Vegan nutrition help, please.

[Varla]

Hello, ladies and gents. I've been vegan for two years now but working out regularly for only the last year. I eat the same food all the time, I fail in the kitchen and only eat as a source of fuel. Boring, I know.

But from a bodybuilding aspect, I think I'm failing hard. I eat around 1800-2200 calories a day, depending on the activities [rock climbing days = 2200 or more calories, easily].

I've read the Thrive Diet book by that Ironman guy and kept wanting to toss it out the window. I don't look at the girls I see pushing his product and think, "woah, I wanna look like you!", instead I think "goddamn, you are frail looking, noodle arms", and it seems to just br pushing his vegan product.

I've read plenty of vegan nutrition books and plenty of bodybuilding books. They seem to just be opposite on almost everything.

I'm not looking to get huge, just smaller with more muscle and I know I need to eat. I do that. I just think there is just a better way for me to go about it. I'm fairly confident I have the working out bit down, but I want the food aspect to be easier.

I'm basically looking for vegans that have managed to get in great shape, maintain it, and do so on a vegan diet. The only 'real life' vegans I know I tend not to talk to often, or if I do and we are friends [2 people, lol] they don't eat for gaining muscle, but rather "oh! these cupcakes look like fun!" I don't know why, but so many vegan girls around here just seem to bake a ton of goodies? Which sounds fun and all, but I busted ass to lose 80lbs and the last thing I care to do is stuff cupcakes into my face, lol.

So yes, please point me in the direction of someone or some resource to hire or read or whatever. I've tried to get in with a dietician that specializes in vegan diets but the wait list is driving me nuts. It's been 4 months already!

Sorry for the super long post, ladies and gents.

[dfast]

Originally Posted by Varla

Hello, ladies and gents. I've been vegan for two years now but working out regularly for only the last year. I eat the same food all the time, I fail in the kitchen and only eat as a source of fuel. Boring, I know.

But from a bodybuilding aspect, I think I'm failing hard. I eat around 1800-2200 calories a day, depending on the activities [rock climbing days = 2200 or more calories, easily].

I've read the Thrive Diet book by that Ironman guy and kept wanting to toss it out the window. I don't look at the girls I see pushing his product and think, "woah, I wanna look like you!", instead I think "goddamn, you are frail looking, noodle arms", and it seems to just br pushing his vegan product.

I've read plenty of vegan nutrition books and plenty of bodybuilding books. They seem to just be opposite on almost everything.

I'm not looking to get huge, just smaller with more muscle and I know I need to eat. I do that. I just think there is just a better way for me to go about it. I'm fairly confident I have the working out bit down, but I want the food aspect to be easier.

I'm basically looking for vegans that have managed to get in great shape, maintain it, and do so on a vegan diet. The only 'real life' vegans I know I tend not to talk to often, or if I do and we are friends [2 people, lol] they don't eat for gaining muscle, but rather "oh! these cupcakes look like fun!" I don't know why, but so many vegan girls around here just seem to bake a ton of goodies? Which sounds fun and all, but I busted ass to lose 80lbs and the last thing I care to do is stuff cupcakes into my face, lol.

So yes, please point me in the direction of someone or some resource to hire or read or whatever. I've tried to get in with a dietician that specializes in vegan diets but the wait list is driving me nuts. It's been 4 months already!

Sorry for the super long post, ladies and gents.

No idea if you know about it, but: http://www.veganbodybuilding.com.

Good source of information, and the boards are good too.

[the59sound]

Originally Posted by Varla

Hello, ladies and gents. I've been vegan for two years now but working out regularly for only the last year. I eat the same food all the time, I fail in the kitchen and only eat as a source of fuel. Boring, I know.

But from a bodybuilding aspect, I think I'm failing hard. I eat around 1800-2200 calories a day, depending on the activities [rock climbing days = 2200 or more calories, easily].

I've read the Thrive Diet book by that Ironman guy and kept wanting to toss it out the window. I don't look at the girls I see pushing his product and think, "woah, I wanna look like you!", instead I think "goddamn, you are frail looking, noodle arms", and it seems to just br pushing his vegan product.

I've read plenty of vegan nutrition books and plenty of bodybuilding books. They seem to just be opposite on almost everything.

I'm not looking to get huge, just smaller with more muscle and I know I need to eat. I do that. I just think there is just a better way for me to go about it. I'm fairly confident I have the working out bit down, but I want the food aspect to be easier.

I'm basically looking for vegans that have managed to get in great shape, maintain it, and do so on a vegan diet. The only 'real life' vegans I know I tend not to talk to often, or if I do and we are friends [2 people, lol] they don't eat for gaining muscle, but rather "oh! these cupcakes look like fun!" I don't know why, but so many vegan girls around here just seem to bake a ton of goodies? Which sounds fun and all, but I busted ass to lose 80lbs and the last thing I care to do is stuff cupcakes into my face, lol.

So yes, please point me in the direction of someone or some resource to hire or read or whatever. I've tried to get in with a dietician that specializes in vegan diets but the wait list is driving me nuts. It's been 4 months already!

Sorry for the super long post, ladies and gents.

hey i was vegan for a couple of years in college and managed to gain muscle. You can gain muscle on millions of different diets/ways of eating, so dont let anyone tell you you cant get ripped being a vegan because they just dont know any better, if its what you want to do stick with it.

The first thing you need to do is to establish the amount of calories you need to maintain your current weight. If you are eating 1800 cals and staying the same weight, try eating around 2000 cals every day for a couple of weeks and see if your weight goes up any. If it stays the same, you need to eat slightly more, if it goes up too much, slow the eating down a little. It's trial and error to find your caloric intake, but if your goal is to gain mass and to stay lean then you should only be gaining a couple pounds a month on the scale, depending on water weight. After you find your caloric intake level need to gain muscle, eat at that level everyday until you stop gaining. Meanwhile, focus ALL your energy in the gym and don't be lame like other girls who are afraid to lift heavy because you HAVE to if you want more muscle. Bench press as heavy as you can, squat heavy, deadlift heavy and you will be happy. Find a program that suits you and your lifts should always be going up so keep progressing its critical

As far as the foods you have to eat. I was putting on muscle eating at 3000 cals and on a vegan diet thats hard to do so i was pretty much shoveling calorie dense meals down. Here's an example of a meal plan i used. I will also add other foods you should get:

Meal 1 - Oatmeal with almond milk mixed with soy protein and an apple with peanutbutter

Meal 2 - Tempeh Black Bean Salad with glass of soy protein

Meal 3 - Whole Wheat Rice/Tofu/Green Beans/BlackBeans/lentils stir fry

lift

meal 4 - Banana with Almond milk with soy protein

Meal 5 - Whole Wheat Pasta with tempeh and tofu baked with soy cheese

Meal 6 - Lentils/chickpeas/blackbeans/spinach/tofu salad

Foods to get:

Bagels
Whole Wheat Pasta
Whole Wheat Rice
(any vegan carb choice you enjoy)

Avacados
spinach
hummus
broccoli
Black beans
lentils
kidney beans
chickpeas
soycheese
tofu
tempeh



Any girl I know who used to eat vegan because they were around me ended up baking cupcakes and i used to laugh, but actually baking is an awesome way of getting protein, look up recipes for vegan pancakes and add some soy protein powder in them and your good to go at breakfast.

[fade2green514]

find a source of complete protein and consume it on a regular basis. most animal proteins are complete proteins whereas vegetables and nuts etc. are not.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Complete_protein

eat more calories after that and you'll gain muscle.

[fade2green514]

Originally Posted by Varla

I'm not looking to get huge, just smaller with more muscle and I know I need to eat. I do that. I just think there is just a better way for me to go about it. I'm fairly confident I have the working out bit down, but I want the food aspect to be easier.

btw, getting smaller and gaining muscle at the same time... just doesn't happen. you need to eat steadily at either a caloric deficit or surplus to gain muscle or lose fat.

the difference between you and the next person is going to be your exercising, exercise determines where the calories get stored. an inactive person just gains fat, whereas an active person gains muscle.

lift weights to gain / maintain muscle mass.

do cardio to burn extra calories and stay thin, or get thinner.

[veganmuscle_]

Check this:

http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/mahler14.htm

http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/mahler53.htm

http://www.mikemahler.com/articles/vegan_diet.html

http://www.mikemahler.com/articles/macdanzig.html

http://instantteleseminar.com/?eventid=6417651

This stuff is great!

[Varla]

Thank you for all the help, everyone.