My 6 Year Vegan Body Transformation - 3 Things I Learned

I've been vegan for 6 years and training for 8 years. Here's how my body transformed in that time and what I learned.

My 6 Year Vegan Body Transformation - 3 Things I Learned

Here's my full vegan body transformation as a male, before and after:

About 8 years ago. I was a lost kid.

There was a video game called Metin2. I was addicted to it. I smoked cigarettes on the weekends and I often drank to black outs.

Sometimes I spent days without leaving my room - glued to my computer. Or my hookah. I used to smoke hookah when gaming or watching a video.

My big brother called me "the unhealthiest person he knew". And I think he was right.

Yet, I thought to myself: "Why change, if this is working just fine?"

Jokes on me. My life was deteriorating in front of my eyes. I was just too blind to see it.

I nearly dropped out of school due to bad grades. I was looking to become a lawyer and felt like I had no control over my life anymore.

1. Accept total responsibility.

You are at your current situation because of you. Not because of any other external circumstances, not because of any force that is against you. But because of YOU and the choices that you made in the past. Once you accept full responsibility for your situation, you can change. You can change your choices – you can change your life.

One time, still in my gamer, smoking and drinking time, a friend of mine dragged me in the gym.

Although I didn't like exerting myself at all, I noticed early on that the gym helps me grow. It made me feel excited about the future. It made me feel truly and sustainably good about myself. Something I haven't felt in a while.

The results of training however were slow. I remember I was googling 2 weeks transformation and was dissatisfied with my results.

I wanted to give up multiple times on this journey of my body transformation. So I had 2 options: 1. Throwing in the towel or 2. Learning more about what I'm doing wrong.

I chose the latter - so I had to develop an insatiable need for knowledge.

I devoured dozens of books on the topic. Hired coaches. Got my degree in the Swiss Academy Of Fitness and Sports. And stumbled into veganism along the way after reading the book 'Eating Animals' by Jonathan Safran Foer (amazing book btw).

I went vegan after 2 years of training and it was the first time I ever saw a sixpack in my life.

2. The value of learning.

Strive for continuous education. After finishing school is when the education starts, not where it ends.

Right now I am training for about 8 years and am vegan for about 6 years. My blood test results are perfect, I have a sixpack year round and I can run a 10k, do martial arts and train in the gym.

Being in great shape is an enabler & an amplifier for your life. It makes everything way easier. You have more confidence, you have more energy, you feel mentally clear and you feel in control of your body.

Here’s how serious I am about this: If someone would offer me $1,000,000 to go back to where I was 8 years ago I’d decline. No thanks.

Realize that your body is your vehicle for life. The better you fuel it and the more you take care of your vehicle, the better your life will be. This was a key learning that I took from my 6 year (and ongoing!) vegan experience.

3. The only true asset that we have in this life, is our health.

Without health, we can’t enjoy relationships, we can’t enjoy our family, we can’t enjoy our wealth. Health therefore should always be a priority and be reflected by our lifestyle choices. Where we spend our time, where we spend our money and where we spend our energy.