Thanks for sharing!

My Story

It wasn’t like I didn’t know I was fat or gaining weight. During my sophomore year of college, I went to see a doctor about having allergies. He informed me that (then I was at 200 pounds) I was morbidly obese, as if I hadn’t noticed. I informed him that I had never walked past a mirror so there was no way I could have known. I mean, it’s not like shopping in the plus size section of the women’s department was an indicator or that my food budget had increased two-fold. Certainly not the overwhelming urge to mainline brownies directly into my bloodstream. Oh no, none of those things could have told me I was heavy.

I left without any help for my allergies and didn’t return to any kind of doctor until I was 25.

When I turned 25, it was very clear I was out of control. A friend recommended a foreign doctor in PA who had helped her lose weight. In retrospect, the fact that his office was filled with lawn chairs and could have been packed up in a moment’s notice should have tipped me off to his legitimacy. However, it did not. He weighed me, called me the “fattest woman in his office,” told me I was hypertensive (I was 110/80 – another clue he may not have been at the top of his medical school class), and then prescribed me Phentermine.

Phentermine doesn’t just shut off the hunger and pleasure receptors in your brain, it also jacks up your blood pressure. I lost weight. I lost weight like it was my freakin’ job. Forty pounds came off like ten minutes ago. But now I was having weirdo girl issues, including some funky hair growth and severe mood swings. It was a very Jekyll and Hyde experience, but man-oh-man was my house clean, drawers organized, closets arranged. I don’t think I slept for about three months.

It was addictive, and by the time I came off of it, I had lost weight but I was hypertensive and having headaches all the time on top of having periods way longer than normal and pretty much whenever my uterus felt like it.

In January, I ended up at the gynecologist’s office because my period had gone on for 19 days. I was diagnosed as having Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS) along with Metabolic Syndrome (or Syndrome X). It became very clear how I had managed to gain more than 150 pounds in less than six years. PCOS causes your body to run off of ketones due to insulin resistance and an overabundance of testosterone in the body. What this essentially means is that everything you put into your mouth gets turned into fat rather than energy – literally, once on the lips, forever on the hips. It also explained why my mood swings had become severe, though they had never really been this side of pleasant.

It meant big changes had to be made.

I had to eat organic, I had to stop eating simple carbs, I had to take insulin resistance medication along with birth control to combat the testosterone, and I had to go the gym if I had any hope of re-regulating my body’s processes. I was also informed that it was likely I was infertile. Awesome.

If you did the math, this means I was down to 311 pounds when I was diagnosed with PCOS. The other 19 pounds came off through sheer determination and probably luck – well, and working out three times a week for more than an hour. My workouts involve between 20 and 40 minutes of cardio and three sets of three different weight exercises. Barefoot running has been a great help also.

My Diet

I tried dropping everything. It didn’t work. I ended up sending my body into starvation mode. I was eating only 1000 calories a day. I started working with a trainer and going to the gym regularly. We talked about diet, but here’s the main things I’ve changed:

Soda once on Saturday only.
No more fast food – I can eat out, but it has to be sit down dining. Mexican is my favorite, but it contains a lot of those complex carbohydrates like beans.
Bento boxes for lunch instead of eating out – the Japanese an this equation for their meals, which is one bread to one protein to two veggies.
Protein shakes after working out and protein at breakfast.
Breakfast every. single. day.
Organic whenever possible – especially veggies, meat, and dairy.

My Goals

My current goals include being able to clean my three level town home in less than one day, to run with my soccer-playing husband, to take the stairs at work without sweating (7th floor), to have no more lower back pain when I walk, and to eventually be able to be in good enough shape to have kids. My fertility is dependent on my weight, so weight loss is a big party of my journey. I’ve been chronicling my adventures at the gym with my two trainers here: http://www.facebook.com/mrsholsclaw?v=app_2347471856&ref=profile

I love this blog and I love the book. I have the philosophy posted in my cube!