Being a vegan hardgainer in today’s world can be especially frustrating. Not only is the world telling you that you can’t build muscle on a vegan diet, but you’re also struggling to eat enough food to actually gain weight. I’ve been a hardgainer my entire life, so I get it. The good news is I’ve picked up some tips and tricks along the way to cheat the system and put on mass.
Ready for my vegan hardgainer top ten bulking tips? I should note that most of these tips are applicable to non-vegans as well.
Before we get to the tips, you HAVE to check out this INCREDIBLE and inspirational story of the transformation of YouTuber Vegains from a skinny hardgainer to a muscular, ripped, and strong dude. All achieved on a vegan diet. Enjoy:
Bulking Tip #1 – Weigh Yourself Every 2-3 Days
It’s important to weigh yourself every 2-3 days while bulking. Not because you should be expecting (or wanting) to gain weight every 2-3 days, but you at least want to make sure you aren’t losing weight.
Honestly, in the past, I’ve weighed myself daily while bulking to make sure the scale wasn’t moving in the wrong direction. This can definitely work, but I think too many people are prone to overthinking the daily fluctuations in body weight, so now I recommend sticking to the every 2-3 days protocol.
Again, don’t be expecting to gain weight here. These weight check-ins are simply meant to ensure that you are headed in the right direction, so you are not unpleasantly surprised when you do your weekly progress weigh-ins.
Advanced Tip: To be as accurate as possible, weigh yourself at the same time every 2-3 days and with the same clothes on. For example, don’t weigh yourself in the morning in just your underwear and then 2-3 days later while wearing jeans and a heavy jacket.
Bulking Tip #2 – Aim to Gain 2-4 Pounds Per Month
While bulking, we want to make sure we are in a constant caloric surplus so our bodies can optimally repair muscle tissue. In order to achieve this, a good goal is to try to gain 2-4 pounds per month. I think 2 pounds a month is better because it means a cleaner, healthier bulk which is easier to sustain over the long haul, but I allow up to 4 pounds per month for those who want to push the limits and do a quicker bulk phase.
Gaining 2-4 pounds a month ensures that you are putting your workout gains to good use. It also ensures you won’t be putting too much fat on. Note: if you are gaining 4 pounds per month, your bulk phase will be shorter than someone gaining 2 pounds per month.
For example, you could do a shorter bulking phase that lasts for 4 months, putting on 4 pounds per month. By the end, you will have put on 34 pounds! That’s quite a bit of weight to put on, but it can be reasonable, especially if you absolutely need to do it in a shorter time frame. Putting on this amount of weight, while not as ideal as a two pounds per month slower bulk, will definitely ensure you have all the nutrition you need to gain strength as quickly as possible.
You can also do a slower bulking phase for 8 months, putting on 2 pounds per month. Which means you will put on 16 pounds. 16 pounds in 8 months is a nice, clean, slow, healthy bulk. That’s the way I prefer to do it now. But there was definitely value in a bigger, messier bulk when I first started training. Both options can work!
Advanced Tip: To be as accurate as possible, weigh yourself at the same time every week and with the same clothes on. For example, don’t weigh yourself in the morning in just your underwear and then 2-3 days later while wearing jeans and a heavy jacket.
Bulking Tip #3 – Take Monthly Physique Photos
I remember the first month I started lifting weights as an incredibly motivated and naive hardgainer. I took pictures the day I started training and then comparison pictures 30 days later. I thought I had turned into Arnold Schwarzenegger when he won the Mr. Olympia after those initial 30 days! I had gained 5 pounds. When I looked at the pictures, I was in for a rude awakening.
Still, if I was being more realistic, I would’ve noticed that I actually did look slightly bigger in those pictures. The lesson here is twofold:
- Do not expect your physique to change much on a month-by-month basis
- Learn to look at and appreciate the details of your physique
Taking these monthly physique photos are just another way to ensure you are moving in the right direction. Don’t get too hung up on them, just use them as a tool to further assess your physique gains.
Advanced Tip: Make sure you take these photos in the same spot with the same lighting. No pumping up beforehand! These are just rough measures of your progress month-to-month.
Bulking Tip #4 – Record Strength on Lifts
Gaining strength in the gym is one of the most enjoyable parts about bulking. However, I often see people who aren’t recording their lifts in the gym. If you ask them how much they can bench press, they can tell you, but if you ask them how much their lat pulldown is, they look like a deer in headlights.
If you’re a vegan hardgainer who doesn’t record their lifts, then start now. Record your strength to ensure you aren’t getting weaker. We are only human, and we can’t expect to be making strength gains every day in the gym, but at least we want to make sure we aren’t getting weaker. Note: If you are weaker on a given day, don’t sweat it. Body strength fluctuates. Just make sure it isn’t a pattern – i.e. it’s not happening week after week.
Bulking is the time to really push it in the gym. Don’t be afraid to lift heavy, try new exercises, and challenge your levels of strength in different ways. You are in a constant caloric surplus, so your body is primed for maximal strength gains. Get after it!
Advanced Tip: Although this goes against common bodybuilding wisdom, the most strength and size gains I ever made were when I did a six month block of powerlifting, and had a training partner who was a powerlifter. Just something to consider.
Bulking Tip #5 – Eat 3-4 Large Meals Per Day
When I first started training, I was eating 8 small meals a day and carb cycling. As a skinny hardgainer. Boy, did I have it wrong! It was really hard to get all the calories I needed on that plan.
As a vegan hardgainer, you probably won’t be hungry often enough to sustainably eat more than 3-4 meals per day. Eating fewer meals per day ensures you can eat a lot in one sitting and reach your goals. And it’s just way simpler. If you only have to plan 3-4 meals, as opposed to 6-8, that’s a lot of time and energy saved.
This way of eating also gives enough space in between meals where you can eat a snack if you need in order to get your calories in. This could be a handful of nuts, a scoop of peanut butter, or something less clean like some vegan ice cream in order to push you to your caloric threshold.
Advanced Tip: This isn’t set in stone. If you do better with 5 meals per day, go ahead and do that.
Bulking Tip #6 – Eat a (Relatively) Small Breakfast
Eating a small vegan bulking breakfast ensures that you will remain hungry throughout the day. I’ve made the mistake of having huge breakfasts while bulking before and all it does is take my appetite away for the rest of the day.
A huge breakfast also leaves you feeling sluggish. There’s no need to be crashing before you even get to the gym. Save the majority of your calories for after the gym, when you need to recover and refuel what you lost.
Advanced Tip: If you want to get more calories in at breakfast, add more healthy fats: nuts, avocados, seeds, and oils.
Bulking Tip #7 – Eat a Big Last Meal Before Bed
You know how the standard advice for those trying to cut weight is to not eat at night, do a carb cutoff, or keep it light? Well, if we want to gain weight, I say do the opposite. This philosophy of doing the opposite of standard weight loss advice has been key to my bulking success.
If you are getting a lot of calories in before you sleep, then you can ensure that most of the calories won’t simply be burned off. And if your training regimen is in check, then the correct proportion of those calories will be used to build muscle. This is really key.
In order for this trick to work, you have to be pushing your body. If not, you could end up gaining more body fat than you’d like. Make sure this meal is full of protein and fat, but don’t be afraid to get some carbs in. It’s all about gains when bulking!
Advanced Tip: Looking for extra calories before bed? Try a vegan meal replacement shake.
Bulking Tip #8 – Eat Healthy Fats
One little trick I used to do was to carry a jar of peanut butter around with me wherever I went and, when hungry, grab a spoonful. Another thing I used to do was drown some of my food in olive oil. I’m not saying this is what I recommend necessarily, but little tricks like these can help you get in the calories. Start being creative.
Beyond the little tricks, make sure you are adding nuts, seeds, and avocados to help get your calories in. As vegans, it’s really easy to rely on most of our calories coming from carbs and protein, but there are so many ways to add more healthy fats to your diet.
Keep in mind that fats have more calories (9 per gram) as opposed to carbs and protein (4 per gram). As a skinny vegan hardgainer, it’s important to use this to your advantage. We need every calorie we can get!
Advanced Tip: Sprinkle nuts in with your veggies and oatmeal. Add a little bit of oil to your smoothies. Sprinkle some cashew mozzarella in your tofu scramble. Lots of good options here!
Bulking Tip # 9 – Keep Calories the Same on Training and Rest Days
I’ve written extensively about this before, and this something that a lot of lifters get wrong. Yes, it is true that on the days you train, you will be burning more calories. So, it seems to make sense to eat more on those days, right? Wrong.
People tend to get way too precise and over analyze every detail of their diet and training. The truth is that the daily fluctuations in calories lost due to training are quite small and inconsequential when you consider the long amount of time it takes to build muscle.
If you are focused on weekly weight gains, as I recommended, then these small fluctuations won’t matter. What matters is that you are consistently gaining weight. Keep in mind that muscle is built while you are resting, not while training, so eating a lot of calories on your off days is important. Not to mention, it just makes things more complicated to be changing your diet every day. You want to make the process of weight gain as easy and simple as possible.
Advanced Tip: All that being said, it does make some sense to have some simple carbs like a sports drink around your workout. If that’s the only fluctuation in calories from day-to-day, then it’s not a big deal, so long as you’re eating the same amount of actual food every day.
Bulking Tip #10 – Make Eating Part of Your Training Routine
What I mean by this is to treat eating like you would training. Everyone gets pumped up to go to the gym and lift weights, but no one gets pumped up to go eat. Eating is where the true muscle is built! The key here is to reframe the way you think about eating. It’s not for pleasure. It’s not a tortuous task that must be done to make gains. It’s training.
Feel proud of yourself after you eat a large, nutritious meal. Know that meal will be used to build muscle tissue and help you achieve your goals. As you gain more weight, you will need to eat more. Just like in the gym. As you lift more weight, you will need to use more weight.
This mindset shift is so important, especially for the vegan hardgainer. Not only do we have the world telling us we can’t make gains on a vegan diet, but we have always been skinny and have that to overcome as well.
So make those gains. Use the principle of progressive overload in the kitchen as well as in the gym and watch your gains take off!
Advanced Tip: This tip is meant to be foundational, and change your attitudes towards eating lots of food, which is often what holds hardgainers back.
Continue Reading
