For anyone wishing to lose weight...

[Baile]

Hi, I thought I might start a thread and share what I did to lose 95 lbs over several months, and keep it off for three years now. Perhaps some of this might help someone else, that's really my one and only intention with sharing all this.

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First and foremost, WATER. Water is the great cleanser, the great healer. I drink up to eight liters of water a day. Water flushes out all those toxins AND fills you up so you never feel hungry. It's really a miracle liquid. I'm at the point where, if my energy drops, I just drink two cups of water and my energy jumps back up again. Once your body is cleansed, you don't need energy drinks and power bars; water accomplishes the same thing. You very quickly become THAT sensitive to any pure liquid or food you consume.

Speaking of which... PURE, WHOLE, UNPROCESSED FOODS. My diet the past four years consists of three things really: water, raw fruits, and raw vegetables. This was a dietary transition that took place over the course of a dozen years. I first quit eating meat back in 2002; a couple years later I quit eating breads, and soon after that I gave up all dairy. By 2009 or so my body was telling me to give up all processed foods and liquids, even the "healthy" stuff like soy, soy drink, and fruit juices. Again, this is what happens when you cleanse, your body becomes so sensitive that it really does start talking to you, telling you what it wants and no longer wants.

Now, this next bit is something I've talked about before, and some people kind of responded in the negative. All I care to suggest is to keep an open mind to different ideas while always, of course, doing what you feel is best for you. Anyway, this for me was extremely helpful in losing weight, I honestly don't think I would have succeeded otherwise. And that is...

AN ALL-LIQUID DIET. I have maintained an all-liquid diet for most of the past four years. It's something that personally helps me maintain my weight, and I find that any and all digestion issues immediately clear up when I switch back to an all-liquid diet. And I LOVE having zero digestion issues, it's just so fantastic!

I have three liquids I consume: water, fruit water/shakes, and soups. And in fact, that's recently changed the past few months. I eliminated fruit shakes, and now drink water flavored with whole fruit. I mainly buy frozen fruit, place half a cup in the blender, and mix with water to create two liters of drinking water. I used to buy protein shake mix and use that, but I stopped because I wanted to change to a diet consisting of fruit and vegetables only, as much as is possible anyway. Plus the fruit in the water makes drinking that much water each day, much easier in that it's really very yummy.

Soup of course can be made of anything, but the two things I do: I blend the soup after it's cooked so that it turns to liquid; and I add raw kale and/or mushrooms and blend the soup with that, again into a liquid. Another thing I do occasionally is cook up brown/black rice, and blend that in with the liquid soup. I add a few spices and a tiny bit of coconut oil when I warm the soup up. And I will even add a teaspoon of unflavored vegan protein powder into the cup of soup I'm warming up.

There is one last thing I'll share that works for me given I'm the type who finds it easier to follow through on things when I create structure and rhythm around me. What I do is this: when it comes time to eat, I consciously pour two glasses of fruit water and drink that while I heat up my cup of soup. When I'm finished eating my soup, I consciously drink one more cup of fruit water, which then marks the end of my meal. I eat several meals like this each day, if and when I feel like having a meal. In-between meals, I drink as much fruit water as I care to. And if I ever feel hungry, I immediately go into the kitchen and drink two cups of fruit water, which always puts an end to my hunger pangs. I don't wait, I don't sit around and let thoughts of pizza and chocolate cake dance about in my head, I go drink water, NOW. Very important!

So there; that's that and once again please take all this in the sharing spirit I'm intending. I would never tell anyone what they should and shouldn't do as far as diet goes, it's all very personal obviously.

[Colorado]

I agree with this post...but we should add nuts & legumes to our diet. I lost 10lbs in 5 days from eating raw vegetables & fruit.....and no, I was no overweight when I did it. This could help a lot of people to start eating more heatlhy...we really should only eat straight from the earth. This would eliminate a lot of cancers, diseases, & other health problems. Thanks for the reminder*