Healthy Living in Connecticut Blog

Six months ago, I started on a plant based journey. I had done week long vegan challenges, even two week challenges, but have never gone so long without any kind of animal products before now. What started out a 13 week challenge based on Robert Cheeke's "Shred It!" book has become an important part of my daily routine.

Here are some things that many people need to be aware of... plant based people are not depriving themselves in any way. I eat more variety now than when I ate meat. What do typical meat eaters have? Most likely chicken, turkey, beef or pork. What do plant strong people eat? Kale, broccoli, cauliflower, spinach, black beans, chick peas, flax seeds, chia seeds, pumpkin seeds, berries, sweet potato, almond butter, peanut butter, quinoa, oatmeal... you get the idea. There are a lot of choices.

I have made a lot of improvements this past week in my muscle building initiative. I decided to wear this new shirt I got in support of Rip Esselstyn, a former fire fighter turned author. Rip is the author of the Engine 2 Diet. He was also responsible for turning his fellow firefighters into healthy "plant strong" eaters to help save a colleague, who had very high cholesterol. His term "Plant Strong" really says it all, describes my goal perfectly.

So this week, I increased weight for both my chest and arms. I only go up small increments but to me, it's a big improvement. I'm no where near my goal yet, but eventually I would like to bench press my body weight... got a long way toward that goal!

I began the "Shred It!" challenge with a lot of confusion. I did vegan challenges before where I would give up animal products for weeks at a time. I never imagined I would go this long without any turkey or eggs and feel good in the process. All I have to say is that the challenge works!

I may not have perfect muscle definition yet, but I'm closer than I ever was. Yes, 13 weeks might be enough for some people, but for me it will take a while longer. However, I can feel the muscle growth, especially in my arms and chest. A lot of the loose skin I had there is now covered with muscle. There is still some loose skin left on the arms, but I know I'm on the right track.

I'm almost done with the Shred It! workout journal, just a few more workouts. As this challenge winds down, I've come to realize that everyone is a work in progress. It's not like once I finish the challenge, that goals will have been reached.

I'm still evolving and learning a lot about muscle building along the way. This challenge has been a real eye opener though. When I think of how much money I wasted on protein powders before this, it's so unnecessary! They were plant based protein powders so they were less damaging to the body than whey protein, but still, I could have achieved netter results over the past few years just eating whole plant based foods. But that's why challenges are so important, you hopefully learn how to better yourself.

When I started this vegan weight lifting challenge over 13 weeks ago, I weighed about 192 pounds. Today, when I weighed myself, the scale read 204. Normally, this would be a time to panic and up the cardio, cut back on foods, etc. Except this time, I'm building muscle and I know that the weight gain is not because of extra fat.

For one thing, my waist size hasn't changed. Everything fits the same. The only way to know for sure is to get my body fat checked again. I had it checked a few weeks ago and found out the extra weight then was muscle. In anther few weeks, I will find out if the other extra weight is indeed muscle growth.