I'm in need of some exercise tips and food tips.
I have horrible thighs and a huge ass. Which I desperately want to get rid of. My stomach is a bit flabby but I couldn't care less about that. I'm not trying to impress anyone with my stomach but I want to lose the fat off my thighs and ass because it is something I'm super conscious of and am well aware that it genders me as female quicker than my face would.

I'm also vegan so I'm not eating any crap meats but my dinner is usually either sage and rosemary sausages, potato and lentil pies, flavoured and marinated tofu, sweet tempeh, etc. And in the colder whether I would usually eat a sizeable amount of broccoli with every meal. Now that it's summer I'm having cucumber with salad. Although my dinner is relatively healthy my lunch usually consists of toast/bread, cloudy apple juice and Vegusto cheese which I've been trying to eat less of. Basically I've been sitting on my ass doing nothing for a whole year due to anxiety which is why my thighs have gotten bigger. Not something I want happening but just haven't had the motivation to get out and exercise due to my mental state.

I guess I'm just rambling now but I'm thinking about starting a sort of routine to get rid of this fat. I have no idea what to start with but my mum has been telling me that walking  will help. I'm sceptical about that as I've read the only thing that helps to get the fat off is HIIT. Any advice on diet or exercises I can do would be greatly appreciated because even though I don't feel motivated that much I want this to be the start of feeling better about myself and getting myself out of my depression and anxiety crap..

Your mother is right. Start walking.

Start walking and work up to something more energetic. Losing fat is all about losing more calories a day than you consume. That's really all that matters. The only problem with being vegan though, is potentially less protein and natural vitamins and minerals in your diet. Some vitamins and minerals are best absorbed through digesting them when they're a part of the food but if you're not taking supplements right now, you should probably look into that as well. It's not as effective but it is better than nothing. When you start to work out you'll be using more energy and if you don't have a good balanced system you open yourself up to the potential to get ill.

Target weight loss is impossible too. Anyone that's told you that is lying. You can only lose fat overall. So even if you're okay with fat on your gut, you can't choose where you lose fat, so to lose it in your hips and butt, you'll have to lose some in your gut too.

Walking is a definite help in this department - although it works best if it regular (daily), brisk (slightly faster than your normal pace) and sustained over thirty minutes or so. Some of it is dependent on your metabolism though.

In my presenting as male days I have been vegan for two extended periods (currently I'm vegetarian and including some dairy products, mostly non animal rennet cheese) and I can vouch for losing a truck load of weight. I had the boniest @$$ it was painful to sit on hard seats for extended periods, and needed braces to keep my pants up because the belt was too big. I ate regular and large meals but without animal fats in the diet I became rather skeletal and despite being 6'3" weighed only 9.5 stones at one stage... yes, very underweight. Still, I did have fairly good health and energy levels, for a while at least.

In terms of foods, I'd suggest looking into some of the vegan macrobiotic practices... dropping processed foods (especially white flour products), sugars, alcohol and too much totally raw food, adding whole grains and pulses, using sea vegetables, sea salt, miso and shoyu in cooking, eating seasonal vegetables... etc. I've seen numerous people drop multiple pounds on that diet. Some (myself included) got a bit fanatical... (hence the underweight experience).

I also found that regular strong dynamic yoga classes was a good exercise practice for weight loss. Yes, I was a 1990s new age hippy!

Quote from: Jack_M on January 09, 2014, 02:10:03 AM
The only problem with being vegan though, is potentially less protein and natural vitamins and minerals in your diet. Some vitamins and minerals are best absorbed through digesting them when they're a part of the food but if you're not taking supplements right now, you should probably look into that as well. It's not as effective but it is better than nothing. When you start to work out you'll be using more energy and if you don't have a good balanced system you open yourself up to the potential to get ill.

I'm quite aware of the whole where do you get your protein from so I've been keeping my eye on the protein in my meals but I have had a few blood tests over the 3 years I've been vegan and they always came back with great results. I'm thinking about getting my iron checked soon because I've been tired lately but it may also be due to my anxiety medication.

Quote from: Ms Grace on January 09, 2014, 02:22:36 AMWalking is a definite help in this department - although it works best if it regular (daily), brisk (slightly faster than your normal pace) and sustained over thirty minutes or so. Some of it is dependent on your metabolism though. In my presenting as male days I have been vegan for two extended periods (currently I'm vegetarian and including some dairy products, mostly non animal rennet cheese) and I can vouch for losing a truck load of weight. I had the boniest @$$ it was painful to sit on hard seats for extended periods, and needed braces to keep my pants up because the belt was too big. I ate regular and large meals but without animal fats in the diet I became rather skeletal and despite being 6'3" weighed only 9.5 stones at one stage... yes, very underweight. Still, I did have fairly good health and energy levels, for a while at least. In terms of foods, I'd suggest looking into some of the vegan macrobiotic practices... dropping processed foods (especially white flour products), sugars, alcohol and too much totally raw food, adding whole grains and pulses, using sea vegetables, sea salt, miso and shoyu in cooking, eating seasonal vegetables... etc. I've seen numerous people drop multiple pounds on that diet. Some (myself included) got a bit fanatical... (hence the underweight experience). I also found that regular strong dynamic yoga classes was a good exercise practice for weight loss. Yes, I was a 1990s new age hippy!

What other foods would you suggest dropping? I don't tend to eat a lot over the course of a day but I do have a few ninja vegan junk foods that I'll sneak occasionally... Yeah they'll have to go.
Although I have been vegan for almost 3 years now I've not lost weight because of the whole issue with sitting around doing nothing. I blame my laziness and the aforementioned mental issues. But I want to give this a go. I really do. I'm looking into buying a whole bunch of nuts that I love eating like cashews and walnuts as well instead of snacking on the crap!

If you're not adverse to taking supplements, consider a vegan source of CLA - Conjugated Linoleic Acid. It promotes natural fat-burning in the body alongside a healthy diet and exercise.

It's usually made from safflower, the recommended optimum dose being 3400mg per day. Just calculate the number of capsules needed per day depending on the percentage of pure ingredients in each one. Best to take with food, especially protein for the first couple of weeks to avoid nausea. I didn't know that to start off with but I didn't experience any feeling of sickness.

My UK supplier's version is suitable for vegans.

They're often advertised as belly fat burners but research shows (from what I've read anyway) that they're not that specific so they assist general fat loss.

I'm not specifically marketing this product, nor am I any kind of expert in this field. It's just something I came across when researching fat loss as I too need to reduce my body fat percentage by quite a bit to de-feminise my body as much as possible. I've only just recently started taking them, so too early to tell yet if they're making a difference.

You seem to have already pinpointed what you need to do - exercise and not sit around so much!

Your diet doesn't sound too unhealthy at all - I personally would just leave it alone and eat as normal and try to make exercise part of your routine.

It sounds like you've been doing some research - you mentioned HIIT - yes this sort of exercise is excellent for burning fat BUT it's not the only way and I wouldn't recommend diving straight into it. Like your mother and others have said, walking will do just fine.

Start off slowly, the best way to keep the fat off once it's gone is to lose it slow and steady while building up momentum. If you've been sitting on your ass for a year a 15minute walk each day will make a world of difference.

Once that stops working - then look at doing something more, something different.

Don't overload yourself on researching THE BEST diet and THE BEST workout - just do something, anything, instead of sitting around.

Unless youre like a huge fat beast, try something more than walking but nothing crazy, walking really does sweet FA. so unless its your only option, go with just about anything else.

Quote from: geek on January 09, 2014, 05:53:00 AM
Unless youre like a huge fat beast, try something more than walking but nothing crazy, walking really does sweet FA. so unless its your only option, go with just about anything else.

I agree with geek, throw something else in. Where I go to temple about 75% of the people are vegan, and they're heavily into yoga, and all are a healthy weight.  Yoga can be really hard and good for strength building too.

I was also raised vegetarian, and my dad (also veg) would lift weights and he was pretty buff. Of course, protein from eggs, milk, etc. helps, but like in your response to Jack_M I trust that you know where to get your protein.

Do whatever you want for exercise and that makes you happy, you don't need to limit itself because you're vegan.

A lot of people say start with walking, which is good advice, but i think you can jump right into a beginners level of something instead of walking, unless you're really old, injured, or maybe really big (though even if you're big, I still think you can jump into an exercise program. I know someone who's over 300 lbs who jumped right into P90 and she's stuck with it and looks great).

yuuuup!

I cbf looking up the numbers, but like walking really gives you nothing much at all, if you dont want to take up a sport, get a pushbike (i did :p) or acquire something like P90/P90x/P90x2 and so on :p most of the beach body stuff is oddly brilliant, and can be done at home or whatever (i had to start off in my bedroom due to anxiety) P90 hammered the sh*t out of me, but hey i weighed nearly 200kg (picture a planet. that was me)

That fat didn't appear over night, so pick something you ENJOY and stick to it. HTH

Quote from: geek on January 09, 2014, 08:15:10 AM
yuuuup!

I cbf looking up the numbers, but like walking really gives you nothing much at all, if you dont want to take up a sport, get a pushbike (i did :p) or acquire something like P90/P90x/P90x2 and so on :p most of the beach body stuff is oddly brilliant, and can be done at home or whatever (i had to start off in my bedroom due to anxiety) P90 hammered the sh*t out of me, but hey i weighed nearly 200kg (picture a planet. that was me)

That fat didn't appear over night, so pick something you ENJOY and stick to it. HTH

Not true. All I did was start walking and lost 65 pounds in one summer. It is great for weight loss and toning the lower half of your body.

It is true, you have to walk stupid amounts of time and pace to match most things, like riding, swimming or inline skating. On a effort to reward ratio, walking sucks ass.

While walking is better than nothing, HIIT isn't required for fat loss, this is required for people in certain sports such as the one that I'm in. However, aerobic exercise at approx 70% your MaxHR is necessary. I'm a professional athlete and am intimately familiar with aerobic and anaerobic activity and while there is no such thing as spot removal for fat loss (comes off in the order its going to come off, determined by genetics) getting a heart rate monitor and working on cardio is key. If you are not in shape though start easy so you don't over do it.

While I am required to follow a very strict diet and am very familiar with that as well, I'm not vegan so I'm unable to help you in that area.

If you're not doing anything I think walking is reasonable. Getting in a class would be a great idea, but might be hard to figure out with the gender stuff (unless it's a mixed class).

--Jay

Walking might help you ease back into it too. Since you lost the fitness habit with the anxiety and wanting to stay in, it might be a good way to jus tget used to going back outside and moving again. Then when you are more comfortable with that you can move on to other stuff.

Thanks for the help everyone. I did forget to mention that I ride horses if I can manage to get myself out. The last year and a half not so much though as I stopped lessons and started to look for a lease which has not really been successful as I wouldn't be inside as much if it was.

Walking it is. I will probably start with walking on the treadmill and such, it's going to be a scorcher of a week here 40 degrees every day so I will be stuck inside. It isn't exactly in a cool part of the house but whatever it beats 40 degrees

As to some of the responses I'm not obese or anything. It's just flab really. I get the thighs and ass part from my mum thanks genetics...
And yes I am aware that I could have been going on the treadmill this whole time. With my depression I got into a routine and didn't take one look at the thing. I didn't even want to think about doing anything else except sleeping/TV.
I think the last time I checked I was 40 or 42 kilos. I'm crazy short though.

Quote from: teamsaxon on January 10, 2014, 11:44:16 AM
Thanks for the help everyone. I did forget to mention that I ride horses if I can manage to get myself out. The last year and a half not so much though as I stopped lessons and started to look for a lease which has not really been successful as I wouldn't be inside as much if it was.

Walking it is. I will probably start with walking on the treadmill and such, it's going to be a scorcher of a week here 40 degrees every day so I will be stuck inside. It isn't exactly in a cool part of the house but whatever it beats 40 degrees

As to some of the responses I'm not obese or anything. It's just flab really. I get the thighs and ass part from my mum thanks genetics...
And yes I am aware that I could have been going on the treadmill this whole time. With my depression I got into a routine and didn't take one look at the thing. I didn't even want to think about doing anything else except sleeping/TV.
I think the last time I checked I was 40 or 42 kilos. I'm crazy short though.

How short?  I'm 5'1" and that would make me underweight.

Quote from: lxndr on January 10, 2014, 12:34:15 PM
How short?  I'm 5'1" and that would make me underweight.

I'm 148cms not sure if that's 4'10" or 4'11"

Quote from: teamsaxon on January 10, 2014, 11:47:09 PM
I'm 148cms not sure if that's 4'10" or 4'11"

4"8

74-90lbs or 33.5 - 40kg is the "ideal" for that height