Hi there. I know, it's been a while. Without going into a plethora of excuses, I'd like to get started on my new mission: to challenge myself over the next 90 days to lose a maximum amount of fat, gain muscle, increase strength and stamina and cleanse my body.
First an update. Over the last couple of months, I've been working out on a consistent basis, adding muscle to my body and shedding some fat. My diet has not been optimal, but I've still done pretty good. When I started working out seriously about a year ago, I weighed 285, the most ever for me. Today, I weighed in at 259, which is a loss of about 26 pounds. I figure I've gained about 10 pounds in muscle, so I've lost around 36 pounds of fat. Now, my goal is to take it up to the next level.
How am I going to do that? Well, I've been inspired by the many athletes and bodybuilders online that have achieved phenomenal fitness at any age on a whole food, plant-based diet. Currently, I am reading Thrive by Brendan Brazier, who maps out a clear plan through exercise and proper diet. Using this as a guideline, along with my own knowledge and experience, I challenge myself to 90 days of optimal eating, a high-level workout routine, and more studying and blogging about it.
While I don't have the entire 90 days written in stone yet, I want to start immediately. No more excuses! So, this is a work in progress. Here, I will lay down some fundamentals, but will take the first 30 days to fine tune the diet and workout routines.
Also, my good friends at Kale University have agreed to help me document my progress on their website and Facebook page. Together, we will take a road that many vegan athletes have taken before us, and hopefully pave the way for more. As I write this, the plan is to post on my blog several times a week and about once every two weeks on Kale University. This could change, but it's a great start.
So, here's the outline:
Diet:
A plant-based diet, that is high in nutrients and devoid of processed foods. The meals will be mostly raw, gluten-free, and complimented with superfoods, many of which I have already blogged about. I will have six meals a day, with three being a small snack.
Breakfast can be a smoothie, fruit, quinoa or amaranth "oatmeal," or other. Lunch will usually be a mineral-rich salad with home-made raw dressings. Dinner can be another raw meal or a lightly cooked meal that emphasizes vegetables and ancient grains. Snacks can be fruit, energy bars (raw, home-made), an energy drink, vegetables or nuts and seeds. The key here is to make sure I get a good variety of food and macro- and micro-nutrients. I will give examples of my daily food intake in blogs every week.
Exercise:
The plan here is to work out six days a week. Three days of cardio/interval training will be alternated with three days of strength training. The seventh day will be a rest day. Again, the goal is to create variety for the body and mind, but also learn as I go, maximizing each workout without hurting myself. As this is happening in summer, I plan to do many workouts in the outdoors, but a lot of strength training will likely happen at the gym for the first few weeks.
Goals:
Starting today, I will check my body weight, by BMI, body measurements, and other things I may learn about to make sure that I am making progress. While I don't want to become obsessive about this, I do want to mark my progress, so I plan to check these things about twice a week. Right now, my BMI is on the border of what is considered obese, which means a year ago I was considered obese. Once I lose about 20 more pounds, I will be in the range of just being overweight. Ultimately, my goal is to come into my range for "normal" weight, which means I have about 59 pounds to lose. Measuring my body fat will fine tune this process, as this is a more accurate indication of how much extra fat I'm carrying, especially if I'm gaining muscle.
So, please join me as I embark on one of the most important journeys of my life. Be healthy!
First an update. Over the last couple of months, I've been working out on a consistent basis, adding muscle to my body and shedding some fat. My diet has not been optimal, but I've still done pretty good. When I started working out seriously about a year ago, I weighed 285, the most ever for me. Today, I weighed in at 259, which is a loss of about 26 pounds. I figure I've gained about 10 pounds in muscle, so I've lost around 36 pounds of fat. Now, my goal is to take it up to the next level.
How am I going to do that? Well, I've been inspired by the many athletes and bodybuilders online that have achieved phenomenal fitness at any age on a whole food, plant-based diet. Currently, I am reading Thrive by Brendan Brazier, who maps out a clear plan through exercise and proper diet. Using this as a guideline, along with my own knowledge and experience, I challenge myself to 90 days of optimal eating, a high-level workout routine, and more studying and blogging about it.
While I don't have the entire 90 days written in stone yet, I want to start immediately. No more excuses! So, this is a work in progress. Here, I will lay down some fundamentals, but will take the first 30 days to fine tune the diet and workout routines.
Also, my good friends at Kale University have agreed to help me document my progress on their website and Facebook page. Together, we will take a road that many vegan athletes have taken before us, and hopefully pave the way for more. As I write this, the plan is to post on my blog several times a week and about once every two weeks on Kale University. This could change, but it's a great start.
So, here's the outline:
Diet:
A plant-based diet, that is high in nutrients and devoid of processed foods. The meals will be mostly raw, gluten-free, and complimented with superfoods, many of which I have already blogged about. I will have six meals a day, with three being a small snack.
Breakfast can be a smoothie, fruit, quinoa or amaranth "oatmeal," or other. Lunch will usually be a mineral-rich salad with home-made raw dressings. Dinner can be another raw meal or a lightly cooked meal that emphasizes vegetables and ancient grains. Snacks can be fruit, energy bars (raw, home-made), an energy drink, vegetables or nuts and seeds. The key here is to make sure I get a good variety of food and macro- and micro-nutrients. I will give examples of my daily food intake in blogs every week.
Exercise:
The plan here is to work out six days a week. Three days of cardio/interval training will be alternated with three days of strength training. The seventh day will be a rest day. Again, the goal is to create variety for the body and mind, but also learn as I go, maximizing each workout without hurting myself. As this is happening in summer, I plan to do many workouts in the outdoors, but a lot of strength training will likely happen at the gym for the first few weeks.
Goals:
Starting today, I will check my body weight, by BMI, body measurements, and other things I may learn about to make sure that I am making progress. While I don't want to become obsessive about this, I do want to mark my progress, so I plan to check these things about twice a week. Right now, my BMI is on the border of what is considered obese, which means a year ago I was considered obese. Once I lose about 20 more pounds, I will be in the range of just being overweight. Ultimately, my goal is to come into my range for "normal" weight, which means I have about 59 pounds to lose. Measuring my body fat will fine tune this process, as this is a more accurate indication of how much extra fat I'm carrying, especially if I'm gaining muscle.
So, please join me as I embark on one of the most important journeys of my life. Be healthy!
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