I cannot help but roll my eyes at that phrase, because it's so misused and overused. No one goes on diets anymore; they make a lifestyle change. Except not really; they just switch to Diet Coke and buy a gym membership that they use for two months.
But about a year ago I was faced with the hard truth that I had to make a legitimate lifestyle change. I had been tracking my fertility and cycles through the Billings Method of Natural Family Planning since January 2014, and I had determined some disturbing news: I wasn't ovulating. So I made an appointment with a NFP-only practitioner in Austin. In May of 2014, I had a series of blood work done which proved what another doctor had tentatively suspected: poly-cystic ovarian syndrome and insulin resistance. So Dr. K. and I hatched a plan, but by the time I went for a check up seven months later, in December of 2014, I had kinda sucked at holding up my end of the bargain.
So in December, after seeing no real progress in my weight or fertility, I buckled down, started swallowing all my pills on time, twice a day, and started looking into a real lifestyle change. It has been slow. Really slow. I've got a pretty stubborn husband who I have to consider in meal planning and long days that don't encourage gym time. But I've made progress.
I cut out dairy. (Dairy is troublesome for PCOS because cows are full of sex hormones when they're being milked; thus the milk has a lot of sex hormones in it. Milk products then screw with my already imbalanced hormones.) It's been really freaking hard. I love cheese and a bowl of cereal and I freaking adore ice cream. But ya know, I'm making it work. Trader Joe's carries a coconut milk faux ice cream that's not horrible. It's free of dairy and soy, and because it's definitely not a pint of Ben and Jerry's Half Baked, it's a lot easier for me to eat a few spoonfuls and be satisfied. I'm just not buying cheese; I still eat it in restaurants (because I love me some queso), as am not quite ready to go cold turkey). I've stopped drinking cow's milk (drinking your calories sucks anyway), and I buy almond milk to use in my smoothies I make a few times a week.
I discovered Ezekiel bread, which is, to put it bluntly, the shit. Good taste, and lots of energy from it. Instead of feeling weighed down, even after eating wheat bread, I feel pretty energized. A lot of times, I just forgo the bread. Tonight we had lean venison burgers. I just ate mine without the bun. I've been able to avoid cooking rice-based dishes so far without Matt catching on. It has only been a few weeks, though, so I know he'll figure it out soon enough. He can't get behind brown rice, so perhaps I'll just choose to forgo the rice.
Veggies are beginning to fill the majority of my plate. Whereas they used to be a side, I now try to use them as the main dish and fill in the rest with meats and other lean choices. Matt's totally okay with that because he likes veggies, and that usually means more meat for him.
I've also learned to trick myself. I tend to eat off of a small salad-sized plate, instead of a large dinner plate. My food fills it up without over-filling me.
I know I've made some progress. My clothes fit differently. But I've vowed to not weigh myself until I go back to Dr. K. for a check-up in May. I've got just over two months to make some more progress, and even if my fertility isn't making great strides (none that I can see, at least), I know something is changing.
I'll try to share some recipes I've liked and tried, but I don't want this journey of mine to be my primary focus on this blog. I promise it's not the most interesting thing about me.
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