I've been a vegetarian since I was 12 years old. I swam in HS and in College and started running my senior year of college (2000). For 13 1/2 years I have been learning how to eat like an athlete. I would say that the first 10 years of being a vegetarian were really hard. At first I cut out the meat for animal reasons but kept my normal diet. Therefore, cheese on everything, salads w/ ranch dressing, cheez-its, chips, a few veggies every now and then (like carrots w/ ranch and celery w/ PB) and lots of pasta and pizza. Although I had no idea what my insides looked like with much of my diet being filled with carbs and fat, I was kinda bulky, but strong, due to all my days of swimming. From HS to the end of college my life was swimming. I swam 6 days a week and with most of the weekdays being two-a-days (especially in college), I probably averaged 10,000-12,000 yards a day of swimming. I was burning A LOT of calories in those days! However, I was eating like a teenage/college athlete...
3x Author, Board Certified Sports Dietitian, Master of Science in Exercise Physiology, 2017 IM CHOO Amateur Female Champion, 19xIronman finisher including 6xIM World Championship finisher, Triathlon Coach, 30-year Vegetarian.Trimarnicoach.com