Hi from Denmark :)

Aurijus · **Joined:** Thu Sep 05, 2013 11:33 am **Posts:** 10

Here it goes: Hello!
Hello dear bodybuilders community

After couple months of consideration I've decided to join this community. I considered this for a couple of months because for these months I wasn't sure if I will change my diet to vegan. Also I wasn't sure if I'll dare to start bodybuilding on vegan diet (It sounded a bit extreme). But here I am

When I started writing this post, I didn't really thought it's going to be sooooo long (I'm writing this sentence after I have finished writing the post), but I had so many thoughts in my mind that I had to put them on computer screen

I am very happy and proud to be vegan so it's nice to express myself in vegan community for the first time. I hope you won't get tired of reading and if you will - just don't read it

A little bit about me:
I'm 23 years old (recently it was my birthday. happy B-day to me!) and for the past 3 years I've been working, studying and living in Denmark. Well I love my country (Lithuania) and I'm proud to be Lithuanian, but I had to go abroad in order to get a better education and to build up my life

In the far future I'm planning to come back to Lithuania, but like I said - that's for the future

Right now I'm learning Danish, working and recently I've started bodybuilding.
It's been 8 weeks since I started going to the gym. It seems that everything goes alright, but I still got some unanswered questions and problems that I'd like to solve. Maybe you guys will help me to go past these obstacles

But I'll go back to this later on. I explained my situation in this post:
viewtopic.php?f=46&t=35899&p=319542#p319542

I had some problems with my health in childhood and I still got asthma so vegan lifestyle seemed like a good idea to see if it's going to help to increase my health. It seems that it really helped - I haven't been sick throughout the year (I was a bit cold last winter, but then I wasn't vegan

). Also I'm feeling better and stronger than ever before - I even don't have problems with my skin any more, YAY!

The reasons why I became vegan are mostly environmentally related. Also I see vegan lifestyle as healthier compared to traditional diet. Mostly it was my girlfriend that motivated me to change my diet. She went vegetarian around 1,5 year ago and I followed her progress with curiosity. Even after she stopped eating meat she seemed okay (I thought that she will ruin her health)! I also even made a big online research to prove her that she's wrong and that she can't survive on vegetarian diet. To my surprise I couldn't find any solid proofs that vegetarian lifestyle is unhealthy (except B-12 and other few shortages). This online research actually changed my point of view and I believe that it was the first step towards vegan diet. I still kept consumed animal products, but in the back of my head something kept telling me that this is wrong. I shouldn't consume animal products, why do I even consume if there is no need?
Month after month my consumption of meat was decreasing (mostly because I didn't buy meat). After some months my girlfriend offered me to quit eating meat and that was pretty much enough for me to quit it. So it took me around one year to quit meat. So I'm vegetarian for around 4-7 months (It's hard to tell when was the last time I ate meat).
Soon after I went to vegetarian diet, I and my girlfriend watched some inspiring documentaries about changes that people encounters after changing to raw or vegan lifestyles. The first movie that we watched is called "Fat, Sick & Nearly dead". Straight after this movie we went on 10 day smoothie’s diet (to cleanse toxins from our bodies, etc.). This movie proved me even more that it's possible to live without dairy product too. Weeks later we watched "Simply Raw: Reversing Diabetes in 30 Days" and that was the last step for me to quit dairy products and eggs. So transformation from vegetarian to vegan took me around 2 months

I was doing some weight lifting back when I was 15-18 , but it never lasted for more than 3 months in a row. I simply didn't have enough of information how to build up a proper nutritional program and I didn't have consistency on my training programs. But now (after years without sport) I got motivated to start lifting weights once again. I want to prove people around me that you don’t need to consume animal products to stay healthy. Not only you can be healthy, but also you can grow muscles. At least 3 people told me that I look skinny (after I told them that I’m vegan). Before I went vegan, I had the same weight so it was ridiculous to hear such statements. Before I started to go to the gym, I was 80kg (~176lbs) and 1.85m (6.1). I didn’t have any overweight so I believe that I had normal body weight (I know some people of the same height that weights 70kg. One of the people criticizing my vegan diet is my father. He’s probably the main reason why I want to build muscle, just to prove him wrong

Actually I didn’t even tell my father that I started lifting weight and he’s supposed to see me only on Christmas so I still got some time to make some changes in my body. I’ve gained 7 kilograms (~15pound) in 8 weeks (that’s the weight in the morning after toilet and such ;] ).

So that was my story

looking forward to see the results till Christmas! Also I’m glad to be here and I truly believe that this community can help me to reach better results. I hope to inspire some people and to offer my help in any possible ways too. Thank you so much for your time! I hope you didn't got bored reading it!

Your new member,

Aurijus

Kora · **Joined:** Fri Aug 09, 2013 8:39 am **Posts:** 131

Well Hello Aurijus! I'm Kora! I think everyone has concerns when they first change they way they eat. I know I did. BUt the one good thing about that and changing to a vegan diet is that your suddenly in a position to need to become educated about what you eat. Education and awareness of what you eat on any diet gives you some control and advantages over your own health.

C.O. · **Joined:** Fri Mar 17, 2006 10:23 pm **Posts:** 2679

Hi Aurijus,

Welcome to the community. I love that you took so much consideration into your lifestyle change. So many people jump into things on a whim and don't stick with them.

-Dylan

Aurijus · **Joined:** Thu Sep 05, 2013 11:33 am **Posts:** 10

Hi Kora and C.O.!

Thanks for the answers!

indeed, I feel like I'm learning something new everyday.. You guys been vegans for a long time?

Also I figured that probably I wrote too long letter and people don't like to read a lot, so I abandoned this forum for a while

But it's very nice that you guys found a minute to say hi

C.O. · **Joined:** Fri Mar 17, 2006 10:23 pm **Posts:** 2679

hahaha yeah it was long, but it was a good read. You'll have more interaction with the other members here if you post questions and comments on their threads too.

Aurijus · **Joined:** Thu Sep 05, 2013 11:33 am **Posts:** 10

Yeah, I'll try to be more active

thanks for nice words!

mrbear666 · **Posted:** Tue Oct 22, 2013 12:04 pm

hey buddy, welcome! i bet becoming vegan will be one of these best decisions you have ever made! good luck!

mike

Aurijus · **Joined:** Thu Sep 05, 2013 11:33 am **Posts:** 10

Hey Mike

Well, honestly, I already thing that it was the best decision in my life

never felt better! Looking forward to achieve some great results and show Denmark and Lithuania that it is possible to live without animal products (My homecountry Lithuania is probably the place where you'll find the least vegans in the world) and I haven't heard about anyone who's bodybuilding as vegan.

mrbear666 · **Posted:** Tue Oct 22, 2013 1:08 pm

vegan definately makes you feel better, i found that out quickly too.......results come just as easily from a vegan diet as a standard diet i find too, maybe even a little easier. i havent heard of any lithuanian vegan bodybuilders but zydrunas savickas comes from there, i know hes not vegan but strength and muscle must be in the genetics of you guys

have a look through peoples journals for tips and so on, ask people questions in them too everyone is happy to help

Emrys · **Posted:** Tue Oct 22, 2013 8:38 pm

I think it shows that you are truly intelligent when you find information that contradicts what you believe and decide that you were wrong to begin with. So many people just go into denial. This is one of the reasons I don't even mind meat eaters that think they are trolling. Eventually they will realize through debate that we are right and actually have legitimate reasons for being vegan. Health/environment/ethical. We will win every debate.

I am glad you decided to go vegan. This is a great forum. Lots of experienced people to learn from.

Lots of people (like your dad) will keep trying to get you back on the meat/eggs/dairy. The more conversations you have with them and the more they understand your viewpoint they will have less to say about it and more than likely start changing their diet to include less animal products and more healthy food.

Vegan Bodybuilding & Fitness

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