Why Vegan?

During my youth I was always slightly overweight, not as morbidly obese as I was before leaving my prior home, but big enough for it to impact my social life, which luckily aside from bullying had very little ramifications on me, due to the fact I was extremely introverted and much preferred the company of books or activities I could do alone . Children are not known for their soft words for those outside of the perceived societal norms, although a frightening thought is that obesity is becoming the norm as apposed to a more healthy approach. Although my weight was a problem, my parents never really addressed it as they should have and I never attempted to do so due to lack of education and being as young as I was, I never had the resources to do so.

Leading to a general aversion to anything that wasn't unhealthy, wasn't covered in sugar and wasn't saturated in fat or salt I most likely wouldn't be eating it which was both a fault by me as a child and my parents as educators and motivators. The main problem with this is the fact that it sustain my obesity and more than that alone, it caused my ability to eat a varied diet to be incredibly compromised. Living as I did created many dietary problems, specifically the fact that my diet was limited as was my taste palette.

After moving out I lived alone for six months in an apartment in my home town, during which time I'd began the slow path of losing weight, I'd come down from 176 (388lbs) kilograms to somewhere around 145 (319lbs) kilogram mark and I was able to do more and more. About four months into my time living alone, I began researching veganism, I began looking at statistics relating to health, to the treatment of animals, towards the environmental effects intensive factory farming had and came to a decision I would transition into a vegan lifestyle. My reasoning being, given the fact I, as a human can make such a large difference in the world simply by adapting my living habits, in terms of sustainability, in terms of my effect on other forms of life and in terms of improving my own while still enjoy it, I failed to see a downside. Not to mention the challenge it presented and what it would mean if I was successful.

To put this into context, I had eaten an omnivorous diet for the last (and total) 19 years of my life. At my lowest point in life, I was essentially living off incredibly cheap, cardboard fast food. Store bought packaged meals and carbonated drinks (From what memory I have, around 2-4 liters consumed daily) and whatever else was available. Looking back at it now, I shudder at how I lived but realise as to why I was the way I was, how I had gotten to that point and how badly it effected my life. Simply put I was severely depressed.

All of this made the transition harder, it's a struggle, from what I have read from other vegan sites and blogs to transition from a 'well rounded' basic omnivorous diet to a vegan diet. So coming into it being miles behind in terms of taste palette and actually being able to eat only three kinds of vegetable and one fruit was a little harder. You may think I'm attempting to exaggerate with that statement but, I'm not. The only vegetables I could actually eat were carrots, peas and potatoes. The only fruit I could bear to eat was apples. I lived a woefully vitamin and mineral deficient life, as well as some of the wonderful tastes I've now to experience. Safe to say my vegetable and fruit counter has increased quite a large amount!

Overall I can say I feel better, my body aches significantly less, I'm fitter, I feel better, I'm worlds more confident and I'm not finished yet! I don't supplement my diet in anyway, I try to keep an even keel on my food and occasionally may deviate and have a 'bad' meal, which my girlfriend kindly obliges me with her incredible cooking skills and cooks the most wonderfully devilish vegan meal imaginable! Thanks for reading!

/Nathan

Let's start at the beginning, shall we?

So, greetings!

I'll begin by making this concise as possible I'm a somewhat overweight, adolescent who originated in Britain and now lives in Germany.

My life began in 1991, putting me at the age of twenty-one years currently, it wasn't an unusual beginning of life, but the path on which I came to the point I'm at now was. I spent the first few years of my life in a small mining town and then moved to what would become the place I grew up in and stayed until my twenty first birthday, a small seaside town in the northern part of Wales. Most of my childhood was dominated by school problems which led to no fewer than six school changes in primary school, until secondary school.

Not long after a severe family crisis I began to slowly regress into a state of recluse which led to me becoming self-imprisoned into a room for the best part of eight years of my youth, up until the age of twenty. During which time, I had no exercise, ate poorly and had steadily increased in weight up until my largest point, at a staggering 176 kilograms (388 pounds).

In September of 2011, all of my past habits were changed, I was relocated from the house I had been trapped in, both physically and mentally and it signaled a big change in my life and my perspective. I initially began losing weight not long after. My second weigh in was at my doctors, which was the second visit I had made in eight years, my weight being around 157 (346 pounds) kilograms in early 2012 and began planning to move to Germany, to meet my now girlfriend, Daniela.

After an enjoyable summer, I spent a considerable time exercising and becoming more and more interested in fitness, I started bicycling and thoroughly enjoying the experience, I began lifting weights shortly after and then after my legs had conditioned adequately I started jogging more frequently than I cycled. In a six month period I've dropped 37 kilograms and I now sit at a (more) comfortable 120 kilograms (264 pounds) putting my lost weight at a total of 57 kilograms (125 pounds) which is more than some people actually weigh.

So now, my goal is to gradually lose weight until I reach an average weight for my height, which is something around 80 kilograms (175-185 pounds). After which I would like to attempt to see how much muscle I can attain, while maintaining a high level of fitness and exploring various other things that are involved in weight loss, fitness and a dabbling in various other topics I enjoy.

That's all for now and thanks for taking your time to read!

/Nathan