Raw test at the gym

[Anastasia Alston]

Okay, I have to admit my gym attendance has been lousy lately. I hadn't really been to seriously work out since before I went raw almost 3 weeks (Friday makes 3 weeks! WOOT! WOOT!). The last time I went to work out was about 4 weeks ago, still wearing my knee brace from my injury. Fast forward to today; it's cardio & abs day. No problem. I expect poor performance & frustration at having "backslid" so far. Well, I didn't get what I expected!

I got on the elipticals & started pedaling (or whatever it is your legs do on the elipticals! <lol>). I upped the resistance to 6 just on a lark; I usually have trouble starting that high & have to lower it for awhile. Hmmmm.... No problems there! Okay, well I know I'll have that awful lag time of about 15 minutes before my body's warmed up & I'll be dragging 'til then &.... NOPE! No cardio "lag time", either!!! Well, I should be feeling winded or SOMETHING. I stayed on the elipticals for an hour & 5 mins. & was bouncy the whole time, never winded, not even bored (I did have my music on). By the time the hour & 5 was up, I felt like I was just getting started, so I jumped on the bikes for a half hour. Surely THAT would tire me a little, but NOPE! When I got done on the bikes, I felt like I was floating & still very bouncy, but I figured that was enough cardio for one day. I did some light ab work (+/- 20 minutes) & then went home. I had been at the gym for 2 hours & still felt like I was just getting warmed up!

When I got home I spent 10 minutes making a meal; I wasn't ravenous & grouchy like I usually am when I'm done with a workout. I got a twinge of "hungry" when I was on the bikes, but after a few swigs of water, they were gone. I ate my meal of pate wrapped in collard leaves & miso soup & was perfectly fine. Usually I am quite sleepy within a half hour or so after a workout after taking such a long time off, but I'm ready to dance a for few hours with no sign of sleep in sight! I've only been raw a very short time - not even a month yet. It makes me wonder what life will be like once I hit the 6 month, 1 year & beyond mark? Any more raw fitness freaks out there who changed their diet on a lark (I'm still not exactly sure why I went raw; maybe 'cause my body told me to?) & got the shock of their life?

- Stasi

[Coriander74]

Very cool!!! :D
I'm going to print this out and stick it on my mirror as a reminder of how I can feel physically and emotionally while Raw and exercising.

Thanks for the motivation and I'm so glad to hear of your success!

[Anastasia Alston]

Okay, so here's the results of the morning after yesterday's workout: I would normally be a little draggy & VERY hungry. I woke up early this morning bright eyed & bushy tailed (bummer! it's my day to sleep in!) & distinctly NOT hungry after having my last meal at about 8 PM & staying up late dancing in my room (I told you I had a lot of energy! <lol>) It's nearly noon & I'm still not hungry & haven't even had my green smoothie yet, just a cup of herbal tea & some water. How interesting... Today's upper body day, so we'll see what's up next! :)

- Stasi

[Juicyfruit]

I have had the same experience over and over. Of course when I stick to 100% raw, excercise is a breeze. I usually walk an hour four or five times a week. Well, the other day I decided to see how far I could jog without stopping. I ran a whole mile, and I could have kept going, but I'm not much of a runner! Anyway, I thought that was interesting that I could run like that when I NEVER run! :)

[Anastasia Alston]

I've noticed that I am definitely STRONGER than I was before raw! My shape is changing, too. Even though I haven't really been doing much for exercise (compared to my normal routine), I am stunned at how much stronger I am than before & how much my body is changing without me doing much more on a regular basis than my minimal 20 mins to half hour a day of exercise. Exercise is a no-brainer now; this is definitely a cool thing!:D

- Stasi

[Frecs]

In the year and a half that I've been raw I have seen an amazing increase in my stamina. People I have gone hiking with this summer seem amazed at how well I handle the long challenging hours of hiking. They even comment on the "afterburners" I seem to have.

My usual exercise routine now is walking 3-5 miles in the morning Monday through Friday and 8-10 on Saturday. Plus, weight training four evenings a week after work along with more aerobics. Plus several days a week I do a Christian alternative to yoga to help me with stretching and balance. Normally, this routine lets me know I've done something good but I don't feel excessive exhausted and never sore.

That said, I did take this weekend off because I kinda crashed this past Friday. I had had a challenging weekend of hiking/backpacking the weekend before and then continued my normal workouts last week dispite my body trying to signal a need to rest. Well, I got the message and took this weekend off and this morning I felt great, hopped out of bed at 5:20am and headed out for a 5-miler at top speed--it felt FABULOUS.

[Mehrad]

The good thing about raw is that your not down on carbs, loads of people who take the low carb diet end up nearly dying, why? Beacuase they have no energy!! So eating your raw veggies and fruits will make you do your best at any physical thing!, the problem with me was, when I started being 70&#37; raw, I didnt have enough raw food for breakfast to make it count as breakfast, no wonder I was tired when I went to the gym!

[beppa66]

The good thing about raw is that your not down on carbs, loads of people who take the low carb diet end up nearly dying, why? Beacuase they have no energy!! So eating your raw veggies and fruits will make you do your best at any physical thing!, the problem with me was, when I started being 70&#37; raw, I didnt have enough raw food for breakfast to make it count as breakfast, no wonder I was tired when I went to the gym!
Granola or granola bars are a really good start in the morning.

[Anastasia Alston]

I love green smoothies first thing! :) I have one every morning & if I don't (a rare thing) I definitely have one in the afternoon! With me working out 6 days a week for 1 1/2 - 2 hours at a time I've really been craving greens, nuts & oils.

The funny thing is, I have noticed I start sweating almost immediately, even though I am never tired even when I've been working out for well over an hour! I not only have a high fatigue threshold now, but I find I am able to exercise longer than I could pre-Raw; even at the end of a 2 hour workout I still feel like I could keep going. On top of that, no matter how hard I've worked out, I am not terribly sore the next day. There's no way I could do this if I weren't Raw. ;)

- Stasi

[Bobbie]

I have a disease of the nervous system that means I can't exercise which is annoying coz I used to adore exercise (the faster and harder the better) and be a health fanatic.

Anyway - I can't comment on exercise but I can comment on raw stamina. Since going raw I can go days and nights without sleep with no problem. Before if I was still up past 1am I felt really drunk, half dead, exhausted and woke up with a huge hangover. But now I feel perfectly fine. When preparing a raw feast for my mum in January (you know how much prep raw gourmet food takes!!) I had to keep working in the kitchen through 3 nights and 4 days to get it finished (I'd under-estimated the work involved) and I felt perfectly fine!! Before raw it would have been completely impossible, on a raw diet it was easy!! I didn't feel as if I hadn't slept at all. There was a man in the paper recently who broke the world record for going longest without sleep - and he put it down to his raw diet.

Also before raw, water fasting made me extremely weak and after 3 days I'd start to dry wretch uncontrollably. Now I can go weeks without food and not feel any different from if I were eating.

[courtneyrawks]

I started going raw 3 wks ago (coffee is my killer!), for the past week or so I've really noticed a jump in my endurance and energy while working out. I've been going to the gym for a while now (yr and a half) and only in the past week have I actually felt "alive" after a workout. Rocking to music in the car on the way home compared to deciding which drive thru I'd hit up to "treat" myself for my draggy workout I forced upon myself. Great to hear of others experiencing the same high - I love it! Noboby else understands how amazing the sensation of being raw is unless they experience themselves (I find, anyways). No big weight loss yet - I haven't got a whole lot to lose and frankly I could care less about weight, this feeling of health and vitality have forever changed me! Tah!*