Hello, blog world!
I realize that it's been a little while...okay, months since I've posted anything. If you remember my post from August, I started a new job and it has definitely been an adjustment. I found that I just had to put the blog on the back burner for a little bit. That's not to say that I put my health on the back burner, because I certainly did not! I just needed to make sure I was focusing my time and energy in the right places. Between home life, work, and finding time to work out... there wasn't much free time left over to blog. I even felt like I didn't really have anything new to blog about. But I have missed it! And I'm here to share with you today : )
This post here...this has been rolling around in my head for a couple of months now. I've wanted to write it, debated with myself about how much I should share, talked myself out of writing it, etc. It's personal. But I really felt like someone might benefit from what I have to say and I needed to share this. So here I am.
Just a forewarning if I have any male readers... I am going to talk about some girly stuff in this post. Like girly stuff you might not want to know. Nothing gruesome. I'm just warning you.
Many of you know that in August I hit my year long goal of losing 50 lbs. It was a long hard journey ( you can check it out
here ) that I began for many reasons. One of the reasons that I did not share, and part of the reason I was hesitant to write this post, is that we wanted to start a family. I have struggled with a hormonal imbalance since I was 16. Weight gain, lack of menstrual cycle, etc. The solution at that time? Well, so that I would at least have a monthly cycle, I was put on birth control. Fast forward to early 2012: I decided to stop taking the BC. I wanted to see what my body would do without the extra hormones controlling it. I knew we would be trying to start our family within the next year or so and I knew that I needed to make sure my hormones were in check. So I went off the pill and my cycle started, although rather irregularly... and then it stopped. And then I began to gain weight. Like, 60 lbs worth of weight- partly due to hormones, partly because I wasn't treating my body right. I was miserable and tired and frustrated with my body. Another trip to the doctor in the summer of 2012 (a different one...the first doctor that simply put me on BC was not helpful to me at all) revealed that my hormones were indeed imbalanced and that because of that imbalance, I had developed insulin resistance. Simply put, my body takes extra carbs and sugar and doesn't process them, but instead immediately stores them as fat. Specifically, the body stores the carbs and sugar as fat in the midsection--- which is where I had gained most of my weight. My doctor recommended that I begin a low carb diet to help with insulin resistance and hormone imbalance. I also did a little bit of research on my own and found that women who have insulin resistance experienced great success with a gluten free diet on top of a low carb diet. Armed with all of this new information, I began to revamp my diet. I cut out soda and sugary drinks, as many processed foods as I could, bread, pasta, and artificial sweeteners (Side note: so, so bad for you!! That includes Splenda and the "Stevia" that most stores sell!) I started to incorporate more fruits, veggies, lean proteins, nuts, eggs, etc. Along with completely changing what I ate, I was working out as well. If you notice, I have never once referred to this as "dieting." Diets are not sustainable for life. This had to be a lifestyle change. I wanted, no, NEEDED to be healthy and I had to change my lifestyle to reflect that. And it did work. Between exercising and eating clean, I began to lose weight and and after a few months I began to just feel better in general. I had more energy, I wasn't getting sick...but I still wasn't getting my cycle (That's kind of important for having a baby.) It would have been easy for me to get discouraged, but I had to remind myself that I was trying to undo years of wacky hormones and treating my body like crap and I knew that wasn't going to be undone within a matter of a few months. In February of 2013, we decided that we were going to try to get pregnant. Because my cycle still wasn't regular, my doctor put me on progesterone which would balance my hormones enough that I would get it but would not act as a contraceptive. I reluctantly began taking it. As much as I did not want to take hormones again, I wanted a baby even more. She told us that if we didn't conceive within six months we would move on to the next phase of hormone treatment. Well, six months came and went and still no baby. Over those six months, I continued to do everything I could to become a healthier version of myself. I also continued to pray that God would heal my body. More than anything, I wanted us to be able to conceive naturally. And something great happened over that period of time. While we didn't conceive, I got my cycle. In July, August, and again in September. That was a HUGE thing! I had not had a consistent cycle in YEARS. But because we didn't conceive, we went back to the doctor in August. She then put me on Clomid, which is a pill that makes women ovulate. Because along with my previously irregular cycle it appeared that I was not ovulating on my own (another thing that's kind of important for having a baby.) I wasn't really a fan of this pill, but I decided to give it a shot. At the same time, I was still eating healthy, exercising, and I had just hit my 50 lb weight loss goal. We did our first round in August...and it didn't work. In September, my doctor ordered some more tests, for both myself and my husband, so we decided to just let things be that month. I already mentioned that I got my cycle on my own that month, but we decided to skip that month's round of Clomid. In October it was time to start another round, but I had to do some blood work first--- blood work that came back with a surprise! We were pregnant! After doing the math to figure out when we conceived, we realized that it happened in September. Which meant that we had conceived naturally
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| Post blood work pregnancy test...because I had to see for myself! |
I share all of this because I honestly don't believe I would be where I am today if I had let my health continue on as it was. Besides being pregnant, I am the healthiest I have ever been and I know it's because of the changes I made. My husband said something to me the other day after our ultrasound that really acted as the catalyst for me sharing this. He said, "I know if you didn't do what you did to get healthy, our baby girl probably wouldn't be here." Those words really enforced the importance of the changes I had made.Now, I surely can't take all of the credit. I mentioned earlier how I prayed for God to heal me, and He certainly did! But I know He has also called me to take care of the body He has given me and that I am walking in obedience to that.
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| Halfway there! |
Maybe my story resonates with you as well. There are so many people out there struggling with illnesses and health problems that can be relieved or resolved by changing the food they eat! Granted, I am not a doctor and changing what you eat and drink may not be the cure all. But it's a really good place to start. What you put in your body matters! Eat and drink for your health.
