I am very desperate for help at the moment. I have been eating raw now for 2 and a half months (at a level 2 now for almost one month) and since going raw I have gained 10 pounds...two inches around my butt, one around my waist, and one around my thighs. I am so frustrated I could cry. Counting calories I was able to maintain a size four and was very pleases with the way I look. Since raw I can barely squeeze my pants on. i feel tired, I am gassy (and smelly) which I never have been before in my life, and depressed at my lack of progress. Here is a sample of what I eat:

12- 24oz of green lemonade
2- fruit salad...1 avacado, 3 strawberries, 1/2 cup of bluberries and raspberries, 6 scoops of honeydew, 1 banana, 1/2 pear, 1 kiwi
4-20 oz of green lemonade
6-large green salad topped w/ raw veggies
7-1/3 dagoba chocolate bar...some almond butter on a slice of raw bread

I can't think of what I am doing wrong here...but I am about to give up on this life style.
Back to counting calories.
Please help me...I really wanted this to work for me.

Sincerly, and with much appreciation,

Rachel Harmony Dilworth
har7mony@verizon.net

I think we need a few clarifications here...

green lemonade - is this something you make yorself from raw vegan ingredients (like a green smoothie) or a commerical product? What is in it? Any sugar (i.e. sucrose)? Is it raw?

An avacado every day? You may want to cut down on this.

dagoba chocolate bar? Not familiar with this. Can you give us the ingredients. The web-site suggests there are lots of different varieties. Is it raw? Does it contain fat? Sugar? Any nuttritional facts on the packet?

Almond butter? How much?

At first sight it seems you may be eating too much fat but it's hard to be sure from your description. If you are getting gassy this might be bacause of poor food combining maybe.

Have you tried using Fitday / NutritionData / Nutridiary to track your nutrition?

What do you mean by 'at level 2 now...'?

good luck.

Gary

I hear you. It must be frustrating. But it often takes more than a month or two to overcome (in my case) 20 or 30 years of self-abuse. Some tips though:

1) Eat simpler with less combining.
2) Losing weight and healthy living are a holistic lifestyle change. Make sure you are utilizing the other tools of light exercise, journaling, yoga, pure water, sunbaths, sungazing, and being laser-clear in following YOUR life's goals! Power to you.

-I lost about 1 lb a week for 60 weeks straight while transitioning. I went through many periods where I was 'gassy' or doing #2 about 6 times a day! Ha! ha! It's all
-good.

-Just my experiences.

-David Z. Mason

WWW.RawFoodFarm.com

I love salads, but I agree about the food combining - try to eat mono meals or as few combinations of foods as possible. And instead of almond butter, chocolate bars (go for raw in the future if you can, with agave and/or dates instead of evaporated cane juice or other sugar), I'd mix it up (and you may, since this was only a sampling) and use hemp and flax oils, some extra-virgin olive or coconut, too.

Take care.

[utopiankitchen.wordpress.com]

What is green lemonade? Never heard of it. I would cut out all the stuff on your bottom line - chocolate bars and raw bread. No way that stuff is good for someone who wants to lose weight. I would try sticking to whole foods.

Just as a point of comparison, some days I have eaten 3 or 4 avocadoes and have still lost weight. As a matter of fact, days I eat more fat and fruit, those are the times I lose the most. Everyone's different. My body seems to think, ok....it's ok to release some fat, because she's giving us some more!

What kind of dressing are you putting on your salad?

Are you putting fat in your green smoothie? If so, skip it.

Also, try skipping the chocolate, bread, and almond butter.

People who tell you you can eat anything you want as long as it's raw are not telling you the truth. It is easy to gain weight on a raw diet if the fat content is high (but very difficult to impossible if the fat content is very low).

2 and a half months is way to short to judge.

Keep moving forward and educating yourself in raw food eating. Don't over complicate everything and you will get to where you desire. It may take a few more months or another year. The point is once you are there, you are there for life and will not give it a second thought.

Keep thinking lifestyle change, not weight loss plan.
Experiment with different ways of eating raw and find what makes you happy and get the rest of your health in order with exercise, sunshine and mental health. It will come together guaranteed :O)

sounds like you are eating the raw equivalent of cooked junk, no offence!
just because it's uncooked doesn't make it fat free, guaranteed lose weight food.

It can be hard to lose weight if you are addicted to food = no matter what the food you consume is. Learn to relax around food. Savour each mouthful and really chew and appreciate what you are eating.

Eat simply. Mono meals - or meals of at max. 3 ingredients. Lots of fruit for meals. Simple vegetable meals. No complications. If you want almond butter etc. go ahead but know that if you have it every day and have a lot of it, including eating avocados everyday that you are not cultivating a diet that will result in weight loss. But if this isn't a problem for you then eat it and really see if you enjoy it.

--------------------------------------------------

[www.azurastorch.blogspot.com]

Theres a green lemonade recipe in the Raw Food Detox Diet book... I wonder if that is the one she is talking about... its not bad actually. I tried it a few weeks ago.



My website: The Coconut Chronicles

Agreed

Simply, mono eat

cut the fats.. just.. eat a fresh varied diet

I agree with the above posts about eating plenty of mono meals and lots of fresh fruit because the mono meals digest well and the fruit will provide plenty of energy to move (exercise). I find that 1 or 2 avocados per day provides all the fat I need in my diet but that may be more then I need because there is some fat in fruits etc. Drink plenty of water and eat some greens (salad and/or GS) everyday and get the rest of the stuff out of your diet. Eat only fresh raw natural foods. Good luck.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/10/2008 06:24PM by EZ rider.

yep..that's the one...the chocolate bar is raw also...and only about a tbsp. of almond butter at a time if at all. Thanks for all of the feed back!!!

Green lemonade is from the raw food detox diet...

Mono Meals is a nice suggestion, BUT Rachel has been raw only 2 and a half months. Mono Meals thus can be quite a challenge in this instance. If anything, get more educated and keep it simple as much as you are comfortable with. Don't force it or chances are you won't stick out the long run.

I didn't know Dagoba had a raw bar. Where did you get it and which one is it?

I would cut down on sweet stuff and increase the greens. For me, I eat a green smoothie for breakfast, and green salads for lunch and dinner with nuts and fruits in them too. It works well for me. I would skip the chocolate, that for a special treat but not every day.

Also, have you decreased your exercise routine? Maybe you aren't eating ENOUGH even and your metabolism has slowed? Exercise is very important.

One more thing, a size four can be pretty small for some tall people- are you sure you aren't just getting a healthier weight?