Hi! I have been raw for about 4 1/2 weeks, and I had seen great changes physical changes. I have lost lots of inches, and my skin has become so much smoother! I love being raw, I am having a ball with it! I have many reasons for doing this diet, but I won’t lie and say that weight loss is not a huge motivator. But I expected to lose weight a bit faster than this. I had even read that after converting to raw, one can expect to lose about half a pound a day! Well, I have only lost about 7 pounds in four and a half weeks. I drink green smoothies, one Larabar a day, almond milk with banana, fruit for snacks, lots of green salads or collard wraps with nut pate, but I also eat an avacado each day, included in various recipes. Forgive me for my ignorance, but is this too much fat? I work out 4 times weekly, pretty vigorously. Is my body just healing and detoxing and I can expect more weightloss later, or is it the avocadoes? Please, tell me your weightloss stories, so I can see if I am on the wrong track. Help!! (btw, I am not still pregnant, so that is not a factor in the weightloss issue)
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From my experience, you are consuming far too much fat in your diet. You already seem to know this…limit your nuts, seeds, oils, coconuts, avocado! Eat mostly dark leafy greens, fruits, veggies, sprouts, etc. Try to stick with whole, ripe, raw, organic plant sources. You will get used to less fat and feel a lot better.
Wow, that breaks my heart, because I did not discover the glory of avocados until becoming raw! But I know the results will be so worth it. Thanks for your reply lauraj. Anybody else out there want to weigh in (pun intended)? I would love to hear about some of your weight loss journeys for inspiration purposes!
I may be different than some, but since going raw a little over a year ago, I have not monitored my fat intake any more than my veggies and fruit (something I am so grateful for because I was a constant calorie/fat counter prior to going raw). I started out at 180 and am now around 125-130. The weight did not come off quickly until I had been close to 100% raw for 3 months or so. The interesting thing is that when I first started out I craved, and thoroughly enjoyed recipes with nuts, seeds, oils, avocado, etc. any time I wanted. But, slowly as I am more and more raw, I thoroughly enjoy a more simple diet: smoothie for breakfast, veggies or salad for lunch, and salad for dinner. Occassionaly (say at that time of the month), I will crave something heavier with more fat, but it is maybe just for 1-3 days out of the entire month.
Most people on this forum tend not to agree with this but most people who have done the high fat raw diet and then changed to a normal fat raw diet saw great improvements in their health. Of course there are always the one or two exceptions to this but most people feel much better with the normal fat diet. You can read about it in Doug Graham’s 80/10/10 Diet book. He suggests that only 10% of your daily calories come from fat. Eating 1/3 of an avocado a day just about puts you at the limit – toss out all the nuts, oils, etc. How to acheive this is all in the book. So many people have gotten great results with the diet. You should at least do some research about it.
I’ve been on a fairly low fat, mostly raw diet for 7 months now and haven’t really lost any weight. I feel much healthier, happier, and younger, but thinner has not happened for me. I am pretty stoked about the first three though so I don’t mind too much. Half a pound of weight loss a day doesn’t even sound that healthy to me. I think that some bodies just will be as they are, even with the healthiest diet in the world.
I think you can eat Raw fat and still lose weight (especially depending on where you start and what your old diet used to look like). However, you can accelerate the fat loss by reducing the fat intake…no doubt. There are a lot of people who feel even better when they reduce the fat as well. When you first eat Raw, you feel amazing, especially if you’ve been eating the SAD diet. Then, after you’ve been Raw for awhile, you start noticing NEW improvements when you reduce your fat intake..
You don’t have to say goodbye to avocados or Raw fat…just limit the intake on some days if you want to lose the weight faster than you have been. Once you get to your goal…make some changes and see what works for you to maintain it.
Hope this helps. Cheers :) Chef Kristen Suzanne
I would add to this to watch your sugar consumption, even in the form of ‘good’ sugars. I have found that my body can handle oils and several avocados a week but if I start eating to much agave sweetened things or even dates the weight will creep back on.Its never a one size fits all scenario.Play around with it and see what happens P.S. oh and when I first went raw I ate lots of Lara Bars ( Yum) but lost no weight. Then when I nixed them….Poof I started dropping lbs. ;C)
This is all explained in extreme details in Doug’s book. It’s not the sweets (if they are whole foods like fruits) that causes the weight gain and the problems (candida etc.) but the fat in the blood that makes it hard or impossible to digest the sugars. Commonly people, even some experts blame these problems on the fruits and sugars but it is absolutely due to the fats that are already in your blood when you eat the fruits and sugars. If you stick with the 10% or less calories from fat you will digest the fruit sugars without effort and never have these problems. Marichiesa, Lara bars contain lots of fats and are a food combining nightmare, nuts and dates are a very terrible combination. If you instead eat fresh raw dates without the nuts you won’t get fat at all (as long as you stay away from other overt fats).
Just out of curiousity, juleskess, what is a typical day’s fare like? I have a strong suspicion that you use oils (maybe on salads) or some other overt fat which prevents you from losing weight.
Hey Socal,
Thanks for your feedback! I confess some of the experts advice becomes murky for me here. I have read about Doug’s plan but I have read elsewhere that dried fruit and nuts can be combined only preferrably on an empty stomach. Argh! As regards fat I should mention that exactly one year ago I started implementing the Shangri-la Diet plan into my life. This basically entails slugging back 1-2 T of flax or olive oil in a tiny bit of water daily between meals. The net effect is appetite suppression and a sense of fullness quicker post meals. ( Go to sethroberts.net for more info. I did this( and still do to lose weight and it works) Interestingly it also made me crave healthy foods which lead to eating a 98% raw foods diet as I do today. My point in all this is that I consume more fat than logic would say would keep me thin. But it works for my body. I eat well and have lost 27 lbs and kept it off for a year. (My cholesterol’health is great too btw. ) Food for thought anyway. Sorry for the bad pun!
P.S. if the fats are inhibiting the sugar metabolism I’ll just cut out sugars ‘cause the fats work for me.When I don’t ingest enough fat I am starving, cold and grumpy. And sugar in fats place just makes me a complete schitzy freak. ;-)
As long as you are happy with your diet then go for it. The only comment I have is that our body needs sugars, every single cell in our body must get sugars every day in order to continue to function. If you starve yourself of sugars because you are consuming fats then those fats have to be converted to sugars which is a very inefficient process. Eating fruit gives the sugars right to the cells without any intervention needed. In effect what you are doing is a raw Atkins diet. As we all know that is a poor diet for the long term.
i dont get this 80-10-10
Socal – could you please break it down for me as to what a typical day would be like as far as food wise? breakfast/lunch/dinner + snacks?
Hello magdi, I will put a short breakdown here for a typical day. All this is explained in the book of course and I also put many posts here in other threads.
Breakfast: 1 pound of strawberries in a smoothie (sometimes I substitute other berries in season)
Lunch: 11-12 ripe bananas
Dinner: A large whole ripe pineapple plus some other fruits (seasonal fruits – now I eat grapes, figs, dates) Salad: A whole head of romaine with a large tomato, sometimes bell pepper or cucumber and celery.
If I desire a snack it will usually be some dates.
Just wondering… Do nut milks with dates cause weight gain?
Nuts and any sweet fruit is a bad idea all the time. It is not a natural way to eat and can cause a lot of problems. This means that all of those raw bars that contain nuts and dates, nut milks, many recipes which include nuts and sweet fruits etc. are not good choices for people who want to be healthy. People will not notice this until they are clean and toxin free and then they will notice the way this combination makes them feel – usually it will create mucus and you might feel drained of energy as your body tries to digest this horrible combination. As for weight gain, that is due to consuming more calories than you use and eating fats is often the reason for this as fats are too dense in calories so they make you crave other foods and you will end up eating too many calories.
raw fats such as avocados can actually help one lose weight as they contain lipase which is the main enzyme responsible for breaking down fats in the human digestive system. In my experience with helping people with weight loss I can say that if somebody is looking to accelerate weight loss should cut fats out of the diet or at least minimize them until you reached your desire weight, nuts in particular should be eliminated from the diet for weight loss, eat a diet of 45% fruit, 45% vegetables and just 10% fats (from avocados, no nuts) for very quick results. Once you reach your desire weight go back to a balance diet 33% fruit 33% vegetables and 33% fats( if you stick with this balanced diet of 33% your body will take off your weight over time) The 45% diet only for those who want to accelerate the results.
Hi again Socal, Your points are well taken. I did not mean to leave you with the impression that I don’t consume sugars in their healthy form. In fact my typical daily menu is alomost exactly like yours with lots of fresh fruits eaten alone, often as mono meals. When I eat fats ( almost always just at dinner) they tend to be in avocado form as my experience has been beneficial like dancharming explains. At one point in the past 9 months well past the detox stage I was not eating enough fat and my hair started falling out. Several avo’s a week solved that problem.
For what it is worth I have mentioned it on other threads another book worth reading for people who are looking to clean up their bods/lose weight is Natalia Rose’s Raw Food Detox Diet. Her approach has worked well for me.
Wow, you guys have really stomped on my raw food golden calves! But thanks, I guess I needed that. I am still trying to find my way because I was feeling that going raw was such a drastic change, I did not want to place any additional limits. But I now see that, at least while I am trying to lose weight, I am going to have to chill out on the nuts, bars, etc. And then when I get to a desired weight, I can let the good times roll! Well, at least, I won’t be guided by weight but by how I feel and what my body is telling me. I am interested in food combining, but for the time being, I am just trying to stay on track raw. There is so much to learn with just that! This is truly a journey.
So, what does everyone put on salads? Are you saying cut out oil all together? I have heard of lemon or orange juice on salads, but is there anything else? You guys eat salad dry? Please let me know. I’ve been eating a LOT of salad, but never without a nice olive oil dressing. Also about the nuts, I find if I don’t eat them, I get shaky and really hungry. BUT, I am totally taking into account what everyone is saying here about cutting out the fat for weight loss (I need to lose 30 pounds) So you see my delema…
Hi Reba,
I do ( or did ) make dressings using either olive oil or an avocado.(Altho’ many recipes combine avocado and oil together I usually omit the oil in avo dressings)
This seemed to work for me for the past year. I lost weight and maintained with small/moderate amounts of fat.
I mention this cause as an experiment I spent the past 10 days doing the 80-10-10 thang. (All properly ‘combined’ btw) and I have put ON 5 lbs!! I mean …I can’t fit into clothes that I could 1 week ago. So. I’m going back to what works for me which is a little more fat in the diet. My point? Experiment. :C)
I put lemon and a little salt and pepper on my salads most of the time. If I am feeling indulgent, or just need a little heavier meal, I will make a dressing of: pine nuts or macadamian nuts, apple cider vinegar, olive oil, and itallian seasoning. It tastes similar to cesar dressing.
socal, you eat 11-12 bananas for lunch???
sabriya, it sounds like you are doing great to me :) I didn’t see weight loss for about 2 months then it started to come off suddenly, then plateau, then lost more…that seems to be how my body does it…everybody is different and I think you are doing a great job and came to the right site to get some terrific options from others that have been there :)
On salad, a balsamic vinegar or lemon juice mixed with a little almond nut butter is yummy…!
Thanks rawmama. I had been beating myself up a bit, and tried to cut back, but I got hungry and then started to snack on cooked food. When I had a little more fat, I found that it was much easier to be 100% or close and was really enjoying being raw. I am 5’11 with big bones to match, so I don’t know if the 1000 calories that other people talk about will suit me. I think like you, the weight loss will come with time and consistency
Thanks guys for the salad dressing suggestions…
Hey dancharming, In taking your weight loss percentages into consideration, I am curious as to protein intake. I realize there is protein in veggies..is it enough? I keep reading on this site about people having hair loss and things like that which i have read can be due to lack of protein. I have been a vegan for 7 years and vegetarian 7 years prior to that, so I am well aware of all the protein myths and have read the China Study, etc, but I am still hesitant to not eat nuts (and cooked beans to be honest-at least until I feel I have a full understanding of raw) because I don’t want hair loss, etc. BUT, if cutting out these fats will make me lose weight…then I want to do it. Basically I want reassurance. Anyone have any thoughts on this?
I think there has been one thread on here where a couple of people have been talking about hair loss. And with respect, we don’t know those people’s medical histories or really much at all about their lifestyles or the way they eat. A couple of anecdotes from people who I dont know anything about, is not enough to make me worried about hair loss. Particularily when you see that the majority of people who go raw have such huge health benefits, and more likely har gain than hair loss.
From my own research, I notice that hair loss is rare in raw fooders, most report hair getting thicker and growing more. If you look into it and read maybe David Wolfe’s book “Beauty” something or another, can’t remember the full title…then you will see that the raw vegetables contain what hair is made of, and that eating raw is the most wonderful thing to do for your hair.
Try an unrestricted raw food diet ( anything as long as it is raw) for a couple of months, go through the main part of the detox, and then see how you feel and look. You may want to alter the fat intake or you may find that you dont need to. I would say just give it a go and see what happens!
Zoe, Thanks for your insight. This makes me feel better for sure. It’s hard to go full throttle into something before having a lot of knowledge about it, so thanks for your thoughts.
zoe, good thoughts. an unrestricted RAW diet for a long while before restricting anything sounds like the way to do it. going RAW for first timers is a huge step. but its good to educate yourselves.
i am a first timer going on maybe 2 week now. and i must say i have learned so much more about food than when i was a vegan for a few years. so far i am feeling amazing. but i am making alot of raw cookies including dates and nuts! and i feel good doing it… then later on i ate a baked vegan muffin, and felt all the difference!
Hair loss is more common in raw foodists than you might think. When it happened to me last year I got a lot of flack from raw foodists on some boards for even bringing the topic up. Same with the protein issue. The fact is that we don’t all have the exact same nutritional needs. A lot of raw foodists touted the great things about raw- rapid weight loss, the ability to eat less food and not have cravings, and more. When I asked about anything I was experiencing that wasn’t positive, they said,”it’s detox.” I believed them, because I had lots of benefits, such as losing 25 lbs in one month. I also felt great, my skin was smoother, I slept better, and my depression lifted. But guess what? My hair fell out! Not enough calories, not enough nutrients. I was overjoyed with the weight loss but didn’t realize it was a sign of malnutrition more than anything else. A visit to the doctor confirmed that I needed to work on a few things- including protein intake.
These days my diet is developing based on how my body reacts to what I eat and what I don’t eat. I don’t criticize what other raw foodists do- whatever works for other individuals is great and I am happy for them. But I know that I have to pay attention to protein and other things, even if that makes some raw foodists angry (and it does, believe it or not!). My advice to you is to learn what YOUR body needs, even if that means you get blood tests once or twice a year. I love eating raw and hope to be 100% raw eventually, but I’m easing into it so I can create the “menu” that works best for me.
One formula for everyone is crazy! You can read Rainbow Green Live Food Cuisine and William Wolcott to learn how to determine your metabolic type and then customize your raw diet for YOUR body. I’m a firm believer in following your body’s intuition! Your body knows how fast it can process the toxins stored in your excess weight. Just try to be present and remember how to listen to what your body says you NEED! I need a LOT of fat every day and am quite thin, though it took time to get thin.