It’s now nearing the end of week four of my vegan roadtest, and there have been a few ups and a few downs.

Here’s what’s down:

• Lean muscle mass
• Overall weight
• Skin folds

I had my fortnightly consult with our affiliate dietician, Ellena, last week. And while my skin folds are down (yay!) and my weight is down, I have along the way lost lean muscle mass.

And there’s only so much more tofu I can stomach in a day.

So it’s time to add more supps! I’ll be taking doses of creatine to help me build and maintain muscle, in addition to using protein shakes. I’m fast realising that while there are plenty of vegan body builders out there, they must be using a LOT of supps to get to competition standard.

Here’s what’s up:

• My appreciation for tempeh
• My bowel movements
• My intake of carbs and fats … unintentionally

I used to quite like having tofu in my lunch every day. But when you double the amount you eat in one sitting, and then also have it for dinner every night, one tends to lose ones appreciation for the thing.

So I ventured into tempeh and I have to say, I really quite like it! It has a different texture and nutty a taste, and in general I’e found it to be more satisfying.

…at least until I get sick of it too.

Here’s the other thing I’ve fast discovered about eating vegan – with so many more vegetables in my diet – and using vegan protein powder – my guts have never been ‘cleaner’! Too much info? Never – you deserve to know the truth! This is the people’s blog!

My other key takeaway from the past couple of weeks was the reaffirming that it’s REALLY difficult to find vegan protein options when you’re out and about. I was at a work event for three days offsite, and had to rely on the food provided by the venue (they had been pre-warned there were a few of us vegans floating around). While they were great at providing ‘healthy’ carbs and fats, proteins were pretty much non-existent. So for about 2.5 days I had very limited protein and so had to fill up on carbs when I had the chance. With my energy levels already sapped from working crazy long hours, this did not help at all.

 

And so the roadtest continues. I’ll be interested to see if, in the next two weeks, the addition of creatine to my diet makes a difference in my lean muscle mass. I’m also planning on having a blood test then to see if there have been an impacts on my iron levels. #science

Here’s a few pics of some of the meals I’ve had over the past couple of weeks. Trying to get as much variety in there as possible while still being time-poor … that in itself is a challenge to be dealt with another day!