Vegan Bodybuilding & Fitness

Hello everyone,

I just finished a half of block of tofu with some soy sausage patties while nearly gagging. Bulking is great for vegans since we get a large variety of foods to get calories and protein from, but when it comes to cutting my diet consists of 80% soy whether it is coming from soy protein powder, tofu, tempeh, or high processed soy meats. I've eaten and loved soy for the past 7 years here, but I'm slowly approaching a soy overload mark. Many times when I eat soy now I get this burning bitter aftertaste in my mouth which causes me to squint my eyes in disgust. Now I'm a tough person, and I can stomach this crap sickly aftertaste (it does actually make me feel tougher bearing the crap taste), but I'm not sure for how much longer. If I'm struggling with this diet, how can I recommend this diet for the average joe who wants to build a chiseled physique?

Normal vegans have it great with a large variety of foods that can taste absolutely wonderful with the magic of cooking, but vegan bodybuilding has a stale and unbalanced diet that is becoming more and more ineffective in my mind. We cannot deny anyone the right to start bodybuilding, but how can we build a animal cruelty free society by advocating this stale diet for bodybuilders? I strongly support the fact that the tiny estrogen contained within soy is harmless, but a diet consisting of 80% soy for cutting phases that which to preserve muscle mass is not balanced nor healthy I'm beginning to feel. I'm not getting a variety of sources of protein, I'm burned out on soy, and I'm concerned that high soy protein diets can cause hypothyroidism. Maybe Cheeke is a few years away from it who knows?

In light of this, I'm seriously considering going back to vegetarian. The whey and milk and possibly eggs will give me a much needed break from soy.

Your thoughts?

My sample cutting diet for reference:

Meal 1
Oats with soy milk and soy protein powder
Black coffee

Meal 2
2 Clif Builder bars

Meal 3
Protein shake w/ fruit

Meal 4
Tofurky sandwich with some carrots, spinach, olives, and tomatoes

Meal 5
Fried tofu with broccoli

Meal 6
Protein shake w/ fruit

Dropping veganism so you can potentially shed a little extra bodyfat?? Don't think you'll get much sympathy here.

If you're cutting in earnest I'd drop the builder bars, drop the bread & maybe even reduce the fruit (from what I understand BBers on 'keto' stlye diets stay away from fruit). Have you tried using seitan in place of soy for some meals? You can get plenty of plant-based protein powders that don't contain soy e.g. pea, rice.

Maybe you need to change up your weights/cardio routine. Do you do fasted cardio, interval training etc?

I'm not dropping anything because I want to shed extra bodyfat. My point which is located on the title of the thread is that I'm burnt out on soy. All I eat is soy, so after 7 years it tastes like crap in my mouth, and I don't think eating nearly only soy is very healthy. I need a variety of proteins. I'm reading seitan does not have a great amino acid profile despite its high protein value. Also, I've changed to a rice based powder before. It only replaced one or two of my meals a day where as I was still eating 3-4 soy meals a day; it also tasted like sandpaper even when blended.

I'm not dropping anything because I want to shed extra bodyfat. My point which is located on the title of the thread is that I'm burnt out on soy. All I eat is soy, so after 7 years it tastes like crap in my mouth, and I don't think eating nearly only soy is very healthy. I need a variety of proteins. I'm reading seitan does not have a great amino acid profile despite its high protein value. Also, I've changed to a rice based powder before. It only replaced one or two of my meals a day where as I was still eating 3-4 soy meals a day; it also tasted like sandpaper even when blended.

What are your macros? Your calorie intake? That amount of soy is absurd, I agree, but I don't see why you need that much in the first place. I would advise against any diet that gets more than 40% of calories from protein, whether you are cutting or not. Also the soy powder can be replaced with rice/pea/hemp powder, while you could add beans, edamame, peas, veggies, and even something like quinoa to your diet.

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Yep, what Fallen said. Your soy intake is quite excessive; and beware of the health risks(supposed affected hormone levels, and thyroid problems). Try to chuck in more calories from non-high protein products, and be creative with the diet. It's not that a vegan bodybuilder's diet is bland, but its more of the mentality that all vegan bodybuilders should only be eating protein and nothing else. In this case, your soy obsession. Try beans, nuts, lentils instead of that much soy, even avacados work. Chuck in some calories too, I suggest brown rice which which as fiber + protein.

I do eat a can or two of black beans every week or so as well as things like broccoli, nuts, and peas. However, eating avocados, rice, potatoes on a cutting diet often is not the most effective for a cutting diet since the idea is to reduce calories below maintenance while keeping protein on the high. It's difficult to hit 180g (I weigh 180ish) of protein every single day unless a high amount of soy protein is involved because other vegan sources of protein are loaded with either a high amount of carbs or fat. I really did wish rice had more protein in it because it's damn delicious stuff.

I've bought some grocery store brand rice protein powders, and my god they taste absolutely awful. What are the best ones to buy online?

Why not some tempeh instead of all that tofu? And how about almond milk in your oats instead of soy?

I'd never eat bars of any kind while cutting; see Martin Berkhan's comments on protein bars and satiety over at LeanGains. Maybe try making your own with a pea protein blend? (There is a great one available at TrueProtein, and Life's Basics makes a great pea/rice/hemp blend.) There are a lot of recipes at forum.bodybuilding.com

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milk and eggs also give you lots of stuff like cholesterol,fat, hormones. Besides watch the new food Plate from the Usda. Even they don't consider milk as a source for Protein.
Did anybody force you to be Vegan? Did anybody force you to eat so much soy ?
It's defiantly sounds that way. There are guys here like Derek that use high carb whole foods Diet before contest. You can use many other foods for Protein. You have a choice.

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a few ideas -

well, cutting down the amounts of soy is a def a good idea, but if keeping some, maybe use different seasoning and textures? basically trying out new recipes.
seitan could also be an alternative, it can be quite varied.
rice and pea protein in shakes as well. plain flavor + adding some fruit / juice and it tastes perfectly fine.

THat is really odd. I am a vegan bodybuilder and I don;t eat a lot of soy. Interesting. Do you eat beans? buckwheat? oatmeal? quinoa? nuts? peas? I have a pea soup that is almost 20 grams of preotein per serving.

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Try Sunwarrior (vanilla or chocolate flavoured)

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You don't fancy sharing this recipe do you?

Please share the high protein pea soup recipe!

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Just search other recipes bro?