Hello everyone,
Thank you so much for your interest in my November Project. As a reminder, this is what the November Project is all about: For the entire month of November I will be documenting all of my meals and all of my workouts to reveal how a long-time vegan athlete eats and trains to maintain muscle mass and strength. This will reflect my personal approach and will not be considered as a representation of all vegan athletes. With this month-long documentation, I plan to send a weekly recap once per week for 4 weeks revealing all of my meals and workouts for the week. I will not be suggesting, recommending, or advising anything. I will simply transparently share my daily meals and workouts that I really follow. I will be using Cronometer to track my caloric and nutritional intake as well as my caloric expenditure through tracking my basal metabolic rate combined with my activity level. The numbers will be estimations based on calculations and may not be 100% accurate, but will be as close to reality as possible, given the technology I am using, factoring lots of homemade meals which are tough to count exact calories.
Here are a few things to know:
On May 2, 2016 I tore a disc in my lower back, so for the past 6 months I have avoided free-weight exercises and have not trained my legs, back, or abs once since that day. I took 5 consecutive weeks away from exercise, had many doctor appointments, and have been doing rehab for my lower back ever since. With the support of my doctor, I started training 6 weeks after my initial injury, doing basic cable and machine movements, and again aggravated my back issues, developed sciatica, and ultimately had to take another 2-3 weeks completely off from exercise. Over the past 4 months, once I got back into exercise, I have primarily trained chest, shoulders, and triceps with machines and cables, and over the past 2 months, biceps as well. Though I experienced this set-back, I maintained my 200-pound frame, continued to tour around the world, and have posted weekly photos on social media showing my physique, still maintaining muscle, though I never talked or wrote about my injury publicly (until now, and in a forthcoming article in Vegan Health & Fitness Magazine that should hit store shelves any day now).
I mention that so when you observe my training journal and might wonder why I am avoiding certain muscle groups, and why I am using mostly machines and cables when my book Shred It! heavily promoted a lot of free-weight exercises, now you know why. My lower back has been feeling good for the past 4 weeks, and I plan to start to incorporate some free weight exercises back into my training program soon. Though my training has changed due to the torn disc in my spine, I have still maintained muscle and will transparently show the type of training I have been doing over the past 6 months, and a sneak peak into my typical free-weight training as I slowly incorporate free weights back into my routine during this November Project.
The following is a complete recap of the week from November 1-7, 2016. I hope you find both the meal plans and workouts interesting. If you find this information helpful, please encourage your friends and family to subscribe to follow along with my November Project as well. Here’s that link again: http://tinyurl.com/zhrluoa
November Project Data
Robert Cheeke
Age: 36
Height: 5’11 ¾”
Weight: 203 pounds
Vegan: 21 years
Tuesday November 1, 2016
Slept 1:45AM-9:30AM = 7 hours, 45 minutes
10:00AM 20 ounces of water
11:15AM Exercise: 34 minutes on the stationary bike
12:00PM Bowl of sliced grapefruit
Bowl of oatmeal with blueberries
12:45PM Bowl of oatmeal with blueberries
Bowl of pineapple
2:00PM Apple
3 bananas
20 ounces of water
4:15PM Handful of black olives
Handful of peanuts
10 ounces of water
4:30PM Exercise: 1-hour hike
6:00PM Bowl of beans, rice, tomato, corn
Bowl of green salad
7:15PM Bowl of sliced grapefruit
Apple
7:40PM Exercise: Weight training from 7:40-8:46PM (1 hour, 6 minutes)
Warm-Up:
Hip raises: 15, 20, 25
Arm and leg lifts off floor (bird dog): 15, 15, 15
Push-ups: 15, 15, 15
Chest workout:
Machine incline chest press: 40×30, 60×25, 80×15, 100×10, 120×6
Hammer Strength decline bench press: 90×25, 180×10, 180×10, 180×10, 180×10
Hammer Strength incline bench press: 90×15, 140×8, 140×8, 140×10, 160×6
Pec Deck flys: 100×12, 115×10, 130×6, 130×6, 130×4
Machine flat chest press: 110×12, 130×12, 150×10, 170×5, 200×3
Seated cable flys: 50×15, 50×20, 60×15, 70×8, 70×12
30 ounces of water
8:50PM Exercise: 35 minutes on the stationary bike
10 minutes sauna
10:00PM 2 plates of homemade vegetable fried rice with tofu
11:30PM 1/3 of a cucumber
Totals:
Calories consumed: 2,857
Carbohydrates: 534g (73%)
Protein: 82g (10%)
Fat: 56g (17%)
Water: 80 ounces
Calories burned: 3,482
Net: 625-calorie deficit
Exercise: 3 hours, 15 minutes combined
Notes: Today’s accumulated exercise time is a little higher than usual which put me in the 600+ calorie deficit. Also, with a focus on consuming large quantities of water, it can inhibit my total caloric intake by suppressing my appetite, which it seemed to do at times today. Known for my small bladder, I don’t drink a whole lot of fluids throughout the day, but now that I am living in Arizona, I am making a point to drink more water. Though 80 ounces (16 ounces more than half a gallon) isn’t that much in general, it is for me. I get a lot of additional water through consuming high water content foods, especially large quantities of fruits.
Wednesday November 2, 2016
Slept 12:30A-9:30AM = 9 hours
10:45AM 8 ounces of yerba mate tea
Exercise: 49 minutes on the stair stepper
Exercise: 16 minutes on the stationary bike
11:30AM 20 ounces of water
12:00PM 20 ounces of water
Apple
2 oranges
1:30PM Banana
Exercise: 40 minutes walking with the dog
10 ounces of water
2:15PM Bowl of sliced grapefruit
Handful of blueberries
2:45PM 2 homemade vegan burritos with avocado and salsa
10 ounces of water
4:30PM 6 ounces of water
6:15PM 8 ounces of green drink
Bowl of brown rice with salsa and green salad
7:00PM 12 ounces of orange juice
Bowl of brown rice with salsa and green salad
8:38PM Exercise: Weight training from 8:38-9:44PM (1 hour, 6 minutes)
Warm-up:
Hip Raises: 25, 30, 35
Arm and leg lifts off floor (bird dog): 15, 20, 25
Arm Workout:
Rope extensions: 65×25, 75×25, 85×20, 95×15, 105×15
Machine biceps curls: 70×15, 80×15, 90×12, 110×10, 130×8
Seated press downs: 120×25, 140×20, 160×10, 180×7, 200×6
Seated one-arm cable curls: 45×12, 50×8, 50×10, 50×10, 50×8
Standing overhead cable extensions: 65×17, 75×12, 85×8, 85×8, 85×8
Standing cable biceps curls: 65×15, 75×12, 85×10, 95×8, 105×8
Standing cable press downs: 105×15, 115×12, 125×10, 135×6, 135×8
Standing one-arm cable concentration curls: 35×10, 35×10, 35×12, 35×15, 45×8
Push-ups: 20, 20, 20, 20
9:30PM 30 ounces of water
9:50PM Exercise: 33 minutes on the stair-stepper
5 minutes in the sauna
11:15PM Bowl of strawberries
Bowl of strawberries and blueberries
Bowl of brown rice, tomato sauce and green salad
8 ounces of sparking water
Totals:
Calories consumed: 2,738
Carbohydrates: 558g (78%)
Protein: 63g (9%)
Fat: 38g (13%)
Water: 106 ounces
Calories burned: 3,733
Net: 995-calorie deficit
Exercise: 3 hours, 24 minutes combined
Notes: For the past 5 days or so I have been following something I have named “no processed foods until after noon.” I just naturally start my day with water and fruit and I’ve been doing fasted cardio in the mornings, so this approach has happened rather organically. Once I realized a few days ago that I wasn’t eating any processed foods before noon, I’ve made an effort to continue to eat lightly in the mornings while I’m doing fat-burning cardio, and I eat heavier foods following my workouts. I’ve been doing a lot of stair climbing lately which is burning a whole lot of calories, putting me in just about a 1,000-calorie deficit today. Sitting at 203 pounds and higher body fat than I have ever had, I embrace it. As I overcome this lower back injury and become more active, it will be interesting to see if I maintain a body weight of 200+ pounds or if it dips as a result of all the additional cardiovascular training that I haven’t been doing much of until recently.
Thursday November 3, 2016
Slept 12:45A-9:45AM = 9 hours
11:00AM 6 ounces of water
12:05PM Exercise: 41 minutes on the stair stepper
16 ounces of water
10 minutes in the sauna
1:15PM Apple
2 oranges
1:55PM 17.5 ounces of coconut water
Bowl of green salad with dolmas (grape leaves wrapped around rice)
Apple
3:00PM 3 boiled potatoes with ketchup
Bowl of pasta with tomato sauce
4:15PM 12 ounces of coconut water
5:30PM 1 small boiled potato
Handful of apple slices
5:50PM Exercise: Weight training from 5:50-7:16PM (1 hour, 26 minutes)
Warm-up:
Hip raises: 15, 20, 20
Arm and leg lifts from floor (bird dog): 15, 15, 15
Shoulder workout:
Seated cable overhead press: 50×20, 60×15, 70×15, 80×10, 90×8
Machine shoulder press: 70×12, 80×10, 90×8, 110×4, 110×4
Plate-loaded shoulder press: 90×15, 180×8, 230×7, 270×4, 280×4
Dumbbell lateral raises: 15sx15, 15sx15, 20sx12, 20sx15, 22.5sx12
Dumbbell front raises: 15sx15, 15sx15, 20sx12, 20sx15, 22.5sx12
Seated dumbbell rear delt raises: 15sx15, 15sx15, 17.5sx12, 20sx8, 20sx10
Seated dumbbell overhead press: 35sx15, 45sx10, 50sx8, 60sx6, 60sx5
7:45PM Bowl of rice and mixed vegetables in Teriyaki sauce
Bowl of sweet potato fries
24 ounces of water
8 ounces of cranberry juice
11:00PM Apple
Handful of grapes
12:15AM Handful of mango slices
Totals:
Calories consumed: 2,840
Carbohydrates: 605g (82%)
Protein: 59g (7%)
Fat: 36g (11%)
Water: 46 ounces
Calories burned: 3,042
Net: 202-calorie deficit
Exercise: 2 hours, 7 minutes combined
Notes: Today I realized I consumed less than half a gallon of water, well below my recent average. It’s not that big of a deal, especially because my consumption of coconut water and fruit was high, therefore boosting my overall fluid intake fairly significantly. But it is something that I am aware of, and I am making an effort to keep fluid intake high, especially since I am sweating a lot in general during my training. I went to a sports bar tonight to watch my favorite basketball team play (OKC Thunder), and I was pleased that they were able to offer a number of vegan options, though the food wasn’t all that healthy – rice and vegetables in an animal-product free teriyaki sauce and sweet potato fries with cranberry juice and soda water.
Friday November 4, 2016
Slept 1:00AM-9:30AM = 8 hours, 30 minutes
10:00AM 6 ounces of water
11:00AM 6 ounces of coconut water
11:30AM Bowl of pineapple and mango
Bowl of green grapes
Bowl of blackberries
12:30PM 12 ounces of green drink
Bowl of oatmeal
2:20PM Green salad with dolmas and salsa verde
2 homemade vegan burritos with salsa verde
12 ounces of coconut water
3:20PM Exercise: 25 minutes walking with the dog
4:45PM Persimmon
Bowl of blueberries
12 ounces of water
6:50PM Handful of green grapes
3 tablespoons of applesauce
8:00PM Bowl of brown rice, broccoli, carrots, tofu, sauce
Bowl of salad greens with tofu
12 ounces of water
12:00AM Bowl of strawberries
Persimmon
Orange
12:45AM Orange
Totals:
Calories consumed: 2,832
Carbohydrates: 536g (72%)
Protein: 83g (11%)
Fat: 53g (16%)
Water: 30 ounces
Calories burned: 2,298
Net: 534-calorie surplus
Exercise: 25 minutes
Notes: I went out to a vegan restaurant and I ended up eating more tofu than usual, opting for a salad with “vegan chicken” and a bowl of rice and vegetables with tofu and peanut sauce. When I am out and about I don’t tend to drink as much fluid as I do when I am home and can use the restroom anytime. I have been keeping a lot of late nights and today I took a rest day from training, resulting in my first caloric surplus this month.
Saturday November 5, 2016
Slept 1:15AM-10:00AM = 8 hours, 45 minutes
11:15AM 8 ounces of water
11:30AM Exercise: Hiking for 3 hours
1:15PM 12 ounces of water
17.5 ounces of coconut water
Apple
Persimmon
3:00PM 20 ounces of water
8 ounces of coconut water
Bowl of red grapes and blueberries
4:00PM 3 boiled potatoes with ketchup
4:37PM Exercise: Weight training from 4:37-5:39PM (1 hour, 2 minutes)
Warm-up:
Hip raises: 15, 20, 20
Arm and leg lifts from floor (bird dog): 15, 15, 15
Push-ups: 20, 20, 20, 20, 20
Back workout:
Lat pull-downs: 70×25, 85×20, 100×15, 100×15, 100×12
Seated rows: 70×15, 80×12, 80×12, 70×25, 70×20
High pulley cable rows: 80×15, 80×15, 80×15, 90×15, 90×15
Machine pull-downs: 90×15, 90×12, 80×15, 80×15, 80×12
High Rows: 90×15, 110×20, 130×12, 130×12, 110×20
5:15PM 20 ounces of water
6:15PM 1 boiled potato
8:15PM 24 ounces of water
Vegetable “meatball” with sauce
Medley platter of artichoke hearts, olives, garlic, vegan cheese
3 slices of vegan vegetable pizza
4 slices of artisan vegan bread
11:40PM Handful of red grapes
Persimmon
Orange
Totals:
Calories consumed: 3,414
Carbohydrates: 580g (66%)
Protein: 101g (11%)
Fat: 89g (23%)
Water: 84 ounces
Calories burned: 3,610
Net: 196-calorie deficit
Exercise: 4 hours, 2 minutes combined
Notes: Today was the first time I trained my back in more than 6 months. It felt really good to go back to doing some of my all-time favorite exercises such as cable and machine rows, and high rows, especially. I took it fairly easy, performing high reps as to not aggravate my lower back. Tonight I was entertaining some guests visiting from California and a group of us went to a vegan-friendly pizza place. This has been my highest daily caloric intake thus far this month, largely as a result of eating lots of bread (and pizza toppings). Luckily, I spent more than 4 hours exercising to burn a lot of calories off, though most of today’s calories were consumed in the evening and tomorrow I wake up and drive to a vegan festival and will take another day off from training. That’s the beauty of transparency. Even though the pizza restaurant was not my choice, I opted to eat quite a bit, feeling hungry after 4+ hours of exercise, and I am accountable for my decisions. Tomorrow is another day.
Sunday November 6, 2016
Slept 12:45AM-5:30AM = 4 hours, 45 minutes
6:15AM 3 ounces of water
Banana
Handful of blueberries
7:00AM 8 ounces of yerba mate tea
7:40AM Bowl of oatmeal
8:35AM 2 bananas
11:30AM Banana
12:30PM Carrot “hot dog”
2:30PM Banana
4:30PM 10 ounces of water
5:15PM Carrot “hot dog”
6:45PM Brown rice and broccoli with a bowl of vegan chili (beans, tomatoes, corn)
Tofu spring rolls with peanut sauce
16 ounces of yerba mate tea
9:50PM 2 slices of vegan pizza
12 ounces of water
10:50PM Persimmon
Handful of blueberries
11:00PM 4 ounces of water
Totals:
Calories consumed: 2,865
Carbohydrates: 510g (67%)
Protein: 99g (13%)
Fat: 65g (20%)
Water: 29 ounces
Calories burned: 2,229
Net: 636-calorie surplus
Exercise: 0 minutes of official exercise – carried a few boxes and worked at a festival
Notes: I certainly didn’t expect today to be my biggest calorie surplus day so far this month, even though I didn’t exercise. On less than 5 hours of sleep, I worked at a vegan festival for 9 hours and drove an additional 4 hours. I typically don’t eat very much when working at a festival all day long. I made up for the lack of calories during the day by going to Whole Foods Market and eating a bowl of rice and chili and a couple of tofu spring rolls with peanut sauce before driving a couple hours to get home. Upon returning from the long day, short on sleep, eating some leftover vegan pizza added to that total. This will be my first day all month in bed before midnight. I hope to have more nights like this, even though I often thrive on working late nights writing books, and working on projects like this, I would like to get to bed at an earlier hour and get up at an earlier hour.
Monday November 7, 2016
Slept 11:30PM-9:30AM = 10 hours
10:15AM 12 ounces of water
11:14AM Exercise: Stairmaster for 1 hour, 8 minutes
20 minutes in the sauna
40 ounces of water
12:45PM 20 ounces of water
1:17PM 17.5 ounces of coconut water
6 ounces of water
Persimmon
Apple
2:00PM 16 pieces of vegetable sushi (rice, seaweed, avocado, cucumber, carrot)
3:32PM Bowl of mango chunks
Handful of almonds
3:56PM Bowl of brown rice, refried beans and half an avocado
Handful of almonds
4:34PM 17.5 ounces of coconut water
6:00PM Handful of blueberries
Banana
6 ounces of water
6:36PM 10 pieces of vegetable sushi (rice, seaweed, avocado, cucumber, carrot)
7:16PM Basket of blackberries
8:32PM 2 bowls of homemade potato and kale vegetable soup
6 ounces of water
9:14PM Exercise: Weight Training from 9:14-10:41PM (1 hour, 27 minutes)
Warm-up:
Hip raises: 15, 20, 20
Arm and leg lifts from floor (bird dog): 15, 15, 15
Push-ups: 20, 20, 20, 20, 20
Arm Workout:
Rope extensions: 65×25, 75×25, 85×20, 95×15, 105×12
Standing cable biceps curls: 65×15, 65×15, 75×15, 85×12, 95×10
Dumbbell alternating biceps curls: 25sx12, 30sx10, 32.5sx8, 35sx7, 37.5sx5
Dumbbell kickbacks: 25×12, 27.5×10, 30×10, 30×12, 32.5×8
Dumbbell hammer curls: 30sx15, 35sx12, 37.5sx10, 40sx8, 45sx6
Seated dumbbell supinated curls: 30sx12, 30sx8, 30sx8, 30sx10, 30sx10
Machine press downs: 130×25, 170×15, 190×12, 210×8, 150×20
10:00PM 6 ounces of water
11:15PM 3 mandarin oranges
11:40PM Bowl of brown rice, refried beans, half an avocado
12:07AM 2 carrots with refried beans
12:30AM 2 mandarin oranges
6 ounces of water
Totals:
Calories consumed: 3,332
Carbohydrates: 614g (72%)
Protein: 84g (9%)
Fat: 76g (19%)
Water: 102 ounces
Calories burned: 3,378
Net: 46-calorie deficit
Exercise: 2 hours, 35 minutes combined
Notes: Today was my most balanced day as far as calories consumed and calories expended being a virtual tie, factoring in the slight inaccuracies of estimating these figures. It was also perhaps the closest to an overall perceived average day of consuming between 3,000-3,500 calories and exercising for a little over 2 hours total which I anticipated before I started this month of transparent documentation. Time will reveal if that truly is my most “average” day or if reality has something else to show me. It was especially rewarding to perform more free-weight exercises for essentially only the second time in 6 months. Using fairly light dumbbells for arm exercises was a great way to get back into using free weights, following some very light dumbbell exercises I performed for shoulders a few days ago. I hope to keep this trend going as long as it does not disturb my lower back or disrupt my rehabilitation efforts to repair my torn disc in my L5-S1 region of my lower spine. I look forward to the coming weeks with optimism, hope, and anticipation for a lot of fun workouts ahead.
Summary from November 1-7, 2016
It has been interesting to reflect on this past week. For example, one thing that stood out in my notes is my caloric intake the first four days of the month. I didn’t tally any of my caloric or macronutrient totals until the end of the night, or even a day or two later, yet for four consecutive days my caloric intake was within 100 or so calories from one day to the next. In fact, two consecutive days were within 8 calories of one another. It’s just an interesting observation about my consistency that I wasn’t even necessarily aiming for, expecting, and totally unaware of until I looked at the numbers. The first four days of the month’s caloric intake looked like this:
2,857 calories
2,738 calories
2,840 calories
2,832 calories
Here are the complete nutrition and exercise totals for the week:
Week 1 totals:
Total calories consumed = 20,878
Average calories per day = 2,983
Average percentage from carbohydrates = 73%
Average percentage from protein = 10%
Average percentage from fat = 17%
Total water intake = 477 ounces
Average water per day = 68 ounces (slightly more than half a gallon)
Total calories expended = 21,762
Average calories expended per day = 3,109
Average net calorie intake/expenditure = 126-calorie deficit per day
Total time spent exercising = 15 hours, 48 minutes
Average time spent exercising per day = 2 hours, 15 minutes per day
Total amount of sleep = 57 hours, 45 minutes
Average sleep per night = 8 hours, 15 minutes
Thank you for your interest in my November Project. I hope at the very least you find it somewhat interesting, and perhaps it will inspire you to look at your own levels of consistency, accountability, and transparency with your meal plans and workouts. I’ll be back next week with another recap. I look forward to see what next week brings on both the nutritional and exercise fronts.
I truly thank you for taking the time to read my report of my true daily actions. It is my desire to showcase an authentic example of who I am and what I do, regardless of the ups and downs. Those ups and downs are, after all, are a big part of the journey and I embrace them.
With gratitude,
Robert Cheeke
Founder/President of Vegan Bodybuilding & Fitness
http://www.veganbodybuilding.com
Robert Cheeke 
Thanks so much for sharing. So sorry you’ve been dealing with an injury. Wishing you continued good recovery.
As always, sharing your ups and downs makes you all the more inspiring, because we relate and can see the path you lead forward from obstacles and normal daily life challenges, and living a balanced life.
Say hi to Karen for us!
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Eye opening! Thank you for sharing!!
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This has been really fun to read! I like the no processed food before noon. I definitely feel my best on whole plant foods. I look fwd to following along each week!
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