So my intention was to get this blog up like a week ago but boy has life gotten in my way! I got the flu last weekend (who even gets the flu in the summer?!), then work has been just nuts and to top it off I got food poisoning this weekend! YUCK! But I did learn that apparently my body can not handle digesting both shrimp and corn at the same time...this is apparently a well known fact in the medical field but was not known to me and trust me I will never give that a shot again :)
So I have been looking into a lot of information on PCOS to see what my options are for treatment and for the time being below is what I am going to do to keep up with it. My hope is as time goes by and I have more time to research and find things out, I will be able to find a more natural way to combat the hormone issues than birth control but since that takes time for now I am settling for the easy solution.
Again, I am putting my story out here for the world because I want other women to feel they aren't alone and hopefully so I can feel so not alone as well. After my last post, I had a few friends reach out to me and I really REALLY appreciated knowing I am so supported and not alone....thank you friends :)
My Current Treatment
1. Birth Control
So it is a necessary evil at this point. For the rest of my life I will be on some sort of hormone balancing medication. For now, birth control does the trick and I must say that being two weeks into it I have actually felt better! For now, I am not having any issues with my blood pressure or insulin. But I have heard from a couple of people that Metaformin (probably misspelled) is prescribed for some to help women with PCOS and acne/insulin issues, currently not an issue.
I also was told to see an endocrinologist. If you are like me, an endocrinologist basically studies hormones and hormone imbalances. So I am planning in the fall probably to set up an appointment with one to see exactly what my hormone imbalances are and to see what natural treatments I can look into....from what I have read, I will get some blood and they will do a map out of exactly what my levels for all the hormones are and where they should be and how to get them there. Sounds pretty cool really, but I am pretty jam packed with life happenings so I am adding it to the bottom of my to do list.
2. Exercise
One of the risk factors with PCOS is obesity. I am still not sure how the whole obesity and PCOS connection work but studies show that more women with PCOS are obese than the regular population. Well, I definitely do not want to be in that group! I have put a big effort into my fitness and nutrition in the last 12 months, lost over 15 pounds and just as many inches off my body working my butt off using BeachBody. I love LOVE the way I look and feel now so much more than a year ago and I don't want to lose that for anything.
Having said all that, I am inherently a lazy person....when I allow myself the choice I will always choose to watch tv over doing a workout (like most sane people would). But, I am realizing this is no longer just a choice for me. This is a matter of keeping myself healthy for my family and our future.
For the last couple of weeks, I have kind of allowed myself to slip back into my lazy habits, i.e. working out maybe twice a week because I felt like life was getting the best of me. Let me tell you, I can feel the difference in my attitude, my energy level and my presence with my work and family :(
So starting this week, I am back to workouts at least 5 days a week! For the time being because I am loving running right now, I think I am going to focus on running 2-3 miles at least 3 times a week and doing 10 minute trainer 5 times a week.
Once I am back in the habit and if Lily ever gets back to a regularly sleeping child, I might switch back to T25 or Insanity Max:30 in addition to my running, but my focus for now is to re-establish the habit! :)
One of the risk factors with PCOS is obesity. I am still not sure how the whole obesity and PCOS connection work but studies show that more women with PCOS are obese than the regular population. Well, I definitely do not want to be in that group! I have put a big effort into my fitness and nutrition in the last 12 months, lost over 15 pounds and just as many inches off my body working my butt off using BeachBody. I love LOVE the way I look and feel now so much more than a year ago and I don't want to lose that for anything.
Having said all that, I am inherently a lazy person....when I allow myself the choice I will always choose to watch tv over doing a workout (like most sane people would). But, I am realizing this is no longer just a choice for me. This is a matter of keeping myself healthy for my family and our future.
For the last couple of weeks, I have kind of allowed myself to slip back into my lazy habits, i.e. working out maybe twice a week because I felt like life was getting the best of me. Let me tell you, I can feel the difference in my attitude, my energy level and my presence with my work and family :(
So starting this week, I am back to workouts at least 5 days a week! For the time being because I am loving running right now, I think I am going to focus on running 2-3 miles at least 3 times a week and doing 10 minute trainer 5 times a week.
Once I am back in the habit and if Lily ever gets back to a regularly sleeping child, I might switch back to T25 or Insanity Max:30 in addition to my running, but my focus for now is to re-establish the habit! :)
3. Nutrition
My least favorite topic! I am a terrible dieter, the minute you tell me I can't eat something is the minute I have the biggest most intense craving for that something!
My doctor told me it isn't about dieting, it was about portion control and making sure to have a balanced diet. She pretty much summed up what my problem was/is, I am a creature of habit. If I find something I like I can go like weeks only eating that for lunch.
So my doctor told me to keep up the shakeology because that gives me the important vitamins and good stuff I need daily and then to look at adding variety to the rest of my meals.
Following doctor's orders, I am going to restart my Shakeology for breakfast. I also just bought the new beachbody cookbook "Fixate" by Autumn Calabrese. It's 101 recipes that are healthy and are all about portion control and variety, even if I only find a couple of recipes the cookbook will be worth it!
I am going to start with these easy baby steps into treatment for PCOS because I want to know more about what I have before I try and change my whole life to try and fix it!
If any of you readers have any questions, comments or concerns please reach out to me!
Thanks for joining me in this journey!
My least favorite topic! I am a terrible dieter, the minute you tell me I can't eat something is the minute I have the biggest most intense craving for that something!
My doctor told me it isn't about dieting, it was about portion control and making sure to have a balanced diet. She pretty much summed up what my problem was/is, I am a creature of habit. If I find something I like I can go like weeks only eating that for lunch.
So my doctor told me to keep up the shakeology because that gives me the important vitamins and good stuff I need daily and then to look at adding variety to the rest of my meals.
Following doctor's orders, I am going to restart my Shakeology for breakfast. I also just bought the new beachbody cookbook "Fixate" by Autumn Calabrese. It's 101 recipes that are healthy and are all about portion control and variety, even if I only find a couple of recipes the cookbook will be worth it!
I am going to start with these easy baby steps into treatment for PCOS because I want to know more about what I have before I try and change my whole life to try and fix it!
If any of you readers have any questions, comments or concerns please reach out to me!
Thanks for joining me in this journey!
