A Familiar Feeling

Last week was a whirlwind of events and a true weight-loss comeback for me!  I lost another 1.8 pounds-- my first actual drop in weight since birthday week began.  It was incredibly inspiring for me to know that I didn't let one little week and a half of bad nutrition choices completely derail my weight loss goals.

We also have a new little niece!  We'll technically, Jason has a new little niece-- but since we've been together for five years, I'm going to consider her my niece :)
We spent our Tuesday down in Eugene with Jason's family.  It was a nice little getaway, and great to see everyone and hear how skinny we've gotten.  It sounds a little vain, but that verbal encouragement really boosted the self esteem and will keeps us both going when we're having a bad day, week or month.

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We also received some more money toward our "in between" wardrobe.  It's been really great all the financial support we've gotten to buy some clothes that fit us.  That's another confidence booster.  I'm down an entire jean size and a shirt size as well.  AND, my shoes are fitting better.  The confidence I have in my body transformation as I continue to slim down has inspired me to start caring what I look like again.

It's another small thing-- that may sound vain, but when you feel good, you look good and when you look good you're confident in the decisions you make.  I've been feeling so much better about myself, and I'm starting to grow that sassy backbone of mine back-- much of this new-found me I attribute to this weight loss.  It's been amazing to see my visual transformation-- and the transformation I've made emotionally.

**By the way, there is still time to donate to our "GoFundMe" site. We haven't met our goal yet, and are a few hundred dollars from the halfway point, and anything helps!

Now that I'm done begging for money-- there's one more thing I want to talk about that has changed since I've lost 41 pounds.  My period has returned.  I know this topic may be too much for some of you, but it's a really important thing for me.

Three years ago, when I was diagnosed with Insulin Resistance, the doctor told me the reason I developed the form of pre-diabetes was because I had something called "Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome." The definition and symptoms are listed below.

Courtesy: The Mayo Clinic

I've struggled with an unpredictable menstrual cycle my entire adult life, but it wasn't until my very first gynecologist appointment at the age of 18 that I found out about PCOS.  It wasn't until the age of 24 that the syndrome reared it's ugly head again.  I gained 100 pounds in a year!  Part of that was because of my stress eating due to losing my grandfather, and part of it was because of PCOS.  When I made the effort to try and lose the weight, I didn't shed a pound.  Three months of hardcore nutrition changes and working out yielded no changes on the scale.  My period had also gone from, happening once every three months to disappearing all together.

That's when I went to a doctor.  I discovered I had Insulin Resistance, brought on by PCOS.   I had also started growing a beard, and my menstrual cycle was gone.  At that point, I was 360 pounds.  The doctor told me if I dropped 50, my period would come back, and if I dropped 100 my beard would go away.

Well friends, I'm to the halfway point.  Aunt Flow has come back to town!  (Oh my God, I can't believe I just said that!)  And while I'm not a fan of the mind-numbing cramps,  I am happy that my body is starting to work regularly again.  I'm not sure it's back for good, we'll have to see next month-- but I'm comforted by the fact that 60 more pounds and this beard I've been trying so hard to get rid of will be gone... hopefully!

I wanted to point out the picture to my left...

In it, I look confident and happy.  I'm standing proudly and ready to take on the world.  The love and support of my friends and family, along with my lovely readers, has helped me get here.  I want to thank you all for your encouragement over the last few months.  I don't think I could have gotten here without it.

It's been quite the journey so far... I'm nine pounds away from being a third of the way through my weight loss journey.  In nine more pounds I get to buy myself a cute, new swimsuit and the satisfaction of knowing that I've made it 30% of the way to my goal of 200 pounds.