As you may know from some of my previous posts we became Vegan overnight in January of 2016. This happened after researching into animal welfare, canine cognition, discovering the true cost of animal agriculture and then finally what tipped me over the edge was watching Earthlings. If you have not seen this documentary and are a consumer of animal products I strongly urge you to view, see what your choices mean to the animal world. You can watch earthlings completely free Here.
I strongly recommend that you do not watch this if you have anything else to do immediately afterwards. It will take you to the darkest places that our species inhabit. I lost all faith in mankind, I was angry. Angry at myself. Angry at the world. I still have visions that haunt my dreams, things that I can never unsee.
My wife Natasha was a vegetarian and had been most of her life. Natasha also didn't really drink milk because of a childhood allergy she had to it. I on the other hand was a big milk drinker. I was also big into the gym and took 2 dairy based protein shakes a day. I ate at least 2 chicken fillets and at least 8 eggs daily. I consumed animal products without thought to their source, what the animal in question endured during its life, the effects it was having on me and our environment
At my heaviest, I had grown from 78kg @17 % bf (skinny fat) to 96kg @12% bf. My goal was to reach 100kg @10% bf. Oh, I am 6'4" or 193CM in new money, just to put that into perspective. No particular reason for that, I just picked some numbers that I figured would be a challenge. Sure I was big and strong, I could hack squat 375kgs ×10 reps ×4 sets. I can tell you that even though I was a prime example of what people believe fit and healthy to be I was suffering every day. Major pains in my digestive tract, migraine headaches, constant sinus issues, sore joints and recurring chest infections.
Before I became Vegan I had stopped with the gym so I had cut out the 8 eggs daily and shakes but still ate eggs and chicken etc. My digestive discomfort had reduced after stopping my protein shakes but it was by no means gone. I was still also getting headaches, sinus infections and chest infections My joint discomfort had lessened which I had put down to not lifting weights anymore. All of these have completely stopped since I became Vegan
I wanted after I became Vegan to let my body mass alter and return to the higher bf %. I may have let this go a bit too far 😉. Last year I fell through some rotten decking and also suffered torn cartilage, this knocked me out of action for nearly 5 months and I required surgical intervention to repair the damage. My plan now is to reach my goal on a 100% Vegan diet. I will still use some of the supplements that I used when I was going to the gym previously. Currently I take 1 large smoothie with 1 scoop of chocolate peanut complete Vegan blend from bulk powders, creatine, and taurine. All of which are available from bulk powders Vegan range.
Oh, I should add that I am several years older now and nearing 40! I aim to be in the best shape of my life by the time I get there, which is the end of June 2018! So many of my mates are close to my age and some are not in great shape at all. I do not want to be a middle age man with middle age spread creeping in on me. I want to be fight fit all year round and spend as much time with my 2 young children (my eldest is 18) doing everything that we can, surfing, Bmx racing, rock climbing, mountain walking, swimming etc, I hope you get the picture that we are an active family.