X-post from r/veg: My 2.5 year vegetarian bodybuilding progress

[forgiven4ever]

Hello /r/veganfitness! Though I am not vegan (I was for about three months when I tried a raw food diet long ago) I have been a vegetarian for 6 years now. What I have learned as a vegetarian trying to gain muscle can definitely be applied to vegan fitness as well. One of the main concepts that has helped me is to eat enough calories from carbs and fat so that my body preserves the protein I do take in to rebuild muscle tissue. I think most people overdue protein in the fitness world. 1 gram per lb of lean bodyweight is plenty! In the past simply not eating enough was holding me back, not the vegetarian diet which I have continued to maintain 100%!

2.5 years ago I started lifting weights and have never looked back. I have always been passionate about the benefits of being a vegetarian, and I wanted to prove that you can still put on muscle without eating meat. I'm far from done, but I have come a long way.

My transformation

Now I could really use your help. I built a website to show others how to workout. I believe if I can teach how I have made progress I can inspire others to do the same, and alter preconceived notions that the vegetarian or diet is limiting in fitness.

www.jasonhfitness.com

If you are a vegetarian/vegan and want to learn how your diet will not hold you back or just want some motivation I will be updating my blog every week and focusing on this topic. If you want to learn how to workout you can subscribe to my daily workout planner on my website. You can also follow me on Facebook where I will be available to answer questions as well. I'm hoping to reach more people so I can begin to make a difference. Thank you!

Feel free to AMA! I'd love to share what I have learned.

 

[cgnet]

@forgiven4ever About how much of your diet comes from plants and how much from milk and eggs? Do you take protein supplements? And if so, whey or plants?

 

[forgiven4ever]

@cgnet Plants play a big role in my diet mainly in the form of soy milk. Beyond that, I try to eat leafy greens everyday. But a lot comes from whey protein powder as well. I don't eat a lot of dairy besides whey protein. I eat eggs but not everyday. I buy the organic free range (though I know that is more of a marketing term). Protein supplements are essential imo as a vegan or vegetarian. It really evens out the playing field compared to people who eat meat. My other main "supplement" is veggie burgers. Also mainly soy based protein

 

[dawn16]

@forgiven4ever soo, is your protein supplement vegan or not? not judging, just curious. i find it hard to find soy or rice proteins that arent flavored and/or sweetened. i don't like my shakes to taste like chocolate. choosing vegan reduce the available choices, especially when in a foreing country.

 

[dawn16]

i find it hard to find soy or rice proteins that arent flavored and/or sweetened.

Have you tried truenutrition.com?

 

[dawn16]

I can see truenutrition is US based. i live in asia at the moment, so it don't really want to deal with the and the added expenses. but thanks.

 

[forgiven4ever]

@dawn16 Yes, there is no doubt you have to make some sacrifices either way. My main protein source is whey protein so no, not vegan. I would like to try some alternative vegan sources actually. I haven't done much research but what I have read is that soy protein powders might be the next best thing. I use Optimum Nutrition Serious Mass for calories and protein, but if I found a good vegan alternative that wasn't very expensive that would be awesome.

 

[dawn16]

@forgiven4ever i see you changed your haircut as well

 

[forgiven4ever]

@dawn16 Thank god lol

 

[dawn16]

@forgiven4ever What are your tips for being a vegan athlete and being vegan fit?

 

[forgiven4ever]

@dawn16 This is going to depend on your goals, but I think the number one reason many vegans don't always achieve the same results as everyone else is their obsession with eating "clean." I think it's great to have a diet based on vegetables, fruits, nuts etc. But when you train hard you need calories plain and simple. If you aren't getting enough calories you are going to sideline the progress and muscle you could be gaining. My advice is to continue eating a lot of green healthy foods, but make sure you get in those high calorie meals in along side. I'd also strongly recommend supplementing your diet with some kind of vegan protein powder. It's going to be difficult getting enough protein for most people. Supplements have a bad reputation because they represent an extremely wide variety of products. But as a vegetarian I have found adding in some protein powder to be essential. As far as training the rest is all the same!

 

[dawn16]

@forgiven4ever Yay, that's basically what I've already been doing. I actually have the reverse problem, and get too many calories vs leafy greens.

 

[forgiven4ever]

@dawn16 Hahaha I think most people do. The vegan diet is a good motivator to eat healthy. A lot of the vegan processed foods are expensive so it's cheaper to just eat what came from the ground

 

[zofran]

@forgiven4ever what was your daily calorie intake?

 

[forgiven4ever]

@zofran When I was a beginner my bulking calories were about 3500. Now I have found I need to eat about 4300 or so to gain weight steadily. I can lose weight at about 3000 calories. Recently I ate 5-6000 calories for three months straight. I only gained about .25 lbs a week which is the perfect amount to avoid getting too fat. Keep in mind I lift weights for about 1.5 hours 6x per week and am 6'4. Most people will do great eating around 3-4000 calories along side training (girls about 2500). You want to keep your body fat not much higher than 10% because you will have to eventually lose that excess fat anyways. So even when bulking I will always have a visible 6 pack. Getting fat is a waste of time and you are just eating too much/not training consistently

 

[zofran]

@forgiven4ever Yeah, I've made a conscious choice that I'd rather gain muscle slower than gain fat as well and have to cut it. I'm on about 3500 a day rn @78kg (170lbs) with about 150g protein a day but I'm thinking about cautiously trying to nudge that up a bit as maintenance for me is easily 3000 already.

 

[forgiven4ever]

@zofran You have the perfect strategy I would just keep doing that. It does take time, but you are going to be better off in the end.

 

[jtroop]

@forgiven4ever Incredible transformation! Which deltoids excerices do you recommend and which brand on whey protein do you prefer? /Vegetarian since 10 years

 

[forgiven4ever]

@jtroop Thank you!! When you think about deltoids think in three dimensions. My favorite shoulder exercise is the standing military press. This is because compared to dumbbells you can bring the bar down to your chest and press up, going for a better range of motion. Also upright rows are awesome. But in every shoulder workout I do some secondary work to hit the front, side and rear deltoid. I often do a primary exercise like a seated dumbbell press then superset that to a lateral raise, for example. You can do barbell front raises to hit the front deltoid. For the rear I like doing reverse flys with my chest on an incline bench. I also really like cable rear delt rows. Using a rope attatchment on a high cable setting pull the weight straight in line with your eyes. A lof of people do this wrong by pulling too low. That involves more back and less shoulder, not what you want.

I really like products by Optimum Nutrition. Their protein powder is not overly sweet either. Even their packaging is not overloaded with flair. It just does the job. That's been my go to brand for a while. I have been using Serious Mass for over 2 years. Great product and best value out there I have found.

Congrats on hitting the 10 year mark!

 

[jtroop]

@forgiven4ever Thanks and thank you for a great response. I've added all your exercises to my program. I can tell by your energy and devotion that you will go far. Best of luck from Sweden.