Hi - I am the new Amanda - with an inspiring story to share.

[qwerty988]

Thank you thank you for being so open about your story and for posting those awesome pics!!!!!!!!

You're inspiring us all!!

[thenewamanda]

Traceyraw and qwerty988 - It tooks some letting go on my part to put up that side by side photo but I really just hope to inspire as many women as I can and show them the transformative power of raw food!

[Bananna]

That is a really crazy and equally inspiring story. Love also your other before and after thread...it's all very impressive. Thankyou for sharing so freely! :)

[trenchchic]

Amazing, Amazing, Amazing! (I could write that word all day and it wouldn't come close to how I feel about your picture!) Congrats. You are such an inspiration!

[thenewamanda]

Bananna - Thank you for your comment! It is really crazy, I agree. I feel so lucky to have been able to experience everything that I have and have come out stronger on the other side! No more wasting time... I have to enjoy and appreciate every day I have.

trenchchic - Thank you! I feel pretty amazing lately. Especially since spring is here, and summer is coming! Fresh produce is growing, the sun is shining, my body is lighter and warmer, I am finding new inspiration every day. Working on my book now (!) and trying to figure out how I can be a life coach and make it my life's mission to inspire others and guide them to change their lives!

[jv.catlady]

What an amazing story, thank you for sharing with us and especially for showing the before and after pics. This is my first week eating raw, and I keep wondering how I'm going to do this. Find it especially hard at work, seeing everybody eating yummy and bad foods. But seeing your pics gives me the courage to continue on and know that it's possible for me to reach my goals. Would love to lose about 120 lbs, hoping this raw lifestyle will work for me. Keep up the great work Amanda. :)

[thenewamanda]

What an amazing story, thank you for sharing with us and especially for showing the before and after pics. This is my first week eating raw, and I keep wondering how I'm going to do this. Find it especially hard at work, seeing everybody eating yummy and bad foods. But seeing your pics gives me the courage to continue on and know that it's possible for me to reach my goals. Would love to lose about 120 lbs, hoping this raw lifestyle will work for me. Keep up the great work Amanda. :)

JV, I feel you! It is possible and there's nothing better than dropping 20, 30, or 60 pounds and seeing the difference it can make in your life! I'm still 100 pounds from what some people would consider a "goal weight" but I look and feel fantastic all the same! My advice to you would be to figure out what you like to eat that is raw and just indulge and let yourself have as much as you want. For me, that's nuts or guacamole - I make a killer guacamole and love to have it with celery and carrots. Over time, it will get easier. And there must be at least one great farmer's market that happens in Ottawa? For me, connecting with farmers and buying local organic produce is really exciting. :) Good luck to you on your journey!

[thenewamanda]

Hi friends - a little update from me...

So the past couple months I have been slipping - especially since I joined the Y in March and finding myself ravenous after my workouts, I fooled myself into thinking I needed cooked foods. And hadn't lost much weight in so many months that I didn't care anymore. I guess I lost my motivation, as I have in the past when I've lost just enough weight so that people respond positively to me. I'm sure some of you understand that statement. I forgot how great it felt to be 100% raw. But a few days ago, after a weekend of bad eating (and too much alcohol too, which is not something I can tolerate) I told my friends, "I have to be 100% raw again - at least for one month" ... so I am planning for a month of committed raw eating and then I'm sure will see great results from that committment and will keep going. I'm four days in and down seven pounds from Tuesday. And reached a new low weight this morning!!!! 226!!!!!

If anyone wants to know what a regular day looks like for me, I eat a lot of fruit, and I eat really simply. I work full time now so I'm pretty busy - bananas and apples, nuts, guacamole, juice in the morning.

Love to all of you and thank you for being here to keep me inspired! My birthday is a month away and I want to look great in a bathing suit so that I can go to the lake with my friends and feel good about myself. I mean, I already do... but there's always room for improvement. :)

[Traceyraw]

Congrats on your new low weight. I have slipped a little myself.. I will join you again this next week. I m having somepersonal issues I have to deal with first. I am so proud of you and your progess. P.S. I love the Y.

[thenewamanda]

Hi Tracey - Thanks for your support! I agree personal issues can get in the way...why is food so complicated? Anyway, feeling good this morning, off to work. Finally got that great job I was waiting for... :) And down another pound this morning.

[phak-i-tu]

Greetings from New Mexico - almost in Arizona because I'm so close to the line. I forgot I was supposed to come in here first. I've been mostly vegan for the last thirty years, because it was actually easier where I lived (out in the middle of nowhere on the reservation) most of that time, so I didn't have to convince my husband of it on solely ethical grounds. Going raw was not so easy in a place with no refrigeration (in AZ, in summer?) and no other mod-cons either, till I got a few solar panels the last ten years we were out there. We'd buy our perishables about every 2 weeks from town, though sometimes in winter, we had to wait longer. Meat had to be dealt with right away, cooked, dried or canned and mostly went just to the animals we were always rescuing out there. We bought organic pet food but it was very expensive to do it all the time. My husband would (jokingly, I hope) complain about that: 'we get a chicken from the natural foods store, make a nice soup and the cats eat all the chicken and we get broth and bones.' How many husbands would put up with that? I really got lucky, but I only got to keep him 28 years before God snatched him from me.

I've been a widow almost 3 years now and finally got tired of living on small portions of my cat and dog food so I've been raw a little over a month now......I guess I'd better clarify that: I still cook for them often, so I'll know what's in the food and I don't trust 'supermarket meat' enough to give it to them raw. The cats are getting plenty of their own 'raw' by hunting and after having dogs in the country all my married life, I'm not even going to ask them what they're getting into, probably something gross. I've been interested in raw food diet since the 1980's but never really committed till now. Now I don't care if I can afford it or not; I either eat raw or I fast. For once, it's a good thing I keep to myself most of time anyway (except online) because my friends around here have been giving me worried looks in the last week or two. I wasn't really overweight before but I was not healthy and when I started actually eating more food than I have since I moved here, I lost a lot of 'puffiness,' (probably toxins) very fast. I'm hoping this will make me smarter, if I live, for I have been suffering from fatigue, depression and worst of all: brain fog, since I've been alone and that makes learning anything new feel like wading through peanut butter on a cold day. I did better than this on the 'rez' eating anything we could get and kept 6 languages in fluency. Now I want 7, 8 and 9 and I'm having trouble. I think that a raw food life is the answer; I don't even have the least doubt of it.

[thenewamanda]

Down 10 pounds from a week ago!

Went to the health food store and bought myself some treats - raw granola, e3live... carrot juice tomorrow and then bananas all day. I have been oil pulling in the morning (I do it while I'm washing dishes and making juice) and I enjoy that too. Hiked up a mountain today and feel like a million bucks! Down 72 pounds now and only 28 to go!

[walnutty]

Awesome!!!

[robh]

I wanted to post to cheer you on.

You have a great story.

It sounds like raw food was literally a life saver for you.

I too am struggling with weight loss. Well, I guess, I do not have a problem with the weight loss so much as the rate of weight loss.

I also struggle with back sliding and eating and drinking (alcohol) stuff I that should not.

I do not have the answers and I do not have any advice, but I wanted you to know that others share your situation.

Good Luck

[walnutty]

finding myself ravenous after my workouts

This is what I eat prior to a workout and it gives me incredible energy and stamina and I am not hungry for a long time:

Sliced bananas drizzled with almond butter and then honey!