WEIGHT LOSS THE HEALTHY WAY!
I know many of you are coming to the Raw Till 4 Diet with the desire to lose weight. A big part of my own reasons for adopting this lifestyle was because of my fluctuating weight. I wanted to stop yo-yo'ing, and I managed to do exactly that. After 11 years on a Raw Vegan and Raw Till 4 Lifestyle, my weight is always stable within a few kgs of 50kg. At this stage gaining weight can sometimes be a struggle!
The Raw Till 4 Diet is much more than a weight-loss plan: it’s a lifestyle, so whether you’re underweight and needing to put on some pounds, overweight and needing to lose, or just wanting to get healthier and fitter, long term RT4 will work for you. When we’re truly healthy, our bodies will look and feel truly healthy. But since weight loss is such a big motivator for so many people, I want to talk about it specifically here.
THROW OUT THE SCALES
Let’s talk about the scales, and why they’re so inaccurate when it comes to measuring actual fat loss. The problem with scales is that they only
measure weight, without telling us anything about what kind of weight they’re measuring. When most of us step on a scale and see that the
number has gone up since the day before, we automatically think it means that we’ve gained fat, but it’s not that simple. There are many factors
that might increase that number on the scale without any extra fat on your body at all. For example:
Raw till 4 Guidelines
1. Hydration. Being hydrated is always going to increase your weight. Most people in our society are chronically dehydrated (which is why their urine is yellow, when it should be clear). So when people come to this lifestyle and start pounding back the sweet, juicy fruits and finally drinking the water their bodies so desperately need, they will certainly put on a few pounds. It’s like your cells going from raisins
back to grapes! And that’s a good thing. Over half of your total body weight is water, so its vitally important that we stay hydrated. If we go from dehydrated to hydrated, we’ll gain weight on the scale, but that’s not fat gain!
2. Food in your system. This is one of the biggest factors for weight fluctuation that has nothing to do with fat storage. The amount of food in your system can vary significantly from one hour to the next. Your stomach capacity could be anywhere between 1-2 liters, your small intestine is about 7m (22ft) long and your large intestine (colon) is about 1.5m (5-6ft) long and all of them can be more or less full
of digesting food at any time. The average person might have between 5-10lbs of food in them at any given time. But the scale doesn’t take that into account.
3. Non-fat substances being stored in your body, like water-retention.
4. Glycogen stores can impact your overall weight, though not as significantly as these other factors.
5. Muscle mass is heavier than fat, so people with the same body size but higher percentage of muscle will weigh more than those with
more fat. As you get more fit and toned, you might be losing weight from fat, but you’ll also be gaining some weight in muscle.
6. Bone density. Denser bone weighs more than bone that has been ravaged by osteoporosis-causing animal products. Since the standard
western diet promotes reduced bone density, as your body heals the density and weight of your bones will increase.
So when you step on the scales, it’s important to realize that it’s only giving you a total weight; it’s not telling you what that weight is. Is it fat? Water? Food? Muscle? Bone? BMI can be hepful to the majority of the population but isn’t a completely accurate measurement of fat either, as it doesn’t distinguish between fat and muscle (body builders can even register as obese!).
Are your scales lying to you? I'm going to be sharing more about weight loss and weight gain on Raw Till 4, stay tuned.
Go fruit yourself,
Freelee x
This is a free excerpt from The Raw Till 4 Diet, read more here:
Comments
Love you freelee.
Hi Freelee,
My name is Serien (pronounced Serene). I live in Canada and I’ve wanted to leave you a message for some time now, however I’m unsure of where to leave it as I’m not sure if you still use your YouTube channel. I wanted to share my journey with you, because you were the person that finally made it all make sense to me.
I’ve been struggling with trying to go vegetarian and plant based diet for over a year. I knew how badly the animals were treated and felt horribly guilty every time I ate meat. But for some reason I still kept eating meat and dairy and animal products. I found your channel about 9 months-1 year ago, and my first impression was “oh she must be one of those vegans who pushes her beliefs on other people, she’s so harsh to others” etc. But I couldn’t have been more wrong. The more of your videos I watched, the more I researched, and the more everything started to finally make sense. In one video you mentioned watching Cowspiracy and What the Health, so I watched them in that order. My life and mindset completely changed the second I finished those two documentaries. And I’m shocked that they’re on Netflix, because I’m on it every single day and never came across them. Anyway, after I watched them and continued to watch your YouTube channel, I started understanding EVERY WORD you were saying!!!!! And I read through comments on your channel and read so many ignorant comments and I just wish everyone saw those documentaries as well, because then they would understand too. I noticed you don’t post videos anymore and live off the grid, and I just want to say I wish and hope that you continue to post videos, continue reaching out and trying to educate people regardless of the hate and ignorance that comes with it. Because you changed my life, as well as so many others, and person to person, I just don’t want you to give up on that. I can’t even imagine how tough it must be and how horrible you must feel with so many people just refusing to research and understand your points of view which are scientific facts. (I am also a science major in uni, so I really felt horrible not knowing about all of the scientific research behind plant based diets, that really hit me hard). You have an incredible and strong voice. Please please I beg you, do not let people silence it. What you are doing and have done, has been for the good of the planet and humanity in general, and I know that that energy is contagious. Please keep giving the world that energy and your voice!!!!!