Okay so I'm on week 2 of Raw- eat cooked on the weekends. Not sure if most wuld agree with my approach but trust me- I know me and this is what will work for me.

Why am I maintaing my weight??? I'm so doing this for health reasons but have no objections to the vainity bonus but its not happening :O( I'm even making 'movements' every day when I didnt used to. So with that alone I shuda lost some lbs. I thought mabe it would just 'kick in' this week bt not so.

My last ditch idea is that it may be due to my pending menses [I'm the TMI Queen BTW] so rather than gaining the usual 5 perhaps I'm maintaining?

I dunno. Someone help me figa this thing out please! xoxo

If you want to lose weight/fat, you have to do cardio as well. Are you exercising?

i run 4 miles a day and weight train.

Opinion:

People's bodies reach a homeostasis (weight or otherwise). Some find it difficult to dislodge from that point....either up or down. Not seeing weight loss after only two weeks.....especially if the change was rather sudden.....is not at all surprising.

-There are many factors involved in weight loss. If you are hitting the major ones:

1) High vegetable diet with very moderate fats.
2) Plenty of pure water
3) Regular cardio activity
4) Weight lifting for added muscle mass

-Then there are the minor ones that are sometimes overlooked.

1) Getting scientific by computing YOUR caloric needs to maintain body weight, and then journaling EVERYTHING you consume for a week.....every day....to see if you are consistently coming in over are under. In my opinion, if you are CONSISTENTLY coming in under what you need every day...you WILL eventually lose weight...no problems.

2) Simplifying food combining.

3) Avoiding eating late at night.

-These are just some added tips that you might find helpful. The best tip I might give....is to be KIND to yourself and give yourself a generous time frame of 6-12 months to make permanent changes resulting in permanent weight loss.

-Power & Success to you!

-David Z. Mason

WWW.RawFoodFarm.com

Mrs_Reed,

The raw food diet is more than a traditional diet, in the sense of one where you eat some food to lose weight, and after you've lost that weight, you go back to your old diet (and gain weight again). The raw food diet is a permanent lifestyle change, involving more than just eating some fruits and vegetables and variations thereof.

That being said, eating the fruits and vegetables is a start. Your body weight may not be shifting because:

1) it hasn't been long enough
2) there has not been a significant reduction of toxins in your diet/lifestyle
3) your caloric intake on a weekly basis hasn't really changed

While eating too many calories may cause our bodies to hold onto fat, eating too many toxins such that the body cannot detoxify the day's toxin intake during the day and night's sleep will also cause the body to hold onto weight. For the toxins your body could not eliminate, these will be held in fat cells and stored in your body.

Remove the toxins from your diet and lifestyle, and there is less work for your body to do each day, and it is then able to processes the existing fat and toxin in your body, and you lose fat and lose weight.

So how to you reduce the toxin intake in your diet/lifestyle?:

- Don't cook your food
- Eat organic
- Remove toxic cleaning agents from your living space (laundry detergent, dish soap, cleansers, any chemical you may touch, breath, or be exposed to)
- Remove toxic personal toiletries (soaps, shampoos, toothpaste, deodorants, skin cremes, sunscreen, insect repellents, etc).
- Don't use toxic products on your pets
- Drink only filtered water
- Use a shower filter

These are a few examples. There are many other places that toxins can creep into your life and into your body.

Another question Mrs. Reed: What else to you eat/ingest/put in your mouth beside water and food?

For some it may be: smoking, recreational drugs, pharmaceutical drugs, over the counter drugs, energy drink, alcohol, chewing gum, chocolate, candy, soft drinks, .....

These can all contribute to your toxin intake.

You might also consider running 8 miles every two days and see how that works for you? Do you have a resting day? Have you tried yoga and walking as well?

I remember reading in Nora Lenz's raw story that she was raw for five months before she had her first cleansing event, and it wasn't until then that her weight began to change.

[www.rawschool.com]

Everyone is different, two weeks isn't much time. Plus, it sounds like you are very fit to begin with. I am sure you will see results when your body is ready.

Sapphire

Quote

Posted by: Mrs_Reed -- Date: September 02, 2008


Okay so I'm on week 2 of Raw- eat cooked on the weekends.

I wonder if a full time change to the raw food lifestyle would be better then part time ?

thanks to you all for your insight. like the faigued, its good to know this isnt an uncommon reaction. to answer some of you gys questions:

i wish i could run 8 miles in one session :O) truth is i'm just not there yet nor do i have the time at the pace i can run now.

i dont chew any gum, drink alcohol or candy. most of those things are no good for my MS. as far as chewing gum i get that jaw clicking thing so no gum for me.

i'm gonna read Nora's story, thanks for posting.

i suppose i'm just so used to dropping weight really quickly when eating sad. all i had to do was make some minor adjustments and that would be it. so i assumed eating raw would cause me to start dropping right away. i did drop like 2lbs but thats it.

i used to do yaga before it became such a fad. i'm honestly a little turned off from it now. i encounter people that think they're so much more 'enlightened' bec they're walking around with a yoga mat. anyhoo, i have some books here and would like very much to start again. i did love it.

well i dont wanna take too long. i will look closely into all of what you guys said. thanks again so much!!!

No one has to know you do yoga - I do mine at home and leave the mat there, too. :p

You could be detoxing. Sometimes we hold onto water as a way to dilute toxins released into the bloodstream. Just an idea.

your body may be waiting to see if this is going to continue-

but menses certainly do affect things- i always 'gain 5 lbs' before starting. and a size in clothes. not so much on raw-

keep it up- i guarantee you in a month or two you will really notice a difference, in your weight and in your body. my husband was surprised after a 40 day raw fast, that his body stabilized. on a juice fast he drops far below his 'healthy' weight (i don't like him bony), but on raw he balanced out at very attractive, slim but still masculine and strong.

he's doing it again, and in two days he's noticing a change, but it's easier for his body this time, as he was only 2 weeks off raw (not SAD, more Weston Price).

be patient- do raw- your body will thank you.

thank you both. i am learning patience with this diet. my fatigue is passing, which is good. now i dont really have an appetite at all it seems. its like i can eat or just not eat. yesterday i forced myself to eat a salad. today i had almonds, a banana and -dont kill me, ice cream cake. it was my assistant's b-day and thought i'd splurge. but whoa how anti-nutritional was that??? straaaange. but as i said before, i'm embracing the journey.

LOL!!! as long as you enjoyed that cake with peace and true joy in it's consumption. how you eat your food makes a difference.

i roll with the hungry/ravenous vs. no appetite waves.
i don't know that bodies are as clockwork as we've made our world.

ice cream tastes bad to me now, as do most chocolates. my husband tries to 'tempt' me to eat some foods that i just don't like anymore. it's not a fun splurge if it isn't amazing. i've lured him to the smoothie side....

peace-

Don't look at your weight just yet. It's too soon. Think in terms of improving your nutrition and lessening your toxic load. The weight loss will come in time, especially if you are exercising while doing so.

You didn't say much about what specifically you were eating. While most people can lose rapidly and eat just about anything as long as its raw, others have to limit calorie dense foods. What you eat on weekends could be a problem too. Are you eating healthy cooked food? Or whatever?

If you have food sensitivities, not eating them for several days could increase your negative response to them.
For example if you are sensitive to wheat gluten, you make a lot of antibodies that your body uses clean up. If you stop eating bread for a few days, your body doesn't instantly stop making more, its expecting a certain work load. You could get a bigger response once you eat them again. This could keep your weight up.

When I quit drinking milk because I suspected a sensitivity, I didn't notice much difference at first. However after a couple of days with no milk, I grabbed a quart of milk for a quick breakfast and promptly got drunk from it!

If I eat cooked food now, I swell up 2 or 3 lbs within a few hours. It takes a couple of days to get back to normal.

Try the Coca test(named after a Dr Coca): check your heart rate in the morning then a half hour after you eat cooked food. If its more than about 10-15 beats faster, you may have food sensitivities.

TruthHunter

I was curious what it was you ate all week~
And is it possible you are 'making up for lost time' on the weekends with cooked food? I only ask because...that's what I did!