So She Said to Lose Weight...

So this is my first blog post here. I want to keep track of my journey with polycystic ovaries paying particular attention to eating right and losing weight (at least for now). Later on, it might turn into a blog about trying to get pregnant. Conceiving can be quite a difficult task for someone with polycystic ovaries because ovulation is very irregular if at all. My husband and I have decided to start trying next year. I'm 32 so I feel like I need to get on it within the next few years. Also, we are at a point in our marriage where this would be a much welcome change to our family. Anyway, right now, I'm struggling with finding the proper treatment for what I have going on.

My gyno told me I have PCOS (polycystic ovarian syndrome) after an ultrasound of my ovaries and hearing the description of my symptoms. As a lay there on the table with an ultrasound wand jammed up inside of me, I saw my ovaries on the screen covered in cysts. Having worked in women's health as a student nurse and doula, I knew some of what that meant. The nursing student part of me that had heard about this, but never seen an ultrasound of it before, went, "Cool!" The woman inside of me that understood what it meant for me said, "Ah crap!"

Well I was sent out of the office with orders to have metabolic testing performed at the lab the next morning. My doctor asked about my exercise and eating habits. I told her that I am not always perfect, but I was a personal trainer and triathlon coach so I eat relatively healthy. I also told her that I run about 10-15 miles per week spread across 3 days. She looked at me with, "Yeah, right," written all over her face. I don't think she believed me. The advice that she gave me was to eat more vegetables, whole grains and some fruit (but not too much) and to avoid sweets. What did she think I was eating? Fast food and ice cream? Ok, I'll admit it, I do like to splurge on frozen yogurt. She also told me to cut out a day of running and add in a day of strength training because that helps to burn more calories. I rolled my eyes at her inaccuracy with that statement and went on my way.  She was correct in saying that I need to do strength training.

So all my labs came back within normal range, except for the reactive hypoglycemia from the 2 hour glucose tolerance test. When I asked her about it, she said that it was good because it wasn't high. Whatever...to a certain extent, I started ignoring what she has to say about things after she gave me the look of disbelief that I was running regularly. I'm angry that she won't test my hormone levels or send me to an endocrinologist. It seems to her that while I'm not trying to conceive, I don't need any of that. All I need to do is to lose weight. If you can't tell in my sarcasm, my eyes are rolling. I really don't think that losing weight will "fix" me.

I'm still learning, but some of what I have read has pointed to the fact that losing weight might help somewhat. During my teens and twenties, it has always been difficult to maintain my weight. For about two years in my early twenties, I was overweight so I did something about it....something drastic. I trained for triathlon. At first, I trained for Olympic distance races, then upped the ante to half Ironman distance and finally ended with Ironman distance races. Training coupled with a diet plan (weight watchers usually) is what it took for me to lose weight. Otherwise, I was completely unsuccessful. I didn't realize until now that this isn't what everyone has to do to lose weight.

Now that I am no longer doing triathlon training as I am back in school, I am having great difficulty not gaining weight. Over the past 2 years, I've gained about 35 pounds. So here's where the blog comes in. I want somewhere to record my journey, my struggles and my successes. Last Friday, I weighed myself at 179 pounds. When I was training for Ironman Canada, I was just under 140 pounds. For me, I think 145 would be a good goal. So here we go....