Hi Everyone!
I thought I'd introduce myself. I'm a 27 year old, from Dubai. I've battled with my weight pretty much my entire life, I remember my mom putting me on diets in the 7th grade. My weight has pretty much yo-yoed forever as well.
I'm an emotional eater and went through some emotional stuff over the past few years. The weight just piled on. The breaking point for me was when my grandmother passed away in December, from cancer. I decided it was time to be healthy because, God forbid, if anything like that ever happened to me, I want to be in the best shape I can be to fight it.
I started working out in January, but the weight just wasn't coming off. By August, I'd lost 8 pounds. However, my muscle mass was exactly where it should be for my height and bone density, and I felt great. So I know the exercise was working.
I did some research. I've never had any problems losing weight, but this time it really wasn't budging. A few years ago, I lost three dress sizes doing just pilates twice a week, with no changes at all to my diet. I put it down to the fact that I'm no longer as young as I was before.
However, I did a lot of research and I think that it's due to my PCOS. I'm on the pill (yasmin) and I was briefly on Diane 35 last year when I put on a lot more weight. My skin started breaking out and my hair was falling out a lot.
I think what may have happened is that after my grandmother died, I put on a LOT of weight. Which may have caused the PCOS to become even worse.
Anyway, my insurance won't cover anything to do with 'women's health and hormones', and the tests run upwards of $1000 over here. I've had my fasting blood sugar levels tested and those came back fine. I think I might be insulin resistant as I do have dark patches on my body. So I can't have the tests done just yet. (I've been diagnosed with PCOS for a few years now, and my last ultra sound in April showed several cysts, but I was told that was normal)
I decided to do the South Beach Diet because I finally came to grips with the fact that my body doesn't process carbs like it should. And it has helped me understand my binges. I can't have a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and chips when I'm hungry, because I won't be able to stop there. Actually, I decided to start it, and the next day I found the book at a book sale, right on top of the pile, for less than 2dollars! I took it as a sign
Today is my first day on the SBD and I did OK! Yesterday was supposed to be my first day, but I had a whole wheat muffin (that I baked a few days ago) and it just set me off
I am also working out 5-6 days a week, with at least 4 days of 30 minutes HIIT and two days of strength training. My body analysis shows that I need to lose 16% of my body fat, which is about 30 pounds. I really wanna achieve this by March, because I have a trip planned for my birthday.
Anyway, that's my story. I'm sorry this was long, I guess I have a lot I wanted to share! I'm so glad I found this forum. I've been doing a lot of research on PCOS and insulin resistance and I think I'm finally starting to understand that my body just doesn't work a certain way and it sucks, but I need to just work with it as much as possible
PS. Sorry about my name! It's the name of my blog, and I couldn't figure out another name. hahah I'm not too creative!