One Week Raw

I started this raw foods cleanse one week and one day ago.

For the first several days I felt horrible.  I wasn't just tired, I was exhausted.  I was moody.  I was headachy.  I was irritated by how difficult it was to make anything better than a salad.

Soon after this I began craving eggs.  Oddly, any time that I am protein deficient I seem to crave hard boiled eggs.  You'd think that I'd want steak or chicken, but no.  It's eggs all the way.

Because I carefully monitor my nutrients and calories, I could see that I wasn't getting enough protein.  I need about 80 grams per day and I'm getting roughly 20 on any given day.  This is with eating tons of nuts and nut butters.  To get enough protein, I would likely need my calories to go through the roof.  This is definitely not something that I could ever maintain full time.

I do feel pretty good though.  I have had people who don't know that I'm on the raw foods cleanse compliment my skin and tell me that I am "glowing."  Someone also asked what was different about me and told me that I looked good.  My energy level is up.  I did 305 minutes of cardio and about an hour of resistance training this week.   Tomorrow is my rest day.  I don't need to take and it and I'm not looking forward to taking it, but I will take it because it's so important to give your body a chance to rest.

And even though I am keeping my calories up (1400 being my lightest day), I have lost 7 pounds after 9 days of eating raw.  This makes my total weight loss 52 lbs.  So, 52 pounds down, three to go!

So, half way through my cleanse here is how I feel:

I see and feel the positive effects of eating a 100% raw diet.
I feel great.
My energy is up.
My weight loss is through the roof.
But I don't like eating 100% raw foods.
I miss baked potatoes and cooked broccoli and delicious salad dressing and soup!
I need way more protein than what I am getting and am having serious protein cravings.
This is not sustainable for me beyond a cleanse.

That said, I do think that I will try to eat completely raw for at least one day of the week and I am planning on keeping every day raw, while just eating a cooked dinner.

Because my calories are the same and my activity is so high, I don't see myself regaining this weight when I begin eating cooked foods again.

I can't believe that I am 3 pounds from my goal.