Vegan Protein Intake: Hitting Your Target Without Animal Products

Vegan lifters can absolutely match the muscle gain and fat-loss results of omnivores, but the path requires more deliberate planning. Plant proteins generally have lower DIAAS scores (0.6-0.92) than animal sources (1.0-1.18), so the practical adjustment is to eat about 10 percent more total protein and prioritize complete or smartly-blended sources.

The 10 percent bump

If your animal-eating target is 1.8 g/kg, your plant-based target is closer to 2.0 g/kg. The protein calculator applies this adjustment automatically when you set diet to "vegan." For a 70 kg vegan, that bumps the daily target from 126 g to 140 g.

Top vegan sources by DIAAS

• Soy isolate / tempeh — DIAAS 0.92, the closest plant option to whey.
• Mycoprotein (Quorn) — DIAAS 0.91, performs near-identically to whey for muscle synthesis.
• Quinoa — DIAAS 0.83, one of the few complete plant grains.
• Pea isolate — 0.79 alone, but 1.0+ when blended with rice protein.
• Tofu — DIAAS ~0.85, ridiculously cheap per gram.

140 g vegan day

Breakfast: 250 g extra firm tofu scramble (~30 g) + chia seeds. Lunch: 1 cup cooked lentils + 1 cup cooked quinoa (~25 g). Snack: pea-rice protein shake (25 g). Dinner: tempeh stir-fry 200 g (~40 g) + edamame side (15 g). Pre-bed: soy yogurt (~10 g). Total ~145 g.

What to skip

Don't rely on almonds, peanut butter, or whole grains as your protein anchors. They look high on packaging but DIAAS scores of 0.4-0.5 mean a chunk of what you eat does not get used. Use them as flavor and calories, with isolates and complete sources doing the heavy lifting.