Married-113 lbs
Pregnant with 1st son at 8 week appointment- 124 lbs
Pregnant with 2nd son at 8 wk. app. - 162lbs
Pregnant with daughter at 8 wk. app. 176lbs.
Over the course of 10 years I had put on 63lbs and I had no idea! I knew I had at some time in the far far distance worn a size 3/4 pants and now I wore a size 16. With babies and life things just happen and you don't seem to notice and you most certainly don't have time to worry about it.
For as long as I can remember doctors would ask me if I have had my thyroid checked. It looked swollen and they wanted to run some test. Those test always came back saying all was well and my levels were right where they should be. Fast forward to after I had my daughter and things changed drastically. I spent the next 5 years after her birth miserable and asking my doctor at every possible chance to please check my thyroid because I was sure it was that. I like any other normal person had self diagnosed myself and I was positive it was my thyroid. I was painfully exhausted. I woke up tired and went to bed tired. Taking a nap didn't help at all in fact no amount of sleeping helped. My body hurt, my hair was falling out, my anxiety was consuming and my marriage was struggling due to my symptoms. Don't even get me started on my digestive issues! Needless to say something was wrong and my doctors weren't figuring it out.
At my 4 year annual checkup with my OBGYN he at my request checked my levels again and they were slightly out of the normal range. He had me come back in 4 weeks later to do a recheck at which time they were fine so we continued on the same path which was do nothing. My 5 year appointment we checked again and they were wayyyy off like double the numbers! My doctor started on Levothyroxine and referred me to an Endocrinologist. Within minutes of my first appointment the nurse practitioner had my diagnosed with Hashimoto's. Her defining question was "Do your legs get tired when you walk up stairs?" Well heck ya they do because I am out of shape! She asked more questions about it and yes my legs just walking up from my laundry room would feel like I had ran a 5k.....or what I would imagine they would feel like if I had in fact ran one :) . She later confirmed through blood test the diagnosis. I had an ultrasound of my thyroid telling me that I had no good tissue left and that the entire thing had been destroyed over the years. I asked the doctor did he think the damage had been happening over the last 5 years, his response was that the amount of damage I had means I have had it since puberty! What!!! This has been going on for how long!!?? My body has been attacking itself for over 20 years!! No wonder I felt like poo!
Fast forward some and things did get better. I had more energy and I felt more like I thought I should. I knew I would probably never feel 100% again, but this was certainly better than before! I switched over to Synthroid which kept my levels more in check. I assumed that after my diagnosis and starting the medication that the weight would fall off me and I would be that smoking hot 113lbs woman my husband married. That didn't happen. In fact my weight didn't change at all.
I tried a few things here and there, but nothing worked so eventually you just quit trying. You see all these moms who are going to the gym and look amazing and you want to punch them in the arm. Finally in June 2012 after seeing myself in family photo my friend Cortney did I knew I needed to make some changes. I was embarrassed at how I looked. My face had actually changed the way it was shaped on the sides. I had to edit my belly in the pictures before I shared them online because I didn't want people to think I was pregnant! I decided at my oldest son's first 5k that I would change my goals. Instead of trying to lose weight I would start a couch to 5k. I had hopes that my son and I could run one day together. If I lost weight as a by product then great and if not that was ok. I knew I would be healthier in the long run. This June will be three years since I made that choice and you know what? That scale has been a stubborn son of a gun! It didn't even move for the first 8 weeks! That was after adding 3 days a week of 30 min workouts and changing my eating habits! Three years later and the scale has only gone from 176 to 147. When comparing myself to others those numbers are kind of pathetic. We see shows like Biggest Loser and friends online who lose over 100 in less than a year and then I look at see my scale isn't even moving. I'll be honest it is hard and so disappointing! I kept pushing forward though because I knew every step in the gym, every walk I took, every pound I lost was a step in the right direction. It might take me 7 years to reach my goals, but every step forward isn't a step backwards.
In April 2014 I was diagnosed with an autoimmune skin disorder and that pushed me to go Gluten Free (GF). I also had every symptom of Celiac Disease with the exception of weight loss and with my original Hashi's diagnosis I knew I needed to try and stop the attack my body was doing against itself. That first month after going GF I lost 9lbs!!! I thought for sure I had finally found the missing link! Very quickly though I learned all the junk you that is GF, for instance chocolate milk shakes from McD's they are GF. Are they healthy heck no! So just because I went GF did not mean I was making the healthiest choices for me.
I decided on January 1, 2015 I would switch to an Paleo diet and try to put my autoimmune's into remission. The first month I went from 165 to 151!!! I lost 14lb and 2 1/2 inches around my hips!!
These first pictures with the red shirt show the first month of Paleo. I was shocked!! Had I finally found something that works for me!!! We are 3 months in now and I have been doing the 85/15 approach which I am not sure I can do well. I struggle with balance so I think I need to be an all or nothing kind of gal. I have lost another inch around my waist and lost another 4 lbs. I feel better and can certainly tell a difference when I work out. My endurance is so much better now!! This blog is my way of sharing my trials and errors along the way, meals, exercises, and any tips I learn. I hope someone reading this can benefit from what I have learned on this path. Below are some before and after pictures. I may have lost only 29 lbs in three years, but I have gone from a size 16 to 10/8 and the amount of knowledge I have obtained over the years is priceless! I told someone the other day that I am actually God did not answer my prayers of immediate healing when I was first diagnosed because I never would have put the effort into finding out how food actually effects my body. I have learned such valuable information! My husband, children and myself are for sure healthier because of it! Thank you for reading and please share with anyone you think might benefit from this post!
Melinda
