Hi comrades
I want to start handling my nutrition and fitness better. I usually work out at home and can do pushups etc., I would say I’m quite underweight.
While I’m reading the guide by CriticalResist on Prolewiki, I decided to count my calories. I barely reach 1500 calories a day which at this point I’ll go malnourished. I just feel full very quickly. I do not eat processed sugars and avoid sweets, and I’m basically vegan at this point.
I exercise too and can do push ups, squats etc with no problems whatsoever, though as expected I cannot build muscular mass, most likely because of my nutrition. I don’t have the money to go to a gym so I want as much as possible to work out at home, I saw that calisthenics might be a good option? Though they seem unreliable for building muscle mass and strength. I want to put more weight but not fatty weight, which had happened to me in the past. I do eat healthy, but I eat way too less because I feel I just get full quickly. This might be due that in the past I was overweight and conditioned myself to not eat much, but now I’m basically starving myself.
How would I go about increasing my caloric intake while putting muscle mass (preferably at home)?
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Beans baby. In fact, with the right kind of beans you can actually get in your daily protein needs at a caloric deficit with JUST beans. It’s would be a lot of beans, but you can do it. I know because I was doing math on how I could do this the cheapest way possible in the event I lost my job and had to go hard on money. lol. A 25lb bag of Kidney beans (I think) could be all the protein you would need for close to a month I believe. Not like, hard muscle mass building levels but more of a steady maintain and slight growth situation. lol
I need to double check my notes. It may have been a different kind of bean but I’m pretty sure it was kidney beans.
You first goal will be to just focus on protein intake. Try to avoid heavily processed stuff but protein supplements are fine as long as you don’t chug them and don’t make them you main source. I’ll say now, I am not vegan in my protein intake. Not like I am eating a ton of meat and eggs for every meal but I do consume animal products so it’s a little easier for me to get in my protein. I do also eat a ton of high protein vegetables. I basically do not consume things that don’t have some significant protein content unless it’s paired WITH someone with a high protein content.
As far as supplements are concerned I mainly use pea protein. It’s not the best shake maker and is kind gritty but there’s other ways to cook and ingest it. I have some other protein powders I supplement it with too. They are not vegan but there are other vegan oriented ones that pair with pea protein to get in all the appropriate types of protein you need.
As far as whole foods, beans are one of the cheapest and best protein sources from a non-animal based point. In fact, you can lacto-ferment the beans (like you would sauerkraut, pickles, etc) to not only reduce sugars and carbs but make the protein in them more digestible by the body. If you have the ability to do this it’s very easy. Even without that though just beans in general. If you want muscle weight you need protein. Just loading up with carbs or fat will be pointless. Your body eats for protein. It wants protein. If you aren’t giving it that protein you won’t put on muscle mass plain and simple. You CAN build muscle at a caloric deficit IF you get in enough protein.
Peanuts (and nuts in general) are also a good source of both protein and fat while not being overly expensive if you know where to get them. Idk where you are based out of but Aldi’s has pretty good prices. They are high calorie and could be a possible source to help fill up your caloric and protein needs.
When you say you are “mostly vegan” what does that mean? You want to eventually be full vegan or just not eat meat directly and avoid most animal products? Are things like greek yogurt off the table? I assume eggs are out? Seafood etc? It’s hard to give a more detailed advice without knowing specifics.
