Protein is essential when you are building muscle. Muscle tissue is made up of proteins, which means it is made up of amino acids, and those amino acids must come from somewhere. But how much does the protein source matter?
Animal foods (such as meat, dairy products and eggs) contain a lot of protein, so they are traditional foods for bodybuilders and other gym goers. But plant foods can also provide protein, and there are a lot of strong vegan athletes – so it’s definitely possible to build muscle on a plant-based diet.
There are two disadvantages to vegetable protein, so if you are determined to limit yourself to these sources, it is important to consider both.
Vegetable foods generally have more calories with the same amount of protein
If you are looking at your total calories (for example, if you are trying to lose weight or keep your weight in a specific range), meat is a more efficient way of obtaining protein. A small chicken breast, for example, has 27 grams of protein in just 142 calories. Almost all calories come from protein, some from fat and none from carbohydrates.
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No complete plant source can match these macros. Three-quarters of a cup of tofu provides roughly the same calories, but with only 15 grams of protein. (The rest is carbohydrate and fat.) Or try 100 grams of rice and beans: 150 calories, but only 5 grams of protein. (The rest is mostly carbohydrates.)
So, if you want to build muscle with plant foods, you’ll have to work a little more than an omnivore to get all your protein without exceeding your calorie goal. You are more likely to need protein powder to make up the difference, while an omnivore could more easily meet your needs with some meat-containing meals.
You may need more plant protein than animal protein to get all of your amino acids
When we say that we need protein in our diet, what we really mean is that we need amino acids. There are 20 amino acids, nine of which we cannot produce in our bodies and we need to enter our diet.
Animal foods conveniently have a balanced selection of amino acids – if you eat meat as your main source of protein, you will get many amino acids that you need. But plant foods are not always so balanced. That is why plant proteins are sometimes referred to as inferior “quality” protein. There is nothing wrong with the protein itself; quality refers only to the balance of amino acids. (Another term for having all the essential amino acids is “complete” protein.)
A plant-based diet will still provide all the amino acids, if you have a reasonable variety of foods. Rice and beans are balanced, for example. Soy is one of the few complete vegetable proteins, so tofu is a great choice. Many plant-based protein powders are formulated to include all essential amino acids.
Since it is more difficult to achieve a good balance of amino acids with a vegan diet than with an omnivorous diet, and because plant protein sources are sometimes less digestible, some guidelines recommend that vegan athletes target a slightly higher total amount of protein than omnivores, just to make sure you’re meeting all your needs. Others recommend making sure to get extra leucine, an amino acid that is present in legumes and that you can also buy as a supplement.
In short, you can I build muscle with plant proteins, but you’ll have to think a little more about planning your diet to make sure you get enough.