Nimai Delgado: Redefining Strength Through Compassion

Nimai Delgado was born to stand out.  

Raised on a Hare Krishna commune in the Deep South by Argentinian-immigrant parents, his life from the very beginning was anything but typical.  

While other kids on the Mississippi Bible Belt grew up on Christian church and BBQ, Nimai spent his childhood in a spiritual farming community—living off the grid, eating a vegetarian diet, and practicing Hindu rituals under the guidance of monks and renunciates. It was a world filled with mindfulness, cow sanctuaries, temple bells, and saris—and it stood in stark contrast to the Southern Baptist culture that surrounded him. 

"We were outsiders in every sense," he recalls.  

His community would wake up to burning crosses—warnings from the KKK. Though Nimai had blue eyes and light skin, he was still the target of discrimination, not because of how he looked, but because of what he represented. What he believed.  

From a young age, he learned what it meant to feel different, to not fit in, and to carry the quiet courage it takes to stay true to yourself. 

This foundational experience—being raised in a world that defied every cultural norm around him—set the tone for the rest of Nimai's life. It taught him resilience, compassion, and the value of walking a path with purpose. And perhaps most importantly, it laid the groundwork for the courageous identity he would later claim as a natural, vegan bodybuilder in an industry where both are rare.  

A Different Pathway to Strength 

Nimai didn’t step into a gym until he was 17, but from the moment he did, he was hooked. 

"I was always the shortest kid," he says. "So I figured, if I can’t grow tall, I’ll grow wide."  

In college at Louisiana State University, he studied mechanical engineering and fell deeply in love with training. He approached bodybuilding not just as a sport but also as a science. To him, the body was a system—an intricate machine that could be engineered and optimized. But unlike most of his gym peers, he did it without chicken, beef, or eggs. 

After graduation, Nimai packed his Jeep and drove to California to start fresh. He landed in Bakersfield, a gritty, oilfield town with a surprisingly strong bodybuilding culture. Surrounded by blue-collar lifters and tattooed rig workers, Nimai began to train seriously. One day, he watched a video about the dairy industry, and it changed everything. Though he had been vegetarian since birth, Nimai made the full leap to veganism.  

"I didn’t want to contribute to suffering. I didn’t want to put that into my body," he says.  

He was worried his performance would suffer, but the opposite happened. His energy and mental clarity surged. His recovery improved. His digestion and inflammation smoothed out. And the muscle? It kept coming.  

“That’s when I realized—if I can do this, and build this physique, more people should know it’s possible,” he says.  

Sharing the Strength 

In 2015, Nimai entered his first bodybuilding competition as a fully vegan, natural athlete (meaning he never took performance enhancing drugs). He swept the show, winning the novice, open, and overall titles. That moment became a turning point. The same question that had followed him as a child—"Why don’t you eat meat?"—became the question everyone wanted answered. 

People were also curious about how. How was he doing it? What did he eat? Could plants really fuel that kind of body?  

So, he started sharing. 

Nimai began posting on social media, becoming the role model he never had growing up. Back then, there were no prominent athletes or bodybuilders he could look to who had never eaten meat. No vegans with IFBB Pro cards. He was breaking new ground, simply by being himself.  

But that didn’t mean the road was easy. 

He still worked 60-hour weeks as an engineer in oil and gas, waking at 5 a.m. to train, coaching people on the side, and building his platform one post at a time.  

"People said I’d never make it," he says. "They said I’d have to take drugs [steroids]. That you can’t go pro without meat. That no vegan could be competitive." 

Maybe he wouldn’t, he thought. “But what if I do?”  

But Nimai proved them wrong. After winning more overalls, he went on to earn his IFBB Pro card at the 2016 USA Championships in Las Vegas. It was a milestone—not just for him, but for the sport. To his knowledge, he became the first lifetime vegetarian-turned-vegan to earn professional status in the IFBB. 

From there, things snowballed. He retired from engineering in 2017 to pursue his purpose full-time: coaching, content creation, and spreading the message that you can build muscle and strength on a meat-free diet. He qualified for and competed in the 2018 Arnold Sports Festival in the physique category. He was featured in the Netflix documentary “The Game Changers,” landed the cover of Muscle & Fitness, and launched two companies: Mindful Athletix and Vedge Nutrition. 

But even as the accolades rolled in, Nimai’s deepest transformation was still to come.  

A Deeper Strength 

"In 2020, I had the best physique of my life, but inside, I felt empty," he says.  

That’s when he turned inward, shifting his focus from muscle to mindfulness. He dove into personal development and spiritual work, unearthing the pressures he had put on himself to be perfect, to prove something, to constantly validate his worth. 

"I realized I was chasing external validation. It wasn’t sustainable. I needed to rebuild my relationship with myself," he says.  

Today, Nimai’s definition of strength is broader. Deeper.  

"Strength isn’t just how much you can lift. It’s your courage to be different,” he says. “It’s your willingness to follow your heart, even when it’s inconvenient. It’s how you treat others, and how much compassion you carry." 

Compassion is the best way to measure a person’s strength, he says; some of the most compassionate people you meet have gone through the hardest experiences. That’ often leads them to extend it toward others who are suffering in their own ways.  

He lives that message through everything he does, from training clients, to building ethical businesses, to mentoring athletes who want to make the switch to plant-based living. His coaching is about more than macros and sets; it’s about helping people feel aligned, empowered, and purposeful. 

His core belief? That being healthy—physically, mentally, emotionally—is one of the most compassionate things you can do.  

"When you feel good, that ripples out. You’re more patient. More confident. More connected. That’s contagious," he says.  

He tattoos his values on his skin. On one arm: the word "Ahimsa"—non-violence toward all living beings. That principle guides every decision he makes.  

"I’m just using the platform I’ve built as a way to lead people toward more mindful, compassionate living," he says. “If a shirtless pic gets their attention, fine. But once I have it, I’m going deeper." 

He sees his muscles as a sort of trojan horse to a deeper way of living.  

As for his future, Nimai isn’t looking for safety. He’s looking for truth.  

"I had everything I thought I wanted: security, a great job, financial stability. But I wasn’t fulfilled,” he says. “That’s not strength. That’s soul erosion." 

So now, he chooses the unknown. Again and again. Not because it’s easy. But because it’s his path. 

"You never know what’s possible until you jump," he says. "And if I can help even one person find the courage to jump too—to be different, to live authentically, to choose compassion—then that’s what this is all for." 

Because in the world Nimai Delgado is building, strength isn’t about domination. 

It’s about connection.