This Crazy Vegan Experiment: Preparations (Episode 1)

I have a tendency to be overzealous about most things -- start strong and quit a couple weeks in --, but health, physique and fitness have never been a thing I've sunk my teeth into and let go easy.

I'm quite eager to begin this crazy vegan experiment, but I don't want to ruin the ceremony of beginning on January 1.  Plus, I know I need to consult some professionals to make sure I approach this the right way.

A couple months ago, I had a blood draw conducted to measure a variety of things.  I have the beginning markers of Hashimoto's Disease (an auto-immune thyroid disease), but I had also just gotten over a violent random bacterial infection which showed I had jaundice (among other things), and my doctors wanted to ensure I had returned to normal a couple weeks later.  I had; and I also now have a baseline of my blood chemistry to use as the "beginning" point of my journey.  I will get my blood drawn again on July 1 2015, and (as close to) January 1, 2016, to measure any kind of statistically significant shifts in my bio-feedback.

I've also arranged to take tomorrow off of work so that I can have my body composition measured for the first time [by a professional] ever.  I'm actually so not looking forward to hearing the results that I intend to ask them to put them in an envelop and hand them to me, and I'll open them at some later point in time.  I will have my composition tested once ever 3 months.

The most recent workout I did with Coach D

In addition to measurements and such, I have hired a second PT team that will focus on the physical aspect more than the therapy (although I still definitely need both).  This, to help further my recovery from an L4/L5 and L5/S1 disc injury event.  My trainer (who adamantly requires me to call him "Coach"), Danny, has been nothing short of amazing in just the 3 weeks I've seen him.  He's kicked my ass more times than I can add up in the past 3 years.  And the best part is that my back is not only dealing with it, but I'm having less tightness, actually.... which means it's working. :)

So, basically it's just all-around good news in terms of getting this ball rolling, preparing properly, and ramping up to handle this next phase of my athletic pursuits.  I think I am finally ready to start back up where I left off on January 28, 2013, when my back went.

In other news, though... some obstacles.  First of all, January 1 will be smack dab in the middle of two of my best friends visiting for a month from Sweden.  We'll be on the road all over the place, touring California.  So workout opportunities will be strained, as will food complications.  But by then, I plan to be prepared and armed with everything I need to know to make the right choices for my plan.  

Which leads me to my current second obstacle:  balancing my macro-nutrients.  For all this time, I've been trying to limit sugars, be cautious about what carbs I put in my body, quality fats/proteins etc.  For the most part, when I was training, I was able to stick to a 40-40-20 spread (40% calories from healthy carbs, 40% from protein, and 20% from fat).  But I drafted my first meal plan (which I thought was very balanced) and it came out to 50% carbs, 30% fats, 20% protein.  Upon researching, I think 20% protein (a little over 90g) is fine for me.  Whilst I want to build muscle, I do not need to be body builder status..... yet :)  But trying to limit carbohydrates (particularly sugars) is a struggle when planning meals around a biodiversity of plants.  I will err toward lower glycemic fruits, but one thing I need professional advice on is whether I can truly eat a varied diet and still achieve the physique goals I have.  After all, sugar is sugar... and I can only eat just so much tofu to bring up my protein and bring down my carb intake.

So far, my January plan is to have oatmeal, hemp hearts and homemade almond milk for breakfast, a piece of ezekiel toast with black bean spread and a tomato for snack, a protein green smoothie for lunch, a vegan protein bar & pumpkin seeds for snack, and then a big thing of tofu, squash, broccoli and garlic sauce for dinner.  I'll be supplementing with glutamine, an herbal immune support and garlic tabs, and I'll eventually probably add vegan protein powder to my oatmeal and spirulina to my diet somehow (barf).  All in, that's a 2,000 calorie meal plan, which I think is more than sufficient energy intake to compensate for my workouts.  Again, though; I will need to have a professional take a look at it.

I normally would take this time to spell out my fears or forecasts of difficulty.  But part of me doesn't really want to think about it; I kind of just want to take it one day at a time.  I'm mostly afraid my digestive system will not adapt well to the plant sugars (I struggle to digest cruciferous things, lentils, hummus, etc).  So I will need to make sure to supplement myself properly with enzymes, and spend the next 6 weeks easing myself into foods.

I'm not just going vegan, but I'm going "whole foods" vegan -- nothing processed.  No soy cheese, no tofu sausages... CLEAN vegan.  Clegan! :D I'm investing the money to go all organic / non-GMO.  And because I know I will have days where I am just hungry -- not "real" hungry, but wanting to kick back and eat something that isn't green -- I will need to uncover approved desserty snack foods for those days.  I'm thinking raw protein or granola bars (I can store them in the freezer), air-popped popcorn, and god knows what else.  It's hard to find high protein/low-fat/low carb vegan food sources.  Or, at least it has been a challenge as of now.  And I worry about making sure I get the right amount of iron and other micronutrients.  I worry about being moody.  I fortunately have so many hippie and food allergy friends here in LA that being accepted socially will be no issue for me, and I have an abundance of vegan restaurants (that are DELICIOUS, mind you!) to choose from....  but trying to control an athlete's diet on top of food restrictions might just piss me off until I get it down to a science.

In any event, I am committed to this.  And I am looking forward to sharing what I learn along the way.