5 week update

[callador]

So I am over a month into going fully vegan. I haven't cheated at all, and so far things are ok. I don't feel much better than I did when eating animal protein, but I also don't any worse. My recovery ability is about the same from lifting. I'm doing a powerlifting meet in December, so we will see how things go on the new diet.

My current macros are:
Protein- 271g
Carbs- 722g
Fat- 71g

I'm trying to go as "whole foods" as possible, but I need stuff like Special K protein cereal and soy milk to really push my protein up there. I am going very low fat on all of my foods. I get 38g of my fat per day from nuts that I eat. The rest is from soy milk mainly. I am also doing vegan boca burgers, and they have less than 1g of fat in them. Otherwise it is lots of rice (4 cups per meal), beans, and tons of veggies.

The gas was really bad at first, but it seems to be getting better. I still have random flare ups, but most days are pretty good.

From a health marker standpoint, I saw a huge difference. I had high cholesterol before (like 280 without Lipitor), I had recent blood work done, and it was 112 on no medication! Everything on my blood panel was great. So I am happy about that, since I am a large powerlifter (SHW class). I also am down about 14lbs without really trying. I am currently 344lb. I don't want to lose weight too fast, since it will tank my strength. Eventually I may try to get down to the 308lb class. But this meet I will probably be in the 320-330's by the time I get there.

All and all, if I can keep getting stronger while doing this, I will stick with it for sure. The medical benefits are already showing.

 

[amberfunk]

I'm glad you're getting healthier. The reason I went vegan was mostly for my husband's health. His cholesterol at last draw he had was over 300. I'm hoping it's better now. Haven't had it drawn yet. I've been healthier since going vegan and it's a great feeling. So nice to see others getting healthier as well. Keep it up!

 

[callador]

Thanks Amber! I've been really trying to watch my fats by eliminating cooking oils, etc. I think if your husband is eating a pretty clean vegan diet, he will see some nice results with his cholesterol.

 

[Jamie in Chile]

Good for you, your fat is very low, I even wondered if it was too low although I don't know for sure. About 7% of grams as fat, and would that means about 10%-15% if you worked it out on a calorie basis? I guess that's probably OK. I don't know for sure. If you have done any research on how much fat is too low, I'd be interested to hear your findings.

Ah, just saw after re-reading your post you say you want to lose weight. Sounds like your fat amount is very smart, then. If you reach your ideal weight, do you think it would be better to increase it later? Or would it still be the right kind of range as is?

 

[callador]

Thanks Jamie.

The numbers I was using were as follows:
Protein- .8-1.0 grams per pound of lean body mass. I shot for 1.0 grams.
Carbs- This is the filler to meet my caloric needs.
Fat- .3-.35g per pound of lean body mass. I shot for .3 grams.

The macros were based around a few lifting style diets that I used in the past. I suppose if the fat is too low, I could swap out some carbs for more fats. This is on an ideal day as well. Today for instance, I made a vegan pizza (no vegan cheese since none of the stores in town have it), but the added fat on that probably had me in the high 80's to low 90's grams of fat, and I had less carbs than normal. But I will keep an eye on it. I am also not adding in the DHA I am taking either.