Why I went Vegan

It started about six years back when I was 34. At that point in my life I had been an athlete for over 20 years never misssing a season of basketball or a summer of basketball tournements and pick up games. the difference then at 34 was the feeling my body was not able to keep up anymore. Dunking the ball was quickly becoming a pointless task as my body just wasn't willing to jump that high anymore. My legs now heavier and my bones ached even more after every game. The recovery time after one day of play would last a week literally Monday to Saturday (Sunday game day) my body was heeling in the most unfortable way possible. My mind was slowly starting to question the bodies ability I was thinking of giving up sports and just focusing on buikding muscle that way its less impact on my body. However something in me said give it one more shot, give yourself one more fighting chance and if that doesn't work then you can say "at least you tried".

Previously before turning 34 I tried cutting back on sugar, carbs, and fried foods. it wasn't the hardest thing to do but it bared no fruit. i found no significant results in that. I'm not saying it doesnt work im just saying it didn't work for my body and let me explain my body for context purposes. At the time of the start of this journey I was 6'8" 235LBS. I'm a big guy but 235LBS on me was small in my mind. Fast forward a few months and now it's time to try something extreme. Keto wasn't good enough for me because for one it was too difficult for me to grasp plus i felt like I had already done that previously. Instead I went with the advice of a body builder who was also Vegan. What got my attention was him saying if you look at a gorilla all you see is a muscular frame and what do they eat...fruits and veggies. This simple advice and observation motivated me to want to at least give it a try. I figured I could use the body builders guide to eating and see how things went for at least a month. I enrolled into a new gym that weekend where they take their fitness a little more seriously. they measured my height, weight, and body fat my first day there. I was 6'8" 235LBS with 16% bodyfat. My eating routine was oatmeal in the morning before my workout, a smoothie after my workout, and dinner was at or around 6pm which consisted of nothing but lettuce, spinach, peppers, and quino but sometimes I would buy substitute Vegan meat just to add more heft to my meal. On days I didnt workout I didnt eat breakfast and only ate once a day for dinner which would be around 3-4pm. Three weeks later it was time for the gym to reivaluate my progress so they measured me and my body fat again. for more context i worked out 4 times a week and played pick up games for about 2 hours on saturday. I went from 235LBS to 260LBS but my body fat stayed at 16%. I was confused and dissapointed...sorta. I was surprised that I had put on weight because growing up that was the hardest thing for me to do. The dissapointment came from the body fat results. I was also shocked that i could put on so much weight in 3 weeks and not eating meat or dairy. What i soon found out was that leafy greens and almonds carried more protien than meat. The foods I ate were feeding my muscle growth which helped me stay the course when it came to this experiment. loosing bodyfat was my own fault because I wasn't as cardio active. Now here's the best part that'll tie this all up.

After 3 weeks of this I continued for weeks and weeks but in that timeframe playing basketball felt different. By week 2 I no longer felt the body aches I once did nor did I feel tired or defeated physically or mentally. I was invited into a tournament with the guys at the gym that I played in on saturdays, my regular tournament started back up on sundays, the guys at the gym had another tournament on thursday night I also played in, and on top of that I got invited to another tournament on Sunday also which took place right after my first tourny. That's four tournaments in a week and my body felt 20 years young again. I even started dunking again. The energy I had being Vegan made me fill alive and I'm not just saying that for shyts and giggles. I literally felt about 26 all over again...everywhere fellas (wink wink). I want to say I'm no expert here in this field but I've learned so much being vegan my mind has opened up to meditation, keeping plants in my home, and even detox's. Ther's so much to learn and gain by going vegan i honestly and wholeheartedley believe it's a life saver. I'll drop a few things here for you guys to take a look at becuse all of it helpe me along the way from cook books, to sea moss, to aromatherapy.

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