Phat Girl Life

Well, it has been a hot minute since I posted anything. My absence started because I had come to a sort of standstill with my progress. My weight loss stalled, and I had a real hard time keeping motivation to continue with my healthy lifestyle. So I felt that since I didn't have anything positive to report, that it wasn't worth reporting. I was wrong. I re-read through my older posts, and I realized two things. First of all, I promised to share this journey, even "my mistakes and failures." And second of all, reading those posts, I realized that I need to take my own advice. I SAID I was human, didn't I? And just trying to figure things out. I SAID it wasn't all about the weight loss and that I just wanted to get healthy and feel better, right? Well then, time to listen to myself! Re-reading the posts was the boost I needed to get back on track and stick with it. If you need some inspiration when your weight loss stalls, re-read them too. I had good advice, LO...

Let's talk about the "D"word. You know the one I'm talking about. That dreadful little four letter word that even has the word "die" built right in? Yep. Diet. I have come to loathe the word diet. Why? Because it carries such a negative connotation. Going on a diet is something people dread having to do. It is something no one looks forward to. We view being on a diet as punishment, as a sacrifice, as a chore. It's no wonder it is so hard to stick to a diet if it seems like such a terrible thing! Personally I also tend to connect the word diet to be just about losing weight. And while I would like to lose weight, I am finally at a point in my life where it is so much more than that. I want to be healthy, and being the ideal weight doesn't mean you're automatically healthy. There are those lucky skinny people out there with a great metabolism that can eat whatever they want and stay skinny. But that doesn't make them healthy. Their food choice...

Living life with PCOS. I suffer from almost all of the symptoms I mentioned in the last blog article. It started with developing irregular periods out of the blue when I was 23. Doctors didn't really know yet what PCOS was, so for several years, I either had no periods at all for several months at a time, or a period that was heavy and lasted for a month at a time with not a lot of answers. It wasn't until my husband and I decided to start trying for a baby that I got serious about figuring out what was going on. Long story short, I was finally diagnosed with PCOS, and was just told to lose weight and it would reverse itself. If only it was that easy. I tried for years to lose weight and failed. I know now, that it is extremely hard to lose weight with PCOS. I tried so many different diets and would stick to them religiously and work out. I would never lose weight and sometimes I would even gain weight despite all I did. And I have to tell you, it gets pretty hard to stick with...

So, since I am just starting this blog, I figured I would explain different elements of my life. I am starting with the biggest obstacle I am hoping to overcome this year. Yes, it is the start of the new year, and I know that New Year's resolutions are popular. However, this journey is far more than a New Year's resolution for me. I have been living for 20 years with Poly Cystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS), and I have come to realize in recent years that it has taken over my life more than I ever admitted. I have tried, and failed, so many times to loose weight and get healthier. But now I am determined once again to finally make it a reality. Therefore I am sharing my journey in hopes that maybe I will inspire even one other person to keep going and not give up. Learn from my mistakes, and failures, and just keep going with me! We can beat this together! PCOS is a condition that affects a woman's hormones. Typically we produce higher levels of male hormones then is normal. A...

Hi! I am your average 40-something wife and mom. I am also a high school teacher, and therefore I am choosing to keep my real name and image anonymous. I plan on being very personal and some things my students just don't need to know about me! My whole life, I have been known as "The Fat Girl." In high school, I was labeled as nice and quiet. I always figured I was too fat to be popular. (Ugh, what I wouldn't give to be "fat" now like I was in high school!) After high school, I became the nice, funny, fat girl with skinny friends. Guys always looked at them first. Every time I was crushing on a guy, guess who got them? Yup, my skinny BFF. Even when I started dating my now husband, his cousin and friends told him, "Well at least she is pretty, she can always lose the weight." Jokes on them, I GAINED 60 pounds my first year of marriage! Which brings me to my PCOS (Poly Cystic Ovarian Syndrome) diagnosis. I have been battling it for 20 plus ye...