# Vegan athletes/muscle building concerns?



## highlordmugfug (Aug 14, 2012)

There's been quite a few threads started in here where people ask about going vegan or vegetarian and gaining weight/muscle.

There are a ton of bios here that have vegan athletes and bodybuilders

Vegan Bodybuilding & Fitness

So there's the proof that it's possible, and that website has a lot of really good information for people who have questions as well.

Avi Lehyani is one of my favorites
Vegan Bodybuilding & Fitness






Robert Cheeke is one of the most famous/popular
Vegan Bodybuilding & Fitness





Ryan Wilson competes in strongman competitions (and has a build similar to Trenchlord imo)
Vegan Bodybuilding & Fitness





So yeah, being fit, muscular, etc while being vegan or vegetarian is definitely possible, so this thread should be to let everyone know that, and for any questions concerning veganism/vegetarianism and related stuff. It'd be better to have this one thread than a ton where we answer the same questions over and over again. (if this already exists I apologize, I didn't notice anything, and I thought the bios were interesting).


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## AlexRuger (Aug 15, 2012)

I've gone vegan twice in my life. I loved how it made me feel in the short term ("lighter," sort of. That's the best way I can describe it) but after about a month I felt my body suffering. I tried my best to eat enough protein but it was very difficult. I've since switched to what I call a sort of "quasi-Paleo" diet. Basically I just though, "If I were living before organized agriculture (the conditions in which our bodies evolved to eat), what would I be eating?" Probably lots of vegetables, fruits, nuts, etc. Pretty much vegan. But then with the occasional meat thrown in. I guess you could call it a dairy-less low-meat diet. Works well for me.


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## ZXIIIT (Aug 15, 2012)

Don't forget to add in Bryan Danielson (or Daniel Bryan in WWE) as another vegan athlete.


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## Semichastny (Aug 15, 2012)

There are plenty of sources of vegan Protein, I'm not Vegan but I find it really tiring to hear people ranting against it because usually these people are either citing inaccurate information, lies from the abstracts of crappy studies they never actually read, or just the old anti-soy bullshit. Legumes, Grains, and Nuts are all great sources of protein and with a properly researched Diet it's incredibly easy to be healthy and fit as a Vegan. In fact the other day I had 2 vegan tacos and a salad and it came out to about 52g of protein which is a little less then half of what I need per day with my workout schedule. To often people turn "Vegan" and make no effort to research where they will get their nutrients/protein and then complain about how shitty they felt during the time they spent trying out the diet.


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## highlordmugfug (Aug 15, 2012)

Semichastny said:


> There are plenty of sources of vegan Protein, I'm not Vegan but I find it really tiring to hear people ranting against it because usually these people are either citing inaccurate information, lies from the abstracts of crappy studies they never actually read, or just the old anti-soy bullshit. Legumes, Grains, and Nuts are all great sources of protein and with a properly researched Diet it's incredibly easy to be healthy and fit as a Vegan. In fact the other day I had 2 vegan tacos and a salad and it came out to about 52g of protein which is a little less then half of what I need per day with my workout schedule. To often people turn "Vegan" and make no effort to research where they will get their nutrients/protein and then complain about how shitty they felt during the time they spent trying out the diet.


Excellent post.

I see a lot of people: I went vegan and ate nothing but lettuce for a month: BEING VEGAN IS SO UNHEALTHY!


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## JeffFromMtl (Aug 17, 2012)

Of course, there are plenty of non meat-based sources of protein out there. It just takes the slightest amount of research, which those in denial simply wouldn't be interested in doing. One of those sources I swear by: hemp.






I make sure to always have a bag of hemp hearts in my pantry because no matter what I'm making/cooking for any meal, I can add hemp hearts if there isn't already a sufficient amount of protein. I put it in cereals, salads, soups, smoothies, etc. There's also hemp protein powder, which is vegan-friendly and even for those who are omnivores, it's much easier on the digestive system than whey protein powders.


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## highlordmugfug (Aug 17, 2012)

I'm a big fan of hemp foodstuffs.


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## axxessdenied (Aug 18, 2012)

JeffFromMtl said:


> Of course, there are plenty of non meat-based sources of protein out there. It just takes the slightest amount of research, which those in denial simply wouldn't be interested in doing. One of those sources I swear by: hemp.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


love this stuff, so delicious


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