I've been doing a raw food diet (about 95% raw) for about eight months and I have not lost any weight at all. I do not eat too many nuts, oils, or avovcadoes. I've tried to switch up the amounts of nuts and oils I eat to see if this was the reason I wasn't losing any weight but it made no difference. I've tried eating 1600, 1200, 1000, and 800 calories a day and I don't lose weight at any of these levels. I eat mostly fresh fruit and vegetables. I also workout about one hour a day, five or six days a week.

I don't understand why I have not lost any weight! Any suggestions? Thank you very much for your input!

what kind of work out do you do? also, what is your current weight and height if you dont mind me asking?

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Oh, mirror in the sky
What is love?
Can the child within my heart rise above?
Can I sail through the changing ocean tides?
Can I handle the seasons of my life?

I usually do cardio (treadmill or elliptical, intervals) three or four days a week, and pilates the other three days a week. I'm about 5 '2 and 130 pounds.

add in some weight lifting is what id say. you are burning fat but not doing much to build the muscle to get the definition id say you are looking for because 130lbs at 5'2 is not what id consider overweight

also how many times a day do you eat?

...Jodi, the banana eating buddhist

pretty much agree with Jodi...id suggest Explosive burpees too, those are awesome, FEEL awesome, and the results are great, I'll go look for the link powerlifer posted awhile ago...

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Oh, mirror in the sky
What is love?
Can the child within my heart rise above?
Can I sail through the changing ocean tides?
Can I handle the seasons of my life?

[www.bodybuilding.com]

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Oh, mirror in the sky
What is love?
Can the child within my heart rise above?
Can I sail through the changing ocean tides?
Can I handle the seasons of my life?

This is the weightlifting sequence i use weekly

day 1 shoulders/glutes
day 2 abs
day 3 quads/forearms
day 4 abs/back
day 5 hamstrings/biceps
day 6 abs
day 7 calves/triceps

every day you are working a top part (above the waist) and a bottom part (below the waist) mixing in abs thru the week. giving every body section a chance to rest and repair before the next day each day of weights takes about 15 minutes

...Jodi, the banana eating buddhist




Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/10/2011 06:47AM by Jgunn.

Add in some seaweeds for the iodine, if on the chance your not getting enough iodine which is quite a common problem it will kick start your metabolism.

Also seaweeds have shown in some studies to aid weightloss through one of the compounds they contain.

I eat about four to five times a day...usually small quantities of food to try to keep my metabolism working. I know that 5'2 and 130 is not considered "overweight" but it's borderline overweight, and at the age of 21, on a raw food diet and strict workout schedule, it doesn't seem to make sense. The majority of girls my age eat a SAD diet, don't workout, and still weight less than me!

Thanks for all the suggestions! I'll try to add the seaweed to my diet, and I'll try to add some weight training and the BURPEE. I watched the video and it looks intense! Thanks everyone!

what about your salt intake ?

The only sodium I get comes from fruit, vegetables, or raw nuts.

good suggestions above ....

agree with adding weight lifting

drop the cardio, it's not effective and drains precious energy imo.

drop all nuts and oils

Raw Food Before and After: Victoria's Story - Getting Rid of the last 20 Pounds

I could not lose that last 20 lbs and I am a marathoner and an ultra marathoner and I ate fruit most of the day.

It was because I was so toxic. All of those toxins from anti-perspirants and toxic foods over the years were trapped in my deep tissue and fat cells.

They needed a cleaning and a fast of only water was the way to do it.

[www.loving-it-raw.com]

Coconut oil can increase metabolism if you are looking to replace other fats in the diet.

Hmm... Maybe I'll try some coconut oill. Fresh, thanks for the story. I'll have to check into that as well.

Dont drop the cardio, its the type of cardio you do. Look into high intensity interval training, this has been shown to be better for the heart benefits aswell as weight loss.

It boosts resting metabolism.

I have been doing intervals, but thanks for the suggestion. I've read that cardio is the best thing to do, regardless of whether or not one is trying to lose weight, so I don't think I'll quit.

I agree about the iodine and also that you should do a nice long deep cleanse.

I have been reading that foods that iodine can cause horrible breakouts and am worried this will happen. Do you know how accurate this is?

ilovegrapes Wrote:
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> I have been reading that foods that iodine can
> cause horrible breakouts and am worried this will
> happen. Do you know how accurate this is?

Id ignore that and see how you react, those who do usually have metal poisoning, fluoride or bromide.

i suspect that anyone taking iodine to the point of getting severe breakouts is probably overdoing it ... i dont think its the norm pretty much anything ingested taken in excess can cause some adverse reaction

...Jodi, the banana eating buddhist




Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/10/2011 08:45PM by Jgunn.

THeSt0rm Wrote:
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> it's not just for being bloated.
>
> I notice myself getting fatter when I eat starches
> and fruits.
>
With or without fat though?

In my experience+what I've read... seems that you have to either go high fruit/low fat or fat without fruit.

Sleep is very important to weight loss. Make sure you get plenty of sleep. Also, drinking lots and lots of fresh clean water.

I agree with adding iodine foods to your diet. You must have iodine for a healthy metabolism/thyroid.

You are pretty active and you have been fluctuating your diet a lot over the past 8 months. Your body isn't sure if it is going to be getting 1600 calories or 800 calories so what does it do? Slow the metabolism and hold on to calories (fat) in case the famine continues. You need to set your caloric intake high to boost your metabolism - up to 2000 calores - and stick with it without fluctuating at such great levels.

I think cardio and weight training are important and you can get great health and muscle tone on an alternating schedule (cardio 3x a week, lifting 3x a week) You don't have to do it all every day or for great lengths of time every day. I personally prefer taking a long fast walk to spending time in a class doing cardio so try that if you can't get to a class.

Eating 95% leaves a LOT of room for the 'other stuff!'

Your are better measuring hydration with the scales vs fat/muscle. Use old clothing as a better predictor.

You can drop 4 dress sizes and still weigh the same! If your putting on muscle, glycogen retention, bone density etc.

sleep is very important as mentioned.

your body may not have the nerve energy to undergo catabolism/cleansing
if you're not getting enough rest.

Thanks for all the suggestions, everyone! Everyone on this site is so helpful! I appreciate it.

Just curious what cooked food you eat and how often. Also wondering how much oils you use and if you use any sweeteners. I find it practically impossible to maintain weight eating just raw fruit and greens. I lose almost a pound per day. But then every 3 or 4 days I'll have cooked meal with rice,beans,veggies cooked in oil, guacamole, salsa, and the next morning I weigh myself to find that I've gained almost 3 pounds back overnight.

Also might be interesting to see your average calorie intake vs. weight over a long period of time, like a month or so. Have you tried using nutridiary or something like that?

I eat about one cooked meal a month, maybe twice a month. When I say 95% raw, I'm counting the oils and nuts I use as not being raw since you cannot be truly sure that they are 100% raw. If I counted them as raw, then I'd be eating 99% raw taking the one non raw meal into that equation. Like you, I have noticed that I feel heavier the morning after eating even one cooked meal. I used to use raw agave, but have not used it for about a month. As for oils, I use a tablespoon a day and about a tablespoon of raw nuts (usually almonds) a day. I don't understand how it's possible either! It makes me so frustrated! I have not tried nutridairy. Do you think that might help? When you say "Also might be interesting to see your average calorie intake vs. weight over a long period of time" I'm not sure what you mean. I have changed my calorie intake and exercise routine but nothing has worked as of yet. I'm not sure if that's what you were asking though.

That sounds like hardly any overt fats or cooked food at all. I just thought it might be helpful to see average calories and weight for a month or so. Say you eat an average of xxxx cals/day for 30 days. Might be helpful to see a long-term pattern.

Oh nurtidiary, not nutridairy. I must've misread that earlier. I have been tracking my calorie consumption for a few years, long before I went raw. Over the past monts of going raw, I've tried eating: 1800, 1600, 1200, 1000, and 800 calories a day for about a month each to see if I lost weight at any of those intakes. For each of those, I tracked my weight for about 3-5 weeks. My weight would fluctuate between 132-139, but I'd never actually lose weight. For someone my height and my weight, all "calorie calculators" say that I should be eating about 1800 calories a day to lose weight, and there's no way I'd lose weight at that intake!