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I need a push

Hello All,

I've been raw for a little more than a month now. I had about 2 or 3 days of "raw till dinner" and ate some cooked food when my parents were visiting, besides that, i've been pretty good at staying at least 90% raw and enjoying it very much. when I first started, I didn't know better but thought there's only one kind of raw eating in general, then I started to learn more about all the different approaches such as low-fat raw vegan, 80/10/10 or hight fat raw...etc. I started out eating whatever as long as it's raw and wasn't thinking too much about the % of fat. I don't think I ever went too high on fat since I was a SAD kind of eater and never feel okay with eating too much fat. Then I tried to go low on fat 'cause the low-fat raw thing make sense to me too. I've been going back and forth and still trying to figure out what works better for my body. I don't really eat a lot of nuts and seeds or dehydrated food,(maybe some raw chips/bread that came with the salad 2 or 3 times a week when I didn't have time to prep my food and bought the gourmet raw meal from stores), but I do put 1 Tb of coconut butter in my morning green smoothie, and sometimes sprinkles some Hemp seeds in my salad. And I do treat myself some desserts once in a while, (pudding made with banana / cocao powder/ coconut butter..yumm). I'm definitely feeling the amazing changes in my body from being raw, my hair and skin is now so smooth and healthy, I feel more energetic and healthier in general. The one thing I don't feel is the weight change. I was kind of expecting to lose some excess weight, but I haven't notice much changes so far. What should I do to give that a push? I read some articles saying that it's good to eat more raw fat 'cause there're certain enzymes in it that actually aids weight loss, should I increase my fat intake then? or maybe I'm eating enough fat already and I should increase the amount of fruit? I'm feeling very lost. Anyone get any good suggestions or advices?

Lulu

Comments

  • joannabananajoannabanana Raw Newbie

    lulu, i haven't lost any weight either. i've actually gained weight but i'm pretty sure it's muscle. your fat intake might surprise you. i've been eating 80/10/10 and wanted to make sure i was doing it right so i did a food diary on www.fitday.com. it gives you the percentages of all the food you eat for carbs, fats, proteins, and alcohol. even if you eat fruits and veggies all day, that could give you 5 or 6% fat already and if you top that off with more fat (like nuts and cocoa butter), then it would probably be over 10%. even when i eat my nightly mashed potatoes (i can't help it!), it usually puts me at 12%.

    do you exercise at all? physical fitness always goes along with diet. i also think a raw diet affects everyone differently. maybe your body is comfortable at this weight.

  • SuasoriaSuasoria Raw Newbie

    There are so many reasons - it would be way too hard to diagnose. Have you tried a tape measure instead of a scale? You could be losing inches without losing weight, which would be a good thing. How do your clothes fit?

    What was your diet like before? If it was relatively healthy you may not have a lot to lose.

    You could try a juice cleanse or upping your water intake to flush yourself out, but you feel good already, so that may not be an issue either.

  • bittbitt Raw Newbie

    first question: are you techinically overweight? raw food will not make you underweight necessarily.

    the best way to lose weight is to just have fewer calories. for me, eating raw fats made me feel more satisfied so I ate less overall. coupled with exercise, i lost weight. but if you are over-doing high calorie foods then you should move towards smoothies, especially green ones which are very satisfying but lower calorie.

  • Thanks for all the responses, I've been away and didn't have time to get online to read them.

    Joannabanana-- Thanks for the info about the food diary, I think I'm going to give it a try. I don't exercise as much lately, but I'm always very very active. I was 10 lb lighter last year, and I like the way i feel when I'm lighter. Maybe I'll cut down on the fat % intake and hopefully I'll have time to exercise again. We'll see if i can get back to my comfortable weight. How long have you been doing 80/10/10? Do you think it's a lot of food to handle? How do you like it so far?

    Suasoria-- Good point there, I think I definitely need to drink more water!! I weigh myself and I do the tape measure thing too. I don't have too much weight to lose, but i was thinner before and I liked it better. I'm thinking about doing a juice cleanse or even a master cleanse to reset my body at some point!! thanks again for the suggestions.

    Bitt-- Thanks for the suggestions too. I'm definitely lowering the calories. I'm in love with green smoothies lately. I think I'm going to do more of that (without adding fat for now). will it be too crazy if do green smoothies only for a couple of days? is that a good thing to do?

  • joannabananajoannabanana Raw Newbie

    luluraw, i feel like i could turn into a banana any minute, but besides that, 80/10/10 has been good for my digestion system but terrible for my skin. whenever i decrease the fat in my diet, my hands get bright red and white with dried skin and start to rip open. that's what my hands look like right now!!! i've been eating fat everyday for the last few days so it's around 12% instead of 10%. i've also been eating kelp noodles which aren't part of his plan but i like them way too much. i think the most important thing i learned from his book was to eat more greens. i never ate salads before reading this book and it has helped me so much. they fill me up and taste great with kelp.

  • I always think that with a good raw food diet, one would lose weight that has got to go, but I'm rather a yo-yo raw eater. 90 days100% raw is the longest I've gone, then I have a month where I have a hard time sticking to it in the afternoon, but i always find my way back. Each time, however, weight loss has taken longer. Now I'm hardly a huge person and probably would like to be 5 pounds less than my body wants to be. Aside from weight thoguh. I feel smaller within 3 days. My organs seriously get smaller (no belly sticking out), my food is fabulous, my energy is up and any cellulite disappears in 5 days. I hear you and it's amazing to me how I'm willing to tolerate what cooked food does to me.

  • ZemphiraZemphira Raw Newbie

    Hi Lulu

    I'm sort of right there with you, I've lost a little bit of weight since I went raw (about 3 months) but nothing significant. My problem is sweets and weekends when I tend to treat myself to a heavier meal (usually raw pizza and raw burgers) and maybe make a nice dessert recipe. But since it's just me (my critters have their own snacks) I end up eating it all so, I know my caloric intake is too high in comparison to my level of activity.

    I've been thinking of doing a juicing or smoothie cleanse to see if I could sort of give myself that little push to try and drop a little weight. I'm not obese but I would prefer to be about 5-8 lbs lighter. My clothes have started to fit better since I went raw but I would like to lose a little more body fat and get back to the body composition that I had a little over a year ago.

    From what I've been reading about juicing, it seems to be what I need right now to help me detox a bit more and perhaps help regulate some of my weekend food overindulgence. I'm also hoping now that it's spring, Sophia (see avatar) and I will be able to get out a bit more and become more active on the weekends.

    Just like you, I've become a bit overwhelmed with all the different subsets of raw food diets. I guess in the end all we can do is analyze the information available and determine what's best for us. I haven't read any books on 80/10/10 but from the postings I've read on the forums, it doesn't sound right for me. I just can't imagine eating 10 bananas in one sitting, as much as I love bananas, I think I'd puke after about 3.

    Anyway I don't think I gave you any advice but perhaps knowing that you're not alone might help you feel a little better. I think what's important is knowing that what you're doing is going a long ways towards promoting your overall health and well being.

    =]

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