3 Fat Chicks on a Diet Weight Loss Community

Hi everyone. I just recently found this board, and am hoping to join in discussions and find support and information here.

As a brief introduction, my name is Vanessa. I am from South Carolina, where I live with my husband of 4 years and all of our various pets. I am 22 years old, a devout Atheist, and a Biologist by trade. My husband and I have been trying to conceive for about 8 months with no success. I recently found out I have PCOS. I have started a sensible diet and exercise program, and am on my way to losing weight and regaining my fertility, but the symptoms, as all of you know, are very, very discouraging.

To give a bit of history, I was never really overweight growing up, but I was always big. I was 6' tall by the time I was 15 years old, and weighed about 180 pounds. I was fairly active, participating in sports, etc. I always noticed my periods were sporadic, but very heavy and painful when they did show up, and I had weird hair growing in places it wasn't supposed to, but I just figured it was due to my naturally having more testosterone than most women; I am 6', after all ;) . All of those symptoms went away when I went on the pill, so I forgot about it. I first heard about PCOS in college, while studying endocrinology, but I didn't give it much thought until two years later after I had graduated and was trying to conceive. By that time I had gained 40 pounds, and all my other symptoms were back, along with a few others. So here I am; pudgy, infertile, and hairy, take it or leave it :)

I am so glad I found you all, you seem like a really supportive group!

-Vanessa