I Did It My Way: Behind the Scenes of Aseel Soueid’s “Diabetic Aesthetics” YouTube Channel
In the world of “Fitness YouTube,” it goes without saying that breaking the mold is no easy task. From workout clips to full days of eating, separating yourself from the competition is almost as tough as hitting a new PR on your bench press. We recently talked with Aseel Soueid, better known as Diabetic Aesthetics on YouTube, a Type 1 Diabetic who also happens to be a major fitness enthusiast. In the latest “I Did It My Way,” he shares how having Type 1 Diabetes enabled him to take his channel to a totally different level. From helping people manage their weight to giving them insight into training with Diabetes, Aseel has knowledge well beyond his years!
I Did It My Way Appetizer
Name: Aseel Soueid
My YouTube Page is about: Fitness
My YouTube Channel is: Diabetic Aesthetics
Social Media Handles: Twitter: @AseelSoueidFit | Instagram: @aseelsoueidfitness
I Did It My Way Entrée
coiski: Is there one moment or person that was the catalyst for you starting your YouTube Channel?
Aseel Soueid: There was a person and a moment. So, I used to watch a lot of fitness guys on YouTube, specifically a ton of Scott Herman Fitness. He would do a ton of “How To” videos, so being into fitness, I dabbled into that. Then there was one channel that really stood out to me at the time, mainly because he was doing something different. That was Christian Guzman; I watched his channel and it was really an inspiring moment. It pushed me in the gym and outside of the gym as well. He was doing more than just showing people how to lift; he was doing fitness vlogging. Christian is really young, and I felt like I could relate to him. It was cool for me to see his life shifting and changing on a month-to-month basis. That really drew me in. I really started to develop this passion in the gym, and I was getting great results. I started making my own workouts and my own plans. I also found something in me that was different, and that was my Type 1 Diabetes. Being a Type 1 Diabetic for 18 years really set me apart from other fitness YouTubers.
coiski: What is your biggest and most successful YouTube video to date?
Soueid: So my biggest and most successful video to date is definitely one that I uploaded last year right at the start of August. I was done with my cut, and I pretty much was cutting all summer and got freakin’ shredded. I did a transformation video and showed people exactly how I lost all my body fat. I went from 176lbs to 157lbs. I showed this in literally a 17-minute long video, and to date, it has four million views, I think. It’s crazy how it popped off; it was literally getting 500,000 views a month. It was really cool though, because essentially, this video wasn’t really something that typically goes viral.
coiski: At what point during the management of your YouTube page did you say to yourself, “I made it; this can be a full-time thing.”
Soueid: That actually happened at the very start of this year. When I first started YouTube, it was 90% my life and everything going on in it and 10% YouTube; just doing videos here and there and maybe making a workout plan for fun. Then, it became 20% of my time doing this stuff, creating content, making videos, thinking of ideas, etc. Then it got to a point where I started my online coaching business, which was tough for the first year. I was grinding really hard on it. With my YouTube Channel, I wasn’t seeing anything from it, but it was fun, and I really loved it. I didn’t care about all the potential money that could be made; I just was building what I loved doing. Every minute I spent creating a video – whether 10 people watched it or 100 – I didn’t care because I loved doing it. It finally got to a point where school and the rest of my life became the 10% of my time and YouTube became the 90%.
