Traditional Fitness Nutrition Is Overrated

Fitness Nutrition

Featured image is home made vegan protein bars. No process crap for this guy

If there is one thing I have learned being a vegan over the last few months, and vegetarian for almost 2 years, is nutrition in the fitness community is overrated. At least in its “normal” sense.

Eating 5000 cals a day with 6 chicken breasts, and various other things people do these days is just not necessary. It’s downright un-enjoyable. It’s also extremely unhealthy to never give your digestive tract a break from food and over stuffing yourself. I trained through some “bulking phases” when I was younger eating like this. Following some mass gain diet where you have to set an alarm at 3 am to eat chicken breast is not only extremely over the top, but terribly inconvenient to live through. But that’s the mass gain crowd.

Since becoming vegan, I have not only thrived on lower cals, and only 2-3 meals per day, but also had no instance where I would be considered “protein deficit” or low energy. I have really started to understand that eating a tonne of protein and food really doesn’t help you. Except get you fat. I usually average about 80-100 grams of protein per day. I have lost a ton of fat, (see pic), and put on a boat load of muscle. On a vegetarian diet and now vegan. Sure, I’m no elite body builder, and I don’t want to be. But I’m fit, have decent muscle and I don’t have to kill myself or my digestive tract to keep it. I also perform well in the sports I play, which is my end goal for fitness anyway.

Real food————————————————————->

Unfortunately group pressure and thinking push people into the mob mentality for fitness, and it just isn’t the best way to do things, if you’re the average Joe just wanting to be fit, healthy and look good. Unless you are truly a body builder you just don’t need 250 grams of protein per day and 5000 cals. I don’t believe the body is capable of efficiently using that much of any nutrient.

Instead I concentrate on eating healthy. Most people won’t know what that really means. You ask someone what eating clean or healthy is and they will have all kinds of answers. But at the end of the day’ its about whole, natural food. To clear it up, I concentrate on whole plant based foods. Beans, nuts, veggies, fruits, legumes, spinach and other produce. This makes up the bulk of my diet. I rarely eat boxed or processed foods any more. When I’m feeling a treat day, I make things myself like cookies from raw whole ingredients. You need cheat days, or meals in diets unless you want to go bat shit crazy and just quit. We are all human after all.

I only eat 2000-2500 cals per day. I don’t track it, but when I have its been pretty consistent to that. Once you have established an eating plan, you don’t need to track yourself any more. I eat at noon, and 6 with some light snacks like fruit and nuts in between. It’s pretty hard to go crazy on cals with that type of structure.

When designing your nutrition plan, rethink what you are really trying to accomplish when it comes to goals in fitness. They read that people eat 8 meals a day and its all chicken breast and steamed veggies, it’s little wonder why people quit their diets. Your nutrition needs to be a lifestyle. Find one that works for your social life and fitness life.

Sure you may not be vegan and I wouldn’t push it on anyone. It’s your own choice. Eat what you want. Just don’t fall into group mentality and believe you need to be so extreme or so much like the pro model who has nothing but fitness and nutrition to pursue. You need to enjoy food and shoving food in your face 8 times a day just isn’t enjoyable, in my opinion.