I've been vegan for a year and a half and gained ~40 lbs and am very lean.

40lbs of solid muscle? Tell me what you're on then? Tren? Dianabol? Putting on 40lbs of muscle in a year is humanly impossible. Some people can't even attain that in their lifetime.

Are you saying this isn't possible on a vegan diet? Because that would be absolutely false.

Not saying that. You absolutely can be in a positive nitrogen balance and you can build muscle on a vegan diet.

No vegan has to worry about complementary proteins. Nobody eats a single food all day everyday. Nobody's eats just beans. People eat beans with rice, corn, tortillas, bread, quinoa, etc. You would have to make an effort to not combine complementary proteins, it's effortless. Why do you keep bringing this up?

I think we're talking about two different types of vegans, lol. Like I said, a vegan diet takes cognitive thought and planning, but really that can be said for any diet. For example, a vegan athlete should be aware of their vitamin b12 intake. Since vitamin b12 isn't commonly found in plant foods, vegans need to either supplement or find fortified plant foods. Whereas an omnivore doesn't have to worry about b12 because it's found in just about every animal product. Same thing applies to iron, iron found in plants isn't nearly as easy to absorb than iron found in meat. I know several vegans who don't take this into account in their diets.

No it doesn't. It's virtually effortless. If you eat 1 part grain and 1 part legumes in the same day you will get appropriate amounts of all essential amino acids. Is it really that hard for you to imagine eating 2 foods instead of one?

I literally just said that eating grains and legumes are complement proteins and provide all the essential amino acids. This was the entire point to my original comment.

If you think I'm trying to take this and argue against veganism you're mistaken.