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| Tips How To Building Muscle as A Vegetarian or Vegan |
More and more people are turning to vegetarian and vegan lifestyles for moral reasons or their many health benefits, or both. Many athletes are wary to make the jump, however, because they believe it’s not possible to build a strong, muscular body if you don’t eat meats and animal products.
They’re wrong. The reality is you can make fantastic gains with exercise, weightlifting included, as a vegetarian or vegan if you know what you’re doing, which is the reality for meat-eaters, too (just because you work out and eat a bunch of animals protein every day doesn’t mean you’re going to get stronger or more muscular).
Another problem that most people share, regardless of their dietary preferences are the fact that eating properly to build muscle or lose fat presents unique problems if you’re not good in the kitchen.
Eating to build muscle requires that you eat quite a bit of food each day, and forcing down large quantities of bland proteins and grains, legumes, and tubers day after day gets really old, really fast. And running amok and eating everything your stomach desires is a sure route to packing on an ever-expanding layer of unnecessary fat.
On the other hand, eating to lose fat requires that you carefully watch your food intake to maintain a caloric deficit each day (that you eat less potential energy calories than you burn through basic bodily functions and activity).
This leaves no room for the fatty and sweet indulgences that so many people crave, and it’s only a matter of time until you can’t look at another pile of steamed veggies.
The good news is there’s a simple solution to the above problems. By learning how to cook fast, healthy, and tasty meals that provide adequate protein, carbs, and fats, you can enjoy eating to build muscle or lose fat. And following a vegetarian or vegan diet won’t get in your way.
Source: Michael Matthews