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Losing Weight Wasn’t My Goal – Maximizing My Energy Was My Goal

As a result of my plant based vegan journey, I realized that my excess weight, sickness, and lack of energy were due to my toxin laden fats, and toxin and waste packed intestines caused by the processed foods I ate.

My weight loss journey actually started before I became a vegan. My weight loss started after I stopped competing as an amateur boxer and stopped being active. I am 5’9″ and my weight gradually went up from 147 lbs to 198 lbs. I just chalked this weigh gain up to the natural evolution of getting older and slowing down. I still felt physically strong, and I felt okay with my weight, but I didn’t feel okay with my lack of energy.

I started to feel tired and sluggish all the time and I really didn’t like the feeling. I would often take naps during lunchtime at work because I had a hard time staying awake. After awhile, I started to think that maybe a reason why I had a lack of energy was because of the weight I gained. I thought back to how I felt better when I removed pork and then beef from my diet. So I decided to try giving up poultry to see how that would make me feel.

When I gave up poultry I stopped feeling as sluggish as I did. I gained more energy, and guess what, I loss weight. I wasn’t really concerned with my weight, I just didn’t like how I felt. But it just so happened that removing poultry from my diet did make me feel better, and it also made me lose weight. Is there a connection here? I dropped down from 198 lbs to 175-180 lbs while I just ate fish and a little dairy (as far as animal protein goes).

While I was eating this way I felt pretty good, or at least I thought I did. Because as people we are very adaptive, and when we are in a condition for a long that is working but not optimal, we often condition ourselves to accept that condition is being good. I just chalked up gaining weight and feeling sluggish to getting older and to working hard to survive. I now realize that this is all conditioning and it doesn’t have to be this way.

I started to study the principles of a plant based vegan diet and it made sense to me, so I decided to give being a vegan a try. Eating a plant based diet combats excess weight, sluggishness, and illness. Obesity, lack of energy, and illness is so rampant because we have moved away from a nutrient dense diet that consists mostly of whole-food and plant-based diet, to one the consists mostly of processed meat and processed foods full of toxins. The latter is the root of illness.

So I gave the diet a try because I wanted to fortify my health and remove my risk of developing cancer, heart disease, asthma, or some other chronic disease. My health and energy have benefitted such much from the change that it is now my lifestyle. My energy is always crazy high, and so is my mood. I can actually concentrate on what I ever want to do now. And by the way, I lost weight. My weight dropped to 155-160 lbs and I am feeling GREAT!

My concern with being energetic and maximizing my health led to my weight loss. I see no way that I could be at this energy level and level of health carrying the weight I was carrying. I also feel that I am no different from most people, by accepting sluggishness, weight gain, and even illness as part of the evolution of growing older.

I changed my diet to feel youthful and energetic again, and I have succeeded. As I have cleansed and strengthened my body I have realized more clearly how our bodies are temples for God’s breath and spirit. It is just way easier for me to be cheerful, considerate, understanding, patient, energetic, strong willed, upbeat, and focused when my body doesn’t act against these attributes and supports them.

I need my body to be in optimal working condition to be able to live these attributes in every moment of my life. My weight loss is not my identity. My weight loss assists me in achieving my purpose in life. To supply a clean temple for God’s breath to let the positive attributes of God shine through in every moment. What is your reason for wanting to lose weight?

I lost weight by following this nutritional guide. I also lost weight by being very active and exercising through boxing, cycling, and power walking. Adopting a plant based diet gave my the energy I needed.