This week has come with it’s fair share of difficulties. This past weekend I came down with what seemed like the flu. This put a damper on my workouts over the weekend and the beginning of the week. One thing I realized from losing the weight over these past few months and now eating a strict vegetarian diet is that medicine strongly affects me much more than it used to. I felt as though I had drank large sums of alcohol or had lit up a joint. For the past three to four days I could barely do anything in a conscious state.

I’m getting into a pattern now of what I eat on different days and you will notice in my eating schedule that it doesn’t fluctuate that much anymore. I essentially eat a smoothie, cereal, peanut butter and jelly, and either a salad or a bowl of rice with tofu every day.

My tastes are quickly changing to dislike extreme sweets and actually enjoy tofu. The first week I had tried tofu I couldn’t stand it, but now I eat a quarter cup of tofu every other day in my brown rice, with a little soy sauce it tastes quite good.

I’m going to begin posting different “recipes” if you want to call them that. I have come up with some that taste pretty good.

I’ve become acquainted with cooking quite a bit now. I’m trying to cook a new recipe every weekend if possible. This has helped to break up the monotony of eating the same foods every day. It also helps to keep you from eating restaurant food or pre-packaged foods on the weekend because you want to just relax and not do anything. It’s fun and can help give you something different to do on the weekend.

One big change that I’m making to my diet, I believe that is even more difficult than going strict vegetarian is getting rid of corn syrup and high fructose corn syrup. This has become a challenge as almost everything in the grocery stores now have this in it. It’s even in your salad dressings, most condiments, coke, cereal,… You get the idea. The one thing I’m looking for now is soy sauce that doesn’t contain corn syrup, it’s very difficult to find and I haven’t been successful yet. If anyone has any recommendations please let me know.

I have noticed one thing since getting sick this weekend and being strung out on the medication. I feel ten times better eating the foods I have been eating and not taking the medication. I feel that the foods I’ve been eating have helped to counteract the flu much more than the actual medication has. All the medication did was dull my mind in order for me not to feel as sick. It did just that, and made me very tired and lazy. In turn, these past two days I’ve not taken any medication but instead I’ve just eaten what I normally eat on this diet and have noticed a great increase in the way I feel. I’ve even been able to go back to the gym and do a decent workout.

Here’s my update for the physical side of things. Not much has changed over this week as I had assumed. I believe it’s mostly due to being sick and not being able to do as much physical activity as I had hoped.

My stats from last week are:
Current Weight: 152.8lbs
Current Body Fat Percentage: 10.5%
Bicep Dimension: 14in
Chest Dimension: 38.175in
Waist Dimension: 31in
Daily Caloric Intake: (roughly) ~2,400 cal.
Daily Protein Intake: (roughly ~120 – 140 g.

My stats from this week are:
Current Weight: 152.8lbs
Current Body Fat Percentage: 10.5%
Bicep Dimension: 14in
Chest Dimension: 38.25in
Waist Dimension: 31in
Daily Caloric Intake: (roughly) ~2,400 cal.
Daily Protein Intake: (roughly ~120 – 140 g.

As you can see, the only change has been a slight increase in the chest. This may be due to the increased weight of the weights I have been benching, or due to the diet, or both. My belief is it is a combination of both. This goes to further debunk the myth that the use of soy/plant based protein is detrimental to building muscle mass, and that whey protein is the only way to increase the amount.

[caption id=”” align=”aligncenter” width=”500” caption=”Week 3: Relaxed, 30 Days of Strict Vegetarian Living: Week 2 Results”][/caption]

[caption id=”” align=”aligncenter” width=”500” caption=”Week 3: Side, 30 Days of Strict Vegetarian Living: Week 2 Results”][/caption]

[caption id=”” align=”aligncenter” width=”500” caption=”Week 3: Flexed, 30 Days of Strict Vegetarian Living: Week 2 Results”][/caption]

Again if you have any comments, questions or suggestions feel free to comment below or email me at Jordanddunn@gmail.com.