Not a new bodybuilder, but still need some help [Diet]

[GRardB]

What's up vegansss? This is my first post here so I guess I'll introduce myself a little before I start asking questions.

 

My name is Gerard and I'm 16 years old. I live in New Jersey and I'm entering my Junior year in high school. I'm not a vegan, but a vegetarian. I'm not sure exactly what kind you would call me, because I do eat dairy, and I only eat eggs when they're a very small ingredient in baked food like cookies, brownies, etc., so I guess I'm a lacto-ovo vegetarian, but if someone offered me mayonnaise or scrambled eggs, I would tell them I can't eat them.

 

I became a vegetarian at the age of 7 because my parents became vegetarians, but they didn't force me to become one. Now that I'm older, I understand why they became vegetarians (although my mom's not one anymore). It's my belief, along with my dad and my sister's, that humans are herbivores and we are physically not conditioned to eat much meat like most people do.

 

I've been into bodybuilding for a while, but didn't start lifting seriously until around March of this year.

 

Now to my questions I want to gain lean mass, basically in all body parts, but especially my arms, chest, and calves (my back, shoulders, and thies are big enough in my opinion), although I still work 5-6 days a week (one body part a day).

 

I have noticed results since March, and so have some of my friends, but I feel that my progress is sluggish, and after doing lots of research for a new workout plan, I decided that it wasn't my workouts, but my diet.

 

I decided that my diet contains too much of the same things. Since I concerned about my protein consumption, my daily diet would consist of not much more than some veggie burgers, cereal, rice and beans with veggie chicken nuggets/buffalo wings, and peanut butter sandwiches. At the end of the day, the grams of protein seemed enough, but I think that my repetitive diet was holding me back from getting bigger. I've been on vacation for a month, doing mostly cardio and calisthenics because that's all I can do. In this time, I've been doing tons of research on what I should be eating to get bigger as a vegetarian.

 

One thing I didn't like about my research was that lots of vegans/vegetarians seem to supplement a lot with different kinds of protein, and some take other supplements like weight gainers. I only want to take Whey Protein (no creatine, steroids, testosterone boosters, nitric-oxide, etc.), not only because I don't want to limit my diet to tons of protein shakes and stuff, but because that stuff can get expensive and I want to be considered "natural".

 

If anyone's wondering....

 

I shop at Whole Foods.

The veggie products I eat usually come from Morningstar, Boca, and Yves.

I drink mostly water.

I only eat whole wheat bread if I can.

I take a multivitamin pill.

 

I think I've given enough information for people to help me out (sorry if that was too long a post, lol). So can I get some advice from the pro's?

 

Thanks,

Gerard

[flanders77]

Welcome Gerard!

First of all please write a short introduction post in the intro section as well so that everybody else checkig for new members notices you.

Concerning training: Congrats on starting it! Maybe you start a training log and provide some detailled info because there are many experienced bodybuilders here.

Concerning your diet. XcookedfoodistjoshX would love your diet (except the eggs and dairy of course (lacto-ovo is correct btw)!)(sorry Gerard, thats an insider-joke...). But seriously: Why don't you eat any vegetables or fruit?

And concerning your reasons for being vegetarian: If you believe you are an herbivore – do you think that eggs and milk grow on trees

[offense74]

Hi!

Muscles are built in the gym. If you push yourself you will get results.

When it comes to diet and building muscles more is better, calories that is. Research points over and over again to this fact. However, research also points to the fact that eating too much calories (nomatter the source) is hurtful to your health. If you want to make that trade-off, go for it. There's no problem gaining muscle and strength if you don't overeat but it will take longer.

For a good diet I recommend that you read The China Study and/or Eat to Live

[Guest]

Welcome to the forum If you want to get big with a vegan diet I suggest you just eat as much as you can stomach. Its not the healthiest way to do things but if size is what you want thats how you've gotta get it. You need to eat like you train if progress is slow.

[GRardB]

I appreciate all the replies, but I think I may have been a little unclear as to what I was asking for.....

 

I already know HOW to eat for the most part; a lot and clean. The problem is that my knowledge of different types of food isn't so great. A reply with just one healthy meal with a good source of protein and complex carbs, and probably not much fat would be extremely helpful. I really just don't think I can get big off of veggie burgers and cereal :-/

 

Also, I forgot to mention my height, weight, etc. Hopefully it helps a little I guess?

 

Height: 5'9"

Weight: ~163

Body fat %: Not entirely sure. My scale says I'm 18%, but it also says my friend who has visible abs is 19%. My guess is around 14-15%.

 

Thanks again,

Gerard

[flanders77]

...my daily diet would consist of not much more than some veggie burgers, cereal, rice and beans with veggie chicken nuggets/buffalo wings, and peanut butter sandwiches.

Maybe there was some missunderstanding: When I read the above statement it appeared to me as if you don't really know HOW to eat. That's why I asked about fruits and vegetables.

IMO you can get big on cereal and veggie burgers but it is not that healthy.

Maybe you provide some more detailled info about what you really eat so that we have something to comment on.

Here is what I would recommend you to eat as a meal: bananas, watermelon, mangos, oranges or other fruits.

A really good dinner would be: lettuce, tomatoes, cucumber and avocado or a handful of nuts.

[the Asocial Ape]

welcome gerard. glad you're here. i'd suggest taking the last step and going fully vegan.

[Guest]

Actually you can get really big eating lots of veggie burgers and cereal. I was already big when I got to college but I gained more muscle than ever and got much stronger eating veggie burgers, hot dogs, PB&J, cereal, bags of pretzels, and every other processed vegan thing you can think of. It worked but I don't think thats the route you want to take. Eat as much fresh foods as you can and get most of your protein from things like beans, broccoli, seeds/nuts.