What do vegan bodybuilders eat

As a whole, bodybuilding requires competitors to simultaneously lose fat and put on muscle. Bodybuilders achieve this through a combo of strength training and diet so that, by competition day, they're strutting across the stage with very low body fat.

Is it really possible bulk up and slim down using on a plant-based diet? It's percent possible," says Anthony Balduzzi M. Here, nutrition experts and two professional vegan bodybuilders who are poweredbyplants share how their top tips for bodybuilding as a vegan. If vegan bodybuilding sounds like something you might be interested in dabbling in, then you'll have to understand some food and nutrition bodybuilding "rules" that apply to everyone. Most bodybuilders—meat-eaters and non-meat eaters, alike—split their season into two phases: a bulking season and a cutting season.

During the bulking phase, the athlete's diet is high in calories and protein-rich, and they strength training intensely order to put on as much muscle mass as possible. Then, during the cutting phase, athletes aim to decrease their overall body fat, usually by gradually cutting calories and fat intake. Both of these phases require the right amount of calories and the proper balance of the three key macronutrients: proteins, carbs, and fats. The amount of calories and macronutrient breakdown is going to be different for every person.

Most athletes work with a nutritionist or coach to help them figure out their calorie and macronutrient needs at each phase of prep, says vegan bodybuilder Natalie Matthews , IFBB Bikini Pro and founder of Fit Vegan Chef.

That said, there are a few calorie and macronutrient basics that might be helpful. More on those below. While counting calories is a contentious subject that some including nutritionists! Similarly, when you reduce the number of calories you're eating, it can result in fat loss, which can actually make you look more muscular and "cut"—even if you're not necessarily gaining new muscle tissue, he explains.

There are online calculators like this one that you can use to figure out how many calories you should be eating at different phases in your season. But I recommend using this as a starting point, and then experimenting because everybody is different," says Jon Venus, vegan bodybuilder and Youtuber. That's because things like activity level, metabolism, hydration, stress levels, sleep quality, and time in your menstrual cycle all affect how many calories you need as well as weight and muscle loss, maintenance, and gain.

None of this differs between omnivorous and vegan bodybuilding: "The daily calorie intake is going to be the same for vegan and omnivore eaters," says Venus.

Veganism, the sometimes-controversial philosophy of consuming only plant-based products, is often maligned for being too low in protein, which many non-vegans tend to find through meat, eggs, and dairy. But the bodybuilder Torre Washington is living proof that it's possible to build and maintain an impressive physique without eating animal products.

He's been vegan since I'm not here to die — I'm here to thrive. It's a lifestyle," he told Insider in an interview. Washington, who moved from the US to Jamaica for a few years, then back to the US, as a kid, was raised vegetarian by his mother. He eventually transitioned to fully plant-based when he became a Rastafarian. Nearly a decade later, he launched a career as a professional bodybuilder and fitness model, and he has racked up an impressive list of accolades.

Washington said the keys to his success were simple — an eating plan that is flexible, has variety, and doesn't cut out sweet treats along with plenty of rest to keep his body in top shape. Washington said he had always been a big fan of lifting weights but finally made the leap to bodybuilding competitively in Part of his inspiration was a childhood fascination with superheroes, particularly outrageously muscled characters like Superman and Wolverine.

When he found out Arnold Schwarzenegger, who seemed like a real-life superhero, was a legend in bodybuilding, he wanted to emulate him. Also, you will likely have to supplement yourself with Vitamin B12 since a vegan diet has very few sources. To help you track your macros without the hassle, I recommend using a macro tracking app on your phone.

The nutrient density refers to the amount of nutrients it contains per calorie of energy. For instance, if a banana has 50 nutrients per calorie and a french fry has 3 nutrients per calorie, we can obviously say that the banana is more nutrient-dense. Let's look at an example of how not to do things: the standard American diet. Highly processed and refined foods such as ice cream, candy, cakes, cookies, pizza, burgers and junk food provide tons of energy throughout the day, yet have poor nutritional density.

On the opposite side of the spectrum we're looking at whole and unprocessed plant foods:. Starches, root vegetables, whole grains, legumes i. This is what I personally tend to lean towards as I feel fantastic when fueling myself with whole plant foods. If you eat a diet consisting of nothing but lentils, oatmeal, and peanuts, you may indeed hit all of your macro goals - there's a good amount of high-quality vegan protein sources from lentils, complex carbs in the oatmeal and healthy fats from the peanuts.

The solution is to make sure you're eating an assortment of many different whole plant foods - this'll ensure that your body is getting the entire spectrum of nutrients, aka 'eating the rainbow.

We can break down a plant-based diet into 4 major food groups, each contributing in a unique way towards your macro and nutrient goals with some overlap :. You should ideally try to consume vegan foods from each and every one of these categories. And why not start with addressing the question that has haunted every vegan since the dawn of mankind:. Plants traditionally viewed as 'sources of carbohydrate' actually tend to have quite enough protein within them, which is terrific for a vegan bodybuilding diet.

For instance, veggies and whole grains are chock-full of protein, with g of broccoli having more than 10g of protein and a g serving of oatmeal containing over 17g of the stuff - not bad! Nonetheless, the most protein-packed plant foods by far are legumes: lentils, beans, and peas , as well as more usual suspects like tofu, tempeh, and more. Vegan diet or not, we need amino acids so our bodies can create proteins. Click For Best Price. If you're struggling to meet your protein requirements, you can supplement with vegan protein powders to make yourself a nice protein shake.

If you vegan bodybuilding diet needs a leg up, a protein powder can be quite a convenient alternative source of high-quality vegan protein. A good base for your carbohydrate intake is complex carbohydrates and starches such as whole grains and tubers e.

These are such a great choice because they are high in starch and both soluble and insoluble fiber, which means they help with satiety and digest slowly without causing any blood sugar spikes. Packed full of healthy protein, minerals, fiber, vitamin E and essential fatty acids, nuts and seeds are just absolute champions of the nutrient world.

Eating a lot of nuts is now correlated with a reduced risk of heart disease, all-cause mortality, and cancer 4. Now it's important to be aware that these foods are also quite high in calories. You will find there are 9 calories per gram of fat compared to a gram of carbohydrate or protein having 4 calories. But on the contrary, they can be a detriment to weight loss too, as even an innocent large handful of nuts can contain hundreds of calories.

One food I suggest everyone should include in their vegan diet is the almighty flax seed. These are so nutrient-dense that it hurts: one tablespoon provides a vegan with 1. Healthy vegan fats can come from many places, though, including the following 5 :. Read my full guide on fat sources on the vegan diet and everything you need to know. Bulking on a vegan diet is pretty easy.

With many calories to play with, getting in the right amount of protein is a breeze, and you don't have to carefully consider food choices. Cutting, however, that's an entirely different dragon to slay shoutout to Jordan! During a weight loss phase where calories creep down lower and lower, you need to make sure that these few calories are used efficiently to hit your protein and micronutrient needs.

For this reason, when cutting, you often have to devote most of your calories to high-protein foods such as lentils, tofu, chia seeds, and vegan protein powders. Also, it's certainly not a bad idea to throw in some high-protein vegan salads with dark leafy greens to get your vitamin K, vitamin A, calcium and so on.

Pro Tip: Struggling to get enough calories into your vegan diet? You can supplement with vegan mass gainers. As a result, you should eat at a frequency that suits you and your habits. Consider starting the day with a large breakfast and then eating 4 or 5 smaller meals throughout the day. Or, incorporate vegan mass gainers into your diet. You may need to take a vegan multivitamin to ensure proper intake of the above nutrients. Vegan omega-3 supplements are also available, which are usually made from algae.

While these nutrients can be obtained from fortified vegan foods, nutrition education plays an important role when starting a vegan diet. Another potential downside of the vegan bodybuilding diet is its excessively high fiber intake. While a high fiber intake is generally considered healthy, consuming too much fiber can cause digestive issues, such as bloating, excessive flatulence, and abdominal pain 5.

The recommended dietary fiber intake is 14 grams per 1, calories, which is around 25 grams for women and 38 grams for men. This amount is easily exceeded on a vegan diet Excessive fiber intake can also lead to a feeling of fullness and reduced appetite. While this may be beneficial for some populations, it could limit bodybuilding progress if sufficient calories are not consumed 16 , Given that a vegan bodybuilding diet mainly consists of nutrient-dense, high fiber foods, it may be difficult to meet protein and calorie needs without proper planning.

Vegan diets tend to be lower in calories than traditional diets, due to the exclusion of many higher calorie, animal-based food items. Thus, following a vegan bodybuilding diet may make it challenging to eat more calories than your body burns to support your bodybuilding goals. This can be counteracted by increasing portion sizes , adding healthy fats to your meals, and eating cooked vegetables as opposed to raw ones to reduce their volume, which allows you to eat more of them.

By eliminating all animal-derived products, the vegan bodybuilding diet can be too limiting for some people. Though the selection and availability of vegan food has grown rapidly in recent years, the diet can be seen as slightly monotonous, compared with the traditional Western diet.

Fortunately, the number of creative vegan recipes that can add life to the diet and keep it interesting is limitless. The vegan bodybuilding diet comes with some possible downsides, such as an increased risk of nutrient deficiencies, excessive fiber intake, and difficulty meeting protein and calorie needs.

These should be considered before starting a vegan diet. With the rise in popularity of the vegan diet in recent years, nutrition supplements geared toward those following it have greatly improved in quality and taste. One of the main supplements to consider is a vegan protein powder , which allows you to reach the protein intake levels recommended for bodybuilding while staying within a certain calorie range. There are numerous vegan protein powders available, such as soy isolate, pea, hemp, and brown rice.

Another potentially beneficial supplement is a vegan multivitamin that includes sufficient quantities of the nutrients that the vegan diet typically lacks, such as calcium, iron, zinc, and vitamins B12 and D. Some other supplements to consider are creatine and beta-alanine.

These two well-studied compounds are naturally found in meat products and available in vegan-friendly varieties. They can play a role in energy metabolism and muscle gain. While supplementing is not entirely necessary on the vegan diet, it can reduce the chances of nutrient deficiency and optimize the diet for your bodybuilding purposes. The vegan bodybuilding diet is based on several nutritious whole foods. Dietary supplements may also play a crucial role in making up for nutrients the diet may lack.