hey. i made a post not too long ago on here about stretch marks ,weight gain, etc., and i guess i am back to ask another question... to those of you who have struggled with body image issues, how did you overcome them? also, for those of you who were losing weight while struggling with these issues, how did you keep away from the "diet" mentality, and keep your "regimen" from becoming a full on eating disorder? i have struggled with self image and eating issues for a few years, and i want to heal them, fully. i am, right now, vegan, almost entirely, although i do sometimes slip up; however, this is part of being human and part of a growing process. i eventually want to become mostly raw, however i do eat a wide variety of raw foods and have deep respect for the healing of all sorts of raw foods, vegan or not. after a long talk with an advisor today about self image, depression, and my "quest" to lose weight she gave me a different perspective. sometimes, having strict boundaries, like wanting to be vegan, or raw vegan, or whatever, can turn into something much more out of control and sometimes i definitely believe that people use cleanses, fasts, etc. as a mask for disordered eating. well, i believe in the power of raw healing and i believe in veganism for different reasons, but i also believe that i should be able to lose the 45+ lbs. i've gained this year. but i want to do it in a way that empowers me, and i want to do it for myself. i don't want to fall back into the old patterns of comparing my body to everyone else's, i don't want to struggle with the diet game, i don't want to gain back all the weight within 5 years (98% of women, apparently, do) . i want to feel strong, i want to develop self control and self confidence. i want to love every part of me, even the stretch marks... what do you think?
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oh my gosh. thank you both so much for replying
joannabanana, my email address is martha.elizabeth.scott@gmail.com, i would love to email someone who is going through something very similar.. thank you for your words xx
rawlibrarian, i actually do practice vinyasa though i have never fully been able to get the hang of the meditation thing fully. every time i clear my head enough i start to notice a minute later and the thoughts crawl back in. i don't think mantras, meditation, or yoga are dopey. i think they are very healing:) thank you for your thoughts and it definitely does help. i am going to try to incorporate more of this into my life.
Marta,
Sometimes its just nice to hear that you are not alone out there, and that body image issues can be faught and conquered. Heres a little history from my life...as a little girl I was given medication to control my epilepsy, it caused me to gain a huge amount of weight and at eleven I was 140 lbs. I remember kids making fun of me and calling me fat and piggy. A few years later the doctors took me off of the medication and I lost all of the weight but still had the body image of being "fat" I struggled with that forever and at one point going over the edge losing over 30lbs of my bodyweighty to 98lbs. I was eating a vegan diet and used that to control my eating habits and was running 7 miles a day and was scared of any kind of nuts or oils becase I thought I would gain the weight back. This was devistating to my body of course...my gums started bleeding and hurting...I was always sick and had no energy what so ever. I hadn't had my period for more than a year...and I started having major breathing problems. Then my family including my husband helped me see that what I was doing was hurting my body. I accepeted that I had anorexia and started eating more fats, breads, and other things that were "forbidden" before. I had a hard time gaining the weight back because I was still very active and still a little timid about food. I had to stop running for a while but when I finally I got my period back...adding more nuts, avocodos into my diet I was able to start excercizing again without having to worry about a calorie deficit. I got back to my perfect weight and then the real healing process began. I had to heal my body image. I started doing yoga and playing music(a hobby of mine that was lost in the mitst of the obsesssion. I also started looking in the mirror every morning and night and said I LOVE YOU to myself meaningfully. I went to massage school and learned everything I could about the body and how amazing it really is. Only in the past year have I started to really Love myself and who I am. My husband made sure I knew that he was behind me the whole time and that also helped our marriage grow so much closer. I would say to find something that you love doing(music, art, writing, etc) Find people you love to help you and who do not make you feel judged to help you through your journey. Tell yourself "I love you" every morning when you wake up look yourself strait in the eyes and say it meaningfully! Yes it will sink in. Dont deprive yourself of any thing you truely want...You deserve it. Good Luck I hope this helped
jody