We are slowly coming to the end of the adventure, and habits are starting to take hold. It has been 8 months now since I have eaten meat, fish, eggs, dairy products and all other animal derivatives. 8 months that I look at what modifications involve this change of diet.
I remind you that my goal is not to switch back to an omnivorous diet after a year, the title is simply the name given to my adventure of trying to increase my muscle mass and my physical performance for a year following my change of diet .
The plate
On the plate, I can now say that I have a basic routine that remains stable, I am rather improving what revolves around lunch and dinner. In fact, what blocks me at the moment is the budget.
This is frustrating because I know from dint of learning what is good for the body but I do not have the financial means to be able to eat as I would like. However, I know that once I have more budgets, my goals will be more easily achieved.
It is especially in terms of vegetable proteins that I can improve the quality, because I currently use Myprotein, in other words the # 1 brand in terms of … price. When I have the chance, I will look to brands offering much better quality products, and if possible organic. I will also make sure to eat as much as possible organic, because the intake of vitamins, minerals and other nutrients is much higher (with fewer pesticides and fungicides).
Treening
In training, I have a really good feeling. I have now got into the habit of eating a light snack before training, usually 1 or 2 fruit (bananas, dates), possibly with 1 or 2 pancakes, depending on the time that has passed since the last meal. It really helps me to keep my energy constant and diffused during training, to hold the loads without having sudden drops in energy.
For the past two months, I have stayed on medium loads, with sets varying between 8 and 12 reps. I won’t go into detail as I stuck to the same exercises as the previous two months, but I still made sure to add isolation exercises, to particularly target the biceps and shoulders.
I also incorporated more cladding and I also added an almost systematic morning routine with self-massage, stretching, mobility work and a few minutes of handstand (pear tree) to improve myself.
Perfs and photos
Physical tests:
In the “current performance” column, the performances marked in green are improvements compared to the previous performance ( see previous physical tests ), those in red are decreases, and those that remain in black are stagnations.
Cardio tests
Strength tests
Bodyweight exercise tests
We can see that it is quite mixed in terms of performance, I improved on body weight and I regressed on cardio. I accept it because I left out the cardio a bit. Indeed, at the moment my main goal is not to improve in cardio but in bodyweight and strength exercises.
Regarding strength exercises, concerning the bench press and the squat, I had to change the way I test myself, no longer doing 1RM (maximum load deployed in one repetition). The person I was testing myself with has quite a bit of downtime, and I don’t want to change my logic of doing all the tests over a week.
So I preferred to spend as many reps as possible with the bar loaded at 100% of my body weight at the bench press (so 74 kg for the moment), and 120% for the squat (88 kg for now). This way, I can do it directly at home, without needing a large rack to adorn myself (one person or the security of my personal rack is sufficient).
Weight
Photos
I still lost a bit of weight, and I think this is due to the fact that I do not eat in a quantitative enough but above all qualitative enough. Being able to eat organic helps to gain weight, because food is more loaded with nutrients and is better assimilated by the body. I will still see what happens if I increase the intake a little more, with fruit at various times of the day and why not vegetable juice.
Regarding the photos, I am happy with the result. I know we can always do better, but I also tell myself that it is still recent. Also, I insist again because I am convinced that it is very related, but I do not yet have the food quality that I would like to have. The most important thing is that we continue to improve in general, which is very encouraging !!
The mind and anecdotes
The mind is constantly evolving for 8 months, and evolving in a good way. I know why I am doing what I do, I know why I changed my diet, I know what is driving these changes. No matter if I succeed or if I fail, if I achieve the performance I set for myself, I have discovered new sides of myself and these revelations cannot take me back.
I dare to take full responsibility for the solid symbiosis I have created with nature. The discovery of my deep emotions is contrary to the standards conveyed by society, and that is no longer a problem for me. I can no longer pretend, I do not I will never go against my values again. I will never turn away from compassion again. Life is short and it is way too important to me.
I feel like I have taken a huge step back on standards, and I understand how clichés have to remain in place for the economic system to keep working. Now I understand why there are still advertisements where animals are made to dance, I understand why we are made to believe that the modern slave is happy with his condition.
My mind is gradually forged, with my past experiences and my realizations. I actually had the experience of eating for a month in silence; the video which summarizes this challenge is available by clicking here .
To go further, download the free vegan sports nutrition guide by clicking here .
