Should weightlifting vegans and vegetarians get serious about their amino acid intake per meal?

My previous post showed how amino acids *per meal* matter for optimal muscle growth.

Animal products often already contain a ‘complete’ amino acid profile, which guarantees all important amino acids.

In the case of non-animal protein sources: you have to intelligently combine them or use amino supplements to guarantee an optimal dose of amino acids per meal.

If not, you may have to eat 50 g+ plant protein per meal to optimize muscle growth, as you can see from the picture. That’s a ton of food.

Still, there’s research emerging that shows amino acids per meal may not be that important after all [Hevia-Larraín 2019].

However, for those really looking for that maximal edge on a plant-based diet, I’d advise to consume enough of ‘the big 4’ amino acids per meal (leucine, lysine, methionine, cysteine), until more research proves differently.

If you just train recreationally, then watching your protein intake *per day* is fine: vegetarians, aim for 2.1 g protein per kg of bodyweight per day, and vegans aim for 2.4 g/kg.

Read more about how to combine foods (or add supplements) to improve amino acids per meal in our article: https://bodylogiq.org/en/how-to-get-enough-protein-as-a-flexitarian-vegetarian-or-vegan/