Please HELP me gain weight on raw

[FreshFreckledFace]

Please give me all of your suggestions. I do lots of nuts and almond butter. I eat lots of oats. But I can't seem to gain weight. I hate the way I look right now, and feel like hiding myself away. My clothes don't fit. I'm on a mission. I don't want to look like a cancer patient. I want to get my weight back. Any thoughts will be deeply appreciated.

[ReneeH]

Hello, my Sis!!!...

Have you tried drinking Green Smoothies with Avacado?* Avacado is high in fat and in the Smoothie you can hardly taste it!* I slip it in for my daughter....

Also, how much do you eat in a day? Are you letting yourself get really hungry? Have you tried making nut pate's and eating them throughout the day?

Hope that helps...!*

HUGS!!!

'Nee

[Crazy Healer Lady]

Hi there!!

When you want to gain weight, eat foods that are calorically dense. I was asking Kevin Gianni about this, and he recommended eating fruits (as long as there is no candida issue) and possibly cooked grains, such as rice or quinoa. You can do the raw version, too!! as long as they are soaked, sprouted, bloomed, whatever it takes to make them easily digestable.

Lots and lots of calorie-dense foods.

[Inca_faerie]

Supplement with L-Leucine, and do regular stength training. One of the main reasons people lose weight on raw is leucine deprivation. Try to up your saturated fat intake through virgin coconut oil/butter. This will boost your testosterone levels and make it a bit easier to gain muscle. (I'm guessing that's what you want?)

[SmilingRawDancer]

I'd drink fruit juice and nut milks throughout the day. They're calorically dense but they don't fill you up so you can eat other stuff on top of those calories.

[coco]

here's a link with some food sources of L-Leucine, a couple vegan.
http://www.add-adhd-help-center.com/Ingredients/leucine.htm

i have heard it said again and again that the only way to put on healthy weight is to work out. i have never personally had the time to work out to that extent but if i ever do i'll be sure to try it. i get so much activity during my days that i'm sure i burn a Ton of calories but none of it is purposeful exercise so it just keeps me uber skinny instead of building my body up. a shame, that is. i wish all the child chasing showed on my arms and legs man, that would be so terrific!

i think that until i am willing to do that working out and weighlifting i can't blame it on any diet since i have always been thin no matter how i have eaten. in fact, for the winter i decided to include much, much more cooked food (i've been baking) and if anything i am even more thin than usual. i wish i could figure this one out.
one of these days...

[Tea]

I have a very hard time gaining weight too and when I was all raw I was way too thin (I was eating lots of fat with avocadoes, coconut oil, nuts etc and I was eating lots of oats too), everyone was concerned about me and I hated my bony body. Now I'm about 60% raw or so and I'm still thin but not as much so, I actually have some curves now.
The only way I can keep a really good weight is by working out at least 5times a week consistently. So that is what I suggest. When I was raw I lived a very sedentary lifestyle. Good luck to you.

[RawPaw]

Exercise is a huge component in gaining weight. Bodyweight exercises would be a great start. Pushups. Also eating closer to when you sleep.

I wonder if snacking between meals is a no-no, since your body would be constantly in digestion mode.

[RawPaw]

Tea,

What kind of workouts did you do?

[Raw Angel Mom]

I lost all of my fat at first going raw. I didn't look healthy and then i started to gain healthy fat.

One word, EXERCISE. I was underweight as a child and teenager. When i joined the military i was the only one that gained weight at the end of the training, lol..... Seriously, exercise made a huge difference for me. If i would of being one pound less, i wouldn't of been recruted. I was 121lb at the end of my training i was 130lb.

For the raw diet, this is normal to loose the bad stuff at first. If you are feeling good, then don't worry. If you are feeling tired, then try to find a doctor that do raw food.

Your appetite will also increase with you doing exercise or weight training.

Best wishes!

[Tea]

Tea,

What kind of workouts did you do?

I speedwalk, jog, lift weights and do lunges. I have a gym membership and I go 5 days a week and do some weightlifting each time. And if it's warm out I like to jog or speedwalk outside in the fresh air.
Working out makes a huge difference for my body. Without it I fade away..

[RawYorkCity]

Having a salad? Add olive oil/avocado/nuts & seeds to it. Making a smoothie? Add avocado/dried fruit/coconut oil to it. Think condensed foods. Sometimes it just takes time.

[coco]

i ate a really healthy diet before going raw so it wasn't detox that kept me skinny. and i was raw for a lengthy period of time as well and regularly ate lots of calories including a fair (though balanced i think) amount of healthy fats. and i got tons of exercise, worked in retail, did shiatsu training which is very physical, walked and biked everywhere. i even fasted to try slowing my metabolism down. nothing worked though, i was still so darn skinny!
i just have a fast metabolism, i'm what gabriel cousins calls a "fast oxidizer". he says that people like david wolfe (who i observed eating a very light diet) are slow metabolizers and that's why his diet works for him, it just won't for a fast burner though.
the thing is to lift wieghts to put on muscle mass. all that light exercise and physical activity does is burn more calories and speed your metabolism up. you've got to body build to build your body.

[Raspberry4]

I can't answer about how to gain weight with raw as losing weight is difficult for me. Good luck to you.

But what surprises me is people saying that you should exercise to gain weight? Or are you saying gain muscle mass? I always thought exercising was for staying in shape but mostly to LOSE fat/weight??? They have the biggest loser people exercising 6 hours a day or something insane like that to lose the weight. Just curious about this.

[coco]

yes, that's exactly it. no one wants to put on excess fat, that isn't healthy no matter how you look at it. but being too skinny is just as bad. an ideal weight is one that includes a healthy body mass and that can only be lean muscle. a good diet and exercise regime will help attain your ideal weight, whether that is gaining some or losing some.

[Raw Angel Mom]

I can't answer about how to gain weight with raw as losing weight is difficult for me. Good luck to you.

But what surprises me is people saying that you should exercise to gain weight? Or are you saying gain muscle mass? I always thought exercising was for staying in shape but mostly to LOSE fat/weight??? They have the biggest loser people exercising 6 hours a day or something insane like that to lose the weight. Just curious about this.

Actually, exercise and raw food bring balance. If you need to gain weight, you will, if you need to loose weight, you will too.

:)

[RawHeaven]

I hate the way I look right now, and feel like hiding myself away.

Hi FreshFreckledFace. I haven't read through all of the responses, but I'm sure you're gettting fantastic advice. I just wanted to add something that has more to do with self image and body transformation. One of the things that I learned a few years ago and it was definately not easy to do was to love my body in the condition it was in. Our bodies pick up on our thoughts and if you send it messages that you hate it and you're ashamed of how you look it will impact any changes that could take place. And you subsequently remain stuck in the body you're envisioning.

This happens a lot with women and it doesn't matter what shape we're in. I have met gorgeous, beautiful women with beautiful bodies who were very self conscious of their looks. It's sometimes easier for us to find some part to be critical of and then it takes over. What you might find helpful to do is to send your body some love. An exercise that I had to go through to help with my own previous body image healing opportunities had to do with getting buck naked and staring at every inch of my body. It took me some time for me to do this exercise because prior to this I would do everything to avoid looking at myself. lol. When I was chunkier it took a lot of diligent inner work to finally get to the point where I was not judging myself and simply accepting my body as it was. I used positive affirmations that reflected this.

What happened next was I began to lose body fat and my body began changing shape. This was before I was raw...many years ago.

When I became Raw, I simply held the vision in my mind of where I wanted to be and how I wanted to look. More importantly my goals had to do with my health and healing from the inside out. It takes some time to erase those negative thoughts and programs that we oftentimes overwhelm ourselves with regard to our body weight or what we look like. Just keep saying you love your body to yourself even if you have to fake it. It really does help as does incorporating positive affirmations. These are just my suggestions after reading that you are not happy with your appearance. It helps to love how you look Now and expect the best.

In addition to whatever changes you're making with your diet, I think this will definately help too. It gets to the core I believe.

When you feel compelled to judge yourself or say you hate how you look, just be aware of it and instead plug in a positive affirmation. Focus on seeing your body how you want it to be instead. Work in partnership with and love it.

This really does work. :)

[Veganforlife]

What has really helped me kick the raw cacao habit has been raw carob! I make a raw chocolate out of raw carob powder, raw almond butter, and raw honey, that is delicious and satisfying. It will also help you gain weight if you need to! You take a few tablespoons of raw almond butter and stir in a teaspoon or two of raw carob powder, a tablespoon of raw honey, and a pinch of salt, and stir it together in a bowl and voila, you have a thick chocolate spread, or you can roll it in to balls, and your chocolate cravings are completely satisfied! For a twist add some lemon or orange zest, which you make by grating off a bit of the peel of those fruits.

In Joy!
Jinjee
http://www.TheGardenDiet.com

[Asian Pear]

A lot of people who try to gain weight eat a ton of fats and find it does the opposite, which means eat less fat and more fruits and greens. Try basing your diet on a high calorie fruit and green diet and use fats sparingly. Aim for at least 1800 calories a day or more in fruit and greens.

Also if you graze, it may be increasing your metabolism so that you aren't keeping weight on. Try eating at least 3 very large meals a day, and drink a lot of water in between meals.

Try weight bearing exercises, lifting weights will definitely bulk you up. Do this 3 times a week. Aerobic activity such as walking, cycling, swimming, rebounding are great but keep in mind this may cause more weight loss than weight training.

[Figgy]

Typically, if you are new to raw food, you will drop weight quickly and a lot of it. This is normal. After a couple of months, your body will gain back some weight and you will find your ideal weight. I had the same thing happen. I trusted my body and am happy to report some of the weight came back. I look slim. I do not look underweight.

Too often, people panic with raw food weight loss and go for heavy hitter food items like avo's, coco's, banana's, dates, nuts and seeds in large amounts every single day. This is an unhealthy balance. Seek other high protein sources - like spirulina alga or raw rice protein - and rotate your foods.

Weight training is great for building muscle as already mentioned (muscle - big or little -is good weight and good for your bones as well).

If you were slim to begin with, it can be frightening to look so emaciated. Don't stress about it quite yet. It just sounds from your post you are dropping from the initial transition to raw.

There is another issue of being able to absorb nutrients, and vitamin synergy but those are different matters.

Figgy

[Thomas3344]

I am weighing in on this so to speak.

Hey sister,

I have just read David Wolfs ebook. He stated after his body settled in after going raw, he said he began weight lifting- and ate a combination of tomatoes ,cold preseed olive oil and avacado all together. I plan on trying it.

I am a male ( and was always slender and muscular my whole life ) and not even fully raw at this point but I dropped a lot of weight and almost everyone says what happened you dont look good at this weight My face definetley looks sucked in. Its a catch 22-- feel better when eating raw- but dont look very good.

Trust me as a single male I dont want to be viewed this way.