Throughout my career as a Personal Trainer and Sport and Exercise Nutrition Specialist, I have worked with many vegetarians whose primary concerns include decreased body fat and increased lean muscle. Nutrition is responsible for over 60% of exercise results; frequent exercise often yields no physical results because proper nutrition is lacking.
From my experience, I have often found that vegetarians have more trouble losing weight and building muscle than non-vegetarians. This has led me to believe that many vegetarians need to develop a better understanding of nutrition in order to successfully reach their fitness-related goals.
Here is everything a vegetarian needs to know in order to achieve body fat loss and lean muscle gains.
ARE YOU GETTING ENOUGH PROTEIN?
Losing weight and building lean muscle with minimized access to complete protein sources is a difficult task for many vegetarians, but it doesn’t have to be. Women who exercise regularly should be consuming 20-30 grams of protein 5 times per day. Men who exercise regularly should be consuming 40-60 grams of protein 5 times per day.
ARE YOU A VEGETARIAN OR A PESCITARIAN?
Many vegetarians eat seafood. This source of complete protein often makes it easier to accomplish physique goals. Based on the protein goals listed above, 4-6 oz of most seafood sources is equivalent to one serving of protein for women. Men should consume 6-8 oz. Food scales can help to better understand what a proper serving size measures up to. They are very inexpensive and can be found at places like Target, Wal-Mart, Best-Buy, and Bed, Bath, and Beyond.
If you do not have access to a food scale, then use your hand as a measurement tool; typically, one serving of fish for women should be the same size as the palm of your hand. For men, one serving of fish should equal two palms.
My only concern with a higher-than-normal seafood diet is an increased risk of heavy metal exposure. I recommend that pescitarians take advantage of this complete protein source up to 2 times per day, but should limit consumption to the following sources:
- Salmon: Alaska wild only. Others AND farmed may contain PCBs
- Sardines: Great choice. Pacific U.S. are the best.
- Halibut: Pacific U.S. is best, but even it is high in mercury. Avoid all other Halibut.
- Shrimp: Pink from Oregon is the best. U.S. and Canada is OK. Avoid all imported.
- Snapper: Avoid. Overfished.
- Scallops: Farmed are the best. Others are OK.
For more info go to
These sites will provide more information as to which forms of seafood are safest for consumption.
DO YOU EAT EGGS?
Some vegetarians eat eggs. Egg whites are a fantastic source of lean, complete protein and they are one of the easiest-digesting forms of complete protein for most people. Free-Range, organically farmed brands are preferred. According to the daily protein recommendations that I have listed above, one serving of egg whites for women is 4-5 whites and one serving for men is 6-8 whites.
Fresher eggs are always the best option. Liquid egg whites are available at most grocery stores, but often contain preservatives. Egg white and veggie omelets make for a perfect meal.
BEWARE OF SOY
Many vegetarians seek soy as a protein source. I must warn that high levels of soy consumption are not the best option for those wishing to decrease body fat or increase lean muscle because soy intake can often lead to an adverse effect on the thyroid organ. The body usually responds to soy by increasing estrogen production, a hormone that is directly correlated with increased body fat.
DO YOU EAT DAIRY?
If you are not a Vegan and are not lactose-intolerant, than many dairy products can be a great source of lean, complete protein. My favorite options include plain, fat-free Greek yogurt or plain fat-free yogurt. One cup of either would be considered one serving size for women and two cups would be the proper serving size for men.
Fat-free cottage cheese is also one of my favorites; most labels list ½ cup as one serving, but the protein recommendations that I have posted above would require 2 servings, or 1 cup, per meal for women and 4 servings, or 2 cups, per meal for men.
SUPPLEMENT ON WHEY, CASEIN, OR ISOLATE PROTEIN SHAKES
Whey and casein proteins are made from dairy products, but many lactose-free whey proteins are available. Isolate proteins are dairy and lactose-free.
One serving typically contains 20-30 grams of protein, so one to two servings will fit the protein recommendations listed above for women and men. I prefer chocolate or vanilla-flavors because they tend to taste more like the real thing. Be careful with flavors such as “cookies and cream.” The sound of a fancy flavor is oftentimes misleading and can leave you disappointed with your flavor selection.
One great thing about protein powders is that they do not perish. I keep serving size zip-lock bags in my purse, backpack, and in my car and I carry a shaker bottle on me at all times. In times of hunger, when healthy food options are absent, I can always have a shake and know that I made a safe choice. I often have 2-3 shakes per day as snacks in between meals. Shakes make it easier to have 5 meals a day. Eating every 3 hours is always ideal because it speeds up metabolism and increases the ability to lose body fat and increase lean muscle.
Protein powders usually taste just fine when combined with 1 cup of water. Every once in a while, almond-butter or fruit can be blended with a powder to create an even tastier treat. However, I do not recommend doing this with every shake because high levels of daily sugar intake will promote the development and storage of excess body fat. This leads us to my next point.
DECREASE YOUR SUGAR-INTAKE
According to Precision Nutrition, the Academy by which I am certified as a Sport & Exercise Nutrition Coach, the typical American consumes 34 teaspoons (136g) of sugar per day. However, the USDA recommends no more than 10 teaspoons (40g) of sugar per day. Consuming more sugar than the body can convert into usable energy will lead to the storage of body fat. This being said, it is no wonder that Type 2 Diabetes and obesity are increasingly becoming an epidemic in this country.
So, let’s examine what 40 grams of sugar looks like when it comes to consumption:
- 2 slices of white bread= 3 teaspoons of sugar
- 1 bowl of cereal= 4-5 teaspoons of sugar
- 1 cup of dried fruit= 4 teaspoons of sugar
- 1 bowl of ice cream= 23 teaspoons of sugar
DECREASE YOUR INTAKE OF “STARCHY” CARBOHYDRATES
I had an idea why my vegetarian clients had more trouble losing weight than my non-vegetarian clients, so I made them all fill out 3-day long food journals. After examining these journals, I learned that my hypothesis was indeed correct; my vegetarian clients were eating far too many processed and starchy foods.
Examples of starches include: potatoes, sweet potatoes, rice, quinoa, beans, legumes, corn and corn products, oats, granola, wheat/flour/bread, and pastas.
The purpose of starch is to provide high levels of energy for the body. However, like sugar, any of this energy that is not used as fuel for exercise, will inevitably be stored as fat. This is the main reason why having starch at night is a very bad idea. Chances are that you will not be running a marathon after dinner, so there is simply no need to consume starch at night. On that note, there is no reason to consume starch on days when you do not exercise.
SUMMARY
For vegetarians wishing to lose body fat or increase lean muscle, you should begin your process by following these basic rules:
- Eat 5 servings of complete protein per day.
Decrease or avoid soy intake
- Limit sugar consumption to 40 grams (10 teaspoons) of sugar per day.
- Avoid starchy carbohydrates at night and during days without exercise.
