Can plant based diets build muscle and strength?
One of the most common and believable myths is that vegans can’t build a herculean body. Bodybuilding has always been associated with dairy and meat products.
Even body-building supplements have more variety when compared to vegans. But that should not be a barrier in stopping you from getting a good muscular body even if you are a vegan.
Everyone has their own reasons for switching to plant-based diets. Some switch for environmental stakes and some to stop animal cruelty.
But if your concern is, ‘can plant-based diets build muscles?’ Then the answer is a big ‘YES’.
The key ingredient for muscles building is the protein which most of us are familiar with. The good news is that we have alternative plant sources of protein apart from meat and dairy product.
Luckily for us, there is a high protein vegetarian diet for bodybuilding available to us naturally.
There are various ways through which plant-based diets can help build muscle and strength if you optimize your plant-based muscle building diet.
Sorting Your Vegan Diet for Muscle Building
Vegan has a different diet plan than a vegetarian or non-vegetarians. You can build muscle on a vegan diet but you need to plan it properly.
A vegan should aim at getting 50% of their calories from carbs; 25-30% of calories should come from healthy fats and 20-25% from protein if you are planning to increase your endurance.
However, to increase your strength you need to take more protein than carbohydrates.
Meat is a Myth in Bodybuilding
You truly don’t need meat, fish, or animal merchandise to get your protein restoration.
We most often overrate the need of protein from the animal sources i.e. meat and dairy products.
Historically, this perception has led trainers to recommend as much as 3grams of protein per kilogram of body weight per day for constructing muscle ( i.e. 180g of protein per day for a 60kg guy).
However, the studies tell a completely different story. The growth in your muscle size and strength is just as good when you take 1.6g of protein per kg of your body weight.
So, according to this revision in the equation, the calculation differs. A 60kg guy will need 96g of protein per day. You can attain this much amount of protein easily even if you’re a vegan.
What About Less Amino Acids?
If you are working on how to gain muscle as a vegan, you may want to seek balance in diets that provides you with all the nine essential amino acids.
We might know that our body is incapable of producing nine essential amino acids; however, for non-vegetarians, it is a nonexistent issue but can be tricky for vegans.
You’ll find abundance of amino acids in animal foods. However, the vegan food sources lack in some of them.
Still, a balanced vegan diet has enough supply of the essential amino acids to fuel your muscle growth and strength.
For example, you may get all the lysine you need from beans. However, they are low in methionine. But many grains that are low in lysine can fulfill the requirement of methionine.
Comparable complementary combinations are found in several pulses, nuts, veggies, seeds, and grains.
So the conclusion is that you don’t need to stuff your diet with animal products to catch-up on amino acids. A well-structured vegan diet can also do the job.
Key to a Plant-Based Diet for Bodybuilding
Neither the protein nor the amino acid can stop you from building muscles even if you are a vegan.
It requires your dedication, awareness and most importantly you need to make sure that you take proper vitamins and essential macronutrients through your whole food diet plan.
Irrespective of your choice of food, the quality of food should not be compromised at any cost.
Calorie Intake- The game-changer:
The way you consume your calories can be a deciding factor in your pursuit of bodybuilding irrespective of the fact whether you are a vegan, vegetarian, or a non–vegetarian.
Calculating the calorie intake is a scientific art and there are certain formulas to determine the right calorie intake exclusively for you to build muscles.
Formula to Calculate Calorie Deficit With BMR
Finding your right BMR:
- Formula for women:
655+ (4.3 × weight in lbs.) + (4.7 × height in inches) – (4.7 × age in years) =Your BMR.
- Formula for men:
66 + (6.3 x body weight in lbs.) + (12.9 x height in inches) – (6.8 x age in years) = BMR
Now once when get your BMR using the formula mentioned above, try to follow the table mentioned below to find your calorie intake depending on your intensity of work.
| Your BMR | Multiply with | Nature of your activeness |
| Your BMR | × | 1 (If your daily activity is zero) |
| Your BMR | × | 1.2 (for very light activity) |
| Your BMR | × | 1.4 (light activity) |
| Your BMR | × | 1.6 (Moderate activity) |
| Your BMR | × | 1.8 (Hard activity) |
| Your BMR | × | 2.0 (Extreme activity) |
Final Takeaway
We started with a question, “Can plant based diets build muscle and strength?”
And the answer is a big yes.
Science has progressed a lot in modern times and today your choice of food is now not a major hindrance in achieving your desired physique.
All it takes is a good understanding of your goals and your willpower to get to that goal.
So what are you waiting for guys? Eat clean, eat green and smash some weight!!!
