Vegan diet for bodybuilding and bulking

I have been a vegan for 2 years and a personal trainer for 3 years in my youth. On my quest to gain muscle and increase size I decided to take on the challenge of bulking on a vegan diet along with improving my health.

The first thing I found that puts millions of men off being vegan is the stigma associated with being skinny and weak due to a lack of calories and protein.

The truth is you can bulk on a vegan diet, quite easily actually.

The reason vegans tend to be skinny come from two components.

The culture

Vegan culture stemmed from the hippie movement where weight training isn’t exactly the common trend. Fast forward 10 years from where we are now and the skinny vegan will be a thing of the past as guys who hit the gym are becoming vegan due to health concerns.

Cleaner insides

Something happens when you turn vegan. You lose a ton of weight that appears as though you’ve lost a ton of muscle. This makes so many men turn back to gain that size again. One thing it’s hard to understand about the vegan diet until you try it for 6 months to at least 1 year is, the weight you lose isn’t muscle or size or gains or anything gym related. You’re losing fat and unwanted waste that’s stuck in the body from years of eating meat, dairy and other animal products.

How can you tell? Try being a vegan for 6 months but stick to your normal routine. You’ll lose weight sure, but your cardio and flexibility will shoot up. For a few months you won’t be able to lift what you did before, that’s natural. Keep training for another 6 months with heavy lifting and you’ll be the same size as before but leaner and stronger because the muscle is real and functional.

There’s a lot of guys who are crazy strong, but it comes from bodyweight rather than muscle strength. According to science, if an elephant was human size we could outlift them easily. The same is apparent for guys who lose excess fat once they become vegan. The problem is they percieve it as the vegan diet itself making them skinny and removing their muscle/strength.

Avoid soy

Before we do anything, avoid soy at all costs. So many men turn vegan and go for the tofu or the tempeh but it doesn’t work.

Soy increases estrogen which stores body fat. If you eat soy foods then you’re going to struggle to get into shape.

Check out our article on vegan men having 13% higher testosterone than meat eaters.

UFC fighter Nate Diaz said the following about tofu;

“I would never recomend tofu. Everybody does that tofu thing, but that’s wack.

“Tofu’s not good for you. Yeah, they make tofu, that’s some b*tch-a** sh*t anyway. Why would you even want to eat something called that?”

“Everyone’s like, ‘I’ll take that tofu,’ but that sh*t actually lowers your testosterone. It makes you b*tch-made.”

High protein vegan foods

1. Peanut butter – 25g of protein per ounce

2. Lentils – 18g of protein per ounce

3. Chick peas – 15g of protein per ounce

4. Nutritional yeast – 14g of protein per ounce

5. Bulgur wheat – 12g of protein per ounce

6. Spelt & Teff – 11g of protein per ounce

7. Hempseed – 10g of protein per ounce

8. Green peas – 9g of protein per ounce

9. Spirulina – 8g of protein per ounce

10. Amaranth & quinoa – 8g of protein per ounce

11. Wild rice – 7g of protein per ounce

12. Nuts – 5-7g of protein per ounce

13. Fruit & Veg – 5-7g of protein per ounce

14. Oats – 6g of protein per ounce

15. Chia seeds – 6g of protein per ounce

Best vegan foods for bulking

Protein isn’t everything when it comes to bulking, you need your carbs, fibre and fats. These foods are the best all round superfoods that gives you the best bang for your buck.

Yams

Avocados

Chia seeds

Goji berries

Blueberries

Spinach

Sweet potatoes

Quinoa

Pomegranate

Kiwi

Banana

Mushrooms

Dark chocolate and cacao – soy free 100% cocao

Lentils

Broccoli

Vegan meals for bulking

Knowing which foods have the highest protein content or which foods are the best superfoods is great, but it doesn’t work on a day to day basis. People want to enjoy flavours and combinations rather than individual foods.

Therefore here are 10 vegan meals that are perfect for bulking.

1. Bean burgers, mushrooms, lentils and sweet potatoes

2. Oats, blueberries, nuts and bananas

3. Peanut butter and bananas

4. Mashed sweet potatoes and yams with beans

5. Avocado, black beans and black eyed peas

6. Peanut butter and oats

7. Quinoa vegetable mix

8. 1 whole dark chocolate bar 10 large squares (post workout)

9. Mixed nut salad

10. Rice with beans, sweet potatoes and mushrooms

Additional herbs

As a vegan it’s important to make sure you’re getting all of the nutrients possible.

Meat contains b12 that is found in almost no plant based foods. Here’s the herbs you should be taking to help with the best possible bulk/muscle growth. Some of which are high in vitamin B-12.

Maca (B-12)

Ashwagandha (B-12)

Fo-ti

Cordyceps (B-12)

Premium grade green tea

Siberian ginseng

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