If you’re not sure if you need to cut first or to bulk first, think of it this way: There are three phases in bodybuilding: Bulking, maintaining, and cutting. Vegan Bodybuilding: Should you cut or bulk first? Carbs: the rest of the calories (4 calories per gram)Įxample: For a 40 year old male with an active lifestyle to maintain a body weight of 165 lbs, he should be consuming around 2907 calories a day.Fats: 0.3 grams per pound of body weight (9 calories per gram).Protein: 0.8-1.0 gram per pound of body weight (4 calories per gram).The amount could vary depending on several factors but a good rule is consuming: Now that you know how many calories you’re supposed to consume, let’s break them down into your macros. This will be the foundation of your fat loss, muscle gain, or maintenance diet through your vegan bodybuilding journey. Use the Jacked Vegans diet calculator to find out the amount of calories you need to maintain your body weight. How much protein, carbs, and fats should you eat? Vegans have to take calcium, iron, vitamin B12, zinc, vitamin D, and omega 3’s by either consuming fortified vegan foods or through multivitamin supplements. Vegans have to supplement with extra vitamins to make sure they get everything their body needs to be healthy. In addition to consuming calorically dense food, supplementation is crucial as well. However, this is becoming less apparent since companies are now veganizing everything – even all the junk food. Vegan foods typically contain fewer calories compared to meat or animal products therefore we must compensate by loading up on more whole food that is high in calories but nutrient-dense such as avocados, nuts, nut butter, chia seeds, quinoa, tahini, olive oil, legumes, sweet potatoes, coconut oil, and rice. But have no fear! The benefits far outweigh the mythical denotations applied to protein powder. Although these benefits are AWESOME, protein powder is still considered a processed food and thus could rub people the wrong way. They can be added to smoothies, protein pancakes, and a variety of different high protein recipes for an awesome breakfast or snack that’s delicious and easy to make. Now, this may sound counter intuitive but let me explain! Some processes foods, like vegan protein powders, are convenient, versatile, lean, and help meet daily protein requirements without adding a ton of calories from carbohydrates and fats. The best sources of protein for vegans originates with both processed and whole based foods. The only real difference between a vegan and omnivore bodybuilder is the source from which they get their protein. But it’s part of the process if your goal is to build muscle. For those that are new to lifting weights or bodybuilding, counting calories and macros might sound foreign, difficult, and counter intuitive. Lastly, they want to ensure that they meet these requirements by tracking their food and beverage intake throughout the day. Applying these constituents is inevitable if the desire is to attain prime physique. In addition to understanding daily caloric intake, it is absolutely crucial to compute total daily macronutrient amounts of protein, carbohydrates and fat.
If nutrition is consistently neglected then full potential will NEVER be reached as a vegan bodybuilder.īodybuilders have to know how many calories their bodies need daily in order to optimize body composition. Prioritizing dietary consumption is subjectively harder than the resistance training side of a health plan. Nutrition is key regarding building or sustaining muscle tissue, whether you’re vegan or not. If you’re vegan and you lift weights or do body building, perhaps you’ve heard one of these questions before. Is it possible to build muscle as a vegan?
What is a vegan bodybuilding diet like?.