Need help finding weight loss before/after pics to inspire Mom!

[chilove]

Hi all,

My mom is coming to visit tomorrow and she is finally starting to listen to me about raw. She has several health challenges, and even though I believe in being raw for health reasons first, I think the thing that will motivate her the most is weight loss successes. I know there are some great before & after pics on this site, but unfortunatley I cant't remember everyone's name to search for them. Can you all please help me by posting links below?

Thanks so much!

Audrey

[Helen Of Tennessee]

Alissa Cohen
http://www.alissacohen.com/alissas_befores.html

Allison
http://www.rawfoodtalk.com/photopost/showgallery.php?cat=500&ppuser=301

Yani
http://www.rawfoodtalk.com/photopost/showgallery.php?cat=500&ppuser=474

RaeAnna
http://www.rawfoodtalk.com/photopost/showphoto.php?photo=1076&sort=1&cat=500&page=1

Rachel
http://www.alissacohen.com/journal_rachel.html

Sue
http://www.alissacohen.com/journal_sue.html

Michelle
http://www.alissacohen.com/journal_sheryl.html

May people here (I'm in there - Helen)
http://www.shazzie.com/raw/transformation/

Shelly
http://www.rawandjuicy.com/shelly.html

Esse
http://www.rawfoodinfo.com/pictures/befafter_esse.html

Jinjee
http://www.thegardendiet.com/jinjee.html

Michelle
http://www.fromsadtoraw.com/Journals/Michelle/Pictures/RawPictures.htm

[Carlene]

Thanks Helen, I copied your list and emailed it to a friend who has started raw and has brothers interested in learning more. I know a lot of the long time vegetarian/vegans on this board stress not to look at raw for weightloss, but when obesity is your primary health concern, losing weight is your reason for changing your diet. All the other benefits of raw become secondary when the obese consider this type of life style. Before and Afters, especially so many of them, will give people the courage to try something new, and in the end, possibly save their lives. I personally would love to have a battalion of these sights to show those who have tried everything else and failed that there is still hope outside of surgery for the obese. Thanks again.

[Helen Of Tennessee]

Hi Carlene,

I look at overweigiht as a symptom, like a headache, joint pain, etc. It's a symptom of being unhealthy, so unlike some rawfoodist, I do look at eating raw as a way to lose weight, just like I look at eating raw as a way to get rid of my headaches :)

I know many understand this, but there are a few who don't think you should look at weight loss. But it's a shame I had the following "symptoms", yet in their eyes I can't count losing weight or being overweight a problem of being unhealthy:

Fibromyalgia
Chronic Fatigue
Headaches
Hypothyroidism
Hashimoto Thyroiditis
Overweight - oh, yeah, this doesn't count
Blurred Vision
Vertigo
Burning Feet
Floaters
Brain Fog
Depression
Hair Loss
Hyperpigmentation
High Blood Pressure (borderline now)
etc. (there are about 25 symptoms I had)

It's funny I can say I am eating raw to get healthy and to get rid of my Fibromyalgia. But I can't say, I am eating raw to get healthy and to lose some weight. As soon as I say the 2nd one, then I get lectured on how eating raw isn't about losing weight. But no one will lecture me on how eating raw isn't about getting rid of my Fibromyalgia.

BTW all the above symptoms are gone except for some occasional headaches, occasional joint aches and the hypothyroidism (which my meds have been cut back).

So yes, show them eating raw will help them lose weight (and it will also make the rest of their body and organs health) :D

<>< Helen of Tennessee
http://www.shazzie.com/raw/transformation/helen.shtml

[chilove]

Thanks so much Helen!!!! That list is awesome!

[jennykiss75]

Helen,
On the Shazzie website by your picture is says "High Raw", what does this mean???

[Helen Of Tennessee]

It just means I haven't reached 100% raw yet. I eat a high percentage of raw. usually if I'm 75% raw or higher, I feel pretty good. Drop below that and I don't feel so well :o

But my goal is to be 100% Raw.

<>< Helen of Tennessee

[Carlene]

Helen, Thanks again. I have many friends who have never had to deal with weight, or if they have it is nothing more than 15 pounds or so. Their assumptions about the obese are that heavy people are lazy gluttons, but yet they always see me dieting and exercising beyond anything they could do and I never lose weight. They do wonder, and think I am the exception. But I'm not. Another thing people don't realize is how overwhelming it is to think about losing 100+ pounds, and how the thought of a pound a week, mark that as two plus years of dieting, defeats you before you begin. That is why so many people are risking their lives with gastric bypass surgery and the like.

I offer kudos to all those who have been eating healthy all their lives, or at least most of it and move on to raw to further that health. For the obese, weight comes first. Losing it and remaining/getting healthy is a bonus beyond what any other diet offers. Many of us (the obese) have lost wieght with Atkins, pills, starvation, but none of these things can be maintained long term. Everyday you live to reach a goal that will allow you to eat again. That is where raw is different, at least for me. The other problem with most diets is that as soon as you are done, the weight will come back. I was watching a show on people who have lost 100+ pounds after surgery. One of them became bulemic after the weight loss because she hadn't learned to eat right, was just forced to eat less, but after a year and the ability to stretch out her stomach she resorted to binging and purging. This same woman's sister who had had the surgery, died from it.

So when people on the forum complain they aren't losing weight, and it's a major reason why they started eating raw, I want to tell them to give it a 100% try, go simple raw and exercise, because there is so much proof that it works, and because with today's climate of anti-obesity, and ads for surgery everywhere, it just might save their lives. But as you noted there seems to be bias against saying such things, so I don't.

I've had many people, my mother included, ask me why I didn't look into gastric bypass surgery instead of always living on such a restricted diet. For me 1 in 200 odds of dying is not worth being thin. Eating as much fruit and vegetables, nuts and seeds, as I want and getting healthy to boot, is certainly a much better alternative.

So at the end of all this rambling, I guess what I would like is to hear more from those who have beaten obesity with raw, how they did it, 100%, simple, mono, high? How long it took them, how hard they exercised, and why this was so different than anything else they ever tried, and I can assure you, they have tried everything.

So once again, thanks Helen. It's nice to know I'm not the only one who sees weight loss as a major health benefit and reason for going raw, and understands that not losing weight for those of us who have tried everything could easily make raw just another failure to add to the list.

To end this post, I'd like to say that I just finished 30 days 100% simple raw with at least 1 hour of walking a day and have lost 22.5 pounds. This seems like an average weight loss for other obese woman who have gone raw. For me it had to be simple because I hate to cook and clean, for other's maybe not. But unlike any other diet I have tried, I am losing weight, feeling great, and eager to continue. On raw, for me, there is no thought of when can I eat this or that, it is just the revelation that I have finally found something my body accepts and wants and my mind and appetite can enjoy. I'm not saying I'll always be perfect, I can still smell the popcorn of my future, but now that I have raw, I will never have to worry about how to lose weight, how to get healthy, and how to maintain it. No other diet has ever done that for me.

[Pailani]

<<Esse
http://www.rawfoodinfo.com/pictures/befafter_esse.html>>

This is one I hadn't seen before. Her story sounds similar to mine, even to doing the same diet programs while transitioning to a raw lifestyle!

[Helen Of Tennessee]

Carlene,

What in inspirational testimony you have!!!! Your story is going to be a great one to share with others that are unhealthy due to being overweight!

It looks like you are journeying down the right path now . . . the journey to total health and happiness.

I'm going over to the 30-day challenge on this site and see if I see your journal. If you're not there, I hope you'll start one.

I have a friend who is looking at all options, including by-pass. I'm going to direct her over to this thread to read what you wrote. I hope she gets inspired. She knows about eating raw but is getting desperate right now.

<>< Helen of Tennessee