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So I decided to post this thread after looking around the youtube-verse and seeing a lot of people saying, 'I did raw till 4, I gained weight, so it was all those calories! Freelee and DR tell you to eat too much! If you eat too many calories, of course you'll get fat!' and as someone who has gained weight on raw till 4, I just have to comment on this.

I'll start by saying that raw till 4 didn't make me fat - it was what I did in the past that made me gain weight on raw till 4. Bananas and organic rice don't make you fat in the long-term. People ask how I can say that with confidence when I've gained weight, well here it is: Imagine a 400lbs morbidly obese person. If I tell you that this person used to weight 150lbs, before they stated eating rice and bananas and oranges, would you believe me? Or would you think they must be eating junk?

People get confused about calories, because of the way society talks about calories. They say, for example, that there are 100 calories in a banana, or more likely, 500 in a McDonalds burger. People then think that the burger has 500 of these little things called calories inside it, and it's these little calorie things that make them fat. 

The problem with this is that a calorie, like the Joule, is a measurement of energy. When you ask how many calories are in something, what you're really asking is how much energy is released when this item of food is fully combusted under controlled conditions. It should be obvious now that, first of all, a burning sandwich has little to do with what actually happens in your body (the body is not as efficient as fire) and also that excess energy doesn't make you fat, it must be the actual chemical compounds inside the food that are converted into fat.

Furthermore, if calories mean the amount of energy you have, why the hell would you limit them?! That's just asking to be too tired to do what you need to in your day to day life, let alone exercise.

So, supply your body with as many calories as you need of the high carb, low fat vegan variety. These are useful calories, or rather they have the fuel and nutrition you need. If you gain weight when supplying your body with adequate calories and nutrition, it means that your body HAS to for whatever reason. Your body is much smarter than you are, so trust it, and keep doing what's best for your health. What good is being thin in the short term by calorie restriction, only to gain it back later when you can't take it anymore, and in the process mess up your body completely?

As a footnote I would have to say this: exercise. You will not be lean and toned unless you do. DR says this repeatedly but a lot of people don't seem to get it. The body was not designed to be completely sedentary, you have to move in some capacity every day. At the same time, don't go so overboard that your body can't recover and you burn out. Just be consistent, be patient and enjoy the healing process of this lifestyle.