268 - Yes I know, It Has Been a While...

OK OK, I know, I know... It has been like a hugely long time since I have posted anything. It has been an eventful time though... really!

In my last post I was super-frustrated (understatement!!) because no matter what I did nothing would come off and I would just gain and gain and gain.

Well here is the story of the past few months:

Fate walked in, in a manner of speaking, when I got a terrible cold last August. My regular Dr had no appointments so I figured I would try a new Dr not far from me that had same day "sick" appointments. I was really dreading another new Dr who would just yell at me some more about how much I weighed.

I got an appointment with the Nurse Practitioner and when I got there I did the usual cringe when the number popped up on the scale. I had brought with me the Thyroid bloodwork numbers that I had asked my GYN for the month before so I could show them to someone and get an opinion.

When she first came in to see me we addressed my cold... a run of the mill virus. Then I asked if I could talk to her about my weight... I dont know if I was just at my wits end, or just feeling so bad from my cold, but I started bawling. I told her about the thyroid test and that it was normal but I just had felt so run down and lifeless for so long. I just felt that something was wrong with me. This was the FIRST person in the medical profession to actually listen to me and how I was feeling instead of just yelling at me to not eat so much. Yes... other Drs had actually told me I was lying to them about what I was eating. Other Drs faked sympathy and loaded me with antidepressants since I must have been depressed.

My Nurse Practitioner ordered more bloodwork than I have ever had done before in my life! But I was just so thankful that someone finally was listening to me! Then I got the phone call, the bloodwork was in... I needed to come in to discuss the results... always a scary thing.

After looking at the numbers and levels etc. she determined that I DO have something causing all this! PCOS (Poly-Cystic Ovarian Syndrome) was causing my hormones, including insulin, to be out of whack. This was why I could not seem to lose and had absolutely no energy! She prescribed Metformin to help my insulin work better, but I did not take it the first 2 months. I had worked so hard to get off from all those anti-depressants I was fearful of more drugs. Instead I tried an extremely low-carb diet, which I found out for me was not something I could love with long-term.

I bit the bullet and decided to start taking the Metformin... and lost 10 pounds pretty easily without changing much at all and was finally feeling energy again! It is amazing what can happen when your cells get energy from what you eat instead of it all turning straight to fat!

Fast Forward to about a month ago -- I needed to make some more changes. I was not losing anymore, but truthfully I was making some crappy choices too. I needed a plan, which I was a bit weary of since nothing had worked before. My one hope was that whatever plan I chose would actually work this time because my body was actually processing food correctly now.

I decided to join Weight Watchers Online. I am NOT a meeting person - but I just needed some structure. So... at 275 I signed up. It has been a little over a month and I am down to 268.

I know with my PCOS I will lose slowly, I am hoping for 1 pound a week average as opposed to the 2 pounds a week I would love to achieve.

So far this time it has been much easier to stick to since I know what I am delaing with.

I decided to come back to my blog because I want to have a journal of sorts somewhere to follow my progress and remember where I have been.