I was Pescatarian for a couple years and just went vegan a few months ago. I found my recovery is much slower now and my workouts have suffered from being tired. It feels like I’ve aged 10 years. I am tired at work, tired at home, I would sleep all day if I could. I put in about 12-13 hours a week training right now. At first I blamed it on the cold weather, being older, overtraining, maybe my body was fighting a cold, then maybe I was dehydrated. I’ve been taking Vitamin B12, B6, D3, Iron and a multi vitamin too. I switched from Whey Protein to Soy Protein too mix. Nothing helped much. Then I had a couple big stuffed Lou Malnatti’s pizza slices the other night with lots cheese and I came alive and felt good immediately.
Granted, I am a VERY lazy eater. I hate to cook anything, I just microwave or I go out for meals. 70% of my at home diet are bagels, 24 grain bread, bananas, OJ, V8 juice, and cereal with soy milk. Cheese pizzas use to be my dinner 2-3 nights a week prior to going vegan. I cannot stand vegan cheese, it’s disgusting, so that’s not an option on a pizza for me.
I want to stay vegan. Is there a way to get my energy levels up and stay a Lazy Vegan eater?
Not sure how committed to the vegan thing you are, but I would recommend you keep a food log for a couple of days and then head to a nutritionist. It’s possible there’s some micro nutrient (or a combination of them) that you’re not getting enough of
Not sure how committed to the vegan thing you are, but I would recommend you keep a food log for a couple of days and then head to a nutritionist. It’s possible there’s some micro nutrient (or a combination of them) that you’re not getting enough of
To be honest, I am lazy and cheap. Neither of those I would do. That’s why I am here asking you guys questions.
Lots of times I see athletes at this time of year make drastic dietary changes. Rarely does it work.
Might be better to make those changes just a few days per week to start then gradually shift more and more. keep a food, training, mood/energy level log (all in the same place not 3 different logs) so you can more easily make some deductions between what you eat, how you feel, your training & recovery
Your body will adjust it, so try a little longer. Soy protein can’t be good for some people because I’ve heard it can give you estrogen(?). Anyway, try Vega Sport protein. I’ve been taking it for years and it’s the bomb. You have to be diligent to be a vegan. You have to buy fresh fruits and vegetables all the time, wash them and eat before they go bad. I blend veges and fruits and drink a lot. Turmeric and beets are good for recovery, so include that in your diet. You have to do a lot of research and experiment to get used to it. In the long run, you will feel great!! High blood pressure, pimples, headache, stomachache, high cholesterol all gone for me after all these years. It’s totally worth it so please give it a try a little more.
Lots of times I see athletes at this time of year make drastic dietary changes. Rarely does it work.
Might be better to make those changes just a few days per week to start then gradually shift more and more. keep a food, training, mood/energy level log (all in the same place not 3 different logs) so you can more easily make some deductions between what you eat, how you feel, your training & recovery
Your body will adjust it, so try a little longer. Soy protein can’t be good for some people because I’ve heard it can give you estrogen(?). Anyway, try Vega Sport protein. I’ve been taking it for years and it’s the bomb. You have to be diligent to be a vegan. You have to buy fresh fruits and vegetables all the time, wash them and eat before they go bad. I blend veges and fruits and drink a lot. Turmeric and beets are good for recovery, so include that in your diet. You have to do a lot of research and experiment to get used to it. In the long run, you will feel great!! High blood pressure, pimples, headache, stomachache, high cholesterol all gone for me after all these years. It’s totally worth it so please give it a try a little more.
So are you suggesting I go with the Whey Protein because Soy protein can increase estrogen and I am a man, so that’s not good for me?
I would tend to think you are just lacking overall nutrition period. You didn’t mention what you eat out but what you do eat at home is hardly a proper diet nor does it even sound like enough calories.
I don’t think a vegan lifestyle is for someone who is lazy and doesn’t cook. I cook pretty much all meals at home ever since following a mostly plant based diet and while it does take more time I feel significantly better from the switch.
I would love to go vegan, but I have practical problems with it. I have real trouble getting enough protein and iron in a vegan diet. As with a lot of people, my body only uptakes a fraction of the protein and iron that I ingest. In order to get sufficient protein and iron without animal protein, I have to either eat more natural foods than is physically possible or I have to use heavily processed foods and supplements. Super-processed foods and supplements present problems I would rather avoid, as much as possible. No way I’m going to depend on them on a daily basis.
Terryh, the symptoms you’re describing are precisely the ones I had when I went full-commitment vegan. It made a dramatic negative difference in my energy level. Theoretically, I could have eaten enough natural foods to offset the difference, but I would have been eating enormous volumes of food to make it happen. I would have been preparing food and eating it most of the day.
Others’ bodies may uptake protein and iron better than mine does. The older we get, the less good our bodies get out of a dose of protein.
I would tend to think you are just lacking overall nutrition period. You didn’t mention what you eat out but what you do eat at home is hardly a proper diet nor does it even sound like enough calories.
I don’t think a vegan lifestyle is for someone who is lazy and doesn’t cook. I cook pretty much all meals at home ever since following a mostly plant based diet and while it does take more time I feel significantly better from the switch.
agreed on all these points.
ive been vegan since june last year. i just made a cold turkey swap. i went through the vegan honeymoon period and i still feel good overall.
being vegan is not easy. its inconvenient in our society, and if youre eating processed vegan food you’re still eating shit.
eat whole foods, ensure youre getting enough calories in a day (which it doesnt sound like you are), get a rough estimate of your macros, and suppliment. i use “compliment plus” which advertises to address all a vegans needs, and overall i think it does, at least for me.
also i get extra protein from two different high quality plant based protein powders, vivo and truvani. i used vega for a long time before i went vegan and found out they are really shady about their heavy metal content disclosure so i ditched them.
If convenience is an issue, try Veestro ( www.veestro.com ), they deliver to your doorstep and the meals are frozen and quickly microwaved or heat for 15-20 minutes. We also use Purple carrot and the meals are fresh and easy to make. For protein, Vega Sport is good to mix with some fruit and almond milk with a scoop of almond butter.
Also can I respectfully ask why did you become vegan? Is it to improve as an athlete, overall health, ethical reasons?
Once you establish that, then you can tweak or not your diets and supplements. For example, I think there is no way to supplement B Vitamins if not from animal sources and so on.
I would love to go vegan, but I have practical problems with it. I have real trouble getting enough protein and iron in a vegan diet. As with a lot of people, my body only uptakes a fraction of the protein and iron that I ingest. In order to get sufficient protein and iron without animal protein, I have to either eat more natural foods than is physically possible or I have to use heavily processed foods and supplements. Super-processed foods and supplements present problems I would rather avoid, as much as possible. No way I’m going to depend on them on a daily basis.
Terryh, the symptoms you’re describing are precisely the ones I had when I went full-commitment vegan. It made a dramatic negative difference in my energy level. Theoretically, I could have eaten enough natural foods to offset the difference, but I would have been eating enormous volumes of food to make it happen. I would have been preparing food and eating it most of the day.
Others’ bodies may uptake protein and iron better than mine does. The older we get, the less good our bodies get out of a dose of protein.
I may be same. I use to eat mainly Pizza, Bagels, Bread, Orange Juice and cereal along with a whey protein mix. Plus, once a week I’d go out for a fish dinner. I did fine for years, now I just cut out the dairy and fish and I crash.
All these people must have a lot of time on their hands to track all this and cook and blend fruits all day. I work for a living and train, cannot do that.
I would tend to think you are just lacking overall nutrition period. You didn’t mention what you eat out but what you do eat at home is hardly a proper diet nor does it even sound like enough calories.
I don’t think a vegan lifestyle is for someone who is lazy and doesn’t cook. I cook pretty much all meals at home ever since following a mostly plant based diet and while it does take more time I feel significantly better from the switch.
agreed on all these points.
ive been vegan since june last year. i just made a cold turkey swap. i went through the vegan honeymoon period and i still feel good overall.
being vegan is not easy. its inconvenient in our society, and if youre eating processed vegan food you’re still eating shit.
eat whole foods, ensure youre getting enough calories in a day (which it doesnt sound like you are), get a rough estimate of your macros, and suppliment. i use “compliment plus” which advertises to address all a vegans needs, and overall i think it does, at least for me.
also i get extra protein from two different high quality plant based protein powders, vivo and truvani. i used vega for a long time before i went vegan and found out they are really shady about their heavy metal content disclosure so i ditched them.
I am too damn lazy to blend drinks, because of the clean up. I don’t cook, because I don’t like to clean pans, I was perfectly fine with my crappy diet and sustaining a lot of energy and training my nuts off, not a problem. How can dairy and no fish crash me?
One can be vegan on just rice, potatoes, pasta and bread - (that would be me). I read somewhere that juicing your vegetables is better than eating them. Something to do with the absorption as opposed to eating the veggies and the body having to deal with too much fiber therefore so some nutrients being eliminated before they are absorbed.
Also can I respectfully ask why did you become vegan? Is it to improve as an athlete, overall health, ethical reasons?
Once you establish that, then you can tweak or not your diets and supplements. For example, I think there is no way to supplement B Vitamins if not from animal sources and so on.
I became Vegan for overall health. I’ve tried tweaking my diet and supplements, it doesn’t help much. A cheese pizza all to myself help ALOT for some reason.