Is Weight Loss Normal After Transitioning to a Raw Food Diet? How Can I Stop Losing Weight?

by Nelson Williams, Jr.
(Carson, CA, USA)

Carl Williams's Question:

Andrew,

Before starting my raw foods diet on September 12, 2011 I weighed 201 lbs (at 6 feet 2 inches tall) and my blood sugar, cholesterol and blood pressure was so high my doctor wanted to put me on diabetes medications.

I've lost 20 pounds since then and continue with my daily Squats and Bench Press work outs and daily 6 a.m. walks with my dog.

I use the Nutridiet website to count my caloric intake, but it appears I am not eating enough to maintain my weight through weight lifting.

What dietary program recommendations do you have for me to increase my caloric intake that will support my weigh training program?

Andrew's Answer:

Hi Carl.

Congratulations on the awesome accomplishment of losing weight and avoiding the diabetes path so many end up on. One of the joys of a raw food diet is its ability to allow the human body to overcome disease.

But you ask a good question: Once you no longer want to lose weight, how do you stop.

There are really two elements that are important in your case.

1) How to stop losing fat.
2) How to start building muscle.

Stopping Fat Loss:

It's easy enough to see that if you burn more calories than you take in, you will lose fat.

You can use any number of diet tracking websites to see this. I suggest http://cronometer.com/.

A healthy low fat raw food diet is going to primarily consist of whole raw fruits and vegetables.

Of these, raw vegetables are so calorically light that you could stuff yourself and never take in enough to prevent weight loss.

So while we do want to eat a huge salad every day, you'll need to rely on fruit for caloric sufficiency.

Although you don't say so, I'm assuming your problem is that your stomach gets full before you've taken in enough calories.

Because of the SAD diet most people eat, we're used to eating low volume, high calorie foods that don't stretch the stomach. But our stomachs are designed to accommodate large volumes of food, and can do so if we start using them.

The best way to do this is to eat a few more pieces of fruit, or a few more bites, than you'd normally feel comfortable doing with every meal. Soon, you'll find yourself able to consume enough.

You can also try making smoothies of your fruit, as some people find that blended food is easier to consume.

Gaining Muscle:

If you're not getting enough vegetables in you won't be able to put on muscle no matter how much exercise you're doing.

Fruit is low in protein, and we require the fairly high-protein vegetable sources available on a raw food diet to meet our muscle-building requirements.

To figure out how much protein you need, read
this article.

Following Up:

Discover how to make amazing raw dressings that can spice up your salads every night of the week.

Learn to eat a healthy raw food diet.

Figure out what foods are healthy and which are harmful.