Day 159: Catching up after a few weeks.

Hello! Just thought I would pop in real quick and catch up with my blog.  I feel like it's been months since we've connected. ;)

During the last few weeks things have been crazy.  My husband's mom lost her battle with cancer and we had a quick trip to Utah for the funeral.  It was a sad time, but also a happy one as family from all over the states gathered together and had a few days to catch up.

As for me personally, I am uber frustrated with my body.  I feel like it's waged war against me! I'm very grateful for the ability to workout every day with my elliptical and I fear what I would look/feel like if I wasn't.  As I mentioned in the last post, I have had PCOS for most of my life.  When I was first diagnosed, the biggest concern was that I would never be able to have children.  Now looking back as a mother of four children, I know it was through my diet and a little help from the medical world with progesterone, I was able to get pregnant after a year of effort.

One thing I learned from my OB/GYN was that PCOS disappears while pregnant. Over the last 12 years, I was pregnant about every three years and I didn't really see a lot of my PCOS symptoms. It was actually easy for me to lose weight, especially when I was breastfeeding.

Our youngest is 2 1/2, in the past, this would be the time I would typically be having another baby, but since I'm not, something else is happening.  My PCOS is coming back in full force!  According to the scale, I'm up 7 pounds from last week.  SEVEN POUNDS in a WEEK???? The sad thing is that I didn't do anything to bring this on! No binge, no buffet, nothing but regular eating and exercising.  Part of me wants to curl up and actually do the binging I've already gained the poundage for, but I'm not.  *tempted* But I'm not.

So what's the plan? I am going to wear sun dresses now that it's warm. I refuse to go out and buy larger sized clothes, it's depressing.  My current clothes are snug and the way it feels makes me want to eat to comfort myself, which isn't good since I'm already tempted. (see above)  Sun dresses are cute and comfortable.  I don't know how I'll look, but at least I can feel comfortable while I make some tweaks to my lifestyle.

I've read a few chapters of my Schwarzbein and the science always fascinates me and supports my own thinking of health.  No chemicals, all natural, nourish your body and eat WHOLE foods.  The reason I LOVE to read these books is because of the science.  Over time, I forget the details of the science that shows me WHY I want to eat/live this way.  (For instance, I forgot just HOW important stress reduction and adiquate sleep was to endocrine system health--oops!)  Dr. Laura Schwarzbein is also an endocrinologist which means she has specific suggestions to help with endocrine issues, which PCOS is.

Weight loss and total health is a journey! Right now, I've hit one of the bumps and that's okay.  If it weren't for the rough spots, the happy times wouldn't be as exciting. :D