Oopsie!

So I didn't post what I had planned to post yesterday. I wanted to explain what was PCOS, but I got caught up with other things. I was preparing for early birthday festivities that took place last night, so unfortunately that took up most of my time. And although I had a lot of fun celebrating with friends, I do want to say that I feel a bit hypcritical. I used my birthday as an excuse to drink the night away, which made me feel like I took a step back with my goals. Understandably a drink isn't much of a set back, but I ended up sick. So that's way more then a drink or two (not to mention birthday shots). 

Let's see; didn't post yesterday, drank to much last night, and I didn't work out today. I am proud of myself for doing the work outs last week, and even jogging for two minutes straight! And although I didn't get to work out today, I did my best following my nutritional Phase I (especially no gluten or soy, except I had some dairy).

I don't want to beat myself up over the past couple of days, especially when I have taken the strides forward towards my goals. But I am using this "guilt" to my advantage. I'm understanding and accepting what I really want with my health, and realizing that this is for the long haul. I'm maturing guys! And this is great news! It feels like this time, my efforts and goal making is for real and permanent results are coming.

Now back on the horse to move forward and win this! I look forward to posting tomorrow!

Thanks!

Tatiana

Books books and more books!

I was talking to a friend of mine one day about what I've learned about diet and PCOS, and that I feel I should just go Paleo to make my life easier. Well, since this special friend of mine recently experienced all types of allergies, she was also "forced" to go Paleo and had a couple of cookbooks at hand.

Both of these books had only wet my appetite for more information about this interesting diet. Side note: Keris Marsden (a co-author of Paleo Primer) was also diagnosed with PCOS and she talked a little bit about how this diet benefited her syndrome. I felt like learning this bit of info was sort of a confirmation that I was going in the right direction, and it excited me even more. I'm excited to test some of these recipes.

Today I went out to Barnes N Noble to look for Digestive Health with Real Food by Aglaee Jacob, and also to comb the health section to see what else they have. I unfortunately couldn't find Digestive Health, but found some intriguing alternatives!

Picked up A Patient's Guide to PCOS; Primal Body, Primal Mind; and Nutrition for Dummies. Although the Nutrition for Dummies might be contradictory to Paleo, I feel there's still more I could learn about Nutrition in general. I've become super intrigued about nutrition and how it works with the body while on this journey, and am curious as to where it will lead me!

Till next time!

-Tatiana

Abs Start in the Kitchen...

You can't have any weight loss success story without the nutrition portion of health! Nutrition is even more crucial for someone with PCOS. When I had lost the first initial 50 lbs, it was mostly with just cutting out sodas, juices, cakes, cookies, and making better food choices that made sense. You know, whole wheat breads, eating more veggies and fruits, portion control, blah blah blah. Typical stuff. But when I was talking to my Gyno about loosing weight to monitor my PCOS (at this point I have yo-yo'ed and had gained 1/2 of what I initially lost), she had introduced to me the GI diet.

The GI diet, or the low Glycemic Index diet, looks at how much a food item (anything from produce, to meats, to processed goods) raises your blood sugar, and puts them in three categories; high, medium, and low. The higher the GI, the more it wrecks havoc on your blood stream. Made sense, it mirrored choices I have already made too loose the first 50, it's a balanced way of eating, except it was a little more "polished" then what I was already doing. It taught me new things, like I had no clue Bananas had about 27 grams of carbs- making them medium GI. I also didn't know whole wheat bread with at least 3 grams of fiber per slice was the best choice of bread for you. This is awesome stuff. Until I did some further research about managing PCOS, and this was pretty eye opening, even some what scary.

First thing I came across was gluten intolerance and some weird connection with PCOS. This wheat protein causes, from what I understand, at least inflammation. I say at least, because I'm not 100% sure as to how it plays with the hormones in the endocrine system. I also hear that there's no real scientific connection between gluten and PCOS, but then I read there's no nutritious value in gluten- too just avoid it all together.

I then came across a podcast interview of Dr. Rebecca Harwin, who not only was diagnosed with PCOS, but wrote a book on how she was able to reverse it naturally and holistically. In this particular podcast, she talks about her top 10 do's and don'ts on managing this syndrome. She mentioned going gluten free, and to avoid A1 dairy... A1 dairy?... Great. I decided to look this up, and learned there's two types of milk, A1 and A2. I'm still confused as to how there's two types of milk (something about the breed of cows, and a protein being modified), but apparently A1 is largely responsible for certain allergies, and inflammation. And of course, guess which type of milk is predominant in the US. Yup, A1 milk, making it more difficult to access A2 and raw milk.

So with the reading I have done so far, it's no Gluten, no A1 Dairy, and also no Soy (still doing further research on this) for me. These 3 are no good for someone with PCOS. And now I feel like I'm being forced into the Paleo Diet (A gluten free, dairy free, legume free diet). Although I'm still doing further research on these 3 PCOS villains, I'm not going to take any chances. I need to be healthy, and would like to get pregnant one day. Meaning if I want to improve my fertility, I would need to improve my health now. Even if that means going gluten, dairy, and soy free.

So I'm currently preparing my kitchen, self, and close friends and family for my combined paleo-GI conscious way of eating. As I do further research on what's best for my body and managing this syndrome I will make adjustments and edits here and there. And of course as I further my own learning on nutrition, I will be excitingly spreading my new found knowledge. You know what they say, Knowledge is Power.

Till next time!
-Tatiana

The Beginning Starts with Before Pics

Today was my first day back in the gym after a long while. But this time, I took with me a good friend of mine, who knows a good amount about fitness and form. Plus she's a great motivation! As you know (if you've read my first post), I weigh in at about 179 lbs (woot! lost a pound) measuring at 5 feet and 6 inches. But of course, everyone carries weight differently. So here are my before pics!

My first stepping stone is to weigh in at 160 to see how my body looks and feels, and this number was recomended to me by my doctor. Me and my friend, Wendy, worked out our upper bodies with machines and without, plus some cardio. I would say the most fun was when Wendy tried to help me improve on my push ups. Ha! I struggled with ten modified push ups, that's right ten! A work in progress to say the least. But I'm excited and look forward to an increase in both strength and flexibility! And the best part is to see how many points I got on Fitocracy after inputting my work out. 

Speaking of Fitocracy! You are more then welcome to follow me on Fitocracy, Instagram, Twitter, and MyFitnessPal at HealthyCoqui. 

Till next time!

-Tatiana

The Beginning of my PCOS Journey

In the beginning of 2007, I went to have an annual physical done. It was the typical blood work, urine test, and talk about me being overweight. Typical, until the blood work results came back, where they showed something abnormal. My liver enzymes were elevated, so more blood work had to be done to be sure. Then the ultra sounds, endoscopy, and numerous doctor visits. I was then diagnosed with a fatty liver, and had to loose weight to see if it would get better. I never went back to the doctors again, and I had let myself go. When I say, "let myself go," I mean gained about 30 pounds more. I was already overweight, but this weight gain definitely had me in the obese category.

Now, you are probably wondering what does my liver have anything to do with my PCOS. Well, my liver is where it all started. Towards the end of last year, my mother went and saw an acupuncturist to help manage her fibromyalgia. This acupuncturist, informed her that she didn't have fibromyalgia, that it was gout. After he treated her and suggested a new diet, she felt worlds better. This was such an eye opening experience for her, and she was still concerned about my health, she insisted I make an appointment with him too see what he had to say about my liver. Especially since it's been so long since I have last been to see a doctor.

I made an appointment, and went in to his office without a single expectation as to how this visit would go down. After he checked my ears (yes, my ears! I was surprised too), and took photos, he explained to me what he saw and how he was diagnosing me. My diagnosis was chronic liver inflammation, problems with sugar, irregular heart beat, migraines, ringing in the ears, and that my left ovary was "sick". Eye opening? It was beyond that, to say the least. After I had lunch with my mother, I learned a little more about the medical history within my family. Diabetes runs on my father's side, my mother has an irregular heart beat (I have always known she suffers migraines), and ovarian and cervical cancer runs through my mother's side as well. I came to the realization that I can't ignore my health any longer.

I made a doctor's appointment shortly after that experience to finally get checked out. I explained to my doctor my enlarged liver (did not share my acupuncture experience), and in turn she had asked me questions about diabetes, and my menstrual cycle. I have never had a regular cycle, in fact, after my first period I didn't get my next one till a year later! But I had always thought that was normal for my body. Especially since I had lost about 50 lbs (remember that extra 30 lbs making me obese?) my periods were coming more frequent, although not every month. But this doctor had a new theory that I have never heard before. She was thinking that I might have insulin resistance and Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS), as she explained that insulin resistance can cause both fatty liver and PCOS. So the next step was blood work (ugh! I hate it so much), and a visit to the Gyno. After explaining my menstrual and weight history to my Gyno, she also suspected PCOS, and ordered more blood work and also an ultrasound.

After a number of visits, and follow ups with results, it was both good and bad news. Bad news? PCOS was diagnosed, and was confirmed by the ultrasound. Good news? My liver enzymes are normal, meaning no sign of a fatty liver, and no insulin resistance, or hormonal imbalance (another cause of PCOS). So what caused my PCOS? No clue. It was suggested by my Gyno, that my body could be extra sensitive to my weight gain. Which is now my next step, loosing weight to see if I regulate my periods and to observe whether my PCOS has progressed or not.

PCOS is still pretty new to me, but the more I read the more I see how it explains the "little" things that was going on with my body through all these years (besides my highly irregular menstrual cycle). Things like acne, weight yo-yoing, certain pains, feeling tired, and two new hairs on my chin. But I would always have an every day excuse for these "symptoms". For acne, I would think it's the make up. Weight? Maybe it's my wavering determination, or if I was bloated it would be a severe bloat (a 5-7 lb difference). I would ignore pains, think I need to adopt better sleeping habits, and had no idea where the the two chin hairs came from (which came after I lost the initial 50 lbs).

 I feel lucky that my insulin and other hormones are not hugely out of balance, where that would make this syndrome extremely difficult to manage. But I also feel that I'm close at risk for that to happen, if I don't take care of my health now. Not to mention other risks, such as diabetes and cancer. So I continue to read and educate myself about PCOS so I can be proactive about my health, manage this syndrome, and hopefully educate others. Which is the main reason why I am here. To put on my big girl panties, go out in the open, and fight like a woman!

-Tatiana

First Step in Weight Success...

...Measuring your progress! Hi there!

So here I am. Making another health blog in the blog-o-sphere. I'm doing this for myself. A means of accountability, to document my progress and struggles towards accomplishing my goals. I've discovered that not only have I "cured" myself of a fatty liver (don't ask how, cause I got lucky with this one), but I also have PCOS and am in risk for other health issues that run in my family. This past trip to the Doctors' was eye opening and it fuels a different type of motivation and drive for which I'm really excited about. Not only do I want to be fit and healthy, but I want to run a marathon. I want to change my relationship with food, cause the information I read about nutrition and how it fuels and works with the human body is intriguing. And of course a by product of all of this is, I know I'm going to end up looking and feeling absolutely fantastic. If you want to join me on my journey towards a more healthy and fit self, come along for the ride!

Of course the first topic at hand are the stats. I'm 27 years old, 5 feet 6 inches tall, and weighing in at 180 pounds. My previous doctor says for my height I should be weighing about 140 lbs, but since I'm Latina I need to aim for 150. Not sure how my ethnic background plays into that, but interestingly my current doctor gave me a higher number. She suggested, to aim for 160, maybe even 150. All these numbers are confusing, and can be so disheartening for me when I'm at a stare down with my scale early in the morning. So my question is, what's the best way to measure weight loss? Especially with all the numbers I'm getting from two different doctors, and the universal knowledge of muscle is heavier then fat. In fact, I believe it's three times heavier then fat. Not to mention your weight can fluctuate with what you eat, water retention, time of the month for us females, and any other reasons that's not known to me currently. Can I rely on the age old scale? Or should the scale be thrown out the window, if not saved in case it could be a valuable tool in a dieter's arsenal?

Looking at other ways to measure weight loss, hydrostatic weighing and bio-electrical impedance analysis (BIA) I feel are out of the question. The first is a technology that's way to expensive where they dunk you under water. The second would have to be done by a professional and even then it could not be all that accurate due to water retention, time of the month for us females, and the skill level of said professional. There's always the caliper pinch test, for which they say is the least accurate of the 3, but easier to have done. There's also calculating your BMI, and measuring your self. So again, what's the best way?

I guess I'll be using a combination of the scale, caliper pinch test, and measuring tape. The scale because I like to have the instant gratification of knowing I lost a pound, even though it can frustrate me most. I'm also going with the pinch test and measuring route, so I know my body fat and measurements. As for what number I should be aiming for, my first goal is 160. To see how my body looks and feels at that weight and of course to see how my PCOS reacts to that weight as well. If not satisfactory, then I'll go down ten pounds at a time until I'm hitting the points I need to hit and my doctors tells me I'm in the clear. All in all, my main focus is to be healthy, learn new things, and enjoy the rewards of a healthier life style.

Again welcome to my journey and lets all aim for success in our health goals!

-Tatiana