I want to be the wife my husband married

[Autumn30]

Four and a half years ago I was thin, then a bunch of medical problems happened and I basically lost control of my eating, Thanks to pcos, hypothyroidism and the evil Insulin Resistance.
And my eating habits didnt help either :D

Now with my new meds I am finally losing weight! My dh is very suppourtive but I would love to be that thin, sexy wife for him I feel I once was. The weight cant come off fast enough :D

Any body else change dramatically like this?

[PJ in Miam]

Yes, but I've had a lot more time to get used to it. :-)

I was very athletic (martial arts, tennis and bicycling) and about 132lbs (5'6) when I was 24, and suddenly by the time I was not quite 26 I was about 355lbs (in just over 1.5 years).

Alas I did not hear of low-carb options. I made one serious attempt at the typical aerobics & weight loss plan (which didn't work), noted that this happened to nearly every female in my family around the same age and most of them had been strenuously dieting for 10-40 years to no avail whatever, and I decided rather than living in daily dieting -- but useless dieting -- misery, I'd just accept it and move on with my life. Not that this was easy -- I nearly committed suicide -- but that passed, and I did move on.

I heard about Atkins a few years ago from a buddy who was a Fire Dept. Captain and put his whole crew on it to great success. I wasn't sure though that it would work for me, as my family so typically has nothing work for them in the diet arena. I had tried twice to do Atkins a couple years ago but the first time got so deathly ill from detox I had to go off in just a few days; the second time my circumstance made it totally unworkable so it didn't last a week.

But back in January, I went on a formal '3 week trial' of PPLP. I figured by that time I would at least know if I could do it and how I might feel eating that way. It worked awesomely, my health improved greatly, and though I didn't have a scale I could tell I lost some weight even in that short a time.

But I wasn't prepared for it, though I had read a lot (I thought). I wasn't ready to cook, couldn't find time, and so on. I finally realized I had some of my own psychological issues which were interfering with my being organized enough to do it well (a sabotage essentially), and that I really needed to work on that, and get to the point where I was really READY to make it a permanent kind of thing.

So I kind of went on with life and to be honest didn't even give it a lot more thought until a couple weeks ago when suddenly it popped into my head in full color/dolby sound :-) with the feeling, "I'm ready now. GO!"

So, I am beginning a permanent lifestyle change now.

Although I'd love to lose weight, I sort of accepted a long time ago that I was fat. So I don't feel the same horror and frantic frustration that many people I read on these boards clearly do about it (I did way back then but not now). I just feel that now that I finally know there is an alternative, it's time to do something about it. I'm 37 and it's bad enough it's taken that long and it's robbed a lot of my life; I have a little girl I'd like to see grow up, I'd like to be able to play with more, and I know as I age all of this will get more difficult, so now is the time.

PJ

[Autumn30]

It sounds like your on your way! My family is all thin so it was very difficult for me because I had no one to relate too about it. I tried atkins for awhile but it was too restrictive for me, I like my bread and pasta too much. I quit it after about 1 week. The IR diet I am on now allows me up to 150 carbs a day as long as it is matched up with a certain amount of protein and veggies (except corn and potatoes) are free. Its got a few rules but not many, mainly just only eating up to 30 carbs per setting and waiting for 3 hours before I eat again, plus to make sure I combine a certain amount of protein each time.

One of my main motivators of this diet is my pcos. If I lose my weight I have a much better chance of being able to have children. It sounds like your daughter is part of your motivator. Congratulations on being ready to change your life. Hopefully we will be able to share our success stories together :)

[suze_c]

Wow, that is wayyyyyy more carbs than one eats on atkins! Why don't you do some browing on the forum, under the low carb health and technical forum. There are sections on pcos, and diabetes/blood sugar. The body has this way of turning carbs into blood sugar... I am so surprised that you are allowed that many carbs!Check out the posts on those threads, and best of luck with your LC'ing!

[Autumn30]

Thanks Suze for the info.

Since I have been low carbing (what i consider it) my insulin levels are finally down to normal, plus I am losing weight at a decent rate so I am very happy where I am right now. The key with the carbs is what you eat with it plus those 150 carbs are based on eating five times a day. You can eat less, you can eat as low as 45 a day but my results are very good at this. Plus I can stick to it and dont feel deprived at all. Also I eat fig newton cookies and 4 oz of regular pop a day :p As long as I balance it. Aunt flo came back for me (pcos), I am not tired anymore, and I have loads of energy. I am not saying it would work that way for everybody but it works great for me :D Do you have pcos? On the message board soulcysters, alot of ladies have had amazing success on this diet without having to go as strict as on atkin's.
One lady on there lost all her weight, over 150 lbs, was able to get preggo on her own with quadruplets, with no fertility meds. She is what inspired me to do it.

[suze_c]

hi Autumn, I was just surprised at the carb levels, if it works for you, great! My carbs are under 20 for the day :lol: Far jump to 150 for me! But different ppl metabolize carbs in different ways... I looked up some stuff on pcos some time ago, and I had a lot of the symptoms for it, and I also have almost all the indicators for fibomylagia, and deal with a body that is in constant pain... it's sad, but after all this time,I am getting use to it... NOT that I wouldn't mind it stopping... I found out that complaining about it doesn't help :lol: My cycles are sooooo messed up since I had our daughter, who will be 1 yr. old in 2 wks. from today. I wish you luck on your journey~ and hope to be able to post more to yours~ have you started a journal yet? It's a fun way to have others help you with things~ take care

[Autumn30]

I have read about pregnancy usually making it worse. Have you talked to a dr about it? Maybe they could put you on some meds to help with it.

I havent started a journal yet, I would like to lately I just havent had the time for much. I need to start working on a quilt and lately dh keeps me pretty busy. Sorry I took so long to respond it was sil's wedding this weekend.

Good Luck with getting your pcos under more control.

[suze_c]

Autumn, this is my 3rd child, and I never had anything like this happen before. My cycles never got messed up. I am in the process of getting insurance. As far as the pain, it is in my back and in my pelvis all the time. The pain in my pelvis is most likely due to adhesions, meaning my c-section healed wrong, and there is scar tissue where there shouldn't be.I get mad about it, because I would not have had to have a c-section at all.I can still feel where my cut is as well, and it hurts where I was cut. It is weird.
No need for apologies for taking awhile to get back on here. I know life gives us all sorts of things to get done and to do~ :) As far as a journal, maybe you could do what I do. I start my journal entry in WORD, if I know it is going to be a long one, and then I add to it throughout the day. Hope all is going good for you~