Hi hi!
Been a while. I know.
I'm holding steady, not exactly making progress, but not backstepping too much, either. Today I'm holding at 318.2 after seeing a slight gain over the holiday weekend, which is fine by me. I haven't been doing much of anything—not tracking food, not really trying to eat right, not exercising. One good thing is that the period from hell (clocking in one month and one week, by the way) is finally over, but as soon as that ceased, I find myself with a summer cold. Or is it H1N1? Either way, it feels pretty crappy so I am out of commission for now, just trying to get by. The fact that I have maintained most of my loss until now feels very good.
Once I recover from this, I do look forward to fully getting back on track and recommitting to everything I had back on May 1st. I still expect to succeed, believe it.
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RE: Your comments and emails regarding PCOS (Polycystic Ovary Syndrome); yes, I do in fact have it and was diagnosed years ago. However, the only "treatment" I have received for it is remaining on birth control pills. It doesn't seem to cause a lot of problems for me aside from my odd menstrual cycle (or, a nonexistent one if I wasn't taking hormones). Anyway, thanks for your ideas and concerns and everything else. I may have to start looking for a new doctor and see if there isn't something I am missing out on the treatment of this condition.
hi amy, it's Jessica R. I hope you remember me but I was an undergrad at UB, and you were my drawing teacher for a while!
ReplyDeleteI got all fed up with things, and I started a diet blog today, and I was thrilled to find you online talking about your ongoing experience. It makes me feel reassured and inspired, because I have always looked up to your artwork and such.
I felt like I needed to find a good community to help me out, and it's even better to find someone I actually know to work alongside!
Best wishes for a speedy recovery from the summer cold . . . and congrats on maintaining your loss despite being unable to work out.
ReplyDeleteIn re: PCOS: you might want to have yourself tested for insulin resistance. Many women with PCOS (myself included) have what the endocrinologists call "metabolic syndrome," which features an increasing desensitization to insulin--i.e. a potential progression towards Type II diabetes. It means that your pancreas has to produce increasingly large amounts of insulin to "open" your cells to metabolize the glucose in the food you consume. Insulin is a hormone that puts a lot of stress on one's system, so extra insulin floating around raises one's long-term risk of cardiovascular disease and certain cancers. More immediately, it means that blood sugar is poorly regulated, which tends to prevent weight loss and promote weight gain. Personally, since starting medication for insulin resistance a couple of months ago (they prescribe metformin), I've found my compulsivity around food much reduced, and I've lost about fifteen pounds (without stepping up the modest weight-loss efforts I've been making--and I'd weighed around the same for nearly a year). The medication can have some nasty side effects, though (mostly GI stuff), so there are people who simply can't take it. Anyway, I think it might be worth looking into for you. The test you'd need is called a glucose tolerance test, and you'd want to make sure that they're also taking insulin readings. There's a lot of information about PCOS and metabolic syndrome (and metformin) at www.soulcysters.com.
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