Are you a vegan who wants to do a bulking diet? Or, have you ever wondered how skinny vegans bulk up? If yes, you are at the right place. We cover the best vegan foods to bulk up and provide a vegan bulking meal plan in this article.
I’ll be the first to admit that vegan food has come a long way. I recently ate at a vegan restaurant and was blown away at how good the food was. It was pricey but it was very tasty. And it inspired me to write this post.
The dishes at this vegan restaurant were creative – for example, vegan sushi has watermelon instead of fish. The vegan burger patty was made of barley, oats, quinoa and beans. It sounds weird but they pulled it off very well and I would eat there again. (Actually I will eat there again because they have all-you-can-eat-sushi once a week. $25 for unlimited rolls. Now that’s one way to bulk up as a vegan.)
But that’s only one night a week. And it’s not practical to eat at a vegan restaurant every day. What will you eat the other days? In this post we’ll review the best foods to eat on a vegan diet and provide some sample meal plans to get you started. This will show you that it really is possible to bulk up on a vegan food plan.
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How to Bulk Up on a Vegan Diet
The fundamentals of bulking on a vegan diet are the same as bulking on a non-vegan diet.
You still need to eat enough calories to grow, and get the correct amount of macronutrients in order to build muscle and gain size.
Bulking as a vegan may seem frustrating, but quality vegan foods are actually quite calorie and nutrient dense. Quality being the key word there – As vegan diets becomes more mainstream, more companies are offering vegan food options.
Unfortunately most of these options are terrible for you. They are processed abominations full of soybean oil (industrial chemical) and other nonsense a human shouldn’t consume.
If you are vegan for health reasons and eat imitation meats you are missing the point. Hopefully this article serves to open your eyes to lots of tasty vegan foods to make your bulk (and life) more enjoyable.
Bulking up depends on You, the individual
To set the stage – Your diet requirements will vary depending on many factors including your size, metabolism and food preferences/availability.
Regardless, I highly recommend you get a food scale and track you calories with an app (I’ve used my fitness pal and it works well). You must weigh your food and track your consumption if you want to make meaningful progress as fast as possible.
Finding your baseline
The first thing to do is figure out your Total Daily Energy Expenditure. Plug your data into this TDEE calculator. This tells you how many calories you burn each day to maintain your weight. That’s your starting point. If your TDEE is 2500 calories that means you burn 2500 calories a day through metabolism plus exercise.
Now, you need a surplus of 3500 calories to gain one pound. That’s 3500 calories in addition to your TDEE to build body tissue. That new tissue can be muscle and/or fat just to keep it simple.
So, if you want to gain one pound a week, you must eat a 3500 calorie surplus that week. Surplus means extra calories that you don’t burn up with your baseline metabolism PLUS calories you burn as a result of training.
Moving forward, I’m going to run through these concepts quickly to give you an idea of what to do, and if there’s interest let me know and I will expand on each of these topics.
4000 Calorie per Day Bulking Diet for Vegans
A serious bulking diet is roughly 4000 calories per day for many people. However, the amount of calories you consume per day depends on your goals.
Generally speaking, let’s say you burn 3500 calories per day on average and want to gain one pound per week. In this case you would eat 4000 calories every day. This puts you at a 500 calorie per day surplus, or 3500 calorie surplus per week (500 x 7 = 3500).
Let’s take it a step further and say you currently weigh 150 pounds. Here’s what you could consider as a starting point for your macronutrients:
Protein: 200 grams of protein per day (800 calories)
Healthy fats: 175 grams (~1600 calories)
Carbohydrates: 400 grams (1600 calories)
It might seem daunting, but it’s totally possible to eat 4000 calories a day with a vegan diet.
Eat as many meals/snacks as you need to to meet your calorie and macronutrient requirements.
If you need to squeeze in another 500-800 calories, a vegan protein powder will help.
Vegan Diet Foods
This list of vegan bulking diet foods should give you some inspiration. Flavor fatigue is real, so it helps to have new foods with different flavors and textures to enjoy.
I’ve come to believe that you’re only limited by your imagination and creativity. Not kidding when I said that vegan restaurant changed my entire view on the vegan diet. I thought vegan was a gimmick, but I was wrong. The food was legit.
Here are some staple foods for a vegan bulking diet
Beans and legumes – kidney, lima, navy, etc., etc.
Nuts and seeds – peanuts, almonds, walnuts, flax seeds, chia seeds, sunflower seeds, pumpkin.
Fruits – Apples, bananas, blueberries, pears, mangos, dragonfruit, watermelon, honeydew, cantelope.
Vegetables – Leafy greens, asparagus, brussel sprouts, string beans, broccoli.
Vegan Supplements – Pea protein powder.
Sample Vegan Bulking Meal Plan
Here’s a plant based diet to get ripped. Adjust portion size to align with your daily calorie needs.
Typical vegan meals include a lot of soy products like soybean oil and vegetable oil. Avoid those if at all possible. soybean oils negatively impact your natural hormone production and can make building muscle mass more difficult. It can also lead to metabolic damage causing excess body fat to accumulate.
Since we’re not eating any animal protein, we need to get it from good plant sources. This sample meal plan provides a wide range of options to gather a diverse array of essential amino acids and other important nutrients for good health and muscle construction.
Breakfast: Oats w/ flax seed, chia seeds, banana, berries (blueberries, raspberries) and a splash of coconut milk.
Can add wheat germ to it too. It doesn’t taste like anything but it adds calories, fiber, and some protein. Can also add some jam or jelly for more flavor and calories, or Cocoa nibs for extra calories although it has bitter flavor. Plus a vegan protein shake with peanut butter. Pea protein powder is a solid option here.
Lunch: Lentils with veggies and beans.
Dinner: Vegan burgers (vegan ‘beef’ patty with barley, lentils and oats) lettuce, tomato, pickles on a bakery fresh bun.
Vegan Snacks: Mixed nuts, Hummus and crackers, sweet potato fries, kale chips and seaweed crisps cooked with olive oil, hearty bread loaded with jelly or jam.
Post workout snack: Fruit smoothie with frozen fruit, banana, whey, flax, chia, olive oil, spinach.
Vegan Bulking Meals and Snacks
Here are a few ways to get extra calories on the vegan diet to gain weight.
Dates and peanut butter. (Don’t crack your teeth on the pits.)
Pancakes, waffles, with real maple syrup topped with peanut butter and bananas/berries.
Add seeds to your salads and top with olive oil.
Eat a lot of avocado which can be added to salads, as a side, or blended into shakes.
Add Cocoa nibs to your vegan yogurt.
Vegan Bulking Tips
Let’s first learn the fundamentals of a vegan bulk diet to get right on the path. These guidelines will help you develop the mentality and routines necessary to make your bulking endeavor as rewarding as possible.
Have a bulking workout schedule
The more muscular growth your workouts can promote, the faster and more effectively you’ll be able to gain muscle. As you get more lifting expertise, this becomes more crucial.
Workout 3-6 days a week using compound movements and targeting each muscle group in a balanced fashion.
Eat enough protein
This is important so it bares repeating. For each pound of body weight per day, aim for at least 1 grams of protein. Peanuts, peas, edamame, tofu, seeds, whole grains, and a range of other plant-based foods all contain a solid amount of protein.
Keep some plant-based protein powder on hand. If you can fill a protein gap with a quick protein shake, your bulking diet will be much simpler and you won’t have to stress out as much about hitting your protein requirements.
Ensure that you are gaining weight
As mentioned earlier, the best way to gain weight and build muscle is by eating enough calories to gain weight. You should also weigh yourself each week to to make sure you are making progress. And to see if adjustments to your diet should be made.
Count your macros
Everything that gets measured improves. Make sure you are tracking your meals so you know how many calories and macronutrients you eat on a daily basis. This is important data to understand how you are progressing and make improvements.
Sleep like a baby
Try to get 7.5 hours of sound sleep per night, minimum. I understand if you find it difficult with a busy routine, but getting enough sleep will speed up and lean out your muscular growth.
Conclusion
Vegan or not, the principles of bulking up are the same:
- Eat a calorie surplus
- Get your macronutrient profile dialed in
- Workout regularly using a progressive overload training program.
Nuts and seeds are your friend – lots of calories and easy to take with you.
With these foundations, you will achieve your goals; remember to eat your proteins. Protein is the most crucial component of a vegan bulk diet, and skipping it would mean falling short.
I would stay away from the processed foods and imitation foods. They slow down your metabolism and have a negative impact on your health in general.
Whether you switch to a vegan diet because of ethical reasons, animal welfare, or the alleged health benefits, good for you for trying something new.
What are your favorite vegan bulking foods? Let me know in the comments below.
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