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Are you actually trying to build muscle while staying vegan, or is this just a theoretical question?
Honestly, it's not harder, it's just different. The thing is you need to be a bit more careful about what you eat because plant proteins are often less concentrated than meat. Like, 100g of chicken is easy to cook and boom you've got your protein, but 100g of raw lentils is a crazy amount to eat. So yeah, you've got to plan a bit more, but it's totally doable. People get huge on a vegan diet, it's not a myth.
What really changes is just the variety. You're gonna combine stuff like legumes, tofu/tempeh, nuts, seeds, maybe some plant-based protein powder. The important thing is just getting your macros right and eating enough calories overall. Muscle building depends way more on your training and recovery than whether your protein comes from a cow or a soybean field. That said, some people do find it easier with animal sources, but that's more a question of personal convenience than biological impossibility.
It's not really harder, but you just gotta know what you're doing. Vegan proteins exist and they work really well for building muscle - legumes, tofu, tempeh, vegan protein powder, all that stuff does the job. The real thing is you need to eat a bit more volume because vegan sources often give you fewer calories on the side, so you gotta be organized with your diet.
What I see a lot is people thinking there's an automatic deficiency, but nah. As long as you eat enough and you vary your protein sources, you won't have a problem. Essential amino acids, you get them everywhere if you combine your foods right. After yeah, it takes a bit more prep and thinking than some guy who eats chicken every day, but it's really not impossible. Tons of people seriously build muscle on vegan, so it's not a limit - just a logistical constraint.
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