Weightloss

[gypsiemama]

Maybe I am not searching in the right places but I am trying to find more information about eating raw and weightloss. I am 40 years old and my whole life I have always been thin. Even after my first 3 children I remained thin. But 5 years ago, with child #4 EVERYTHING changed...and I have been gaining weight rapidly for the past 5 years. Now I am "clinically obese"--I am 80 pounds overweight and freaked out because I am a thin person who doesn't know (and doesn't want to know) how to be fat. (I've been to doctors and all my tests come out perfect-blood pressure, sugar, thyroid, etc.) .Doctors want to put me on weightloss drugs, recommend bypass surgery, and other stupid stuff I am not interested in. I am not on any medication of any kind (don't even take aspirin). ANyway, to make matters worse...because of my weight I am becomming more sedentary because I have all these aches and pains now. MY feet (arches) hurt really bad, my knees hurt and my back and neck. I am too heavy now to run. This is rediculous. Aside from the weight I don't have any health issues. I honestly look in the mirrior and don't recognize myself. I want to get these 80 pounds off of me!!! I am looking at eating raw as the answer to achieve optimal health--but I am afraid I will do that wrong too (and overeat the wrong stuff). P.S.-I believe my weight gain is due to comsuming too many calories, but I eat better now than I used to and never had a problem before. Aso, I have heard all the same responses, slower metabolism due to age, etc. What I am hoping to find is a solution. Has anyone here ever had difficulty losing weight and found the solution eating raw? How do you calculate calories in raw food or does it matter? My real concern with the weight is I am starting to feel disabled as I limp around do to chronic pain. O.k.-and if I am going to be honest here (why not?) I'll admit there's some vanity involved too. I used to feel pretty and now I feel really ugly and old!!!!! ANy help much appreciated.

Gypsiemama

[Double Helix]

Hi gypsiemama,

Like you, I was always very thin until after my third child. It's more challenging to keep my weight down than it was before, but with raw and regularly exercise I can do it.

Here's a site that might interest you. If you are obese, you do have to watch the fat intake as on raw it's easy to go overboard with all the nuts and oils.

http://www.ibeatobesity.com/

Here's another raw obesity site:

http://www.rawreform.com/

All the best to you!

[greenbunny]

Hey Gypsie,

Thanks for coming to the site and being so open and real about what you are going through.

When I got to my early 40's I went through some intense times that I thought were going to be short - like weeks, but ended up being long. During those times it got very hard to eat raw for many reasons that I won't go into here. I kept on thinking it would be over soon and it wasn't . I started eating health food - cooked. I started to gain lots of weight, my hair started to turn grey, I started to get all sorts of pain. My brother was kind enough to tell me that everyone that he knows starts to go downhill when they get to their 40's. I didn't believe him. Even though things still haven't let up for me, and it's years later, I felt like I had to go back to a good raw diet any way no matter how hard it was. I did that and about 60 pounds peeled right off within a few months. My flexibility came back, my hair started to return to normal, my energy came back and all those pains went away. I am thin and in better shape than most 20 somethings.

The whole idea behind raw foods is that we are born with a limited number of enzymes in our bodies. If we use up our enzymes in digestion we don't have them available for other life processes. When we get to a certain age the enzymes are fewer and fewer so symptoms start to appear. If you eat raw food however, your body doesn't have to steal enzymes from all the other processes to digest food. There are more reasons why raw foods are so great for you, but that is the reason I think that most most people believe that when they get to a certain age they have to become overweight and sick. It's simply not true..... if you eat raw.

Another aspect of eating cooked food was that I was always hungry. I think that my body knew I was missing something that it was always trying to get by eating more and more. Eating raw, that doesn't happen. I get what my body needs/wants.

You know how good you felt when you weighed less? How healthy you felt? Compared to being raw, that feeling is like having the flu in comparison. You have no idea what really healthy feels like until you have been raw a good long time. When you go raw and stay raw long enough to get all the gook out of your system you will experience what real energy is, what real clarity of mind is, what real embodiment is. It's an amazing feeling being raw. You are going to just love it!

Give it time, make the transition in a way that works well for you so that you feel good about and through the whole process. It's one of the best kept secrets to real happiness on the planet. Lucky you getting here.

Greenbunny

[nothinkingbehind]

Hi Gypsie,

Welcome to the site! You aren't alone in that weight loss boat. A little bit about me. I was overweight most of my life due to a very poor diet in my youth, not enough nutritious food available... then got married to a man who wanted typical american meals that were also not healthy. I always loved healthy (then it was cooked) food and when I had children and one of them was sick, I completely changed our style of eating. I went to whole foods, mostly made from scratch. It was better, and I lost weight, along with lots more exercise as my children got a little older. I lost 75 pounds and felt great. Then I got into 2 car accidents in a short period of time, and my asthma flaired to the point that I had to be on heavy drugs for a year. Over 3 years I gained 50 pounds and felt horrible no matter what I did. I could eat the healthiest cooked meals and still I couldn't lose weight or feel better. Fast forward to 2 months ago.... I was diagnosed with fibromyalgia, which led me to researching diet and exercise and what might be the best alternative to taking drugs and laying on the couch for the rest of my life.... because that wasn't in my future plans. So I began to eat some raw, and do some research, and eat some more raw. In 2 months, I've lost over 10 pounds without trying, and without heavy exercise (I am only able to do a small amount right now) and I feel better than I have in YEARS. I know that my health will steadily improve as I continue to eat raw and work at increasing my activity, which is a key component for me.

As far as calories, I don't pay any attention to them. Once in a while, like maybe twice since I started this, I have tracked my food for a day and plugged it into fitday just too see. But I've found with this way of eating, that I do better to focus on eating the things that are good for me every day. Then there isn't as much room for things that aren't good for me.

And on a little bit different of a note, my thought process about food has changed. I do a lot of visualizing before I eat. I see fresh veges as life-giving, and yucky processed food as poison. This has really helped me keep my focus, so I thought i would share it....

Melissa

[gypsiemama]

To all of you who took the time to reply to my post. Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! I feel so motivated. It is so refreshing to be here in this group. Everything you guys say makes so much sense to me. It's validation for what I have been thinking for months. When you hear the truth you know it. Just like when someone (even if he is a doctor) tells you something and it just doesn't sound right-you know that too. The key is finding the strength to follow what you feel is right even when it goes against the way everyone else thinks. I really appreciate this forum because everyone I've told thinks I am crazy for wanting to try this. But today I watched a co-worker eat almost an entire bag of Cheetos and a diet pepsi and I thought...you are calling Me crazy? Is there any nutrition in what you are eating? How are you still alive??!! ANyway, thanks again for sharing a bit about your experiences. I learned a LOT from all 3 comments--I can relate to all of your experiences. OOPs, the kids are pulling on me for attention even as I type so I guess I will close for now!

[I_need_this]

". I see fresh veges as life-giving, and yucky processed food as poison. This has really helped me keep my focus, so I thought i would share it...."

Melissa

THAT is awesome. Thats exactly what has happened to me in the last week. I have been slowly turning over to raw...slowly making bettter choices and doing different things with my time. BUT this week, I finalyl decided that I had had enough of feeling good , then not and blah blah blah, SO, this week I went 100% raw, and yesterday as I was sitting there eating my cucumber and avacado soup I got this incrediable feeling that I could see and feel my soup working through me and healing me. I know it might sound kooky, but I am telling ya its for real. Then my roomate was eating a hot dog for lunch today *gag never ever again* and it looked dull and like this vomit green horriable colour and I couldnt stop loooking at it, it looked....bad...
amazing when that shift happens...amazing.

[nothinkingbehind]

Isn't it great??!!

I love the way raw makes me feel. It's so awesome! Glad you are making such progress, and feeling so good

Melissa

[allysnow]

Eat fruits and veggies
50/50
I got that from David Wolfe's Sunfood Triangle, in his book The Sunfood Diet Success System!
Eat raw forever!
peace