[vaskebjorn]

With eggs you are probably getting plenty of protein.

I have been mostly vegan for a while and I don't think my bike riding has been affected, but I can tell you it definitely affected me when it came to weight lifting. For the first time in my life I just wasn't improving at all from session to session (and this is in the early stages when you just start lifting again after time off when gains come easy).

I know there are vegan weightlifters out there but from what I know getting all of your protein requirements from plant-based protein powder is a big undertaking.

It's not enough to make me go back to animal products but definitely something I miss from my meat eating days.

[scandinavegan]

I don't see how getting enough protein on a vegan diet would be a problem, especially when you mention plant-based protein powder. I think healthy calories may be an issue if you don't include nuts and seeds, but as long as you cover your energy needs from vegetable sources you get enough protein and enough of all essential amino acids. You didn't mention this, but protein combination is a myth, and only very few vegetable sources lack certain amino acids. So does some animal sources as well, but that is almost never reported.

You didn't mention this either, but if you want to avoid protein powder, it may be harder to find lean protein sources. I just looked up nuts (peanuts specifically), that have 27% protein but also 51% fat. Chicken breast also has 27% protein, but only 8.7% fat.

I'm not a body builder and haven't investigated how to go about it in detail as a vegan though the full cycle of bulking and shredding, but if you just want to gain strength getting enough calories and protein shouldn't be a problem. I've also read that most body-building magazines completely overestimate how much protein you need, citing numbers four times what sports science says.

You have first-hand experience in this situation and I'm clearly speculating, but perhaps you didn't get enough calories rather than enough protein? Of course it all depends on what you're eating. When some people say vegan food, they mean raw food or mainly vegetables, while others include a lot more legumes, nuts, and seeds.

[AstralStorm]

The real stinger for vegan diets, but also poor meat based ones is lack of certain known micronutrients. Mostly D, B12. Potentially also potassium, magnesium, molybdenum. Some investigational ones like boron as well.

This is because he of the food chain is deprived and in case of D and B12 these really are not available in plant sources only.

[GrzegorzWidla]

Animals that haven't eaten natural diet and haven't seen the sun get B12 shots before slaughter. 99% of meat consumed is so poor that majority of population is B12 and vitamin D deficient despite eating it regularly.

[metamet]

> With eggs you are probably getting plenty of protein.

Eggs are between 6-7g of protein each, which isn't a lot.

Depending on your goals, and where you fall between being sedentary and an athlete, you should be aiming for 1.6 g/kg/day and 2.2 g/kg/day [1].

Add to that the satiating affects of protein in a diet, particularly through ghrelin secretion [2], and you've got a stronger incentive to increase your protein intake.

[1] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29497353

[2] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19820013