Wednesday, June 8, 2011

SPOTLIGHT on LINDSEY!



Hi All. I am so happy to be a part of this friendly, yet motivating competition, and even more grateful that Mindie is allowing me to do it from Wisconsin. (we used to be neighbors)

I am 30, just barely, and currently a SAHM with 3 kiddos: 5, 3 1/2, 18m. But my story of why I am here, with this group, began 9 months after I got married. (over 8 years ago) I rapidly gained 60+ lbs in just 6 months, despite being active with my new hubby. I no longer felt like a cute, young, newlywed... It took me a few more months to get the courage to start medically investigating the reason(s) for what was happening to me. I bounced from doctor to doctor to specialist, had tons of tests run, and was "diagnosed" with many causes: diabetes - no; Cushings disease - thankfully no; lazy lifestyle - what?! So I gave up on the medical world for a couple of years. It was about this time that I weighed my heaviest, and I graduated from college that way... so there are lots of photos of that. Boo. Later, I was correctly diagnosed with PCOS. But even then, there is no magic pill, but major lifestyle changes.

Since those days and now, I have tried many, many, many diets and workout plans. Each one brought discouragement when I would lose a little and then like auto-pilot, gain it right back. It was hard to feel positive about being healthy internally when there were no outward results. It seems petty, but it was true for me. BUT, last year, I found an amazing hormone specialist who worked with MY symptoms - not test results. Apparently, there was a lot my body was not producing on its own. So for the first time in years, and after 3 pregnancies, I am feeling like what a healthy person should feel like all the time. I don't have to crash on the couch every day, preventing me from being active. I LOVE LOVE LOVE exercising, and also don't have a major crash right after. My female stuff (sorry guys!) is working properly for the first time in my life. And, I have actually been losing weight and keeping it off. This has been an unbelievable side effect of proper hormonal therapy. (man, that made me sound so old!) But it's real. And I feel amazing.

I definitely believe in the power of exercise and a healthy diet for maintaining health and happiness. But, I also strongly encourage EVERYONE to get their numbers checked regularly: cholesterol, thyroid, glucose, progesterone, testosterone... These things are not often discussed when you first start chatting with doctors. YOU need to be your own advocate and find a medical professional who will LISTEN to what you know about you and your body. It's all about being balanced.

Good luck to us all!

1 comment:

  1. I should explain that the bottom picture was just over a year ago. The top one was from last month. I started on my hormone therapy a few months after the picture was taken last year. (and funny enough, both pics were with my niece... not my own baby!) There is a 17 lb difference in the 2 shots.

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