hi everyone!
i haven't posted in awhile. last october i went 95% raw for about 5 weeks and loved it. i slowly began adding cooked foods back in, mostly whole grain rice and pasta, beans, and oatmeal.
i really like how i'm eating now, but my weight loss has pretty much come to a stop. i'll admit i've had some slip-ups, but for the most part each day i eat about 60% raw, and most of the rest comes from the above mentioned foods.
there's a lot of great ideas expressed on this board, and i'd like to get some opinions on what i'm doing and advice on what i can do better.
fyi: i'm still about 25 lbs overweight, although since last october i've lost about 25 lbs (and kept it off!) i also used to have awful allergies, which haven't returned since i started raw. i'd like to get this last bit of weight of too.

so here's the average day of food for me:

breakfast:
oatmeal (3-4 tbs oats boiled in 1 cup water)
1.5 tbs raw molasses
1/2 apple
1/2 banana
1 shot espresso
1 tsp organic brown sugar

lunch:
1 cup whole grain brown rice or pasta
sometimes black or pinto beans or lentils (2-3 times a week)
prepared with various veggies (garlic, onions, green beans, squash, etc)
1.5 cup salad with mixed greens (arugula, mustard greens, etc)
1/2 avacado
carrot
sometimes 1 tsp olive oil
espresso/organic brown sugar

snack/dinner:
(i work in the evenings, so i usually drink one of these before work and one when i get home at around 10pm. i know it's late, but i'm hungry!!!)
2 smoothies with papaya, banana, and a little whole-milk yogurt and cinnamon

usually i have something else in there during the day....sometimes orange juice, maybe a pear or some pineapple, and maybe a piece of cake i share with my husband. (i said i slip up sometimes!)

exercise includes 30 mins of jogging 3 times a week, 45-60 min walking 2-3 times a week, 15 min of pilates 3 times a week.


the slip-ups have been occurring too frequently lately for my taste, so tomorrow i'm doing 2 days all-raw, mostly smoothies and watermelon, and lots of lime juice and water to clean out. so after that....how can i improve what i'm doing?
my goal is general health...i never have to go to the doctor and i want to keep it that way...but i must admit to wanting to drop a few more jeans sizes. so any helpful words are very welcome!

thanks!

Hello! That sounds healthy to me, but maybe not exactly what I would eat if I was trying to loose some weight. I also am trying to loose weight, I want to lose about 10 lbs. If I wanted to improve that, I would remove the sugar and molasses in the oatmeal, its hard but that stuff is just empty calories. I would also add some protein to it, like rice or hemp powder. Or, instead of oatmeal you could have a green smoothie (fruit and veggies blended together, it tastes good. really.)
Lunch, again I wouldn't have the sugar. Dinner, sounds good but maybe a big salad with lots of greens and fruits instead. Greens are basically calorie free! Or, one salad and one smoothie. You don't need the dairy though, you could have a banana in it with more protein powder. Skip the cake, or if you want a treat have more fruit. I wold also skip the juice if you are trying to loose, you need the fiber in the fruit.

One thing that really stood out to me was your lack of weight lifting, which is wonderful for loosing weight. In fact, I only was able to loose weight when I started lifting. You wont become bulky, for sure. Could you join a gym and have a trainer design a program for you? Good luck! I need it too.

thanks ksmanthey!

you confirmed my suspicions...too much sugar. i didn't want to admit it to myself!

i think it would be pretty possible to have a more veggie/grain based breakfast, at least sometimes. and i LOVE green smoothies. also, i use stevia in my espresso too, but i really like the taste of brown sugar better. but i suppose i could cut down.

thanks for the help!

coconut oil increases metabolism.

also, tracking your daily nutrition intake on fitday.com or another free nutrition tracking website would be good. make sure you are getting enough of everything and cut out the extra.

good luck! good luck cutting out the coffee too, that one's gotta go eventually.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/29/2008 12:11PM by coco.

argh, i can't find coconut oil anywhere! (and i live in brazil, dangit!)

yeah, i've cut down on the coffee a LOT (when i lived in the states i pretty much existed on starbucks).

i use fitday, it's really helped put things in perspective. i love that it can show you your vitamin/mineral intake for the day too.

thanks coco!

I vote for more greens, less grains. I don't think a little bit of sugar will do much harm. The yogurt will not do much harm to you either, but it does hurt the cow.

Don't expect much from the coconut except maybe good taste. The metabolism boosting effect is very mild, just a few percent, and only for a few weeks.

Sounds like too much carbs and not many good sources of fatty acids & protein.

Portions are small though and veggies are good, sounds like a decent weight loss diet.