Confessions From a Former Fat Girl—Me!

As many of you know, I am 4 months pregnant with my second child. Ten years ago I was told I may not have the ability to conceive at all.

At age 22, I weighed close to 180 pounds. At 5'6", that put me on the borderline of obesity according to Body Mass Index (or BMI; calculate yours online). At this time, I was not worried about conceiving, but the other problems I had with my hormones plagued me. I had extremely painful and irregular periods, sometimes only four per year. I was always hungry, craving sweets and breads, chips, and baked goods. I was always irritable and if I missed a meal, you had better watch out. I had high cholesterol and triglycerides. I was eventually diagnosed with Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS) and told that the ‘cure’ was to go on birth control pills for the rest of my life; that I am at high risk for high blood pressure and diabetes; and if I ever wanted to get pregnant I would probably need fertility treatment, as most women with PCOS, are infertile.

With my budding interest in natural medicine, I took this opportunity to do some of my own research. I found out that even a weight loss of just 5% of my starting weight could result in improvement in hormone levels and restore my menses.

So, I started slowly. I committed to eating one salad a day. Reduced my grain consumption. Limited my sweet treats. And I started exercising-walking, swimming and hiking in the Arizona mountains. There was no magic pill. It was making a commitment to my health by eating right and exercising. I started to feel better and the weight began to come off. In about 14 weeks, I lost 30 pounds and my menses returned on a monthly basis! I have continued my healthy lifestyle and have a healthy 4 year old, plus one more on the way to prove it!

Now, I could have tried taking some natural supplements, a homeopathic remedy and other vitamins. But I knew that unless I addressed the underlying issue (my weight and resulting blood sugar imbalances) I would never be completely cured. I tell my patients this as well. No matter how many herbs, vitamins, natural remedies (or pharmaceutical drugs for that matter), they take, they will never truly be well unless they address the biggest obstacle to wellness-their weight.

Being overweight is not just a cosmetic issue. It has negative health effects across your entire body-your cardiovascular system, your immune system, your musculoskeletal system, your nervous system, your hormones. Being overweight is not a life sentence or something that you can’t control. YOU HAVE CONTROL! You have the power to make the right choices. Why gamble with your life?

My health is important to me, so I invest a lot of my time, energy, and money towards maintaining it. People often ask how we do it, so here’s how our family makes it work: We spend more on quality groceries, we take the extra time to go to the farmers markets, we invest in gym memberships and cook most of our meals from scratch. By choice, we don’t have cable TV, both of our cars are over 10 years old, we don’t have fancy clothes or jewelry. You don't have to sacrifice these things (if that is what you want or like), but for our family, we don't miss it and would rather have the time and money to spend otherwise. For every person and every family it will be different. It is all about priorities and for us, health is the most important, so that is where we put our resources. We are quite happy with the quality of life we live.

How important to you is your health? Are you investing the appropriate time, energy and money for something that is this important?