Two weeks have passed since I changed my lifestyle to become a 100% Raw Foodist and do you remember what I said about not getting on the scale? Well, this morning I wish I had followed my own advice.
After losing 5kgs in my first week I haven't lost in my second week and so I am disappointed. Even though weight loss is not my primary motivation, it is most definitely a much wanted side-effect. I know - and I can hear all of the dieting 'experts' (don't forget I am one too!) saying this to me right now - that when you follow a traditional 'diet' you can not expect to lose weight in your second week, when you have had such a huge loss in your first week.
When I speak about a tradional diet I am referring to those where your food is cooked, but you have a variety of other restrictions to deal with. You are counting - calories or points or portions - or you are not eating certain foods together, or you are only eating your food off a purple plate, or... you get the idea. So if Raw was a traditional type of diet I would agree with you. But Raw is the way we are supposed to eat, our bodies respond beautifully and quickly. So it makes no sense to me to not have lost anything. Don't misunderstand me, I'm not expecting another 5kg loss, but most certainly at least 2.
I have to add here that normally, with a traditional diet, it is at this stage that I would lose focus and revert back to my old eating habits.
So I had two questions to ponder. Firstly, why did I not lose anything in my second week and secondly, why am I not discouraged? I know that it might seem odd to want to work out why I am not discouraged but I feel that if I know and understand my successes, then I can duplicate them and continue to be successful. This, I must admit, was the easier of the two and with a little bit of thought the answer was straightforward. It is because at no stage have I felt that I am dieting. I am not suffering from feelings of deprivation, rather I am feeling that I am able to eat whatever I want and in the quantities that I want. That whole feeling of I've starved myself, weighed everything, counting even that lose crumb of chocolate cake that just happened to fly up into my mouth while I was heroically packing the leftovers away - is absent. I've enjoyed my food and, more importantly, I can feel that my body is enjoying the food I am feeding it. So that answers one question.
Now for the second. This one I must admit was not as easy to deal with. I first went through self-doubt. Perhaps I was, as opposed to sleepwalking, sleepeating! Shock horror could it be? Could I be scarfing up cooked food, cakes and bread and cream buns in my sleep? Umm... No. Was I unusually inactive? No. So I tried to remember back over the week and went through everything I had eaten. And I realised... it was the greens! In my second week I have been so busy that I haven't being paying attention to what I was eating. So while I was still eating raw I wasn't conscious of the balance of my foods and have not been eating enough greens. Your greens are a vital part of your daily diet and you should try to have at least 50% of your daily intake coming from greens.
So this is the beginning of a new week where I'll be focussing on more greenery. Hopefully next week this time I'll be kissing the scale!
Pass that lettuce!
No comments:
Post a Comment