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Perhaps a question generic to body-building, but I'm hoping that there are vegan specific answers, given that many have cited differences. I know I can get all the required nutrients on a plant-based diet, there are plenty of great super-foods available, rich in iron, protein, and other essentials.

The issue I have with nutrition plans I found so far is the frequency. Take one on the bodybuilding site for instance. It lists six meals in a day! I know the advice is to eat small meals frequently. But another is to eat only when hungry, which is why I often skip breakfast and have done so for a very long time.

All these meal plans look like overfeeding. Most importantly, they would require even more time. So how can I fit it all into three meals and still manage to put on, say, 5 Kg of lean muscle? Any sample meal plans would be fantastic!

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  • I suspect if you eat your food 2 times or only once a day, that will encourage your body to hold on to its reserves and rebuild them as soon as possible. If you start intense training you should not increase the size of your portions but rather add more meals when you are hungrier, and you will become much more hungry. Also don't change your nutrition before you start training, gradually adjust it according to your needs - hungry means more calories, if muscles don't recover fast enough, add more vitamins and protein.
    – Nobody
    Commented Sep 10, 2018 at 20:29
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    you might want to check instagram.com/nimai_delgado
    – chachan
    Commented Sep 14, 2018 at 17:38
  • I never said once a day! I just may skip breakfast sometimes but could make an effort to stick to three if required. The link is interesting but all I see is a vegan bodybuilder, couldn't tell how many meals he has a day.
    – Nagev
    Commented Sep 22, 2018 at 11:16

1 Answer 1

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There is nothing in the realm of science saying you need 6 meals a day to build muscle. All that matters is calorie and nutrient intake, but mostly training volume.

Whoever is implying 6 meals a day are needed to grow is just spreading misinformation. Don't believe anything you see on TV, blogs and forums and if you have to, then ask for sources or search for them yourself. Also with books, only read scientific books not older than 3 years.

Random articles by strangers are not reliable sources, and if you find a study that seems stupid most probably it was done and or sponsored by someone who's trying to sell you something so always check the authors.

There are industries who sponsor and or manipulate scientific researches to convince the ignorant part of population that can't understand science that their products are awesome. Butter, eggs and protein powder industries always do that. The world is filled with frauds.

Just a famous example is Jeff Nippard, a guy on YouTube who will sell anything, calls himself an expert on nutrition, health and fitness while having no authority. He sells protein powders and references studies sponsored by protein powder industries to "prove" that isolated protein is not toxic or studies sponsored by milk industries to "prove" that whey is not unhealthy.

So again, don't listen to frauds, ignore salesman and stay away from them. The guys who are saying "eat 6 meals a day or lose your muscles" are usually just frauds who sell nutrition and training programs. And it's always like that; if they have an economic interest they will lie to the public any time.

Especially bodybuilding.com is filled with those types of frauds, not a good place to get information. 9 Articles out of 10 are written by steroid users and salesman, people who sold their souls for the money.

If you want to gain muscles just increase your calorie intake every 1 or 2 weeks and increase training volume as much as possible any time you can. The fastest way to reach any goal in life is to put in more effort daily, anything else is a waste of precious life time.

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  • Training volume does not necessarily build the maximum amount of muscle. The classic Schwarzenegger style, low intensity, opposing muscle groups is that idea. It's up for debate in contrast to the less time consuming HIT style: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/… Of course, gains will be made either way (and there are various other styles in between). So, whatever you do: just shut up and lift!
    – adamaero
    Commented Feb 26, 2021 at 17:34
  • The answer chides references to "manipulated research" but doesn't provide any references to research.
    – henning no longer feeds AI
    Commented Jun 20, 2021 at 15:59

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