I’ve struggled with weight for about 12 years now. Three years ago I wrote this post: https://wordpress.com/post/42194332/326/ which gets a ton of views every day, but I still have yet to lose a significant amount of weight to take me out of the “morbidly obese” category. After trying and failing on many diets, workout plans, attempted lifestyle changes, doctors visits and labs all with no success and no answers, I became frustrated and needed better answers. Bear with me for this long story, but maybe it will help someone else? I apologize for the possible TMI in this post, but, I just want to be completely honest and open about my experience! There are so many amazing pieces to the puzzle and the way our bodies work that I really can’t comprehend most of it, but now that I have some answers I can start chipping away at the problems that keep me overweight.
I didn’t become over 100 pounds overweight until my early/mid 20’s (I’m 32 now). Some of these changes occurred because I changed from an active job on my feet 8 hours per day to sitting at a desk for the past 12 years. As my life became busier, I became less and less active. This made me less and less motivated to even attempt to exercise since my weight and sitting all day made it nearly impossible to do anything longer than 10-15 minutes which hardly seemed worthwhile.
I’m busy! I’m a working mom, and a minister’s wife. I work 40 hours a week, plus any other outside creative jobs I take on, plus church services. I have two kids – one is 1, one will be 4 in a few weeks. We have one car and an hour and a half commute to work and back home each day. Who has time for anything else? I can barely keep my house semi-decent looking!
My two pregnancies both ended up with early onset gestational diabetes I was tested at the normal 28 weeks the first pregnancy but probably had it sooner since I had such rapid weight gain the first trimester. The 2nd pregnancy I also had rapid weight gain the first trimester and was tested at 17 weeks. The 1st pregnancy I was able to keep my numbers down with diet until the last month or two and they put me on a pill (can’t remember what it was, but not metformin). The 2nd pregnancy I was not so lucky. Regardless as to how controlled my diet was, my numbers were still high and the pill wasn’t working, so I had to give myself insulin injections. I’ve had two c-sections, and after each birth my glucose levels returned to normal, but my body has proven that it is very insulin resistant. It’s so frustrating when your doing all that you can possibly do to maintain decent numbers with gestational diabetes, yet, your body keeps fighting you! One doctor (rudely) told me during my last pregnancy that I was taking a lot of insulin and if I didn’t get my numbers under control, that I would end up with Type 2 Diabetes after my pregnancy. Thanks for your vote of confidence lady…..Each year I have to return to the doctor to be tested for diabetes. So far, just over a year out, a clean bill of health.
A year after my first pregnancy I seemed to still have signs of some sort of hormone imbalance, but I didn’t quite know what was wrong. I went to an internal medicine doctor, as well as an endocrinologist and had a ton of labs run to test for a number of things – diabetes, thyroid, adrenal gland, testosterone levels, PCOS, to name a few. At that time my levels came back all within normal range. My cholesterol and blood pressure were all just fine. So I received no answers. Essentially, I was a “healthy” fat person. The doctor told me that if regular weight loss methods weren’t working for me then my only other option was bariatric surgery (except, um, these surgeries require you to have several co-morbidities and the only issue I had was that I was morbidly obese/high BMI!). I wouldn’t even qualify for the surgery if I wanted to. I gave up, feeling like there was something wrong with me still, but no one could figure out what it was.
Last September (2014) after doing some research, I decided to get the Paragard IUD put in. My body doesn’t respond well to hormone birth control. My emotions are a roller coaster, and I have what I jokingly call psychotic rages (once during our first year of marriage I got so upset at my husband that I kicked over a plant in our living room spraying dirt and leaves everywhere, to which I then responded by sitting on the kitchen floor sobbing about how the plant that my mom had given me for my birthday was now ruined…..coo coo! My husband just stared at me, jaw dropped. He didn’t really know whether to run away to save himself or give me a hug. We decided it was time for me to get off the pill).
I did okay for the first 6 months on the Paragard except for the ridiculously heavy periods! The first three months had me about ready to go take the thing out myself. When people say their periods are heavy on this thing, it’s no joke. TMI but I literally bled more than I did after the birth of my children. I’m talking super plus tampon changed less than an hour in just to help feel like there was a little relief, along with a super plus pad on for protection. These leveled out a bit, but the periods are still much heavier than normal.
About 6 months ago, something started to change for me mentally, although, it took me about 3 months to even notice/figure it out. I knew that postpartum depression can still hit at different stages during the first year or so after the birth of a baby, but while I couldn’t quite put a finger on it, this didn’t seem to be the issue. About 3 months ago, I figured out that each month about a week or so prior to my period starting I was an emotional roller coaster. I am generally a pretty quiet, even-keeled, stress-free person. This started to make me feel as though I was insane. I cannot even fully describe in words what I went through, but, it was like PMS on steroids. One day I would cry at just about anything, the next day I would be so incredibly angry and irritable at people for no apparent reason (while this may seem normal for some, this is very abnormal for me). The kicker was that during that time I would have high anxiety for no apparent reason and felt a sense of impending doom. I would then get depressed and feel like I was not worth anything, my life wasn’t going in the direction I wanted it to be, and would become so deep in my thoughts trying to figure out where I had gone wrong, why things weren’t working out the way I thought they should be. The ups and downs were becoming unbearable. I felt grateful to be aware of them, but miserable that I couldn’t figure out what to do about it.
At that point I started doing some more research on my own regarding these symptoms and the other issues I was having which were:
-hair loss (not postpartum related),
-abnormal dark hair under chin, top lip, and stomach,
-inability to lose weight (my body literally resets to 268 lbs after every attempt to lose, and I had already lost all pregnancy -weight within the first two months postpartum each time),
-slow metabolism
-exhausted every day/not waking up feeling rested (I literally fall asleep on the couch each night at 8:30 or so)
-zits around chin, sometimes chest
-Slow digestion/infrequent bowel movements
-extreme mood swings
-excessive sweating
-very low libido
-inability to find my words when speaking/poor memory recall
What I found was really interesting! Apparently there are a lot of people out there dealing with copper toxicity mainly, because of the Paragard! Well okay, that was fine, but if that and condoms are really my only birth control option then what could I do? It was as though I had to choose between me and my husband not having another child, or dealing with the insane side effects of this or another form of birth control pills. While we had used them for years prior, condoms seem to be a mood killer. I was already having extremely low libido issues (not just hormone related, but again – I’m a working mom, 2 young kids…..I’m just plain exhausted!) I didn’t want to add to the problem.
I began reading Dr. Wilson’s slow oxidizer diet plan (read more about it here: The Slow Oxidizer Eating Plan and decided to give it a try. Amazingly, within 10 days I lost 6 pounds by simply eating the specific foods listed in the diet. It’s one of those no-brainer things. Of course you’ll lose weight when you eat healthy, right? My issue is and always has been sticking to it. Even though I saw great results, life got the best of me. I messed up one meal, then another then a day turned into a week, and so on.
I was fed up! I decided to see a naturopathic doctor to see if they could give me some answers. Don’t worry, not all of them are crazy juicing and supplement pushing quacks! I already knew what I needed to do, but I wanted to understand what exactly was going on with my body so that I knew the why. Maybe the “why” would drive me to be more motivated to continue my efforts.
The naturopath did a huge comprehensive set of labs called the Boston Heart Diagnostics test, as well as my copper and zinc, and a few other hormones. This was amazing! This test comes with a huge color-coded personalized booklet explaining where your levels fall within the recommended ranges and whether you’re at risk for things such as heart disease, diabetes, etc. It also showed areas of inflammation, metabolics, genetics, liver, kidney, hormones and thyroid levels.
My tests revealed that I did not have any hormone imbalance except my DHEA levels were raised which is why I have the excessive dark facial hair, and there’s not much I can do about that. I don’t have diabetes, am not prediabetic, nor am I at risk for diabetes over the next 10 years according to this testing. I am, however, insulin resistant. This confused me! How could I not have diabetes or be at risk for it, but still be insulin resistant? This website explains a lot: http://www.niddk.nih.gov/health-information/health-topics/Diabetes/insulin-resistance-prediabetes/Pages/index.aspx#metabolic “…….not everyone with these disorders has insulin resistance, and some people may have insulin resistance without getting these disorders [metabolic syndrome, type 2 diabetes, PCOS, etc].
People who are obese or who have metabolic syndrome, insulin resistance, type 2 diabetes, or prediabetes often also have low-level inflammation throughout the body and blood clotting defects that increase the risk of developing blood clots in the arteries. These conditions contribute to increased risk for CVD.”
Which brings me to the next piece of the puzzle. How could I have such PCOS-like symptoms, but not have PCOS!? My copper levels were elevated, and my zinc levels were low. So, I was right about that piece! My worries about copper toxicity starting to occur were true.
But, it doesn’t stop there. I found out that I have a genetic marker MTHFR. I am apparently an overmethylator. Right now I’m still doing my own research on this gene mutation and I won’t even pretend that I know a whole lot about it, BUT, it explains sooooo much of the issues and symptoms that I have been facing! This is also the cause of the high copper/low zinc, high pain tolerance (I only took tylenol/ibuprofen the 2nd day after my c-section), anxiety, no motivation, weight gain, low levels of inflammation in several areas of the body, the list goes on.
There are several good websites explaining the different types of this MTHFR genetic marker as some people can be over or under methylators, so PLEASE DO NOT SELF DIAGNOSE! You must have the labs done to properly identify any of these issues, so please do not think that because you may have similar issues that you have the same condition and can treat it the same. Luckily, while there isn’t a “cure” there are diet changes and supplements you can take to help change your health around.
For me, it was suggested that I remain on the slow oxidizer/anti-inflammatory diet and possibly even try hCG injections. I also need to take magnesium, zinc, and fish oil to start. I’m sure I’ll be adding a few more supplements later. While the hCG sublingual drops had worked for me pretty well in the past (and now I know why) I wasn’t quite ready to spend the money on the injections yet. I need to work on actually sticking with something that actually works!
So, I’m back at it again – a modified hCG diet. I’m trying to give myself some grace with this thing because I have a hard time sticking with it. It’s been 6 days and, while I’m not seeing huge losses like I would normally if strictly following the protocol, I am still dropping slowly which is fine by me. I’d rather see the scale go down than up! I’m writing all of this information because it was amazing to finally know WHY I was trying everything, knew something was wrong but no one had an answer for me, and now I finally have the answer. I still have a lot to do and a lot to learn, but at least I know the exact direction I need to be going! That brings me some peace when it seemed like the odds were stacked against me to be able to lose weight.
Weight Loss & Journey with ViSalus 