My PCOS weight gain and 70 lb weight loss story

PCOS weight gain and weight loss story

Happy Monday!

It was brought to my attention that I didn’t give you all a full story on my  PCOS weight  gain and weight loss story and I was asked to dig a little deeper for you guys. Just a warning. This is going to be a long one.

We as women and mothers are always so hard on ourselves when it comes to our physical appearance and weight. It’s on every magazine cover in the checkout line; every commercial break on TV; every pop up ad on the internet. The thing with your journey shouldn’t just be about rocking that new bikini (don’t get me wrong, that’s pretty exciting too) but should be more about your health and the healthy ways to get there. It’s not a pill or some magical diet. I hate that word diet. Your weight loss will never stay, your health isn’t going to magically improve by one diet. It’s a lifestyle change. It’s a commitment. Its dedication.

My husband is huge on supplements and nutrition as well. For a very long time, he was a manager of a health food and supplement store. He would help people everyday who were in for that one famous TV doctor’s newest (you know the one, right?) “magical weight loss pill”. One of my favorite stories of his was a woman who came in looking for that one such pill. My husband informed her of the dosage, advised her that it should be accompanied with a healthy diet and exercise regime in order to see any results. She asked him to repeat the dosage. Her exact quote was “I have to take this pill 6 times a day? With diet and exercise? That’s too much work!!!” Ahem?? Say what?? Im here to tell you girls, a pill, again, is not the answer. If you are wanting me to tell you that taking a pill is going to get you the results we all want, well, Im not going to. And Im not going to tell you that there isnt work involved. There is. There has to be a mindshift in how you look at food. Food is to fuel your body. Yes, we all like it to taste good too, obviously. And Im not here to tell you to eat nothing but rabbit food and baked chicken either.

Im going to tell you all how I put on the weight to begin with and how and when I finally said “ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!”.

Like I said before, I was an active and reasonably fit teenager. However, after I got a little older, I discovered I had PCOS (polycystic ovarian syndrome) and endometriosis which causes things like, you guessed it, weight gain. It also causes infertility. Shortly after my husband and I were married, I had to begin treatment for my PCOS. I started on prescription drugs to help regulate my blood sugars and monthly cycles. I was not on the medication long when I became pregnant. I was shocked and we were both so excited. However, very shortly thereafter, I miscarried. My doctors did not have a very positive outlook on my chances of conceiving and an even more grim approach on conceiving without intervention. For 3 1/2 years, I was on almost every single fertility drug you could imagine. Pills, shots, surgeries, procedures, etc. I suffered two more miscarriages after my first. Do you know what all those hormones do to your physique along with the stress of constant appointments and miscarriages? Yep, I packed on the pounds. And quickly. And a lot of them.

And then my miracle happened. I was told Id never conceive without intervention. I found out I was pregnant with my son only days before starting a round of treatment for IVF(in-vitro fertilization). I enjoyed almost every single minute of that pregnancy. And, well, I enjoyed feeding him and myself too. Yep-more pounds, more weight. I only gained thirty pounds with him but on top of the weight I was already carrying? Yikes! However, my true little miracle baby boy was born healthy and GORGEOUS!

And then, I didn’t lose much of the weight after he was born and around the time he was fourteen months old, I found out I was pregnant again. And again, I miscarried. Thats pregnancy number five in five years and miscarriage number four. In the process of dealing with that, when my son was fifteen months old, I became pregnant with my daughter. Yep, pregnancy number six in five years. Have we mentioned hormones and weight gain before? Because, yeah, there they are again. I found out after miscarriage number four that I had multiple blood clotting disorders, on top of everything else, that were causing my miscarriages and was put on shots of blood thinners in order to keep this baby. So, that high risk pregnancy sticker on my chart from my son was upgraded while I was pregnant with my daughter. Limited activity. Strict monitoring. The gammet.

I looked in the mirror and at the scale after she was born and burst into tears at the number on the scale. That could not possibly be right. There is absolutely NO WAY that I weight what this dumb thing is telling me I do. I was in denial, for real.

I remember looking at pictures and being in denial that thats what others saw of me when they looked at me.

My point in telling you all of this incredibly personal information about me is this, we all have a story. We all have our “reasons” of why we fell off track and no longer like what we see reflecting back at us in the mirror or the number on the scale. Everyone has their own personal journey.

Around the time my daughter was turning three, I had had enough. I wanted my kids to look up to me. I needed my kids to have a good role model in their mother that was teaching them to be happy with themselves. That was teaching them healthy choices.

See, for those of you that aren’t from the middle to southern part of Indiana and think we are a bunch of Yankees, let me fill you in. Indiana home cooked food is fried and battered and has gravy and real butter. We are a pretty darn southern state stuck in cold winters. We know how to cook food that sticks to your ribs. We can fry a chicken and make some amazing mashed potatoes and homemade gravy to go right along with an ear of Indiana sweet corn, ok? And don’t forget the biscuits or the noodles.

This was changing in my house. Things are no longer batter dipped and fried and smothered in gravy, mmkay? However, I started small. Substitute the brown rice for the white rice. Whole grain bread for the over processed white bread. Instead of frying that chicken, I was baking it in bread crumbs. A green veggie was a must for every meal. And my absolute biggest change? Portion control. If I ate my serving of that rice and chicken and I was still hungry, I went for a second helping of broccoli and not rice. I had small healthy snacks between meals. No longer did I grab for a bag of chips, but went for the celery and hummus instead. I was never starving, I just made better choices. But I didn’t deprive myself either. If I was really wanting a brownie, I had a small piece and adjusted my meals for the rest of the day to account for it. Making foods and things you love completely off limits will only cause you to binge out one day and majorly backslide. And then, you feel like you’re starting all over again.

And yes, I began being more active. Did I start out with this gym regimine I have now? Um, yeah, no way. You work up to it. You progress.

But lets also make this clear, no exercise cancels out what you put in your body. Physiques are 80% what you put in your body and 20% the things you do with it. You cant out lift bad eating habits. You just cant. It doesn’t work that way.

Here’s my advice to you. Start small. Set your goals in increments. Celebrate those achievements. Start at a ten pound goal. And then your next ten. Celebrate that loss of a pant size. You know what I would do? Id celebrate with new clothes that made me feel great about my new physique. Once I reached that thirty pound goal, I went and bought myself some form fitting expensive jeans and rocked them. That new body was no longer wearing mom jeans that gave me mom-butt, ok? And then Id celebrate with new shoes, or whatever I had my eye on in an outfit in my new size. It feels amazing to celebrate your accomplishments that way. Log your food and calories and carbs and fats and protein. Your body needs them ALL to be healthy. There are amazing apps that can help you with this. Cutting out an entire food group isn’t healthy for you either. Well, you can cut out the fast food food group. Find a support buddy. Keep each other motivated. Keep each other supportingly accountable.

I am now down 70 pounds and from a size 14 to a size zero and am stronger, healthier, leaner than I’ve EVER been in my life. I’m a smaller size and in better shape than I was at seventeen. Trust me, if I can do it, anyone can. Its starting that’s the hard part.

And there is no excuse for not starting TODAY. The only thing you’ll regret is looking at the calendar and wishing you would have started sooner. You’ll never regret starting. You’ll never regret looking at your day and realizing you made great food choices. You’ll never regret getting your workout in. Make it a routine. Make it your lifestyle.

Im living proof that it works.

I look forward to sharing this journey with you and Id LOVE to hear your stories. Email me. Comment on my post. Find me on Instagram. Ask me questions. Share your story! I look forward to hearing from you!!

Thanks for reading my long rant, y’all!!

Rachael