advice on meal plan and timing for vegetarian

[Jellyfish]

Hello everyone!

I am a vegetarian (I do eat dairy and eggs but rarely; also carbs usually come from fruit not grains), eat mostly whole foods, take no supplements and at the moment I work out 5-6 days per week at the gym for 1-2 hours. I do some Les Mills courses (bodypump once, bodyattack twice), twice a week yoga, twice a week zumba and twice a week wholebody (all main muscle groups) traditional weights training, followed by 40 min elliptical. I would say it's quite packed, I am mostly just trying to keep active with a focus on endurance training.

I know that nutrition is important for one's health and that it can determine the results of one's workouts, depending on what type of workouts one engages in. I would not mind to lose weight, but this is not a primary goal hence, I am not on a diet. I do not want to add too much muscle mass, just tone body and increase fitness/endurance.

However I am very insecure when it comes to meals. I would like to receive some input and/or opinions on it :

VEGETARIAN MEAL PLAN:

breakfast: 2 grated apples with 40 grams of oats and 1 teaspoon of hemp seeds OR a smoothie (e.g. one banana, two handfuls of baby spinach, half a celery stick)

lunch: big salad with raw foods and no dressing (lettuce, carrots, tomatoes, cucumber, radish, peppers, a tablespoon of pumpkin or sunflower seeds, occasionally a spoon of feta cheese, some pickled artichokes or some olives) PLUS a cup of beans of peas or something with proteins OR a bowl of brown rice or quinoa and some cooked veggies, usually with a sauce as it is served at the cafeteria.

I leave work around 18:00 or 18:30 and go straight to the gym. Around this time I eat: one or two bananas OR one banana and four dates OR a small bowl of mixed fruit.

Q1: Until here, everything is fine, I would say. Some people have told me that meal plan is too high carb, but I was initially taught that that's a good thing? Carbs are energy for the body right? Especially if it's fruit carbs 1 or 2 hours before gym?

I arrive home around 21:30 or 22:00. Either I make a big salad (raw food, similar to lunch but with more ingredients like beets, avocado, lemon juice, spinach, arugula, tofu etc) OR I get a lentil soup or a small salad at the Turkish place (which includes several types of bean salads, usually quite oily stuff, but well...at least it's got some proteins)

Q2: Here, there is the real problem. I think this is actually too late to eat, but the salad I make at home for dinner is the most nutritious one and in view most important meal. I am not sure WHEN to eat dinner. I could make the salad at home and take it to work and it it at 18:00 but that is too soon before the workout (which starts at 19:00 usually). I think and digestion takes longer than that. Eating earlier than 18:00 would be too early for me. And if I were to do that, would I not need some actual carbs before workout instead of all the veggies?

Q3: Is there a good snack for before and after a workout? E.g. dried fruit before workout, some soy beans for protein afterwards?

Q4: Do you think this meal plan is balanced considering rather packed workout schedule?

I know these are a lot of questions but I would be very grateful if I could get ANY nutritional advice, feedback or input. Although I paid for a nutrition session, gym told me, they don't have enough info on vegetarian diets to be able to help me I am really hoping to gather some information from this forum. Thank you very much in advance!

Best,
Jelly

[Boss Man]

Carbs are used for energy yes, but too many can be converted to fat in the body if not used.

The meals are not bad, but I think you could take half of the Oats out and replace them with more protein. A larger dose of Hemp seeds would suffice, as they will still have some Carbs and also some Fat in them, but more protein, so you would still potentialyl be cutting the Carbs anyway.

I would also say perhaps take some of the Carb out of the Salad and replace it with Peas. Yes they have Carbs but not as much as something lile Carrot and have more protein as well.

I think you could take out the radish and increase the Peas a bit more. Certainly try not to end up increasing the calories.

Soybeans would work after workouts yes.

Veggies are Carbs, so there's no difference. Ignore peoples use of the word Carbs when used as a comparison for Veggies.

Macronutrients are Carbs, Proteins and Fats. Veggies contain carbs just as much as fruit, Legumes, Dairy, Rice, Mushrooms and Cereals do. Vegetables are not a 4th Macronutrient, as the 3 I mentioned are the only ones. I find it pointless for people to use the word carbs as if it's a food group when it isn't.

Veggies before workouts will create the ability to gain more eventual Glucose based energy, just as much as Legumes, Rice, Fruit etc etc, the main difference being whether the Carbs in the food source are quick or slow digesting, I.E. simple carbs, 30 calories per minute into the bloodstream or complex carbs, 2 calories per minute into the bloodstream.

You could quite easily have the big dinner salad before a workout, close to leaving work, then workout and afterwards have the Soybeans as a snack anyway.

[Jellyfish]

Thank yo so much Boss Man for the quick and extremely helpful reply!

[ultimatehlth]

Yeah, I think your carbs are too high also and too low in protein for the amount you are working out. You can add a rice protein based shake to up the protein. Your post workout meal or snack should ideally be a 4/1 carb to protein ratio for proper recovery.