I am just wrapping up on this terrible cold from hell and am ready to jump back into the swing of things here on the blog. I took sort of an unintended break from blogging this past month and I really missed it. Aside from doing little updates on my kids, I've wanted to start sharing more about me since this is sort of like my online journal.
Keep reading if you want to find out more about my upcoming fitness and healthy lifestyle change endeavors. (*disclaimer! I am NOT personally selling any products here, but I will point you in the direction of tools I may use along this journey in case you are interested in purchasing/learning more.)
As many of you know, I have PCOS (Poly-cystic Ovarian Syndrome). As a kid I was always super waif thin. Really skinny. I hit puberty and gained a massive amount of weight practically overnight. I had no idea what had happened, but I struggled off and on with my weight every since, which is a typical side effect of PCOS, along with infertility, depression problems, hirsutism, acne and more.
Pregnancy is really beneficial to me. It's like it evens out my hormones and prevents my body from gaining so much weight. I only gained 25 lbs with both babies and lost it all within the first two weeks. Breastfeeding is incredibly helpful to my hormones as well. I've lost a total of 55 lbs since the day I had Luna. Basically I've lost 30 extra pounds from my pre-pregnancy weight. And I haven't done a damn thing to intentionally "earn" that weight loss.
I eat whatever I want. I don't work out. BUT I do chase around a 4 year old and am constantly packing around an almost 1 year old (who happens to weigh 23 lbs, btw). Also I have two very active dogs so I get exercise that way, but I am not doing any kinds of official work outs. (also breastfeeding helps!) But don't hate me just yet. I don't mention any of this to brag.
Because of the way my body works (thanks hormones), this beautiful downward trajectory of easy weight loss is only temporary. The exact same thing happened when Jack was a baby. I got down to a weight I hadn't seen since I was in junior high, no joke. (I had lost about 65 lbs from my pre-Jack pregnancy weight by the time Jack was about 18 months.) However, winter hit and Jack stopped breastfeeding as much and I ended up packing on the pounds even faster than I lost them. I was back up a good 25 lbs by his second birthday. And right before I got pregnant with Luna, I'd put on a good 15 more. That is 40 lbs in a YEAR. Ridiculous.
Basically thanks to PCOS, my body doesn't handle processing carbs well at all. I hadn't changed anything about my lifestyle. Still ate the same foods, had the exact same activity level, everything. Feel free to read more about how all that works and more PCOS-related symptoms here.
So this time around post partum, I'm trying to get ahead of my fitness needs while I am still losing weight fairly easily. This means an entire lifestyle change as far as my diet goes and I'm going to be increasing my exercise goals too.
I suppose this is more of an accountability post thank anything else. Feel free to follow along if you're so inclined! Make sure you are following me on Instagram where I will post more frequent updates! @samanthasstory
You go girl!
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