In a world of Atkins, South Beach, Low Carb, Low Sugar and Low Fat diets I began to get tired of all this “diet” garbage. I’ve been becoming a little obsessed with my health, reading nutrition books and watching documentaries. If you don’t do the proper research it can become so confusing and you may end up destroying part of your diet for another. So I’ve decided to do experiments of “diets” that I find interesting.

The first thing is first, I don’t believe in diets. I believe in lifestyles. If you eat to lose weight and that’s your only goal, you will always end up reverting back to what you were. You need to have a true change of heart, realize that your body is the most important thing you have on this earth and that you need to take care of it.

The change in my life that I have decided to tackle is the Vegan Strict Vegetarian lifestyle. Not because I hate leather and only believe in hemp clothing. I actually love leather and my loafers are very comfortable. I’m not here to debate the ethics of a vegan lifestyle. I’m here to see about the health of a vegan lifestyle.

My goal is in 30 days to see if there is a change in my muscle mass, my fat percentage, and overall well being. A couple of years ago there was a book written entitled “The China Study” and it discusses major upsides to a Vegan lifestyle, it claims there will be very little chance of cancer and many other diseases that leads to most american deaths. This book spurred on my interest to see if it will really change my life, for better or worse.

Now, here’s the goal. I have lost a considerable amount of weight and body fat percentage in the last nine months. Since losing this weight, I have noticed that I’ve become scrawny. My goal is to increase my chest and arm size without increasing my body fat percentage, (hopefully decreasing it). Many nutritionists have argued that only whey protein found in meats, eggs and other animal products is the way to gain muscle mass. I’m going to work in the direct opposite of what they are saying, using only soy and nut based protein to not only keep but increase my muscle percentage.

My current condition / diet

My current condition is stated below, I have had a lower caloric intake than what I will have this month due to wanting to lose weight and body fat compared to wanting to gain mass. So the stats will vary from what you will see farther down.

• Current Weight: 150lbs
• Current Body Fat Percentage: 10.5%
• Bicep Dimension: 14in
• Chest Dimension: 38in
• Waist Dimension: 31in
• Daily Caloric Intake: (roughly) 1,500 cal.
• Daily Protein Intake: (roughly 140 - 180 g.

Changes to condition / diet

The changes are intended to increase the overall mass of my body. My goal overall (not just in this month but over a few months time) is to increase my chest size by 3 inches,  my waist to decrease a half inch and my overall body fat percentage to decrease to 7.5 - 8%. In order to have this increase in mass my calories must change in order to help compensate.

• Goal Body Fat Percentage: 7.5 - 8%
• Bicep Dimension: 16 - 18in
• Chest Dimension: 40 - 41in
• Waist Dimension: 30.5 - 30in
• Daily Caloric Intake: (roughly) 2,400 cal.
• Daily Protein Intake: (roughly 142 - 244g

If you note, the program I’m on states I need a lot of protein which is very difficult to reach on a Vegan diet. Today I’ve had 2,400 calories while only reaching 140.8g of my protein allotment. This is another step to see which nutritionist is correct.

I will be posting my results on a weekly basis with weekly photo updates as well as a .pdf of my entire diet for the week past, including exact measurements of everything. If at the end of this study I have found that my muscle mass has increased and overall well being has as well, I will continue to do Vegan living until I find a reason not to. If you have any questions regarding the study please let me know at my email address JordanDDunn@gmail.com

Edit: I was informed that the correct term is not Vegan, but Strict Vegetarian. I have adjusted the blog post to reflect this change. Vegan is not only in food choices, but in your life style as well unlike the Strict Vegetarian which chooses to buy animal products such as clothes. Thank you for the info @playbackguru