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Can vegetarians get results with your program on a meatless diet?
Answers from Burn The Fat author Tom Venuto.
The Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle (BFFM) program is very easily adaptable for a lacto-ovo vegetarian (who eats no meat, but does eat eggs and dairy products), and it will even work for a vegan (who eats no animal products whatsoever).
There are some adjustments that need to be made to the basic BFFM plan to suit vegetarians. This is due to the fact that BFFM is based on bodybuilding methods of fat loss, which call for a complete protein with every meal. In the BFFM manual, the complete proteins listed are all lean animal proteins because animal proteins contain the full array of essential amino acids necessary for muscle growth.
Of course, you can combine two complementary incomplete vegetable protein sources (rice and beans for example) to create a complete protein, but the BFFM manual does not go into detail about how to do this. Naturally, if you’re a vegetarian, you’re probably already quite familiar with this practice.
I’ve found that from a muscle building perspective, combining two incomplete vegetable proteins is definitely not as effective as eating animal-derived complete proteins. This is reflected in the fact that there are only a tiny handful of vegan bodybuilders, and although a few have achieved admirable development, they would probably not win any contests.
Ovo-lacto vegetarians, on the other hand, can achieve superb muscular development that matches any meat eater. Multi Mr. Universe Bill Pearl is one example of a famous bodybuilder who built an awesome physique without ever eating meat. (Bill used dairy products and eggs for protein). Clearly, meat is not necessary to build muscle. Not to mention, most people don’t have the desire to get “pumped up” and flex onstage like a bodybuilder – they just want optimal fitness, strength and nice, “toned” muscle development.
As for achieving low body fat, that can be achieved by anyone - vegetarian or not. That’s because fat loss is mostly a matter of eating fewer calories than you burn every day. However, a strict vegetarian diet makes body fat control slightly more challenging, in my opinion, because lean proteins like chicken, egg whites and fish are highly thermic foods, therefore a higher protein diet can make it somewhat easier for those with stubborn fat to lose those last few annoying pounds. This is evident with the popularity of low carb, high protein (and meat) diets for weight loss. A moderately high protein diet is also more effective than a high carbohydrate diet at managing insulin and blood sugar – another advantage of the bodybuilding-style nutrition program.
Ultimately, fat loss is not dependent on meat or even protein per se: Fat loss is primarily dependent on calories in versus calories out, hormonal control, and metabolic efficiency. A higher protein (lean meat & eggs) diet can offer some interesting hormonal and metabolic advantages in fat loss, and a decided advantage for building muscle mass, but fat loss can be accomplished strictly through exercise and calorie/portion control.
I get so many questions about whether the BFFM program will work for vegetarians, I recently put together a separate bonus report called, “Vegetarianism and the BFFM program” which I am now offering on request to anyone who wants it with the purchase of the main BFFM manual.
There’s a ton of info in the BFFM manual that applies to everyone – vegetarians and non vegetarians alike – including such subjects as motivation, goal setting, self image psychology, body fat testing, How to break fat loss plateau’s, body typing, calorie needs, food choices, aerobic training, weight training, and much more.
The original BFFM manual was not written with the vegetarian (especially vegan) in mind, but it will work for you if you're vegetarian. You'll simply have to “tweak” the program a bit and make some adaptations as outlined in the bonus report to ensure that your protein needs are being properly met.
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