Update – not sure if anyone will read it as this forum doesn’t seem very active, but anyway, I thought I should update as I read here a little while ago that there is a lack of input from people who have done this more than a year. I first did RRARF in November 2013.
After I did the RRARF (I did it for about a month) I felt quite at peace with food, my appetite settled down a lot and I just happily ate to appetite. I’d gone from looking skinny fat pre RRARF to looking a bit more solid, I gained about 4kgs (9 lbs). I continued with a fairly high carb intake but cut out sugar when my husband complained that I was looking a bit puffy. After cutting out the sugar but still eating to appetite I lost 1kg, I think I looked a bit better and lost some “puffiness”. I just had sweets at the weekend or other special occasions.
Health and energy wise everything was good, my gluten intolerance resolved and in the summer of 2014 I got pregnant.
Pregnancy was good, no particular problems, I just continued eating to appetite, the only real craving I had was salt. I ate as much salt as I wanted and my blood pressure was fine. I gained 17kgs (about 40lbs). I had a very healthy chunky baby. Baby is 7 months old and despite breastfeeding I’m still around 4kgs (9 lbs) heavier than pre-pregnancy.
At the moment, I’m torn between wanting to feel metabolically healthy and pressure from well meaning loved ones to “get my body back” and be thin again, I keep getting comments like “should you be eating that?” etc. I agreed to do the no sugar thing again as that has worked for me before, but I’m keeping some in by having it in my morning tea (I noticed it’s good for my mood).
I’m really hoping that I can somehow improve how my body looks with exercise so that people get off my case about diet, Generally I’ve realised that life as a woman means people think they have a say over how your body should look and what you should eat, heaven forbid you “let yourself go” and gain a few pounds.
In summary, I’m about 18lbs heavier than I was before RRARF, half of which is pregnancy weight that hasn’t shifted yet. But, I’m still feeling the benefits of this way of eating. I barely even suffered any hair loss or coldness postpartum (a common postpartum issue apparently) despite having a winter baby, and haven’t felt too tired despite sleep disruptions.