If you’re subscribed to the Plant Powered Lifters newsletter (which you can do here if you haven’t already), you’re familiar with the “Transformation of the Day”-section. In this part of the newsletter, I feature a person who made the change to a vegan lifestyle while being middle-aged. The results are often phenomenal.
Over the last months, I’ve received multiple messages from people asking whether it was possible to go more into detail regarding these transformations. In this article, I’ve attempted to do just that. All of these people have been featured in the newsletter already, but these are their detailed stories which offer a lot more insight.
I’ve also linked out to every source I’ve used for this since these people are often featured on different websites to start with. I truly hope this inspires and motivates you on your journey. Enjoy!
Heather M.
What I think is so inspiring about Heather’s story is that she lost a staggering 125 pounds in just one year. That’s almost 2.5 pounds every week for an entire year!
At 5’6” and 250 pounds, she realized that a change was needed after neglecting her health for over 15 years in favor of doing her work and taking care of her family.
Heather found herself an overweight smoker and drinker. She had arthritis in both knees, chronic back pain, an irregular heartbeat that required medication, shortness of breath, and she suffered from severe depression.
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Heather first realized a change was needed when her husband had a heart attack in August due to severe obesity. However, due to the damage to his arteries, surgery wasn’t possible, and he was put on 7 different kinds of medication and sent home.
However, it wasn’t until a couple of months later in October that she realized the state of her health. Her company did mandatory health screenings every year, which she never had good results on. However, this particular year her blood pressure, cholesterol, and blood sugar were “borderline”: she was obese.
After seeing what happened to her husband just a couple of months earlier, she quit smoking that month.
In January of the next year, her company organized a health event. Heather joined and set a goal for herself to have all her stats in the “optimal” range for the next screening in 9 months. This would also result in bonus money (a policy within her company).
Heather started her health change by just making sure she drank enough water. Before eating, she would drink a bottle of water. If she didn’t feel hungry after that, she figured she was just thirsty. This seemed to work very well for her.
She also started exercising. First, this meant going on 20-minute walks in her neighborhood (which was the maximum she could do).
The switch to veganism came when a coworker told her about her plant-based lifestyle. Through research and watching documentaries such as “Forks over Knives” and learning more about the China Study, she eventually made the switch herself.
This is what all this effort resulted in:
I no longer had arthritic inflammation in both my knees, no back pain, no longer on medication for an irregular heartbeat, no longer short of breath and happier than I had ever been. My self-esteem improved tremendously, and I had so much energy. I was running 90 minutes in each morning and 1 hour in the evening. I received that biometric bonus money for the first time.
Sculpted Vegans
I always get many questions about this particular group of women. Just to be clear: yes, they’re all 50+ and all of them have achieved these results on a vegan diet. But how did they do this?
I don’t have the specifics for each and every single one of them. That’s because all these women were part of a program called “The Ultimate Over 50s Shred” by sculptedvegan.com.
Now, most of these results were achieved in 6 months. This means it’s very impressive, and their program clearly works (I’m not affiliated with them in any way, shape, or form. So you know).
Even though I don’t have the specifics on their training and eating, I can tell you a couple of things I know for sure.
- These people are hardcore, and they probably did some hardcore training and dieting. These are not results you achieve overnight with some light workouts. Some weight loss is extraordinary.
- Some of them had proper weight training experience before this program. For example, the woman in the top-right corner is carrying quite a lot of muscle. I’m sure she has been weight training for at least 2 years and used to program to shred the final bit of fat.
I’m saying all of this to make sure that we all understand that these results are incredibly impressive, but that they also took 100% dedication to achieve. Nevertheless, great program and great results!
Dusan Dudas
Dusan is a special case because this is not so much a transformation. Rather, Dusan serves as an inspiration for 60+ vegan men all around the world who want to get into better shape.
That’s because he’s the 4-time winner of the Mr. New Zealand bodybuilding competition. In the picture you see above, Dusan is 65 years old(!).
I don’t think it comes as a surprise that he’s a personal trainer for a living. However, I do think it’s surprising that Dusan only turned vegan in his mid-50s. He only did so after his doctors told him he had high cholesterol and high blood pressure. Given his family’s history of cardiac disease, he realized something needed to change.
When it comes to his diet, Dudas almost eats the same every single day. That looks something like this:
- Wake-up: he drinks a tea of stinging nettle leaves and distilled water.
- 15 minutes later: a freshly juiced blend of four carrots, an apple, a beetroot, 2 small turmeric roots, ginger, and broccoli.
- 30 minutes later: a fruit salad of bananas, apples, wheatgrass, and lemon. For protein and fiber, he eats a hearty serving of raw oats, soaked in organic soy milk from Italy until softened.
- Mid-morning: a snack of brown rice tides him over until around noon when he has a lunch of cooked lentils with two cloves of garlic and nutritional yeast.
- Around 4 PM: a snack of vegan chicken (the only kind of processed vegan food he likes).
- Dinner: he sits down to two baked sweet potatoes and some oven-roasted pumpkin.
Dudas also has some strong preferences when it comes to training. For example, he doesn’t like cardio at all and strongly prefers lifting weights.
On top of that, he makes it a priority to not train more than 1 hour per session (4 times per week). During his workouts, he focuses on doing exercises that work the entire body, such as weighted squats.
Tim Kaufman
Tim was in his late 40s when realization finally struck him after the visit to his doctor. This is how he described it himself:
My blood pressure was 255/115, my resting heart rate was 125, and I was on enough prescriptions that I couldn’t fit them in a weekly pill organizer. My cholesterol (300) and triglycerides (279) were off the charts (literally). I was a ton of opioids, I was self-medicating and struggled with a Fentynal and alcohol addiction.
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After getting denied bariatric surgery by his primary doctor because it was simply too risky, Tim decided it was time for a drastic change. He started by praying and writing in his notebook. The goal he wrote down in his notebook for the next day: get up from chair 2x.
Tim started with the notion that he would try to improve one small thing every single day. Sometimes that meant getting out of his chair more, other days it meant walking 4 extra stairs.
Also, Tim started logging his food, but through watching documentaries such as “Fork over Knives”, “Vegucated” and “Fat Sick and Nearly Dead” he soon realized he had no idea what real food actually was. This is also when he started transitioning to a vegan diet.
The results speak for themselves. Tim has lost over 200 pounds and his wife, who also got in on the journey, lost 90 pounds as well!
I’ve climbed mountains, hiked on the Appalachian Trail, cycled 100-mile centuries, ran 5ks, 10ks, a bunch of half marathons, and a couple full marathons. I had the pleasure to an Ironman 70.3 and believe it or not, I did a 50k and a 50 mile ultra marathon on some crazy trails. (…) My total cholesterol is 112 and my triglycerides are 74, I eat more now than I did when I weighed 400 pounds and I am never hungry and I never count calories.
Mary Lou
Mary has been on quite a journey herself. Throughout her 40s, she was suffering from many problems. Here’s how she put it herself:
I suffered from several chronic autoimmune diseases: psoriatic arthritis, for which I was taking Enbrel injections, and I also had asthma, brain fog, depression, joint pain and chronic fatigue, among other issues.
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After reading an article about gluten intolerance, Mary decided to cut all gluten out of her diet. This worked wonders! She practically solved all her health problems in the short span of just 4 weeks. However, there was one thing she still suffered from rosacea (as can be seen in the picture).
After watching “Forks over Knives”, she decided to give a plant-based diet a try as well. This cured her rosacea completely within the span of one month. On top of this, she says she feels she has more energy and feels a lot lighter as well.
Rebecca A.
Rebecca has had a difficult relationship with her body from the very start. So much so that at the age of 10(!) she joined Weight Watchers. This is how she described the situation at her worst:
Fast forward to after my son was born (almost 10 years ago), I was very overweight (275 lbs). Simply moving around hurt and was difficult. I just didn’t feel healthy and was so very unhappy with my health and my size.
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After years of yo-yoing, Rebecca slowly started to make some dietary changes. She cut out dairy and land animals first. On top of that, she started walking more daily. Slowly, the fat started to drop as well.
It took Rebecca several years to go fully plant-based. However, after receiving a vegan cookbook from her mother-in-law, she made the switch fully. Around that same time, she started exercising more and began to practice yoga and light weight training.
As a result, Rebecca was able to lose 150 pounds, can do handstands, rarely gets sick anymore, AND enjoys cooking more than ever!
Amy B.
Amy had been a vegetarian most of her life but was still yo-yo-ing between different kinds of diets. On top of that, she had three miscarriages around the age of 40 in the span of 1,5 years. This was followed by depression, which was immediately followed by the stress of being a new parent once she did successfully give birth.
By the time my daughter was a year old, I realized my health and weight were out of control. I was borderline requiring blood pressure meds (since I had gestational hypertension), I was completely sedentary as a stay-at-home mom, and my bad cholesterol was starting to creep up. (…) also I was given a script for a knee brace as I had developed arthritis and bone spurs in my knee due to my weight.
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Once Amy started doing her research, she came across the Engine 2 Diet book, the China Study, and Forks over Knives. This is where she realized trying vegan meals was worth a shot. It started slowly, but after 6 months she made the switch completely.
On top of that, Amy started going to the gym a couple of days per week and joined aerobics classes. The results of all this hard work?
I have lost 100 lbs (in 10 months), lowered my blood pressure from 130/90 to 110/76, and lowered my bad cholesterol while raising my good.
Chris
Chris turned 50 when he decided to get a trainer to help him make a sustainable change. This is how his trainer describes Chris’s starting situation:
He was 50 years old weighing in at 216 lbs with a BMI of 32. He decided that he’d had enough of being overweight and even though he hadn’t been working out since his 20’s, he was determined to turn things around. He started going to the gym and improving his diet, moving towards a wholefoods plant-based diet.
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As you can see, Chris lost 60 pounds over several years. As he says himself: he didn’t gain the pounds in a couple of months, so he also didn’t lose them in a couple of months. Sustainable change is what he was looking for.
This is what Chris and his trainer did to turn his situation around completely:
- Diet: tracking macronutrients, calories and eating a mostly wholefoods plant-based diet whilst in a sensible caloric deficit.
- Training: 3-4x weekly weightlifting sessions hitting all body parts and also HIIT cardio sessions.
- Body tracking: scheduled tracking of body measurements like weight, hips, waist, etc.
- Partner: Chris had a gym partner or trainer keeping him accountable in and outside the gym.
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Stefan has been vegan since 2019 and has been regularly working on his strength since the beginning of 2023. He’s on a mission to help other vegans get stronger and have all of them achieve the quality of life they deserve.
