I have never really done a blog. I have never even been able to keep a diary or journal. I don't know why. I am just not good or consistent with such things. But somehow now it seems that this may be the most important time in my life to try to be consistent at keeping a blog. So I am going to do it here. In public. Where the whole world can see. Maybe I will even get a follower, or two. Maybe that will help me be more accountable to myself and therefore more motivated to keep up with this. So let's begin...

Age: 41 years 11 months

Weight: 280# as of February 2018

Size 18-20 in pants and 2X tops

Mood: grumpy

Sleep: I feel like no matter how much I sleep its never enough. 

Motivation: very little

So not sure where to start, but I will give the shortest version I can on where the PCOS part comes together for me. I started my cycle at or around 11 years old. From the moment it started, I was never regular. I always suffered very heavy and painful cycles. Although, my mom suffered way worse, so in her eyes, my cycles looked normal to her. I was also always a little fluffy. Never the skinny fit girl. Never athletic. 

Fast forward many years more of the same. My weight in high school was around 160# when I had Mononucleosis and was terribly ill. I ended high school around 180# and fluctuated from 180 - 200# throughout college. During Graduate school I became very very ill almost from the start. I had migraines weekly, and lots of sinus infections (which was the norm for me growing up as well). I felt sick and dragging all the time. At one point we discovered the apartment I lived in had some significant mold issues, so I moved to a cleaner safer apartment. That was when I was so ill, no doctor could figure out what was wrong with me. 

So during college I became pregnant. No babies... Still, no doctors ever considered that my cycles, weight gain, and miscarriage could be related. 

Over the years I took birth control to regulate my periods, but they still were not normal. Some pills were better then others. But I still got pregnant while taking the pill. Looking back now, I can see that the reason I got pregnant was because the pills raised my progesterone so that I could ovulate. Unfortunately, it was not enough to keep me pregnant. 

So about 2 years ago I went to a new doctor since I was living in new city. He was the first person to ask me (without prompting) if I had ever been diagnosed with PCOS. He ordered blood work and an internal ultrasound on day 21 to see if I had any cysts on my ovaries. Well it took more then 6 months to get the results. This doctor never followed up with me. I finally walked into the office to track down my own results. They confirmed cysts on one ovary and evidence of burst cysts on the other. Awesome! Finally a diagnosis... or so I thought. The doctors notes still indicated he didn't think that I had PCOS. I walked out and never looked back. So here we are today. Last month I finally took a chance and went to a new doctor/nurse practitioner. She comes recommended by many who have PCOS. So I took a chance. OMG! I love her. She ran blood work and listened to my entire medical history and she confirmed that I do actually have PCOS! Thank you sweet baby Jesus! 

Verdict: PCOS, Hypothyroid (low T3), Significant Vitamin D deficiency and mild Vitamin B12 deficiency (I have MTFHR genetic mutation) and of course... I am obese. Big fat freaking surprise there!

So let me back up a tiny bit and give you a 10 year condensed update: I figured out through trial and error and some natural practitioners advice that I am/was/aways have been allergic to milk and eliminated 90% of milk from my diet 10 years ago and 100% 5 years ago. I also had a little birdy, aka mentor/friend telling me to go gluten free. I finally listened to her 10 years ago and was 90% gluten free 10 years ago. About 6 years ago went 100% gluten free. About 5 years ago earlier this month, I met my future husband. He had recently begun a gluten free diet as well and had huge benefits. We discussed and agreed that as soon as we moved in together (3 months later) we would live, eat and breathe a Paleo diet. We were very successful and worked well meal planning, packing lunches and sticking to 80/20 paleo diet. We have even completed a couple of Whole30 cycles in the last 5 years. None of these diet changes ever resulted in me loosing weight... I repeat. None of these diet changes resulted in loosing weight!

Back to 2018 and today. The plan. 

First my Nurse practitioner started me on some supplements and prescriptions:

Formin (aka Natrual Metformin) 2 pills with breakfast, 1 pill with dinner

2 Vitamin D supplements 4x per week

Vitamin B complex 2 pills Daily

Cytomel (aka Liothyronine) 1pill 2x per day for thyroid function

Progesterone (natrual RX) days 10-28 of cycle at night

Last week I went to the Functional Medicine/Nutritionist practitioner that my nurse practitioner referred me to see. Conveniently, they are in the same office. This nutritionist actually has an incredible understanding of PCOS and the body and how it functions! OMG! I love this lady! 

So adding to the above plan and long story short. Keto diet is recommended and the most ideal diet for almost all with PCOS to loose weight. Makes sense... probably the only time I have intentionally lost weight was when I did South Beach Diet phase 1 (which is basically Keto). But the rest of South Beach did not do anything for me. 

So here I am. Week one Keto. Its been an adventurous week. Not too difficult since the hubs and I already eat Paleo and we have absolutely no junk food in the house. We are only having to give up a few of our favorite foods like sweet potatoes, and white potatoes. We have a few favorite restaurants that have gluten free bread or dairy free gluten free deserts, so we indulge from time to time. So this week has been a learning experience. We have had some successes and some failures. I will sum it up with this: Keto when our allergic to diary is a little more difficult, but not impossible; protein smoothies and other keto smoothies are your friend and will definitely help with the sweets cravings; Fitness Pal app is worth the investment to pay for the full version so you can set your daily intake goals, track your food and it shows you graphs that help people like me visualize the successes and failures daily. 

This may be a little abrupt, but I am going to stop here for tonight and hopefully this weekend I will get back on with a little more details on how we started figuring out how to eat on Keto and I will be using this as a way to help me do some of my diet tracking. 

If you have read all the way to this point, I'm shocked and a little excited that my little journal has intrigued you this much. 

ta ta for now,

Cece