u/thebodybuildingvegan

After moving from the UK to Spain and later Croatia, David found his passion for advocacy through Anonymous for the Voiceless and has since dedicated his life to helping others embrace a more compassionate lifestyle.

Together, we discuss why creating a welcoming vegan movement is essential, how behavior-change psychology can be more effective than confrontation, and why focusing on non-vegans (not policing imperfect vegans) can lead to greater impact. 

David also shares practical insights on maintaining healthy relationships with family and friends, preventing activist burnout, and building a sustainable approach to advocacy that lasts a lifetime. 

You can listen to the full episode here: vegansquadcoaching.com/vegansquadpod

Hey guys, I'm just sharing this with the community to give anyone in a similar phase some ideas to help them out.

Here's the little cheat sheet here and I'll show you exactly what I'm giving to my client as she gets ready for her first bodybuilding show prep with me.

We're in a pulldown phase right now. We're taking some fat off here. We're going to take a look at her diet.

So we've got a two savory, two sweet meal approach.

The first meal is going to be her sweet edamame puff protein bowl. We've got edamame puffs, frozen fruit, vegan yogurt and sunbutter for healthy fats.

Second meal. We just updated this one. She had the asparagus, the Just Chicken, the hummus, and the potato, but we wanted to move another savory meal into this one so we could make room for another sweet meal. So we moved the nutritional yeast and the salsa into this meal.

Moving to the next meal, meal three, it was savory, no longer savory. We've got her with some protein pancakes. We're using the Birch Benders plant protein mix. Got some blueberries in there, a little bit of sugar-free syrup, Vedge Protein, walnuts for healthy fats, and a little bit of soy milk to mix it up.

Her meal four is always her training day meal. So this is going to be her intra-workout drink. We've got EAAs, highly branched cyclic dextrin, salt, and creatine monohydrate.

And then her meal five, back to savory, something to finish off the night with.

If you're in a similar phase as her and have any questions, please feel free to ask me and I'll do my best to help you out.

A cow that we saw at Florida Beef in Orlando minutes before she was slaughtered.

We looked her in the eyes.
We saw the pain and suffering she had already gone through.
She was a dairy cow which means she gave birth so many times that she was “spent” and therefore sent to be killed.

We stayed with her and her siblings until they were sent inside to be killed.

This didn’t have to happen.
Her life was taken away from her for no reason.
Along with 900,000 other cows who are slaughtered every. single. day.

This can end.
It’s your choice.
You can save all of the other Annabelle’s out there by choosing the vegan option.

I’m sorry, Annabelle.
No one can hurt you anymore. 💔🌈 

PLEASE HELP US SHARE THIS SO WE CAN END THIS TOGETHER💚🙏

Hey guys, I'm just sharing this with the community to give anyone in a similar phase some ideas to help them out.

Here's the little cheat sheet here and I'll show you exactly what I'm giving to my client as she gets ready for her first bodybuilding show prep with me.

We're in a pulldown phase right now. We're taking some fat off here. We're going to take a look at her diet.

So we've got a two savory, two sweet meal approach.

The first meal is going to be her sweet edamame puff protein bowl. We've got edamame puffs, frozen fruit, vegan yogurt and sunbutter for healthy fats.

Second meal. We just updated this one. She had the asparagus, the Just Chicken, the hummus, and the potato, but we wanted to move another savory meal into this one so we could make room for another sweet meal. So we moved the nutritional yeast and the salsa into this meal.

Moving to the next meal, meal three, it was savory, no longer savory. We've got her with some protein pancakes. We're using the Birch Benders plant protein mix. Got some blueberries in there, a little bit of sugar-free syrup, Vedge Protein, walnuts for healthy fats, and a little bit of soy milk to mix it up.

Her meal four is always her training day meal. So this is going to be her intra-workout drink. We've got EAAs, highly branched cyclic dextrin, salt, and creatine monohydrate.

And then her meal five, back to savory, something to finish off the night with.

If you're in a similar phase as her and have any questions, please feel free to ask me and I'll do my best to help you out.

Let me break it down:

Standing calf raises (Straight leg) trains the Gastrocnemius muscle in your calves, which is the large of the calf muscle.

Seated calf raises (Bent leg) trains the Soleus muscle, AKA, the smaller of the two calf muscles.

And so, having your leg straight will grow your calves more than if your leg is bent because you’re training the larger of the 2 calve muscles.

With this knowledge, I would prefer to program more standing over seated calf raises for my clients if possible, and only straight leg if you could only pick 1.

As your coach, I want to make sure you are doing every exercise with good form and preventing injuries. My Full Leg Day Video is FILLED with tips ensuring you perform your exercises safely and *effectively*. Copy my split, follow my advice - see the full video on my channel and let’s get JACKED safely 🙏🏼

Are you hesitant to remove animal products from your diet?

Do you worry this decision will negatively impact your health or physique?I’ve personally only seen positive results from going vegan, along with hundreds of my clients.

When we see stories of “ex vegans” who claim veganism harmed their health, it’s usually because:

-They were underrating
-They were not eating the right foods to cover their nutritional needs
-They were following extreme diets within veganism (fruitarian, fully raw)-They claimed to be vegan but “still ate meat sometimes”Veganism isn’t just a diet or fad.

It’s all for the animals. But that doesn’t mean your health or physique needs to suffer.

That’s exactly what we help you dial in with the vegan squad coaching, so you can lose fat, build muscle, and stop guessing with your nutrition.

Reach out to us here: https://vegansquadcoaching.com/

Always make sure to do “the pancake test” on any machine that would potentially be life-threatening to you if you happened to pass out.

Have you heard of veganism?If so, and you’re not vegan…Why not? What’s holding you back? I would truly love to know the answer.Let me know down below. I want to know why you’re not vegan, or in another word, why you believe it’s okay to abuse animals.

I’m coming from a place of love, not hate, because I know that you can do better.

The egg industry forces male baby chicks to be ground up alive within hours or even minutes of being born because male chickens are not deemed useful in the egg industry.

Mother hens are confined to tiny cages their whole lives, being forced to lay more eggs than their body can handle causing severe pain and stress.

After I realized what happened to baby chicks AND the mother hens in the egg industry, I knew I couldn’t contribute to that anymore.

And that’s why I post what I post, to wake people up to the lies society has told us growing up and to show people the truth behind what everyone considers “food”.

If you need help making the switch from vegetarian to vegan or pre-vegan to vegan, Here’s our free RESOURCES library that will help you thrive.

I've seen a lot of people here, especially those who are new to veganism or transitioning, asking what they can swap for eggs, dairy, butter, or even protein in different recipes. 

So I thought I'd share this free vegan substitutions guide. It covers the most common cooking and baking swaps in one place to make things a little easier. The link's in the comments if anyone wants to grab it.

People often say that you can’t build muscle as a vegan, or vegans aren’t making an impact, and to this arguments, I’m just going to say take a look at our whole vegan squad coaching team and clients. But this post is highlighting one of my clients in particular, @rosiee.lifts

I’ve been working with Rosie for a little over 6 months now and we are absolutely CRUSHING her first ever prep to the stage. We’re a little less than 5 weeks out and getting lean AF!

Go follow/support Rosiee on her journey to the stage and let’s put veganism on the map by proving that you CAN build muscle without harming animals. 💪🌱 

And if you need our help just like Rosie here, feel free to reach out to the vegan squad coaching team here: https://vegansquadcoaching.com/

June 19th 2026 you were killed. I’m sorry. We can all do better. Stop paying for animal abuse. Let’s be the change. Go vegan. And if you’re vegan please speak up. The animals literally need us to. 

PLEASE SHARE THIS MESSAGE💚🙏

Today, we’re joined by Jonathan Faran, (@jonathanfaran) co-founder of Vegan America, (@vegan__america) a rapidly growing plant-based marketplace that’s been described as a vegan version of Amazon and Costco. 

Although the platform launched just last November, it already features hundreds of sellers and tens of thousands of products spanning food, fashion, cosmetics, household goods, gifts, and services.

Jonathan shares the personal experience that inspired the idea for Vegan America: the surprisingly difficult search for a pair of vegan dress shoes. 

That challenge led him to a broader realization that living vegan extends far beyond food, with animal-derived ingredients often hidden in everyday products consumers rarely think about. 

You can listen to the full episode here: vegansquadcoaching.com/vegansquadpod 

News flash: You can.

I’m John Thomas and I’ve been bodybuilding for 18 years and vegan for 20. I was once told that I would never be able to build muscle without meat, but look where I’m at today.

And not just me, but my whole @vegansquadcoaching team and all of our clients.

It IS possible to build muscle as a vegan - if you use the correct protein sources.

By that, I mean Tofu, Seitan, Edamame, TVP, Tempeh, etc.

Not seeds, beans, nuts, oats, and peanut butter.

Those are carb/fat sources - not main plant protein sources.

If you wanna learn how to build muscle as a vegan, my cookbook would be the first step.
There’s 30+ high protein vegan recipes in there that are simple, easy, and delicious!