• This week was very experimental for me. I switched to counting points late last week, which had a greater impact on my eating than I thought it would. I found myself striving to eat more in order to make my point count. This backfired a couple of times when I simply ate too much and felt uncomfortable. I had trouble making the 32 point minimum at first, but I've exceeded it at least twice this week. This is because my fat intake went up, leading me to have a couple of days where my calories were higher than even sparkpeople recommends. Yet, I've lost FOUR (count 'em) FOUR pounds this week, bringing me to 40 lbs lost in 8 weeks. That's 5 lbs a week, average.
• I visited the gym once- but only once! I haven't figured out how to work that into my busy student's schedule. I didn't have a wonderful time, but I can definitely see the benefits I would reap if I could spend time on physical fitness. Perhaps I'll start walking around my block between study sessions.
  

Here are my conclusions:
1) Even with the higher fat intake I lost 4 lbs. I'm not planning to continue with high fat, but if it happens, I'll be monitoring to see if it inhibits weight loss as many people believe

2) I need to start scouting around for new recipes so that boredom doesn't lead me away from raw.

3) There are definitely some negatives for me in eating raw: the work involved in preparing vegetables and fruit, the monotony of resorting to the same easily-prepared meals for two weeks or more, and the challenges of finding foods in non-raw restaurants. It really makes me wonder how hard it'll be to stay 99% raw for the remainder of my weight loss, let alone the rest of my life! (I normally don't care for the percentage label but I want acknowledge that I the bulgur I put in my taboule isn't "raw", even though I buy it uncooked from Whole Foods and only soak it. Also, the chickpeas in the store-bought hummus isn't raw. I haven't yet found raw hummus that I can afford.)

4) My motivation to stay raw stems mainly from my weight loss - I'm now only 2 pounds away from the 200s - and from obvious health gains, like my blood pressure improvement.

5) My next weight goal is 299 lbs. The goal following that is a total weight loss of 50 lbs.

6) I am making two new efforts: I will strive to drink more water and to add exercise, somehow, into my schedule.


WEEK 8 FOOD SUMMARY

NUTRIENTS

Calories.......................949 to 1522
Fat...............................19g to 84g
Carbs...........................124g to 290g
Protein.........................10g to 49g


WEIGHT LOSS 4 lbs
STARTED WEEK AT: 305
ENDED WEEK AT: 301
TOTAL POUNDS LOST SINCE JANUARY 1ST 2006: 40 lbs