Eating enough calories while transitioning to vegetarian from meatie

[elsiva]

/I am coming to vegetarianism from being a meat eater. I am a 15 year old female and a high school freshman. I currently am 5'10" in height and weigh approx. 150 pounds. I do yoga, am a runner (I'm not a serious runner but I do run mainly for endurance for playing softball and being a cheerleader), a martial artist, I'm also the captain of the JV cheer squad and am one of the captains of my 16u travel softball team.

I decided to become a vegetarian after a school presentation by the senior captain of the varsity cheer squad. She showed various slaughterhouse footage explaining why she was vegan. This got me to wanting to become a vegetarian. That along with a friend who is a vegan as well.

My biggest concern is being my size and being a athlete is not being able to get enough nutrients, not being able to eat enough calories and not being hungry throughout a day. Nothing bothers me more than getting hungry in the middle of class and having my belly grumble it's disapproval..

What tips can you give me for training because I would like to be able to gain some more upper and lower body muscle mass without gaining too much weight and flexiblility. What are some good snacks I can take with me for when I am playing softball and am sitting in the dugout between innings? What can I eat to get enough calories so I'm not starving throughout the day? What tips can you give to build muscle and develop some more definintion in my abs? Other tips would be great too.

Thanks!

 

[ecneics]

@elsiva My husband has been a Vegan since he was 16, and is turning 55 this year. He is an endurance athlete, having climbed Mt. Everest (Base Camp), finished an Iron man etc. He is planning to climb Kilimanjaro next month. I say this so you know that I speak from experience of feeding him ;-D.

Emphasize on whole grains, not processed foods. Add a lot of legume to your diet as well as a lot of greens. More greens than you think you need. My way is do a smoothie with spinach. Fats are what will help, so nuts, flax, hemp, chia seeds etc. I avoid grains (I am a rock climber, but not even close to his level of calorie consumption). He loves grains. We always have some legumes at home, some homemade grains (Pasta, brown rice, home made breads or organic pita), lots of veggies - cooked as well as raw. Find any excuse to add coconut oil and seeds and nuts to every meal.

Hope this helps, and do keep us posted, would love to hear of your progress!

 

[evea]

@ecneics Awesome! Just wanted to add, science backs up this too. Beans are probably some of the best foods you can eat. Processed foods are being linked with cancer.

Here's some studies I've read recently on those 2 topics:

Beans:

Bazzano, L. A., He, J., Ogden, L. G., Loria, C., Vupputuri, S., Myers, L., & Whelton, P. K. (2001). Legume consumption and risk of coronary heart disease in US men and women: NHANES I Epidemiologic Follow-up Study. Archives of Internal Medicine, 161(21), 2573-2578.

Clark, S., & Duncan, A. M. (2017). The role of pulses in satiety, food intake and body weight management. Journal of Functional Foods.

Darmadi-Blackberry, I., Wahlqvist, M. L., Kouris-Blazos, A., Steen, B., Lukito, W., Horie, Y., & Horie, K. (2004). Legumes: the most important dietary predictor of survival in older people of different ethnicities. Asia Pacific Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 13(2), 217-220.

Ha, V., Sievenpiper, J. L., De Souza, R. J., Jayalath, V. H., Mirrahimi, A., Agarwal, A., ... & Bernstein, A. M. (2014). Effect of dietary pulse intake on established therapeutic lipid targets for cardiovascular risk reduction: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials. Canadian Medical Association Journal, cmaj-131727.

Hartman, T. J., Albert, P. S., Zhang, Z., Bagshaw, D., Kris-Etherton, P. M., Ulbrecht, J., ... & Lanza, E. (2009). Consumption of a Legume-Enriched, Low-Glycemic Index Diet Is Associated with Biomarkers of Insulin Resistance and Inflammation among Men at Risk for Colorectal Cancer1. The Journal of nutrition, 140(1), 60-67.

Hayat, I., Ahmad, A., Masud, T., Ahmed, A., & Bashir, S. (2014). Nutritional and health perspectives of beans (Phaseolus vulgaris L.): an overview. Critical reviews in food science and nutrition, 54(5), 580-592.

Hutchins, A. M., Winham, D. M., & Thompson, S. V. (2012). Phaseolus beans: impact on glycaemic response and chronic disease risk in human subjects. British Journal of Nutrition, 108(S1), S52-S65.

Kim, S. J., De Souza, R. J., Choo, V. L., Ha, V., Cozma, A. I., Chiavaroli, L., ... & Leiter, L. A. (2016). Effects of dietary pulse consumption on body weight: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials–3. The American journal of clinical nutrition, 103(5), 1213-1223.

Li, H., Li, J., Shen, Y., Wang, J., & Zhou, D. (2017). Legume Consumption and All-Cause and Cardiovascular Disease Mortality. BioMed research international, 2017.

Mitchell, D. C., Lawrence, F. R., Hartman, T. J., & Curran, J. M. (2009). Consumption of dry beans, peas, and lentils could improve diet quality in the US population. Journal of the American dietetic association, 109(5), 909-913.

Winham, D. M., Hutchins, A. M., Thompson, S. V., & Dougherty, M. K. (2018). Arizona Registered Dietitians Show Gaps in Knowledge of Bean Health Benefits. Nutrients, 10(1), 52.

Processed foods:

Fiolet, T., Srour, B., Sellem, L., Kesse-Guyot, E., Allès, B., Méjean, C., ... & Hercberg, S. (2018). Consumption of ultra-processed foods and cancer risk: results from NutriNet-Santé prospective cohort. bmj, 360, k322.

Gourd, E. (2018). Ultra-processed foods might increase cancer risk.

Monge, A., & Lajous, M. (2018). Ultra-processed foods and cancer.

Monteiro, C. A., Levy, R. B., Claro, R. M., de Castro, I. R. R., & Cannon, G. (2010). Increasing consumption of ultra-processed foods and likely impact on human health: evidence from Brazil. Public health nutrition, 14(1), 5-13.

 

[hamzah77]

@elsiva

My biggest concern is being my size and being a athlete is not being able to get enough nutrients, not being able to eat enough calories and not being hungry throughout a day.

Okay let me stop you there. You just need to block out all the bullshit that people feed you, it's a load of shit and as a vegetarian (which I personally am) you can build all the damn muscle you want in exactly the same capacity as someone who eats 4 chickens a day.

I've known women who've gone to vegetarianism and had serious issues with iron levels, so that's something to keep an eye on and ensure you get enough.

Aside from that, count your macros get what you need, make sure you hit your calorie targets and you'll be fine. Getting hungry in the middle of the day should be less likely since as a vegetarian / vegan you'll likely be adding in more fibrous foods in place of meats (ie they'll fill you up more for less calories).

In terms of tips for training, these are vegan/vegetarian/meat muncher agnostic. It really doesn't make a difference if you're hitting your macronutrient targets. Chances are as a vegetarian you're having more vegetables / nutrition dense foods anyway.

gain some more upper and lower body muscle mass without gaining too much weight and flexiblility

No disrespect, but you're a 15 year old female so you're not gonna gain a heap of mass I'd say. It'll be a slow process. I always advocate for basics, and those are the standard power lifting movements (deadlift/squat/bench) for building overall strength / muscle. From there ensure you do your accessory movements (biceps/triceps/shoulders etc) for anything you want to work on.

What are some good snacks I can take with me for when I am playing softball and am sitting in the dugout between innings?

Depends if you want to put on our lose mass, put on I'd say fruit / nut mix etc. Carrots and salsa dip or low calorie hommus if cutting.

What can I eat to get enough calories so I'm not starving throughout the day?

You keep contradicting yourself, you don't want to starve throughout the day but you're scared you can't get enough calories. If you genuinely can't get enough calories just shovel food down your throat

What tips can you give to build muscle and develop some more definintion in my abs? Other tips would be great too.

At 150 lbs which is what...almost 70kgs you probably could just drop a couple kgs and end up with more defined abs. Unless you're really really lean usually the answer to better ab definition is to drop a percentage or 2 of bodyfat.

 

[dawn16]

@elsiva Flax oil, oats, peanut butter powder, various nut milks, fruit, rice, potatoes, various beans and legumes. I try to get 20-30 grams of protein through these sources. In my time as a vegan I’ve found that striving for a protein goal brings me to my calorie and carb goal just by the high carb and fiber nature of a vegan diet. Also hella greens at all time.

 

[godsson708]

@elsiva Cliff bars? hahaha

Abs are about body fat percentage. Exercise more or eat less calories.

 

[godsson708]

@elsiva You may be interested in my YT channel. I have a vegan weight gainer video on how to make your own bulk weight gainer and also tips on eating clean if you want to get cut. Keep in mind I've been lean af all my life. Everyone is different.

Also check out the game changers! There's a great trailer out and hopefully it will screen soon.

 

[freethinker4eva]

@elsiva I mean it's not like there are no calories in vegetarian foods. You don't just munch on lettuce all day like a rabbit. Fruit, nuts, cheese, noodles, all crazy high in calories.