Vegan Bodybuilder vs Meat Eating Bodybuilder: Pros and Cons

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The difference between a vegan bodybuilder vs meat eating bodybuilder is a popular topic. Many believe that without animal protein, you cannot achieve a desirable physique, when, in fact, that is not the case.

Managing your portions, eating the right ingredients, and having a stringent workout routine can be incredibly powerful for vegan fitness enthusiasts. If you want to switch to a plant-based lifestyle, we highly recommend taking note of these pros and cons.

There is an assortment of differences between meat-eating and vegan bodybuilders, but at the end of the day, both can bulk up and build muscle with the Visual Impact Muscle Building program.

The Benefits of Vegan Bodybuilding

1. Healthier Fats

When you decide to consume primarily vegetables and fruits in your diet, you’re going to be eating much healthier fats than with animal products. Animal fat can be dangerous for your heart, and for many people, their digestive system.

With a vegan diet, you’ll have far more healthy unsaturated fat from seeds, oils, avocados, and even nuts. With healthy unsaturated fats, your body has the opportunity to absorb more vitamins and minerals that are essential for muscle building. You will also find these features assist with minimizing inflammation and promoting healthier cell development.

2. Many Protein Sources

Protein is quite essential when building muscle and is also the primary concern of vegan bodybuilders. Most often, meat-eating bodybuilders get their protein from meat, as it is in abundance. Vegans have a far more extensive selection of items that are known to have high concentrations of protein.

If you’re someone who enjoys having different meals during the week, you’ll love going vegan. By implementing various sources of protein into each meal, you’ll have a wide variation of lunches and dinners to put together.

A few examples of fantastic sources of vegan-friendly protein include:

  • Firm tofu (10g of protein/1/2 cup)
  • Edamame (8.5g of protein/1/2 cup)
  • Chickpeas (7.25g of protein/1/2 cup)
  • Peanuts (8g of protein/spoon)
  • Almonds (16.5g of protein/1/2 cup)
  • Quinoa (8g of protein/cup)

3. Healthier Meals

Even though we’d all like to assume the meat we eat comes from the right places, that’s not always the case. There is an abundance of fillers, preservatives, hormones, and antibiotics in meat that can affect our day to day lives.

When you opt for a plant-based lifestyle, you’ll be able to cut out all of the harmful components from the meat industry. However, it’s also important to note that not all vegetables are the same.

To get the healthiest ingredients, you will need to find organic, non-GMO, and unprocessed food options. Otherwise, you’re filling your stomach with a ton of preservatives and unhealthy components that will impede your progress.

The Disadvantages of Vegan Bodybuilding

1. Requiring Supplements

With a vegan diet, you have to be extremely strict with what you eat; otherwise, you could be lacking in a lot of essential vitamins and minerals. For example, Omega-3 isn’t readily available from plants as it is from animal products.

If you are getting into veganism, you’re going to want to have an assortment of supplements to ensure you’re getting the right nutrients. Although taking a couple of pills every day seems simple enough, it can be quite costly over time. This reason is why you must build a plan with a professional nutritionist so that you can make sure you’re getting the correct nutrients you need for bodybuilding.

2. B12 Deficiency

One of the most common issues that vegans experience is a deficiency in B12, which is an essential vitamin that assists with moods, energy, and orientation. When you have a B12 weakness, you are likely to experience depression, balance issues, fatigue, and confusion. This reason is why you must make sure to eat foods that have this essential vitamin, such as fortified cereals, mushrooms, and nutritional yeast.

Another alternative if you are diagnosed with a B12 deficiency is to receive regular shots from your doctor. Although it is common, suffering from this ailment can significantly impede your overall health as well as your bodybuilding goals.

3. Difficulty with Calorie Counts

When you’re eating meat, you can guarantee it’s incredibly simple to reach your calorie allotment for the day. Imagine, a single steak has up to 679 calories, which is only one component of one meal.

When you’re opting for vegetables and tofu, you need to up the calorie counts of your lunches and dinners. When you’re starting, the hardest part, by far, will be to keep up with your calorie counts to make sure you are eating more than enough.

You’ll need enough calories for your body to use as an energy source; otherwise, you’ll start losing mass. Again, with the right amount of meal prep and planning, you can avoid having issues with your calorie counts.

vegan bodybuilder vs meat eating bodybuilder

The Benefits of Meat-Eating Bodybuilding

1. Easy Protein Sources

Every vegan can agree; it takes a lot of work at first to find the correct sources of protein and healthy fats. As a meat-eating bodybuilder, you’ll find its substantially more straightforward, as you have a whole assortment of meat and fish to turn to. 

Protein is relatively everywhere in an omnivorous diet, whether it’s from tuna or a delicious steak. You even can buy any protein powder you desire, whether it’s vegan or not. Reaching your total amount of nutrients will be much easier as items are far more readily available than many vegan ingredients.

2. Increased Niacin Levels

One nutrient you are bound to find in red meat is niacin or vitamin B3. This vitamin is responsible for expanding your blood vessels to promote healthier blood flow, as well as improving your HDL (good cholesterol) levels.

When you cut meat out of your diet, you’re going to be lacking in niacin, unless you’re able to find alternative sources.

The higher your niacin levels are, the faster your muscles will build, as they will have the support from your blood to heal faster after working out. You may also find that you’ll feel more energized while working out, as healthy blood flow can increase your overall energy.

3. Faster Metabolism

This point is especially crucial for people who are interested in cutting weight before bulking up. When you consume meat, you’ll also be receiving creatine monohydrate, which naturally occurs in red meat. This impressive component assists with boosting your metabolism, which, in turn, allows you to trim fat faster while resting.

Creatine is also essential for improving the volume of your muscle cells. You’ll find the more substantial your muscle cells are, the more short-term energy reserves you’ll have, and the faster your anabolism response will be.

4. Access to Research

Researching the pros and cons of living a meat-forward diet when bodybuilding is substantially easier than if you were vegan, simply because of the amount of research that’s available.

Veganism, though it has been around forever, has recently boomed in popularity. There are plenty of relevant studies that have yet to be conducted about the positive correlation between a vegan diet and bodybuilding.

As an omnivore, you can guarantee there’s plenty of information readily available for you to use, simply because it’s been the norm for so long. If you need research into your diet and workout style, it’s better to be a meat-eater than not.

The Disadvantages of Meat-Eating Bodybuilding

1. Digestive Stress

Not everyone is meant to consume a lot of meat throughout the day, especially if you’ve always had an intolerance to too much red meat. As a meat-eating bodybuilder, you’re likely to spend a lot of your time preparing beef, which can wreak havoc on your digestive system.

For some, it can lead to continual constipation, gassiness, bloating, and general discomfort. Many people find that once they switch to a vegan diet while bodybuilding, any discomfort quickly subsides.

2. Limited Flexibility

If you start with the idea of using meat as your primary source of protein, you’ll be far less likely to see what meat alternatives have to offer. Unfortunately, this can lead to your palate becoming smaller, especially if you don’t have an adventurous appetite.

As a vegan bodybuilder, you are forced to explore new and innovative ingredients to get the right amount of vitamins, minerals, and protein.

Even if you do decide to continue being a meat-eating bodybuilder, we highly recommend implementing one vegan day per week. There are hundreds of different recipes that are sure to appease your tastebuds and keep you interested in consuming protein-rich meals.

3. Increased Antibiotic Exposure

Did you know that approximately 70% of the antibiotics in the United States are given to farm animals, according to Collective Evolution? The top sales in medicines are Tetracycline and Ionophores, the latter being an antibiotic that humans never receive as a prescription.

When you decide to eat meat, you are likely exposing yourself to several antibiotics that humans aren’t meant to consume. This issue can be concerning, especially as some suggest that you could be building a resistance to antibiotics, making you more susceptible to super germs.

However, the more pressing concern is that you don’t need to put items in your body that aren’t meant to be there. This reason is why it is incredibly important to choose grass-fed animals that are not exposed to an onslaught of antibiotics.

4. Heart Health

Monitoring the amount of meat you eat daily is not only vital for your overall health but your heart health, as well. It is commonly known that a meat-forward diet can increase your chances of developing heart disease at a younger age.

Processed meats have the highest probability of disrupting your heart and digestive system, particularly bacon. With heart disease and stroke being the two deadliest issues in the United States, according to the WHO, you’ll want to avoid unhealthy fats that lead to high cholesterol.

There is also evidence that suggests consuming processed meat can lead to colon cancer. Because it takes the body twice as long to digest processed meats, it overworks your digestive system, which makes it susceptible to disease.

Building Muscle as a Vegan or Omnivore

The main thing to consider when it comes to being a vegan or non-vegan bodybuilder is how it will affect your gains. There are numerous professional vegan bodybuilders, including Jim Morris, Billy Simmonds, and Amanda Riester, which proves that it is possible. This theory also applies to an omnivorous diet, as you likely know of bodybuilders who also eat meat.

With the right training process, you’ll have the ability to carve your body into the most desirable physique possible, with or without meat. Visual Impact Muscle Building is a primary resource for both meat-eating and vegan bodybuilders, as it’s a specialized regime that will help you tone and bulk. By using your preferred type of resistance, you’ll create healthier muscles and improved energy stores to get you through the day.

In the eBook, you’ll have 227 pages of important information about working out on a healthy diet, including demonstrations for exercises for each of your muscle groups. All of the essential information you need before going to the gym is within its pages. We also highly recommend it as a resource for working out at home to help keep you motivated.

It’s about time you had access to a highly flexible workout plan that has plenty of features to benefit you. Whether you like free weights, machines, or bodyweight as a form of resistance, this program is ideal for people looking to achieve their dream physique.

Vegan Bodybuilder vs Meat Eating Bodybuilder: Final Thoughts

The main difference between a vegan bodybuilder vs meat eating bodybuilder is accessibility. As a meat-eater, you have easier access to ingredients for your meals and an abundance of research at your disposal. However, with a vegan diet, you can avoid some types of cancer as well as heart diseases.

One thing to agree on is that building muscle with Visual Impact Muscle Building is just as easy for vegans as it is for meat-eaters. With a healthy and well-rounded diet, this 227-page workout program will feel like it is tailored to each one of your specific needs. When bodybuilding, it is one of the best guides to have at your disposal.