On February 3, 2010 I cut out all meat and dairy from my diet.  Since that date I have been about 99 percent compliant with my new regimen.  What I have noted is that I have the same strength as my pre-vegan diet but MORE ENERGY at this stage of my transition.  I have definitely not noticed any decrease in strength and that is something I was keeping a close eye on.  The transition over to a whole food plant based diet was relatively easy.  There are so many great foods it is hard not to over-eat actually.  The volume of food I am eating has increased dramatically from what it was.  I am still attempting to eat more raw foods and less cooked foods but am moving in that direction slowly.  The one negative thing I can say is that the first few weeks were hard due to the bloating and feelings of extreme fullness I experienced.  I have lost maybe two pounds but I am at a low weight and BF anyway so I didn't expect to drop much weight.  My system seems to be regulated now to this new way of eating and I feel much better over-all. 

I continue to do my hour to three hour long training sessions, including grueling bouts of pull-ups for an hour with minimal rest and have had a ton of energy for everything.  My recovery seems either the same or maybe slightly better. 

I have discovered what I can eat in my favorite restaurants and continue to search in that respect but have not had any adverse social problems.  Seems like if you want to follow this lifestyle it is fairly simple to do.  So far I have read the book The China Study and have cruised the Internet reading all sorts of vegan lifestyle and food blogs.  I got the Engine Two Diet book as well as Vegan with a vengeance and can recommend both as having tasty easy recipes.  i also read another book regarding factory farming in the United States called Eating Animals.  This was an interesting read that I would recommend for a variety of reasons.

Since I am a strength athlete, I hold the World Record for added weight pull-ups, I have had a few people question me regarding if I will be able to continue competing without meat.  One gentleman actually said there is no way I would be able to function and that people were made to eat meat.  I indicated that I was training hard for World Records in pull-ups and had seen no adverse effects and while I was still on the fence it appeared that the diet might be benefiting me.  He ignored what I said and repeated his mantra.  I thought it was funny.  All sorts of athletes are successful eating lots of different types of diets, but not to be open to experimentation and to consider actual real results from someone who is training up to three hours a day seems preposterous. 

June 9th.  I broke my own World Record on May 26th and completed 36 consecutive pull-ups.  I turned 45 years old on May 28th.  When I was 40, it was completely outside my frame of reference that I would be a World Record holder and a vegan.  My diet continues to work for me and I am also eating a bit more strictly in terms of more fruit, raw vegetables and beans and less processed foods. 

2012 UPDATE:  STILL MOSTLY VEGAN (this is vague right?)  I plan on starting a blog soon that will give diet details and all my new dietary adventures.  When I start my blog I will link it off of this website.