High Protein Vegetarian Diet for Bodybuilding

As a vegetarian, you are certainly aware of the importance of getting enough protein. That’s easily accomplished with legumes, dairy, eggs, and nuts and greens. However, the one time that a vegetarian diet can be difficult is when you are on a cut.

Vegetarians who are looking to lose weight but want to maintain muscle are going to want to follow a cutting diet. One that reduces their caloric intake so that they lose weight. However, it’s important to not cut with too little protein. That will result in muscle loss.

First, let’s clear up exactly what a cutting diet is.

 

Cutting Diets vs Bulking Diet

In the world of bodybuilding (which includes anyone who wants to add muscle or lose fat) there are two types of diets: cutting and bulking. People follow cutting diets when they want to lose fat. When it’s time to gain muscle, they follow bulking diet. Simply stated, a cutting diet will have excess calories, while a cutting diet will have a caloric deficit (normally around 500 calories a day less than maintenance).

 

How To Know How Much Protein You Need To Maintain Muscle On A Cut

There are lots of articles online about how much protein one needs. Some people argue a gram per pound of bodyweight, while others go less (some estimates range at .8 grams) but heavy athletes who undergo weight training will require more.

If you are planning on going on a diet and want to maintain muscle, I would shoot for a gram per pound of body weight. I.E. a 150 pound person should have 150gs of protein.

I have some app recommendations for vegetarians looking to track protein in your diet later in the article

The tricky thing for a vegetarian or vegan is to hit those protein goals while not going over your daily calorie limit. People who eat meat can hit those goals easily by eating lots of chicken or lean ground beef. However, vegetarians don’t have those options.

You can stock up on egg whites, but other normal sources of protein simply will push you over your daily calorie limit. Beans, lentils, nuts and other staples of a vegetarian diet simply have too many calories to work for someone on a cut.

 

How Many Calories Should A Vegetarian Eat A Week To Lose Fat

Vegetarians are no different than vegans or meat eaters in this case. Calories don’t care what your ethical choices are (or healthy choices). You need to determine your TDEE.

The other important thing you need to do is determine how many calories total you should be eating in order to lose weight. You cannot guest your required calories if you plan on being successful when it comes to weight loss. So, first determine your TDEE (total daily expenditure). There are lots of calculators online that will do this. I like the TDEE one.

The next thing to subtract calories from this number. Some people recommend 10%, while others just use the standard 500 calorie rule. This works unless you’re really light (someone who is around 100 pounds).

Once you have come up with your TDEE number and your cutting number, it’s time to devise a protein adequate diet.  A little later on in this article I will cover some protein sources for vegetarians that are trying to lose fat and gain or maintain muscle.

 

 

 

Calories: The Big Problem With Getting Sufficient Protein While Cutting When You’re A Vegetarian

Let’s take a look at some of the normal protein source for vegetarians and why they won’t work on a cutting diet.

As you can see, beans, lentils, nuts, seeds, and grains simply are not caloric efficient. You will not be able to get the amount of protein you need and also keep the calories low. Take lentils for instance.

A 150lb person who is relatively active, would be able to cut on 1600 calories a day. They should aim for around 120-150 grams of protein. How would that look if they ate lentils (which are one of the best protein sources for vegans and vegetarians)?

1 half cup of lentils has around 150 calories and 12 grams of protein.

Even if you ate 3 cups of cooked lentils, that would only net you 70 grams of protein and you’d be at 900 calories. That leaves you 700 calories to get the other 70 so grams. You could try a plain Greek yourt (80 to 100 calories and 12 to 14 grams of protein) to sneak it in, but then you would have little room for anything else (fruits, breads, salads, not to mention you would have no healthy fats in your diet such as olive oil or nuts.

Lentils and Greek Yogurt would be sufficient to get your protein in, but then you’d not many of the nutrients that you need to stay healthy and recover. The problem of healthy fats is especially tricky as nuts and oil olive and avocados provide very little protein when compared to their calorie load.

 

Best Protein Sources for Vegetarians On A Cutting Diet

As mentioned above, lentils and Greek yogurt are great sources of protein on a vegetarian diet. If you’re either on a diet that is at maintenance, or you are bulking , then you can also add in things such as nuts and even pasta and rice.

But what about when you are cutting?  What are high protein vegetarian foods for when you are cutting and in a caloric deficit?

Here’s a few:

Egg Whites

Egg whites are a fantastic high protein vegetarian food option. 1 egg white has 4 grams of protein and only 14 calories. A cup of egg whites would have around 27 grams of protein for less than 200 calories. The problem with egg whites is that they have a lot of sodium (over 400 grams per cup!) Also, if you add butter or olive oil when you’re making your egg whites, you’ve got to account for those excess calories.

Lentils or Legumes

They have lots of healthy fiber, and as historians have recently discovered, Gladiators were mostly vegans (they are a diet heavy in plant based protein). However, they also were not concerned about being overweight (one researched said they were probably fat). The tests, by the way, used bone density analysis to discover their diet. Zinc, which is a mineral that vegetarians lack in large numbers.

https://historum.com/threads/gladiators-were-vegetarians.78281/

The problem is that, as we discussed above, you won’t be able to cut on a diet where this is your main protein source.

Whole Milk, Eggs, and Yogurt

The fat content of whole milk and eggs pushes these over the limit and makes them inefficient for a staple protein source. They work well as additions to your diet, but they can’t make up the bulk of your diet

Protein Powders

The best way to hit your daily protein target is to add protein powders to your diet. These are the most efficient source of vegetarian protein. The macros are perfect (around 27 grams of protein for 120 calories).

I have written a lot about protein powder in the past. I’ve covered a basic guide to vegetarian protein powder, as well as the best type of protein powder to add to your juices.

Whey Protein: The Easiest Protein to Absorb

My favorite protein powder is whey protein simply because it the easiest to mix and absorb. The important thing is to choose a good whey protein powder that is made from grass fed cows. Whey is the protein from milk, and you want to make sure you avoid any mass produced whey protein powder because it will have the same drawbacks as regular milk: it’s not healthy and might have hormones and it’s also unethical as the cows are poorly treated.

 

Plant Based Protein Powder: For Vegans

If you are an ethical vegan, or else you simply want to avoid whey protein, then your high protein powder options fall into the plant-based category. Right off the bat, I think you should avoid soy. There are lots of studies and debates surrounding soy protein, but I think it’s best to avoid it. There are healthier options such as pea protein.

 

No Whey! High Protein Options For Vegans

Pea Protein and Hemp Protein are two of the most popular protein sources for people who don’t want whey. And then you have companies like Vega and Garden of Life that make a mixed vegan friendly protein powders that are made with a variety of protein source such as pumpkin seeds, sunlower seeds, and other plant based ingredients.