I'm curious if there are any vegans or vegetarians on the board. I'm not aware of any, and I kind of doubt it. Because most posters here are young guys looking to bulk up.
I'm not vegetarian, nor do I have any real desire to be, although I've tried it for short periods before. I wouldn't mind incorporating more meatless meals, or maybe even have a "Meatless Monday" or something like that. If there are any here, I'd really like to know what a typical supper might look like for you. When I tried it before, I felt like I wasn't getting enough protein. I also found myself eating a lot of fake meats like vegan bacon or whatnot, but I didn't really like that because then you're getting into processed foods and it's not really a natural meal.
This is based on not understanding numerous things.
First I am not currently vegetarian but I was for 6 months where I ate no meat...did continue eating fish, eggs and dairy(Lacto-Ovo Vegetarian). Saw no dropoffs but also no real difference in how I felt so I stopped. However the most surprising thing is I didn't miss eating meat at all and I would devour 3-4 chicken breasts a day most days and had Ben doing this for years.
Second, the more trained a person is in the gym the LESS protein they need, not more. This is because the body has become very efficient at using it and they are breaking down far less muscle tissue when they train then a new person would be.
Third, it is entirely possible to get enough protein being vegan or vegetarian, you simply may have to rely on more protein powders or ensure you are mixing different types of things together to get complete protein sources...although they don't necessarily need to be eaten during the same meal just the same day. As always the key amino acid and the one the body uses as it's marker of protein levels in the body is Leucine, which is really only found in high amounts in peas and green pea protein powder outside of animal products.
The average person only can USE 100-150g of protein a day, and that is on the HIGH side. In fact researchers found there is ZERO benefit towards gaining muscle past a threshold of 0.68g/lb of lean mass. However to be doubly sure, they went to 95% double confidence which is the gold standard for certainty of a study and gave 0.84g/lb of lean mass. UNLESS you are on steroids which allows more protein to be synthesized into muscle by the body...that is the rate limiting step of the process that steroids overrides, meaning without them it is like having a governor on an engine and no matter how fast it can go, it is only allowed to go up to a certain limit.
Fourth, the amino acids are what matter not what the protein source is. For instance I take Perfect Amino which gives the equivalent of 30g of protein per scoop while only counting 2 calories as the amino acids are broken down already and delivered in perfect ratios. Green Pea Protein and Brown Rice Protein mixed together have a near identical amino acid profile to whey protein which is considered the gold standard In terms of protein powders(which btw are completely unneeded if you simply eat whole foods but are convenient I will admit).
So most of what you said I completely disagree with based on my findings while doing it myself and on numerous other people's results.
There are many examples of vegan and vegetarian bodybuilders both on the sauce and off so it isn't like steroids are a requirement to do this.
