Hi,

My husband and I have been mostly raw (probably 75% at least) since January 1st. We have had the occasional slip- up, especially on weekends with friends. Anyway, we are both looking to lose about 30 pounds and improve our overall health. I am stuck- in two months I have lost a little less than 10 pounds, and I am getting frustrated! He has lost about 20 pounds and is at a plateau. I know the slip- ups are a problem, but we have still been eating much healthier since trying to go raw, so we are wondering what is happening? Also, we exercise 4 times a week at least.

Any advice would be appreciated,
Emma

Heh - you'll probably get two kinds of advice in reply - to go "8-1-1", or to go alkaline (see Healthy Diet articles on ninjagreens.com) - I'll represent the second camp. I lost a pound a week as a fruitarian (fresh juicy fruit only), but that was because I was only eating on at most 4 days of the week, the rest of the time only having water. Other times when I have gone fruitarian and had the chance to eat every day (about 1400 calories before exercise of juicy fruit), I have maintained or gained a pound or so.

You could try both, and do let us know which worked for you!

Another option would be to keep doing whatever you are doing now (as long as it's vegan) and ADD green-saturation - either in the form of lots of green juice or in the form of green smoothies (do a goodsearch for _Green for Life_ to find out more about what this is). You could even get some frozen "live" wheatgrass cubes at [www.dynamicgreens.com] - let us know!

Dear Emma-that is so wonderful that u and hubby are doing this raw thing together.i am still working on my dear hubby.i ply him with juices where ican and salads.i don't want to push him too much and have him be turned off.so u are lucky in this way.i was 245 pounds in oct.06 and now i am 175.the plateau's drive me insane.then too with men and women dieting together .men always loose faster than women.well-i went raw in Jan. of 07...i am still trying to perfect things so i don't eat too much nuts or too much avocado's cause i am trying to loose.i have a cold right now and i am doing what greenpeach says-juice and not foods for about a week...just to get this cold gone.so i am sure i will have weight loss.good luck and i am so happy for u and your hubby to be on a better road to health.hugs taylor

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Hi there! Well, I can only speak from my personal experince, but I have gone 99% raw (some salad dressings I eat arent raw, and I have the occasional piece of Ezekial sprouted bread), and I have lost 9 lbs. in 11 days. I counted calories to make sure that I was getting enough, and I was between 1700 and 2000 per day. I feel like I am eating constantly, which is a good thing for me, because I dont feel deprived. I have taken alot of advice from "The Raw food Detox diet" by Natalia Rose, which emphasizes proper food combinations, or actually lack of combinations. The calories come from raw nuts and seeds, avocado, and raw nut butters. I like calories, I feel that I need them for my running, and for my active lifestyle. I am a huge fan of this way of fueling my body, and it really seems to work for me. The only problem with any advice you receive from me is that it comes from the moment I am living it. There are a lot of people on this web site who know a lot more than I do and can advise you better. This way is just working for me!! Stick with it!! You will do great!!!!

Has anyone experienced what we seem to be going through? We both seem to be at a level of weight loss that will be tough to get through, granted we do have some non-raw meals, but out of the 21 meals we have a week, at least 18 are 100% raw. Will it be a slow, steady loss from here on out; or will we begin a down trend at some point in the future?

Thanks again for all the posts,

Bruce (Emma's husband)

I've never been 75% raw - a "Sunday" cookeder - so I don't know what it would be like if you kept doing exactly what you are doing, but you can expect a downtrend if you go 100% raw, whether the alkaline way or the 80-10-10 way, or indeed any way at all, I should think; or if you add high-greening or certain supplements; you may well stay at your plateau if you continue exactly as you are doing.

You may be interested in the theory that excess weight is a problem of overacidification and work on "releasing" the unwanted weight that remains from that angle - read about acid-alkaline imbalance and shift your cooked (or raw) dietary to the less acid side. Or concentrate on increasing alkalinity through what you can add to your current intake, like green saturation. Books like _The pH Miracle for Weight Loss_ may be helpful, but don't fall for the sales patter in favor of the author's own line of products! Nor is he raw vegan - but it's a neat concept that will help you if you don't think you will be increasing your percentage raw at this time.

Bruce & Emma,

First off, congratulations and hats off to you for your healthy diet and weight loss. I struggle with weight and diet too, and admire your achievement.

A few years ago, I worked with a Registered Dietitian. The first thing she had me do was to eat normally and send her my food diary at the end of a week. She came back with suggestions for lowering the fat and calories that made the least modifications to my existing diet. The system worked pretty well.

During the time I worked with her, it was so clear from the numbers how and why I was losing weight, and similarly why I didn't lose weight certain weeks. 100-200 calories more per day made a difference between losing or not losing for the week. The 100-200 calories can be found in just a few mouthfuls of ice cream (even low fat), a couple of pieces of fruit, a handful of nuts. Those mouthfuls are easy to forget if you don't write them down, and then you get perplexed as to why the weight isn't coming off.

Keeping a food diary helps me be more conscious of what I'm eating. Reviewing the diary at the end of the day reminds me of the times and things I ate without really wanting them. It helps me plan for the next day and makes my food choices a more conscious activity.

I like numbers so it's fun to see if I can get them where I want them -- i.e. up on the fruits and veggies, down on the fats and dried fruits etc.

In any case, that's a helpful tool for me, and perhaps it may give you some idea. If you're like me, if you write down each day's food and drink and run the numbers, you may find out where the plateau is coming from.

Even at 75% raw, if you get your fat intake to under 10% of your caloric intake, with a high fruit and greens component, your weight will drop to optimal levels, of course, assuming that you are not in a toxic environment, you get regular exercise, spend time outdoors, get enough rest and sleep, etc.

Bryan's post makes sense, I've found that to be good formula for me, as well. For me the key components of my diet are the non-sweet fruit like cucumbers, peppers, and zucchini . If I eat too much sweet fruit I gain weight. Fat never bothered me though, I still lost weight even at a very high consumption of fat (now I just don't crave it as much).

Also 2 major things that make me lose weight- sunshine & zeolite NCD.

It's also possible that even though you're not happy with the current numbers on the scale, you make actually look better than you think- raw tends to have that effect, I've found.

And if you're trying to get back to a realistic weight that you were at previously, you'll def get back to it. You'll lose weight when summer comes around, too.

Good luck!

Interesting to have a real person report an actual (good) effect from zeolite - I got bamboozled by the boost-immunity hype and have used it on my orphan kittens with their famous low immunity - huge travesty. I won't buy any more or risk using it on them again (as it dehydrates), but it's interesting to know it does something for somebody, besides line sellers' pockets.

Sunshine?

Your experience with fats versus sweet fruit is very interesting. I find that, too, but always doubt my findings even when they scream at me (I hope this doubt goes away the longer I stay raw).

I used to be a vegetable-fruit fruitarian too for many years, but supposedly I developed allergies to them (edible vegetable fruits are rather limited, especially organic!) - not sure how seriously to take this, but people who believe in food allergy would certainly say that eating a lot of the same one or two foods every day made me develop allergy to them - I don't know (I have doubts). Anyhow, I am not doing it now, but miss high-watery foods like that. I've been through many phases where cuke is my favorite fruit and thereby favorite food - after being a sweet fruitarian, I actually acquired quite an aversion to sweet tastes, which has lasted many years.

I suppose 75% raw is a somewhat ambiguous phrase - is that raw comprised of salads? Sundried fruits? Nuts? Complicated recipes? The 18 raw meals per week - are they raw pizza or pineapple mono-meals or salads with sprouts or raw granola or juice meals?

I have never had much to lose. But it is very difficult (nearly impossible) for me to lose weight because I am hypothyroid. I've broken through plateaus in the past by doing a 10 day lemonade diet (the Master Cleanser, which is not raw). Then once I come off the fast, I very careful watch my intake, particularly of sweet fruits, as other folks have noted.