A Raw Body

My body went through a great deal of stress and strain from all the extra weight I used to carry. It's hard to believe now, but I only used to use the lower half of my legs to walk, as my thighs were so big, they were wedged together. In the summer especially, dressed in skirts, I got awful rashes where my legs rubbed together. I treated this with talcum powder to keep the skin dry and wore trousers or 'comfort shorts' - long, skin tight shorts, usually made of stocking-material, worn under skirts to stop the thighs chaffing. I made my own comfort shorts by cutting up old tights - they are also good stomach-flatteners.

Sometimes now on occasions when I'm struggling under the load of a heavy backpack or something similar, I am struck by the realisation that I used to carry just that much weight around with me, AS ME, all day every day - it seems almost impossible now, but that was the reality for my body back then. I also often wonder where exactly it is that the rest of 'me' has now gone. It is a strange experience indeed to lose more than half of your body weight and I find myself wondering 'Where has the rest of me gone - has it just vanished? Where to?' and so on. My acne was considerably worse before going raw - there were so many toxins in my body, looking for ways out - my face and back were always spotty - now my skin's much clearer. My skin is marked from being pushed to its elastic limit, though thankfully now I can help the marks to fade a bit with ideas like those listed in the natural remedies section.

In early adulthood, everybody's bones 'set' and mine set to carry a load they now thankfully do not bear - leaving me a slightly enlarged, heavy bone structure, including feet flattened out to bear large loads. My breasts have undergone major changes too - at their largest they were 42F, now they're a much more comfortable 38C.
I dread to think of the state of my colon before I went raw: now I know that it is in very good health, cleared of most of the debris of a lifetime of unhealthy eating. I would heartily recommend a course of such colonics to anyone as a fantastic boost to overall health - colemas and enemas are good ways to cleanse the colon at home too. One of the amazing parts of going raw is the ongoing re-discovery of my true body - as mentioned elsewhere, I'll never forget first seeing my collarbone again in the mirror. I also recall watching my wrist size change, as bracelets rapidly became too big. I vividly remember laying in bed one night and suddenly realising that I could feel my ribs, all along my side - it had always been hard for me to imagine I had a skeleton inside me - now I could actually feel it... I became quite obsessive about weighing myself during my 1st year of weight loss - if there were scales around, I'd be on them at least once a day. I don't believe this to be healthy or advisable - try to be kind to yourself - I later set boundaries of only weighing in once a week, for example, as obsessing over every change did me no favours.

Physical Activity
As a young child, I was very active - I was the fastest runner in my year aged 10, however, after I developed hypothyroidism and the weight piled on, physical activity piled off?judging by the letters I gave my P.E. teachers weekly to avoid swimming or showers, I claimed to have my period for about 4 months at a time - I simply couldn't face others seeing my body. This of course was a vicious circle - I didn't want to exercise because it was difficult, but because I wasn't active, I kept getting bigger.
I recall horrendous attempts to participate - a bike ride with friends where I was constantly miles behind, struggling, red-faced, out of breath; a nightmarish school walk through hills, when I literally thought I couldn't go on. My pride never helped - I was so scared to be seen lagging behind, to receive looks or comments, I pushed myself as hard as I possibly could to keep up.
Since then I've never had a very organised approach to exercise - gyms don't appeal to me and as I travel a lot, courses and memberships aren't practical. I enjoy swimming, cycling and hiking and have lots more energy to do them now. I use physical work as a good way to get exercise - I find working on a farm or garden rewarding and beneficial.
I'm currently jog regularly, am developing my interest in yoga and perform the Five Tibetan Rites every morning. I have also taken some dance classes such as Bollywood, 5 Rhythms and Afro, as well as teaching myself to fire dance with poi (I'm really rather good now...:) and trying to get a good bounce around on the rebounder daily.


Clothes
I recall clearly the warning my homoeopath friend gave me when I went raw - 'This is going to be very expensive - you're going to need a whole new wardrobe...'
She was certainly right - in fact wardrobes, plural, is more accurate - dropping from size 26-28 to size 12-14 in a year is quite demanding on your clothes budget (especially if you live in Iceland). I coped by wearing some clothes after they'd become too big, receiving cast-offs from friends and family, trawling through my old clothes to find, for example, size 18-20 stuff that suddenly fitted again and searching cheap shops for clothes that would probably only last a few months anyway. It was exciting actually to have a constantly evolving set of clothes and now I'm thrilled that I can wear whatever I want, not just the often limited choice on offer in 'outsize' clothing shops.
I found it frustrating that larger clothes seem often poorly thought out - either made to the same pattern as smaller sizes, just bigger, which doesn't necessarily work (a top which is short in length won't cover a bulky stomach) or they're frequently made of garish, typically red material, which I always felt uncomfortable wearing. I am much happier now about the choice of clothes available to me as a UK size 10 and find it shocking to look back through the clothes I was wearing just a few years back, which I could now literally fit two of the current me inside...