My (Kind Of) Raw Before And After

I've never really done much of a "before and after" thing before (I wanted to but have thrown out all of my old pre-raw photos as I disliked them so much!!), but I thought it high time I did what I could to show my own raw transformation in pictures as best as I can.

The good news is I have found these rather "lovely" blasts from the past, the not-so-good news is that I was eating mostly/all raw food on ALL FOUR of the photos and not just the right-hand-side ones!!!

As per my last post, the message in this madness is to show that you can do raw food "wrong" OR, at least, you can hold excess weight even when you eat the good stuff.

For me it was a combination of eating too much sugary fruit, too much fat (lots of nuts and seeds), very little green stuff, eating for the taste and NOT hunger AND I also had issues around losing weight, which is why I now specialise in helping women with body issues.

All these things combined made for "wobbly raw girl" : ) In fact I was once asked (not very politely!) if I was lying when I said I ate all raw food as she was so surprised by my rotundness!!!

Today, I am pleased to say, after keeping faith in raw and my body's ability to find its natural shape and size given time and TLC, I am the smallest dress size I have ever been in my adult life - and yet ironically I don't WEIGH the least! In fact I weigh about 10lbs MORE than I did when I first got into raw foods c. 1993/1994 and then I was a dress size 9 (UK). Today I am a size 6-8 depending on what I wear (for US readers that's size 2-4), and yet am somewhere around 9 stone (126 lbs)... I'm probably a bit less but don't like scales!

I found out through experience that you can hold more muscle and tone in a slightly heavier body, as it's all about how clean you are inside. So, in those earlier days I may have weighed less (114lbs) BUT I was actually bigger in volume! And that volume was, I found out in time, largely down to water/salt retention - I was all plumped up!

And one day in Seattle it all came flooding out - and how! ... but that's for another time!

Raw transformations... go figure ; )

Comments

[Karen]

Thank you so much for posting this. This is an issue that has been bothering me for some time now. When I first starting eating raw foods, I started with a very simple diet of vegetables and fruits. I managed to lose A LOT of weight and I was skinnier than I have ever been. (went from size L to S, 134 pounds to 118) Unfortunately, I went back to eating a combination of raw foods and cooked foods. I gained some weight, but not all the weight back. I then decided to go back to raw foods completely. Mostly because I discovered all the yummy recipes like desserts and such, but instead of losing the weight again, I've managed to gain all the weight back! It was so frustrating for me, because I feel like nobody believes that all I eat is raw foods. I thought I was the only one who felt this way, but you've shown that I'm not the only one. Thank you for that. Now, in order to fix this you suggest that people just eat fresh fruits and vegetables (mostly vegetables of course) and try not to eat too much nuts and seeds? That sounds reasonable. Is there any particular recipe or recipe book you recommend, and what does your diet consist of now?

Karen replies: This post (about what I eat) coming soon : )

[Diana]

Karen - you said: "which is why I now specialise in helping women with body issues." What kind of support do you offer in that area? Are you doing some counseling, or are there particular writings I should look for? Thanks!

Karen replies: This is something that comes up in coaching on a 1:1 basis, as it is usually highly personal and so needs to be individualised, however, one post that might appeal/help/inform for many with body issues can be found here:

http://tinyurl.com/yt5rul

If this particular post isn't relevant to you then feel free to email me with more info and I may have another post more suitable : )

[Laura]

Thank you so much for posting this! I've certainly experienced gaining weight on raw, and I know other women who have as well. What is it that shifted in having it work for you?

So...what happened in Seattle?? :)

Laura

Karen replies: My big shift first occurred when I became pregnant. I naturally started eating differently without trying; I actually lost weight during my first trimester! You can read more about that here:

http://tinyurl.com/267omk

Overall though, for me, being a build that naturally puts on weight more easily than loses it (mesomorph; medium build), I have found that I need to keep my diet really clean - i.e. mostly fresh fruits and veg (as it should be!) and much less nuts and fats. I also tend to thrive on sea veg and sprouted foods. And of course there's good old fashioned exercise!

Seattle... that is a VERY long story indeed, but a very interesting one. I'm not sure when I'll be able to write about that, but it's on the ever-growing "to do" list....

[Liz]

Wow, Karen, thank you for sharing that! It is good to be reminded that one size doesn't really fit all when it comes to food, that it is important for each individual to figure out what is the best thing for their own body rather than following something blindly. I think eating raw foods makes a lot of sense, but when I tried it I got wrapped up in having all the yummy desserts and snacks that are loaded with sugary fruits and nuts which did not end up making sense for ME.

Karen replies: Yes, absolutely. There is only one kind of person those desserts seem to "work" for (I use this term loosely), naturally skinny people!... And as I say, "loosely"...

[Kyle]

I'd love if you could share what you do eat now, as I am having trouble releasing weight on Raw. I've actually gained weight, and went from 105 to 120's. It's good to know that others have an issue too! (I'm 5'1)

Karen replies: I just had to type up what I eat in a typical day for the magazine article I just had the photo shoot for... I will use the content for another blog post within the next few days, so watch this space!

[Dhrumil]

Wow. Thank you for sharing so authentically Karen. That was a great post.

Karen replies: Thanks Dhru. About time we saw the "shadow side" of raw food "weight loss"!!