Hello!
I've been vegan for about 11 years now. I'm a happy go lucky vegan but there were a couple times when I got depressed and lost my mind and wasn't vegan. I felt like crap physically and mentally, gained weight and so I never want to go back to that place again! At one point I was 3 pounds away from 300 pounds! It was bad, I was on the brink of being suicidal (ten years ago) and I just couldn't cope with the world, not just the anti vegan world but the environmentally unfriendly world, the inhumane world, and I just couldn't take it. It felt like it was a battle I couldn't win, family and friends were unsupportive, I had lost friends and everyone seemed crazy to me. At that time I had no vegan friends at all. The few vegan groups that I knew about online were more for data than making friendships. Eventually I got therapy and pills, and after awhile came to a more constructive outlook on life. I got back to my vegan diet, lost weight and got back into working out. A few years later the birth of my son gave me new inspiration too.
I still have some days where I get down but for the most part I'm pretty happy and I have learned to stay away from the negative and focus on the positive. That's what really pulls me through.
My last child was born vegan, he is 7 years old now. He is a little vegan advocate but sometimes gets his info mixed up, it's kinda funny.
After 11 years together my husband recently decided to go full blown vegan and is sometimes like the vegan police in this house! Since he's gone vegan it's so much easier cooking now so I'm thrilled! Unfortunately my husband has lost weight since going vegan and is down to 150 pounds. I'm worried he is not getting enough calories or food because he is a workaholic and won't take time to eat. I talked him into taking a Clif Builder Bar with him to work everyday just to give him more substance, I'm not sure if it's the best thing but it's something.
One of the reasons I came to this forum was to maybe get some pointers for my husband to gain weight, and for myself to get inspired to get in better shape. When I was in high school I was on the swim team, surf team, track, racquet ball team, tennis, and anything else I could squeeze in! But now at 42 and 7 surgeries later I struggle to do anything physical. I've lost weight but I'm definitely not in shape. In january I'm supposed to have another surgery to fix an existing hernia so I'm not quite ready yet but I'm still interested!
So I'm making an effort to be more involved and hoping to have positive vegan friends to chat with especially vegan parents!
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