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| Me at my heaviest- December 2009 |
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| August 2011 |
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| November 2011 |
I will try to make this very long story as short and sweet as possible... I would have to say my journey to healthy living started in 2006. My husband and I were ready to start a family so I got off of my oral contraceptive figuring we would be pregnant in no time. Instead, a year later we were still not pregnant and I found myself 30 pounds overweight and desperate for a baby. I tried everything to get the weight off but the scale would not budge. When I reported my crazy weight gain and voiced my frustration at my inability to get it off to my OB/GYN she did testing and found that I have Poly Cystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS)(weight gain and difficulty losing weight are red flags for PCOS I later found out). PCOS is one of the most common causes of infertility affecting 1 in 10 American women. On its most basic level PCOS is a hormonal imbalance which interferes with the body's ability to ovulate causing infertility. This imbalance also causes weight gain (often rapid at the onset of symptoms) and insulin resistance which not only contributes to the weight gain but also makes it very difficult to lose the weight. It seems that my oral contraceptive had been keeping my PCOS in check. When I got off of it to become pregnant my hormonal imbalance caused my rapid weight gain. My OB/GYN prescribed Clomid to help my body to ovulate. After several months of this drug I was pregnant and another 20 pounds heavier thanks to the clomid. Unfortunately women with PCOS have a 3 times greater chance of miscarriage and this was the fate of our little angel. After the loss of our sweet baby I did some hard core research on PCOS. (I highly recommend the book
A Patient's guide to PCOS by Walter Futterweit.) It was then that I found out that PCOS also increases a women's risk for diabetes, high triglyceride levels, high blood pressure, gestational diabetes, cardiovascular disease, heart attack, and cancer. This is when the decision to turn my life around was made- at 2 am while reading Dr. Futterweit's book! The next day I started my couch to 5K program ( I had been a runner off and on since 2001, however the weight gain had put me in an "off" cycle). At my follow up appt with my OB/GYN she prescribed Metformin- a diabetes drug that has not only been effective in treating women with PCOS but has been shown to decrease the miscarriage rate in these women as well. So, with the Metformin, runnning, and heathy eating I was able to loose 15 pounds before becoming pregnant with my beautiful son (once again thanks to Clomid). This pregnancy was thankfully uneventful and my dreams of motherhood came true the day we were blessed with his arrival! During my pregnancy I had gained back the 15 I lost so I had a lot of work ahead of me! Six weeks after his arrival my OB/GYN released me to exercise and I once again started my couch to 5K program. This time I had not only the Metformin but also an oral contraceptive to help combat my PCOS. I started researching everything I could about good health. I was/am bound and determined to retain my health despite my PCOS. Over the past 2 years I have changed my life completely. I have lost 70+ pounds (going from a size 18 back to the size 6 I was in high school), run 3 half marathons, and I even started to cook (those who know me know what a huge deal that is!). My weight loss even inspired my husband, mom, dad, sister, and aunt to lose weight and improve their health! Which got me thinking that maybe I could help others get on track. I think that most of us want to be healthy (and thin!), we just lack information. That is where this blog comes in. In my journey I have learned so much about healthy living and I would love to share it with you. Additionally, I have a LOVE for running and over the past 2 years have had several people ask how they can get started so I will be including a fair amount of running information here as well. If running is not your thing, any cardiovascular exercise will do. JUST GET MOVING! With knowledge, hard work, and self discipline ANYTHING is possible. :)
