Vegan Bodybuilding & Fitness

I'm 6' 5", eating about 2600 calories per day, and weigh around 185-190 with about 14% body fat. Basically I'm trying to get more toned and whatnot, but not get huge or anything, I just want to look good. Right now it's not really working.

So my question is, about how should I be eating to get lean and muscular, but not really to build massive amounts of muscle? It seems like I've kinda hit a wall.

Hey, welcome to the group!

Are you doing any training right now? Weight training, cardio, or sports?

Those will play a role in how muscular or how lean you are and can help tone up.

As far as eating, I would take in more calories, especially if you are doing some training. I know a lot of us on here eat between 3000-5000 calories a day, but we also train so it doesn't get stored as fat.

I would focus on eating clean foods, natural, whole plant-based foods.

For me, I stay in pretty good shape all year round and I pretty much eat the same style all year round. When I get ready for a competition (bodybuilding) I cut out the junk foods like vegan ice creams, cookies and stuff like that.

I like to focus on fruits such as oranges, apples, bananas, berries, peaches, etc.

I also really like vegetables like broccoli, spinach, potatoes, carrots and others.

Beans are great also and I eat kidney, green, garbazo and pinto beans on a regular basis.

I also eat nuts, grains, seeds, some tofu and soy products too. I take barely any supplements, mostly just a multivitamin and vega (www.myvega.com).

Best of luck and I'm sure others will give you some great ideas as well.

Take care and please stop by the introductions page and introduce yourself to the group

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Right now I'm beginning with some cardio training, doing 15 miles in about an hour on a bike 4-5 times a week. I'm doing some light basic resistance training, just with the dumbbells I have at my house, and abdomenal workouts. I alternate between core and arm/leg workout days.

I think my limit right now may be my caloric intake, as I searched on a few online calories needed calculators and for someone my height doing my kind of activity it said much more than I'm currently taking in.

A lot of times I feel like I'm kinda lacking the energy to do stuff, and I've plateaued at the weight I lift, I haven't moved up in weight in a couple of months.

You may want to try adding a fruit and protein smoothie or a couple of Builder's Bars to your daily diet. Both are easy ways to pack in come calories and protein. The lack of energy seems like a clear case of lack of calories and/or protein. Good news is it's easy to fix. Of course, don't forget healthy carbs. Last summer when I was doing the level of cardio you are, I made sure to get about 500 grams of carbs per day just to maintain my weight and energy levels.

Pump up the calories and let us know how it works out.