Now, let's see how much muscle a skinny vegetarian can gain!

I'm soar

So after a 9 days of, well... being sick and traveling, I'm back.  Today was the start of my actual weight gain phase.  Four days on one day off for the next while.

I'm going classic body building in the workouts.  Bench press, curls, push ups, chin ups and lots more.  Today was all about my upper body.

Just a reminder that no matter what kind of working out or sport you focus on, when you change focus and do another form/sport, it's gonna hurt all over again.

Now I need to go eat a bunch of calories.

Day 2

Nancy - 400m Run, 15 OHS; 5 rounds for time
Me - 11:26 @ 55lbs
Jenni - 13:25 @ 45lbs

Please note, the '400 m run' has no been measured yet.  I think it was closer to 350m or so, we'll be measuring it soon.

Day 1

We'll, currently we can't afford gym fee's right now.  But, just cause you can't pay, doesn't mean you can't workout.  I really want to put on some muscle, but I haven't had time to get together a plan yet.  Still in the research phase.

So instead, I'm just going to do some trusted CrossFit workouts.  I'll try to keep what I'm doing posted.

SWOD
3 x 8 - 85lb Front Squat

WOD
Fran @ 85lbs
Time: 10:50

I'm pretty happy with this, last time I did Fran, about 2 1/2 months ago, I was in the 11 minute range with 65lbs on the bar and assisted pull ups.  I'm doing unassisted pull ups and a lot more weight.  10 more pounds to Rx.

More food now!

Seriously, more food.

So I'm back after a few months.  After a standard holiday season with more sweets and less working out than previous months.  It took about a month to get back on track and here I am.

Right now my goals are shifting.  I did CF as one does CF for a while, got in the best shape of my life and have learned something new... I want more muscle.  So alas, I now turn to body building.

So far so good.  I'm going on this basic idea, less crap food (sorry holidays), whole grains only, 3100 or so calories a day and about 150+ grams of protein a day.  In about a month and a half I've been able to go from 148lbs to 161lbs.  Not bad, sure there is some excess fat, but I can deal with that later, as is the nature of putting on weight.

My days are looking about like this right now:
5:15am - Steel cut oats with flax and brown sugar, Protein shake with milk
7am - Post workout shake
12pm - Normal Lunch
3-4pm - Veggies, Fruit, nuts, hummus
5pm - Protein shake
7pm - Normal Dinner
9pm - Protien shake

Right now, Friday night through Saturday night are my cheats.  I'm also doing 5 days a week (M-F) at CrossFit Cosa Mesa, that is helping a ton.

I have noticed considerable increases in both weight, muscle (I'm guessing 50% of the weight gain is muscle) and strength.  My 1RM Press went up from 80 to 102lbs in this time frame.

After Feb, I am taking a month or two off of CrossFit to work on strict body building.  My goal is to be about 175lbs around 10% body fat.  As much as I love CrossFit, it's not really a 'bulk up' kinda program.  I think it will be key to getting down to 10% BF, but I'm going to try something new for bulking up.  Should be fun.

Wish me luck, I'll keep results posted!

Blood work is still work

I'm happy to say after a year and a half, I've dropped my Triglycerides from a borderline high 180 down to a very healthy 109.

A vegetarian diet and increased physical activity are the factors that have enable me to intentionally lower this.

We all want to increase our PR's, but don't forget those aren't the only numbers that count!

Blood pressure - 118/70
Heart Rate - 68
Cholesterol - 156
HDL - 51
LDL - 83
Triglycerides - 109

Don't know your numbers?  Get tested.  It's great to know what's going on in your body and important to know what you should be working on.  Prevention is your best force for sustainability.

Where do you get your Protein?

How do you keep down your cholesterol?

It's all about being intentional in what you put into your body.  If you never analyze what you are eating you are almost without doubt lacking some level of nutrition or getting way too much of something you shouldn't.  I've known strong and weak vegans, healthy and unhealthy vegetarians, strong and weak meat eaters... It's not the diet you choose, it's how you choose to fill your diet that will give you health, and for those who enjoy sports... recovery/performance.

So back to the title.  The 4 most common questions you hear as a vegetarian are:
1. Where do you get your Protein?
2. What about B12?
3. Where do you get your Iron?
4. Are you overly Effeminate?

Vegan sources of Complete Protein

- Amaranth
- Buckwheat

- Nutritional Yeast

- Quinoa
- Spirulina
- Hemp

- Soy Beans

- Chlorella



Vegetarian Sources of complete protein
- Eggs
- Milk



Vegan Sources of B12
- Chlorella

- Nutritional Yeast



Iron

- Chlorella
- Spirulina
- Spinich
- Flax

- Legumes
- Quinoa

Vegetarian Sources of Manliness
- Sports
- Cars
- My wife in a bikini
- Robots/Stereo equipment

Now, a bit in depth on Protein.  Proteins are made up of Amino Acids, depending on who you talk to there are between 8 and 10 essential amino acids.  Essential amino acids are what our bodies cannot produce and require for building muscle/sustaining strength.

Most health and fitness professionals subscribe to the idea that animal proteins as superior to vegetable proteins as they are closer in cell structure to what humans need for growth.  Therefore there is less work the body has to do to break down the protein and reorganize it into muscle.  I believe this is true, however, I don't believe that means animal proteins are superior.  It just means if you want faster results animal proteins, in particular meat, will get you there.  A combination of this along with the painfully obvious recognition of whole foods over processed foods is why Paleo gets awesome results so quickly.

However, FASTER is the key here. It's not that your body can't do the same thing with vegetable protein, it's just a longer process.  In my experience the longer it takes me to get to a new level of fitness the more natural it is for my body to sustain that level of fitness.  This, in my opinion is the strength of vegetable based proteins.  Slow and steady, if you will.

Yes, if you are a vegetarian you have to be more intentional about getting all of your essential amino acids (Protein) than someone who eats meat (unless your goal is to get beat up a lot and be weak).  But, as long as you're paying attention, it's easy to do.

Chlorella - ella - ella - ella - a - a - lovin' my - Chlorella - ella - ella - ella - oh - oh

Suck it Thrive

We chose Thrive because, as far as I know, it's the only documented vegetarian based diet with sports performance in mind.  What we ignored was that we already eat a pretty healthy, well balanced diet and are getting great results.  We have stopped the Thrive diet.  We got over the 'carb withdraws' that Thrive/Paleo talks about and got into the core of the diet that was easy enough.  Here's my main complaint, not enough calories.

Both Jenni and I had a hard time getting in more than 1500 calories a day.  Simply not enough to sustain at CrossFit or any solid form of working out.  Hell, you can't even maintain weight @ 1500 calories a day.  We both had extreme fatigue during the day and I can't help but worry about getting too thin on such a dainty diet.

We are back on our normal diet, which we have seen amazing results with.  It's a basic Lacto Vegetarian diet, which basically means no meat/fish of any kind, however we eat all forms of dairy.  I've done a million tweaks to this diet everything from super protein heavy, low carb to high fat, medium carb, low protein to a 33/33/33 split.

Honestly, I've found a lot more results from how I'm working out than how I change my diet.  The only consistent thing I've found I need to watch out for, is when I go below around 1800 calories a day I start to lose muscle.  Not cool.

In my opinion, for my body.  Here is what I've found...

Eat well, cook food, stick with whole grain breads/pastas.  Be wary of processed soy products and processed products in general, really anything that comes in a box.  Eat lots of veggies, fruit, nuts.  Eggs and milk are awesome.  Use high quality vitamins, yes spend the money on good ones.  Chlorella, Spirulina, Flax and Hemp are gifts from God and it's a shame meat eaters tend to ignore them.  Don't eat too much taco bell or pizza.  Eat as much as you can.
That's basically what we've found works best for us.

To end this one, here are a couple of before/after shots.  These shots are after 11 weeks of CrossFit.  My weight has remained at 148lbs, my bodyfat has dropped from 15% to 12.4%.

The last pictures are of me when I was 25. I ate poorly, I didn't work out, I ate meat, my cholesterol was high and I was well on my way to being fat and unhealthy... wait no, I was already there...

Barbells for Boobs

Today we did our first Crossfit competition.  It was a fund raiser for Breast Cancer.  The workout was 'Grace' which is 30 x Clean & Jerks for time.

Jenni placed 2nd in the Womens Intermediate category.  She did 65lbs in 3:22!
I didn't place, but did 95lbs in 4:38, a big step forward just 6 weeks ago I was at 85lbs in 6:06.

Good fun for a good cause, great job Jenni!

Baseline

10/7/2010
Nate - 9:56 (jumping pull up)
Jenni - 10:24 (blue band pull up)
Rob - 8:30 Rx

I'm including Rob, as he is going to be doing the Thrive diet with us.

Please note, here are our original baseline scores.

7/28/2010
Nate - 12:03 (jumping pull up)
Jenni - 12:19 (jumping pull up)

Beginning Stats

Nate: 148lbs, 12.4% body fat
Jenni: 130.5lbs, 14.7% body fat

This test was done via water immersion at Fitness Wave This is the most accurate form of body fat testing.

Side note, where as Jenni has been smart enough to stay pretty fit for her whole life.  I'm excited to say only 4 years ago I was 177lbs, 28% body fat.  Medically obese.

Also, a shout out to CrossFit Costa Mesa, we have had pretty substantial increases in lean mass and decreases in body fat % in only 2 months.  Pretty amazing stuff.

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Body Fat Chart

Classification	Women (% fat)	Men (% fat)
Essential Fat	10-12%	2-4%
Athletes	14-20%	6-13%
Fitness	21-24%	14-17%
Acceptable	25-31%	18-25%
Obese	32% plus	25% plus

The Paleo Challenge...

...is not for us.  It's an awesome diet if you eat meat.  However, neither of us eat meat.

Thrive Diet, that's more my speed.  To my knowledge it is the only Vegan diet that is based in the mindset of sports performance.

Now, I'm not a vegan, but to keep things interesting while I watch my fellow gym-mates munch on chicken and walnuts, my wife and I are going to do a Thrive diet inspired challenge.

Please keep in mind, we are following the thrive diet in the same way that most people follow the bible.  Taking some liberties and twisting some meanings, so as to make it easier on ourselves.

Here's the basic plan:

Breakfast - Smoothie
    - 3 oz OJ juice
    - 3 oz Grapefruit juice
    - 4 oz Almond Milk
    - 1 oz beet juice
    - 1/2 oz ginger juice
    - 2 Leafs of Kale
    - 2 TBSP Hemp Protein
Lunch
    - Vegetables / Sprouts
    - 2 Slices Ezekiel Bread
    - 1 TBSP Veganiase
    - 8 oz Hemp Milk
Mid day Snack
    - Energy Bar from Thrive Diet book
Anytime snack
    - Nuts / Seeds
Dinner
    - Dinner outlined in Thrive Diet book
    or
    - Vegan Raw Meals from Mothers Market
    - 8 oz Hemp milk

We are also, likely going to be adding 1 egg per day and some milk.  To aid in calories and protein.


Duration: Oct. 9th - Dec 5th, 58 days

Cheat days
    - Wedding anniversary
    - Halloween
    - Thanksgiving
    - Day after Thanksgiving

Elliminated Vices
    - Fast food (3 x week)
    - Pasta (2 x week)
    - Cheese (almost daily)
    - Red Bull (3 cups/week)
    - Alcohol (4 cups/week)
    - Soda (2 cups/week)
    - Donuts (as needed)

Basic Info

Me: 29 year old male, vegetarian 1 year
Her: 31 year old female, vegetarian 16 years

CrossFitting: 2 months

Vices include Cheese, Red Bull and Del Taco.  After all, what's more american than mexican fast food?

No we don't eat fish.