Eating To Get Shredded as a Vegan

When I first went vegan, what I wanted to know the most was what exactly I needed to eat to build muscle/lose fat, as do most people who are transitioning or already vegan wanting to build a better physique. Over the years I have learnt a lot, mostly from amazing people with countless informative videos on Youtube (such as Hench Herbivore and Simnett Nutrition) and I’ve always wanted to give back to the community by sharing everything I have learnt when it comes to nutrition and training as a vegan. I feel the best way I can share the most information (and what people have requested the most) has been full day of eating videos, so I have filmed an entire full day of eating taking you through everything I eat and it’s macronutrients, with my goal being specifically to lose fat and get shredded.

Meal 1

My first meal of the day is a basic low sugar granola meal with almond milk and protein peanut butter (which is just peanut butter with 5 super seeds added in it) and some sugar-free maple syrup added on top. I usually have this before I train and find that its the perfect balance between not being too heavy nor too light and gives me the much needed energy and carbs for my weight-training session. It may not look like a super fancy, appetising breakfast but trust me, it tastes amazing!

The macros for this meal was
Protein - 15g
Carbs - 30g
Fat - 19g
Calories - 378

Meal 2

My second meal was a wholegrain sandwich with vegan cheese and tempeh - which is something I’ve been wanting to incorporate a lot more of into my daily diet. Vegan cheese has been something that I want to slowly phase out of my diet as I lean into more whole foods plant-based lifestyle, just for my own personal health and well being. This quick meal is loaded with protein and the tempeh that I found, which was a coconut chilli flavoured one, tasted on point. I haven’t been a fan of high protein breads because most of them just taste like cardboard, but this particular one (helgas soy and sesame) is a bit lower in protein but is low in carbs and actually tastes like bread. I made 2 sandwiches and the macros for this meal was:

Protein - 38g
Carbs - 66g
Fat - 29g
Calories - 700

Meal 3

My third meal was a red lentil and green split peas soup, loaded with nutrients and flavour. I actually got the idea to incorporate more soups into my diet from Alex (Alphadestiny on Youtube) and it has been such a smart move for me. Soups are so high in volume and so low in calories, which makes it the perfect meal to cut with. I added in red lentils, green split peas, water, onions, tomatoes and vegan beef stock powder and just let it cook - it was as easy as that. Soups are one of the easiest meals to make, and will I will definitely be making a lot more in the future and will be a regular staple in my diet.

Protein - 44g
Carbs - 91g
Fat - 3g
Calories - 593

Meal 4

My final meal, and one of my favourite ones - was a classic tofu scramble. What I love about tofu scramble is that you can get it nice and crispy WITHOUT using any oil at oil (if you’ve noticed I don’t use oil at all in my full day of eating) because the water from the vegetables and the tofu itself sort of acts like the oil/keeps it from sticking to the pan. This was honestly so easy to make, all I added was some frozen vegetables, a block of tofu, some spices and its done! The main ingredient and the one that has made the most difference in my tofu scramble has been black salt - it just adds such an eggy scramble flavour and changes how the entire thing changes. I wasn’t always a fan of tofu scramble, but after adding black salt is has honestly become one of my favourite meals.

Protein - 38g
Carbs - 13g
Fat - 16g
Calories - 387

As you can see, eating as a vegan to get shredded/build muscle isn’t hard at all - I honestly enjoy all my meals so much! Especially when eating more whole-foods plant-based, I feel so much fuller even on low calories and some days I don’t even feel like hitting my macros/calories because I am so full. I know the leaner I get, the more hungrier I will get but at the moment I am enjoying the process and enjoying all my foods - I won’t be making any changes to my diet anytime soon since I am still losing weight at a steady pace and feeling good in the gym. You can watch my entire video to see how exactly I make my meals -