Bodybuilding diet (vegetarian)

Hi I'm Joe, 22 years old 6' 165-170 lbs ovo-vegetarian. I'm pretty new here and looking for new ways to increase the amount of protein in my diet while still cutting unnecessary calories (particularly carbs) since I'm trying to build muscle AND cut fat. As of now I'm trying to hit at least 100 grams of protein daily while remaining under 1800 calories. I can't do this without taking a rice protein supplement. Most days my diet is hitting around 15-20% protein, 20-25% fat, and 60% carbs. I'm finding the biggest challenge of being a vegetarian is reducing carbs while increasing protein.

Any suggestions? Some high protein/low carb foods I've found are: tempeh, lentils, tofu, eggs, etc... Also I'm wondering if I should put this topic under a different forum here. Any feedback would be awesome, this is my first post, thanks!

Here's a current sample diet:

1 oz. raw almonds

2 hard boiled eggs

1 large baked potato

1 cup of brown rice

1/2 cup black beans

2 bananas

1 apple

few strawberries

4 scoops rice protein (12g protein each)

~95g protein total (15% fat, 24% protein, 61% carbs)

I would swap out the potato and rice for more beans and lentils.  You don't mention if you have problems with wheat gluten, if you don't, that also has a lot of protein - try seitan. 

Also, assuming you can add in some actual vegetables?  Low in calories, but it'll help process that rice protein through.  Maybe make a tofu veggie stir fry or something like that?

It's a lot easier if you make your focus EITHER building muscle OR losing weight. I've seen it reccommended that you do 6-8 weeks of "bulking" (eating a calorie surplus, with usualy 1 to 2 grams of protein per pound of bodyweight) and then 6-8 weeks of cutting (low cal, still as much protein as you can manage) while lifting heavy the whole time. That way you can get enough protein without having to worry about cals as much. As long as you do a clean bulk (not splurge on junk food) and lift heavy, you shouldn't gain much bodyfat. Plus, once you have more muscle, you'll have a faster metabolism and losing the bodyfat will be easier. Keep lifting heavy during cutting to prevent muscle loss.

Based on your height and weight you DO NOT need to lose weight and you definitely need to be eating more. According to the calorie calculators you need to be eating over 2700, especially if you're working out. If you continue under-eating your body will just waste away or go into starvation, so you're not doing yourself any good on the muscle building front.

Even if you don't want to gain weight, you could check out  the weight gain or the fitness threads for sample meal plans. Those are higher calorie and very healthy and well balanced.

Good advice all around. Meganr I don't have anything against seitan, might not be a bad idea to incorporate it into my meals, lots of protein and low carbs.

Hayley, yeah it might be better to bulk than cut, I'll definitely keep it in mind but we'll see, thanks.

Gibbit, I just want to reduce my body fat % a little so I can see my abs. 2700 calories seems to be a lot, are you sure that's accurate? I'll check out the other forums too, thanks a lot.

you are a young adult male and should definitely be eating more, not just a little more, but more. not to mention im not sure how active you are. i eat maybe something like twice as much as you, im in my early 30's and a female with a higher percentage of body fat.

you need fat. you do want to produce enough hormones (& the almightly testosterone) to build some muscle? you need fat to do that and you need calories to gain muscle. eat some more nuts too. put in some flax seed or flax powder in stuff. and i would switch to hemp protein instead of rice.

and if you want to cut out the carbs (not that you really need to, but since its a concern of yours) then you should be having more colorful veggies and less fruit. sweet potato would be better than a white potato too.  put in some extra grains like quinoa, step outside of the usual westernized diet choices.

you are really in the prime time of your life to build some muscle, don't waste it by not eating enough.

Octo-luv, I pushed my calorie intake up to 2000 now. As for my activity level, I weight lift 4x a week, and cardio about 3x a week. I don't feel like I'm really restricting my calories though, I eat plenty. My main goal right now is to have a nice 6-pack, but there's plenty of fat on my lower abs to cover it haha. As for muscle gain, I do lift hard and take a protein supplement after workouts. Cutting a little calories might effect my muscle growth, but not cutting will affect my abs. It's Summer season! =P

More veggies, this is definitely true. I just bought some broccoli and baby spinach. I'll add some olive oil and it's time for a huge salad!

All that said, my main enemies are parties with beer and chips! =P

Yesterdays Meals:

2 hard boiled eggs

1 oz. hazelnuts

Whole grain cereal w/ half cup 2% cow milk

2 cups soy milk

2 scoops whey protein (after 2 separate workouts - 40g protein total)

1 scoop rice protein (12g protein total)

1 banana

half cup of broccoli

1 serving seitan (wheat meat)

1 cup brown rice

little pasta sauce

eggplant parm. on a french roll

Total Cal: 2021, Fat: 27%, Protein: 28%(142g), Carbs: 45%.