My pregnancy experience was not completely blissful. There I said it.
Yes the early moments of first finding out and pre- morning sickness were wonderful, but that didn’t last long. I struggled with pre-eclampsia pretty early on. Which left me feeling horribly sick for 37 weeks, up to the day I delivered.
This should have been, or could have been early signs to the real problem lying underneath. I just assumed it was stress from work or hereditary problems, as many people suggested.
I gained about 60 pounds with my first pregnancy. After delivering the 7-pound sweet little baby, I lost about 7 pounds… talk about frustrating.
My husband never pressured me to lose the weight.
My body changed just like our lives had changed. However, I was always bothered by the lingering extra weight I gained from pregnancy. As a mom I want to encourage a healthy lifestyle to my kids. I am a runner, I ran pre pregnancy, a little bit through pregnancy then picked it up again after. I’m a gym-goer, I stay active, and I have always enjoyed healthy foods and living a healthy lifestyle. So as you can imagine I was very confused and discouraged about holding on to the weight. When my workouts didn’t seem to be cutting it, I began to adjust my diet. I tried all the fad diets whole heartedly each time thinking – This is the one! This is going to work!
Nope.
A couple years later my husband and I were thrilled to be expecting again. Fearful of the same experience I was very careful about my diet while pregnant and had the same experience, gained a little bit of weight that never came off.
I was upset. I didn’t want my issues with my weight to get in the way of fully living life, but it was.
We live at the beach and I was dreading beach attire. So I started searching for some real answers. I went to my family doctor, he ran tests checking my blood and thyroid. It all came back fine which made me feel even more self-conscious. I felt like he was probably thinking I just lived an unhealthy lifestyle. Then finally about a year later my dear sister-in-law, Julia, was telling me about this issue she heard of called polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS).
I started researching the issue and I checked pretty much every box of symptoms. The symptoms I was suffering from were insulin resistance, unbalanced hormones, and (semi-) high blood pressure. It’s apparently all a lot more common than I had imagined. Its essentially a hormone disorder and the people who suffer from it are born with it. Symptoms just apparently don’t always show up until sometimes mid to late 20’s.
I went to my OBGYN and asked him to run the blood work that tested for PCOS. Sure enough it came back positive. There are medications that can manage symptoms but currently there is no cure.
For now, I’ve chosen a more natural route. Along with my regular workouts, I’ve researched diets best for managing PCOS. I’m doing the keto diet, and for me so far it has been very successful. My blood pressure is down, and the scale is FINALLY moving in the right direction. I am feeling better than ever physically, mentally and emotionally.
My sweet babies are worth every pound I gained but I am happy to finally have some answers and a plan to move forward.
And now, I can give my symptoms a name. If you’re carrying extra weight that bothers you, No matter the reason, I’m just here to say I get it–it’s incredibly frustrating to be working on a body that feels like it’s fighting against you. If you feel like something isn’t right, don’t just write it off as motherhood or work stress. Those are real challenges that take work too, but from a health perspective, don’t just settle. It could just be something more, and you are worth all the time and doctor visits it takes to find out.
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WE ❤ GRAND FITNESS and have partnered with them to bring you a series of honest posts, from varying perspectives, about our real life mom fitness stories–Successes, failures, what’s working for us, and what isn’t. Locally owned and operated, Grand Fitness is a high-end 20,000 sq.ft fitness facility in Grand Blvd. They offer state of the art equipment, an in-house nutrition specialist, and an amazing child care space. More than just another gym, Grand Fitness cares about us–local moms–no matter where you are on your fitness journey. To prove it, they’re offering FREE entry for the day to anyone who mentions this post. So go check out their facility, or take a class, or even just take a tour.
You might just love it. 
