Breaking The Silence

Well folks, after my OBGYN told me not to follow the ketogenic (20g of carbs or less) diet after it badly messed with my hormones, she said I had to do 50g of carbs MINIMUM per day.  You know what happened?

I fell off the bandwagon a few weeks ago, and now I'm really bummed and feeling a little hopeless... especially because I epically tripped on a curb last week and injured my left (dominant) hand and right leg.  Hashtag, klutzforlife. 

My hand is healing well, and though it didn't affect my ability to play the piano, my handwriting has changed slightly.  That's fine by me, though, because I believe it got a smidge more legible!

My leg... my leg is not doing well.  When I'm home, it's pretty much constantly elevated and iced.  I use a tens unit combined with ice to increase circulation. The PT guy at my chiropractor had fun taping my leg up yesterday to also help increase circulation.  I cannot go for a leisurely walk without feeling like someone is ripping all the meat off my shin... and by leisurely walk, I mean any and all movement.  If you see me around, I'll have a positive face on, because there is just not much else I can do... and I cannot... I will not let this impact my daily living.

Well, I will not let this impact my daily living except my ability to break a sweat on the elliptical.  Though I promise it won't become a clothes rack, it will be out of commission for a bit.  Long lovely walks with my amazingly supportive boyfriend may also be on the backburner for a while.

Since my last blog post, I hit the 15 pounds lost benchmark.  Since falling off the bandwagon, I put about 8 back on, give or take a few (I weighed while on my period, and we all know that can do horrid things to the scale).  Good news, though, is that my smaller jeans still fit well.

Here's to a restart of a simply low-carb (50g-ish of carbs per day) approach.  Gotta keep trucking!

PS. See the sparkly size 7 ring?  That's my next mini goal!  I'm not the girliest girl, but I do like pretty things. At my thinnest back in high school, I wore a size 5 ring... small steps!

Keto Day, well... Ch- Ch- Ch- Ch- Chaaanges!

I've been following a low carbohydrate, spefically Ketogenic, diet since March 4th, 2017. I have Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS), and I'm a slow loser coming in at a 10 lb weight loss just barely as of Thursday morning. 

My old jeans began feeling loose weeks ago, so I went online and found the next size smaller (my favorite brand are hard to find locally). They arrived Wednesday night. When I looked at them, I thought, "Damn, I forgot to get the curvy fit, these aren't going to work." I put them aside and went to bed feeling depressed. Thursday morning, I begrudgingly tried them on, and they fit PERFECTLY (the photo posted shows the difference between my old and new jeans).  That made my day!!!

And my week!!!

Thank goodness, because I needed it.

I recently gave up dairy products with the support of my OBGYN in hopes that it would have a positive effect on my menstrual issues.

Well, it didn't.

About 2 weeks ago, I increased my carbohydrate intake for 5 days to see if that would help (sometimes lady stuff responds negatively to big diet changes, like going super low low carb).

That didn't help either.

I called my OBGYN on Monday to problem-solve and she was not at work. Tuesday morning she called me and said she could see me in June... JUNE!!! I am hopping on a plane with my boyfriend next week for a trip East Coast and trust me, you don't want the girl problems I've got while flying.  I expressed this and was told she'd go see what other options were available.  About 15 minutes later I got another call; there was a miracle 11am cancelation!!!

At my appointment I was told that although my blood sugar levels all look good (and have for the last 10 years of annual bloodwork), it's not because they are good... it's because my pancreas is frickin' awesome, apparently. In other words, my pancreas is working harder than it should.  I also learned that I'm insulin resistant.

I have now been put on Metformin, a medication very familiar to a lot of folks with diabetes.  In addition to helping my body use insulin better, it should also have a positive impact on my girl issues. Yesterday was the first day that it didn't make me feel like hurling every other second, or sleeping like a hibernating bear.  With those side effects gone (for now, until further titration in 2 weeks), I'm feeling a bit less angry about it all.  I'm just not a fan of having to take medication... and still a little pissed that it took so long to figure this out despite my diligence in having annual blood panels done (because I know I'm high risk for diabetes).

Since eliminating dairy did no harm or good, I was told to reintroduce it into my diet or start taking a calcium supplement.  Since most vitamins/supplements cause severe vomiting for me... hellooooooo dairy!!!

Yogurt and cheese... I missed you. [Insert heart emoticon here.]

Also... I was instructed to increase my daily carbohydrate allowance from 20 grams to 50 grams, 40 at the very least.  So, this means I'm still following a low carb diet, just not strictly Ketogenic anymore.

If my OBGYN believes this in conjunction with the Metformin will help with my girl issues, I'm on board.

Of course I'll still hop on and blog periodically, because the adventures continue!