Veganism does not negate the energy balance

Originally Published 2.11.2015; Corrected 2.13.2015; reformatted 9.9.2015
There are many different ways to eat, some commercial, some not. Veganism as a dietary plan means eschewing all animal based foods, and in doing so many people lose weight because they wind up eating fewer calories. Fewer calories consumed is what causes the weight loss, not the lack of animal products. There are a number of varieties of veganism, this post addresses the “Raw till 4” way of eating, in which followers eat only raw food (preferably fruit) until 4 PM, after which cooked high carb vegan foods can be eaten. As with any vegan eating plan, B12 supplementation is MANDATORY for long term health. Raw till 4 is the brainchild of a Youtuber styling herself as Freelee the Banana Girl.

Why on earth do I watch this woman?

Because my dancer daughter does (or used to) and I began to monitor the channel to make sure there wasn’t anything I needed to counter. And which there very much was. When she originally started making videos, what she pushed was a diet based entirely on raw fruit. The conceit of the raw fruit diet is that unlimited amounts of fruit can be eaten and weight loss is guaranteed. This is bunk. If you eat more calories than you expend you will gain weight. No matter what those calories consist of. My daughter never did go the raw fruit or even vegan route, but I’ve continue to watch periodically.

The reality of the energy balance bites back

Although it’s a relatively small number of people (it must be since there aren’t huge numbers of vegans anywhere), there is a subset of vegans who have followed Freelee and her boyfriend, both of whom are incredibly lean, and adopted their lifestyle AND bought into their argument that eating unlimited amounts of fruits and carbs won’t make you fat. Well, because that is absolutely false, the two of them gotten a lot of pushback from folks who’ve packed on a ton of weight eating prodigious amounts of fruit. And so (because she earns her money from Youtube traffic by proselytizing for Raw till 4) Freelee has had to answer these charges.

This is a recent Freelee video in which she again answers people who are eating Raw till 4 and putting on weight. But it’s not any “healing” that the body needs to go through before weight is lost. It’s about the energy balance.

Freelee’s energy balance

So I’ve been watching Freelee for awhile. At some point she had a video where she answered a bunch of personal questions, one of which was her height. I remember it being 5’7". I think she said she’s 37. She is 34. Her high weight is all over the web as being 160 lbs and she’s lost 40 lbs on a raw fruit diet (the idea of eating cooked vegan foods at night is new to her and her boyfriend and they began eating cooked food because they were “getting too lean.” The guy in particular, but he rides his bike on a professional athlete's schedule).

She now claims to be ultra thin while eating no less than 2500 calories a day (between 2500 - 3500 she amends that to in the video, but I often find the truth is in the first number in these instances.) And she owns up to rigorous exercising four times a week (I think it’s actually more) and claims to sit in front of the computer all day. Taking all the exercise data as a given, what does the NIH’s calculator say?

It says that a 37 34 year old, very active woman who sits all day while at work, and weighs 120 pounds can maintain that weight while eating about 2400 calories a day. Although the accuracy of the data on which the model result is based is suspect as noted above, I am comfortable asserting that Freelee isn’t gaining weight on her diet, because Freelee is eating the number of calories she needs to eat to maintain that weight at her current level of activity. Based on my video viewing, I am also confident in asserting that Freelee is a very active woman and likely does NOT sit on her ass for the entire day, and therefore 2400 calories is UNDERestimating what her true maintenance calorie total is.

It has NOTHING to do with veganism. It has EVERYTHING to do with the energy balance. People gain weight on Raw til 4 for the SAME reason they gain weight on ANY diet or way of eating. They are consuming more than they are expending. Can you mess up your metabolism? Yes, that part of her spiel is true. Anorexics do it, binge eaters and bulimics may possibly as well, but anorexia has science and evidence behind it that starvation (TRUE starvation) damages the body’s systems.

Raw till 4 is not a bad way to eat, if you can adhere to it.

Following a Raw til 4 plan (provided you are supplementing with B12— Freelee gets a monthly B12 shot) is not an unhealthy way to eat. But it does NOT negate the energy balance. Go to the calculator, input your height, age and the weight you WANT to be- not the weight you are now. Then honestly assess your activity level; the model asks both about work hours and exercise regimen. Then look at the number. That’s how many calories you can eat on Raw till 4 or ANY eating plan and slowing settle at that weight. Eat more than that, and you will gain weight.

Here’s someone who realized the truth, after getting fatter on Raw till 4. It’s about the energy balance, period. Although, frankly, what she went through should not be necessary. This is also provides GREAT example as to WHY I started watching Freelee’s channel. I saved my daughter from this.

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