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.
