Hi there, Jay here. I've been vegan now for around two years. I can't remember exactly when the change in my diet happened, but I had been vegetarian for over 10 years and just started to feel ethnically uncomfortable eating all those eggs and dairy products. Around the same time I looked down at myself one day and realised, as I approached 40, that my cute slender physique was no longer slender and not very cute. In the past, during my 20s, I hated my skinny body and would punish myself in the gym with no success. Now, being older and wiser, I knew I couldn't repeat that cycle. What I had to concentrate on was just making exercise part of my daily life. I had to forget any motives based on a low self image and just concentrate on feeling healthy. Armed with my new diet and the worldwide interweb for home exercise routines, after a year I felt that I had achieved making exercise part of my life. I was enjoying the exercise and my motivation generally stayed pretty good. Then I joined the gym with the aim of building up my body. I started doing more intense strength based routines and ramped up my diet. That was a year ago. I think I've had mild success. I've put on a little bit of size, and I do stress the little bit. It has been a little frustrating as I flounder with my diet (sometimes I think I've put on more fat around my belly than muscle )and consistency with the gym comes and goes. I work hard for two months and then something will happen where I'm distracted from the gym for a month and then I feel like I have to start all over again. I'm really looking forward to these forums, as I hope they are a place for motivation, inspiration and hopefully consistency. Plus, I have no idea how to write a short message ha ha