Shred It Challenge... Week 5 Update Learning A Lot!

I'm loving this challenge so far! Before doing this challenge, I thought that bodybuilders needed so much protein. I always thought protein powders were necessary for growth. And I thought I could build muscle without gaining weight.

I probably gained about 5 or 6 pounds so far, at least from the last time I checked. I know it's all muscle because the body fat stayed the same on the body fat analyzer at the gym. I'm seeing the difference and I feel stronger too. I still want to get larger triceps to fill the skin, but I am getting there!

I need about 3500 calories a day with how active I am. Before the challenge, I ate enough to keep the weight the same. I now have a better understanding of the concept of muscle growth and realize that I never would have built muscle with how much I was eating then.

Some people have been asking me... how do you get 3500 to 400 calories a day on a vegan diet? It's really easy as there's so many food choices out there.

I have oatmeal with berries and a banana for breakfast, along with chia seeds and flax seeds. Then I'll have pistachios, sunflower seeds and goji berries for snacks. 5 or 6 nut butter on sesame seed and quinoa crackers, two smoothies with ingredients including avocado, sweet potatoes, kale, banana, cocoa powder, etc., I also incorporated whole grain quinoa flax seed bread with almond butter on top, a large salad, more berries... it all adds up! But I'm never hungry and feel great eating this way!

So here's an updated photo. I'm not sure if you can see the growth from the picture as it's only a week since I last posted photos, but I figured I should update each week. Hopefully there will be a big difference by the end of the challenge!