In early May, I found my weight had crept to the high end of the "healthy" range (I'm 5'7" and I was weighing in at 159.4 LBS). I cranked my running into high gear and cut back on eating veggies cooked in oil--loading up on steamed veggies/salad instead. Then, in June, I picked up Eat to Live and started doing a modified version of that (I don't abide by his "no snacks" rule--sorry, I'm active and I need to stay fueled!) So, between early May and late September, I went down to 133, where I've been ever since. The funny thing--to me anyway--is I've reached a tipping point of some sort, where people have gone from saying "You look great" to "You're getting too skinny!" Funny to me because I'm not even close to being underweight. I'd have to drop below 118 for that.
I'm now reading The Thrive Diet, which is awesome because it's written by a vegan triathlete, Brendan Brazier, and he actually gets the whole "needing fuel" thing and is all about meals + snacks. He's got some promising-looking recipes at the end, too, many of which are raw (though not all, and I don't see myself becoming a 100% raw vegan).
In related news, here is where I am with my running progress. In October, I did Race for the Cure, and my time was 26:47. Last year's was 30:28. Average per-mile time went from 9:49 to 8:38. Then, earlier this month, I did my first 15K (longest race I ever did, including high school, when I ran cross country and track). My first mile I did in about 8:42 and I got slower as I went, but I was still happy with my overall time. 1:28:11--9:29/mile average (so still faster than last year's 5K pace!).
My yoga practice has also been developing so that I can do things I couldn't do before and overall I'm stronger than I've been, maybe ever. It's so silly that people have a stereotype of weak vegans--I just keep getting stronger and faster and I've never felt better. 41 years old and I feel younger than I did when I was 21.
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Congratulations on your success in eating. I presume a raw Vegan is one who cooks nothing and eats things straight off the vine. I don't think I could do that. There are some vegetables I don't think I could put down unless they were softened up by some cooking.
I have also experienced the attitude you described with people thinking you are too thin. I remember with some astonishment when my father, who used to nag me to lose weight during my excessively overweight stage, was the same person who started telling me he was getting worried I was losing too much weight during my weight loss stage, and this despite the fact I was still heavier than he was. I don't quite understand that thought process.
One person who told me I'm getting too skinny said something about being used to the way I looked before, and noted that I hadn't been fat to begin with--so I guess compared to my not-fat though heavier "before" self, my current self seems "too skinny" to her? I don't know--it's kind of odd. :)
I'm not an expert on the whole "raw" thing--the author of The Thrive Diet suggests that cooking foods below a certain temperature also qualifies as consuming foods raw. I'm not done reading the book and haven't tried any of the recipes yet, so I guess I'll know more soon.
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