Vegan Bodybuilding & Fitness

Howdy folks. I am a new vegan who is also getting back into exercising after a long break. I am planning to do a round or two of P90X to get a good base of general fitness, followed by some more intense weightlifting to build some more muscle (though not enough to be considered a real bodybuilder). I am shooting for eating 5 times a day for a total of around 2100 or 2200 calories a day. I've picked out breakfast, lunch, and dinner but I need some snack ideas. Here is what I have so far.

Breakfast
2 slices Ezekiel bread
2 tablespoons natural peanut butter (should I switch this to almond butter?)
1 orange

Lunch
Salad with
1 cup spinach
1 cup kale
1 cup other random greens
1/2 tbsp raw pumpkin seeds
1/2 tbsp raw sesame seeds
1/8 cup walnuts
1/3 to 1/2 cup each of broccoli, asparagus, zucchini, yellow squash, tomato, cucumber

Dinner (~1.5 hours after workout)
Fruit smoothie with
1/2 banana
1/2 cup frozen blueberries
1/2 cup frozen strawberries
1 tbsp ground flax seed
2 scoop protein powder (50% hemp, 35% gemma, 15% rice from TrueProtein)

Recovery after more intense workouts
8 oz organic apple juice
1/2 scoop protein powder (same as above)

This works out to a total of 1509 calories, 178 carbs (of which 74 are sugar), 94 protein, and 56 fat. I am 5'9", 155 lbs, and 29 yo (if that matters).

So I need 2 snacks that work out to about 600 or 700 calories. It needs to be something that requires no preparation, or that I can prepare at home and bring to work (we only have a small fridge and microwave at work). I would like to keep it as minimally processed as possible, though might consider something like a Clif Builder Bar. I have about $6/day in my food budget to cover these snacks. I would also like the nutrition of these snacks to complement what I already eat nutritionally. I should also point out that I take 2000 mg per day chlorella, and a B-12 supplement.

Any suggestions would be most appreciated!

You need more protein.

How about some high protein lower fat tofu in there? I am a little person, but I would die,starve and scream on what you wrote as your diet. I have found the leaner I get,the hungrier I am and the more I need to eat. If I were a 29 year old man on 1500 kcal a day, I would disappear. Just sayin, and i know you posted looking for ideas...So, definitely look for protein, and the clif bars are only20g,...as tasty as they are,its high protein candy and you can get more bang for your calories with food.

That is why I am looking for snack suggestions to add another 600-700 calories

I should also point out that I don't like any soy products other than edamame (for texture reasons, not health).

You need a lot of edamame.

Do you have Gardein products in any of the stores you shop? They make a cutlet for 90 kcal,16grams protein with 4 cutlets per bag and it costs about $4.29. - 4.59. Sorry about the earlier post...i edited while you were posting,...didn't mean to be a smartass

Long answer: You most definitely need more protein. In fact, you should be hitting at least 155 grams of protein a day if you want to add muscle (though some suggest that you could get up to 1.5xBW of protein a day if you really want to be putting on mass but that's debateable). Taking the average of those two suggestions, you'd be getting about 190 grams of protein a day, or 760 of your calories from protein. You also want your carbohydrates to be equally as high so I'd suggest adding legumes to your lunches and dinners because they're high in both (I recommend lentils as their protein/carb ratio is pretty solid). Then I'd snack on things like nuts, fruit, and nut butter sandwiches throughout the day to finish out your macros.

Short answer: Up your protein intake to around 200, hit that every day, and then find foods you like that fill out the rest of your caloric needs and you'll be set.

I totally agree with vegansludge here!


here are two ideas i have for you:

Idea 1:

2 PB & J sandwiches (quality ingredients) i.e. 100% stoneground bread; either rye, or whole wheat, all natural peanut butter, and 100% (or near to that) fruit jam. Two sandwiches will yeild about 40-60 grams of protein, 15-25 grams of fat, and about 60-70 grams of carbs, depending on the amounts (i.e. weigh your food to get a good indication of how much of what you are getting). When I started to weigh my food i discovered i wasn't getting enough protein, let alone enough calories, that helped me fix it. Now I am a dedicated follower of the ways of the IIFYM crew.

Idea 2:

200g (measured dry) of lentils or beans). Cook these and throw in some hot sauce, or spices etc. This alone will provide you with about 0-1 grams of fat, 60 grams of carbs 60 grams of fibre and 60 grams of protein. Oh and this will hit around 740 cals.

Agree with everything in this post but especially the part in bold. Weighing your food completely changes the game - especially if you you're following IIFYM.

Another suggestion: throw some non-dairy milk and nut butter into your smoothie to bump up the calories.