Hello and help!

[SwirlesY]

Hello there!

I'm Aaron and I'm trying to transition to a vegan diet.

The problem I'm having is that I go to the gym 4 days a week and require around 2800 calories and 270g of protein a day.

I've been doing some research and I'm struggling a bit so was wondering if anyone else is a gym goer who has to eat quite a lot of calories?

Any advice would be very much appreciated

 

[Lou]

The calories isn't the problem. There are a number of YouTuber Vegan athletes who will eat 2500 - 3000 calories a day. Freelee the Banana Girl ate that many calories. That is the only one I can think of off hand but I'm not sure she would make a good role model. I bet there will be other replies to your question with better recommendations about sites or videos to check out. "What I Eat In A Day" videos are very popular with this crowd. But getting a lot of calories isn't going to be a problem.

I'm not sure where you got the idea that you needed 270 grams of protein-a-day. But I'm sure it's wrong.

At my gym, the big bodybuilders talk about a coefficient. A number that you multiply against your weight (in pounds) to figure out how much grams of protein a day. Typically this is a number between 1 and 2. I'm wondering if that is how you got 270. Anyway the coefficient you Should be using is between .37 and .48. Athletes might stay in the range of .6 to .9.

It's a very common mistake for people to overestimate their protein requirements. I'm pretty sure that a lot of this is perpetuated by the supplement industry. The nice thing for athletes is that hitting a protein number is easier for athletes because they are eating a lot of calories.

Maybe a better way to calculate protein needs is with percentages. This takes a lot more number crunching than the coefficient but I think is a much better way to do the calculation. The tricky part is that the percentages are the number of calories. not grams. Since protein and carbs have 4 calories per gram but fat has 9, this involves a bit more math.

the percentages are somewhat debatable. These are Protein - Fat - Carb percentages. 20-20- 60 is probably the most common ratio. Dr Barry Sears of The Zone used 30 - 30 - 40 when working with the champion Stanford swim team. Raw vegans use 10 -10 - 80.

Using 20% and your goal of 2800 calories, your protein target would be 140.


Further reading

Ultimate Protein FAQ: 10 Common Protein Questions Answered!

How much protein should you eat? Is it safe? What's the best source? Get the answers to your burning questions right here!

www.bodybuilding.com

How Many Grams of Protein Per Kilogram of Body Weight?

How Many Grams of Protein Per Kilogram of Body Weight?. Protein is needed for nearly every function in the human body, and is essential for building and maintaining muscle mass. High-protein foods include meat, poultry, seafood, soy products, seitan, eggs, dairy foods, legumes, seeds and nuts...

healthyeating.sfgate.com

Protein for Vegetarians (& the myth of incomplete proteins)

 

[Emma JC]

welcome and all the best with your transition

@Lou has given you some really important information - I will give you some important vegan body builders who have YouTube channels and who you can find information from.

Jon Venus
Simnett Nutrition
Brian Turner
Nimai Delgado

and there are many more, if you just google them

Emma JC

 

[Jamie in Chile]

Hi Aaron, a vegan diet is fine for high exercise. Don't worry, you will be fine, just check the youtubers mentioned above.

I personally only do serious exercise 1 day a week. I don't pay any extra attention to what I eat on those days any more than other days, I just eat a little more or the same if I want to lose weight. But that's just me.

 

[Hog]

Thank you Lou for your clarification.

There are so many things that I stress about when it comes to going vegan. Your advice is always comforting.

 

[SwirlesY]

Good morning all and thank you for the replies!!

I have attached a picture of what macros I will be aiming for. I decided to go for the lower carb option as I'm not their biggest fan, but I am happy to proceed using the moderate carb option if I am struggling to match the protein intake. This is from tdeecalculator.net.



I have been doing my research on youtube and elsewhere but the problem I was having is finding someone based in the UK as people based in other countries have access to products that are difficult to get in shops over here.

I also found it rather daunting that on one of the meal prep websites that I usually use suggested using excessive amounts of one ingredient per day which would be very unrealistic.

As suggested I will look into those youtubers for more information and will call back with updates

Thanks!

 

[Lou]

I looked over your chart and I don't think it really is the way to go. the low carb one is totally out of line. and the other two are just sort of ok.

let me just start off with that the protein requirements of all three are way too high. I probably should have mentioned this in my first thread but I felt I had go on too long anyway. But there are real limits to protein absorption and utilization. It's pretty new science but there has been a lot of good stuff in this area recently.

The deal is that your body can only absorb and utilize so much protein per hour. this is usually described as per meal because normally we don't meter our protein. If you go over your protein limit the protein is just broken up and used for calories and if the calories aren't needed, just like excess carbs, it is turned to fat. This in itself wouldn't be that bad but in breaking up proteins, nitrogen wastes are created. these are toxic and your kidney has to go to work overtime in order to scrub the nitrogen from your blood before it does any real damage. This is why bodybuilders sometimes get kidney or liver disease.

Anyway, most of the studies show that 20g per meal is optimum and 30g per meal is max. Athletes who are consuming a large number of calories per meal are encouraged to eat more than 3 meals a day. You could probably meet your actual protein goal and stay with the limits with three 30g meals and two 20 gram snacks.

Try basing your goals on your real life numbers. First, figure out how many calories you DO need per day.

 

[Emma JC]

BTW - Brian Turner put out a Top 10 Best Vegan Meals for Muscle 3 days ago and Jon Venus has a new Protein Grocery Haul video.

Emma JC

 

[SwirlesY]

Hi everyone!

I managed to get my diet sorted and make sure I am hitting my targets.

The Jon Venus videos really helped!!

Got my shopping list and going to go and get the gear at weekend and start it from Monday.

Thanks again everyone

 

[Emma JC]

Hi everyone!

I managed to get my diet sorted and make sure I am hitting my targets.

The Jon Venus videos really helped!!

Got my shopping list and going to go and get the gear at weekend and start it from Monday.

Thanks again everyone

Congrats, so happy that the videos were helpful.

Please keep us up to date on your journey!

Emma JC
?? (Canada Day is July 1 - Happy Canada Day Long Weekend!)