Weight-to-go!

Last night, I weighed myself and finally hit the 3kg lost mark! 

For the last 12 months or so, I've been trying to loose an extra 10kg to bring my weight into the healthy weight range. Its been a hard slog, with lots of up and down efforts over the last year. I have finally started to see an improvement in my commitment and my mindset.


I am so excited - its actually given me the motivation I've needed to get ready for the rest of the week and to really make good choices this week. I'd like to reach 500gm (1 pound) this week. Don't remind me that if I had stuck to the goal I set in October, I'd be on the last 2kg to my goal weight... seriously, don't remind me ok?

I am still trying not to eat as much gluten as I used. I do miss the heavy grainy breads I love from time to time, but my stomach is thanking me with less soreness and cramping. So I am quite happy. There is definitely room to improve my diet further. I could certainly cut out the mayonnaise... *sigh* but I do really love mayonnaise.

Loosing weight will hopefully help to balance the excess testosterone in my system (the delightful result of PCOS) and will help me to regulate my cycle (which is still a little wonky). Hopefully it will mean my body is more receptive to the treatments I am likely to undertake next year for fertility.

500gm. It's going to happen.

A Little Encouragment

Sometimes the best thing I can do to help me deal with the nagging thoughts that come with infertility, is to help someone else. I've spent time this week volunteering with my church's Christmas food drive. 

Today I'm going to help my friend move house.
It's been a wet and gloomy week, and one that would ordinarily have me feeling wet and gloomy. I'm thankful for opportunities to look outside my own sphere. 

Blessings,

LordGirl

Spending time (of which I have lots at this stage of my life) helping out other people helps me look outside myself and concentrate on the bigger things in life.

Perspective...

Here is a link to Bumperella's blog.  I watched this video and found it so helpful. Bumperella is honest and open about the process she has been through, and I think it is encouraging that she is an Aussie, as I think reading and watching a lot of American stuff around fertility can sometimes make things seem distant.

Is Prayer Enough?

When it comes to the world of infertility, as a Christian there is a moral and ethical minefield to unpack.

Is treatment appropriate? Which treatment? Do you draw the line at medication, or are procedural treatments appropriate? Where does artificial insemination and IVF come in to play?

There are a lot of issues to consider and some varied opinions on all of these things.
As we come to each step over the next couple of years, I am hoping that we will be able to pray through these issues and gain better understanding of the Biblical considerations that we hold as Christians.

Last night, I was wondering the world wide web and I came across a website for a meditation aid aimed at women with PCOS, who are trying to conceive.  This is quite a popular meditation (according to its own website and a number of reviews that I read) focused around a 28 day cycle and using meditation techniques around what happens each day of your cycle. It sounds great and people seem to credit it with at the very least, it helping to calm their nerves and help them relax in their journey.

But is meditation, on something other than the Word, something that we as Christians should pursue? Is prayer and meditation on the Word (which is a different kind of meditation to my mind) enough?

Many fertility clinics recommend the practices of yoga and meditation, as a method of helping people relax and cope with the stress of treatment. It is usually offered as part of a holistic support program, including dietary support and counselling. As a Christian, I am not immune to the effects of anxiety and stress, but I have a different way of handling things, through prayer and the Word. But is it enough?

Natural Health: Supplements?

sup·ple·ment (spl-mnt)

n.

1. Something added to complete a thing, make up for a deficiency, or extend or strengthen the whole.

2. A section added to a book or document to give further information or to correct errors.

3. A separate section devoted to a special subject inserted into a periodical, such as a newspaper.

No, its not about books or newspapers!  Supplements are the cause of much debate in the media circuit, but how do we know what supplements to take when trying to conceive? 

When we first approached our GP regarding fertility, he told us that I needed to be taking a multivitamin with folate and that fish oil was helpful. 

I went to the chemist and bought a popular pre-natal vitamin and dutifully took that for a week. 

I was so sick! 

Something about the tablet reacted badly with my system and so I stopped that quicksmart. But I still felt like I should be doing something productive with my 'waiting time'. All the books said folate and a multi are important.

After a year of trying I visited a Naturopath who specialised in infertility. 

She was all for the multi and put me on a special natural one (which didn't upset me as much), and then...

Fish oil - two capsules twice a day

A natural progesterone 'booster' - twice a day

Something for nerves - that one went down badly, so I only ever took two, then gave the bottle back!

An anxiety lifter - 6 capsules a day

Vitamin D - twice a day

I was having 16+ capsules or tablets a day!  I felt like a giant walking pill bottle. I was having pills and water in the mornings for breakfast because by the time I had finished I was full!

Then I started reading information my husband provided about the effectiveness (or lack thereof) of these kinds of pills. Suddenly I didn't know what to do. So I did nothing. I stopped taking them. And now there is a basket full of pill containers in my cupboard that I don't know what to do with. 

I figure most 'normal' people can fall pregnant without supplements. Do I really need them? 

Gluten. The secret?

 I have a couple of dietary intolerances. They aren't serious, I won't be landing in hospital anytime soon (although one night when I was younger, the pains were so bad my Dad did take me to the emergency room...). I have cut out the offending foods and for the most part, the problems (cramps, gas, and poor digestion) have abated.  The foods I avoid are:

• Artificial Sweeteners (these are by far the worst, doubling me over for hours)
• High citrus foods like tomatoes, oranges and lemons (these are ok in small does spread out over a number of days)
• Juice of any kind.  I was addicted, and it was hard, but I have cut. it. out. of my life! 

While the cramping has improved, I still have times where it occurs, and cutting out these things has done nothing to help the bloating, which is after most meals and can get quite painful.  Sometimes I have been asked when I am expecting after a meal. I'm serious. I am an expert bloater...!

A couple of years ago, a family member developed adult-onset gluten intolerance. Recently I was talking with them about my diet and problems I have with digestion, and it seemed as though there were a lot of similarities. Don't worry, it wasn't a Dr. Google moment, with my pronouncing myself gluten-intolerant!

I simply started to watch my intake of gluten based foods (which for me includes breads, sauces, cakes and confectionery for the main part) and recording when I experienced bloating. And guess what? When I ate foods containing gluten, I had the symptoms. When I didn't eat the food, I didn't have the symptoms.

After a couple of weeks experimentation, I have concluded that I can handle tiny amounts of gluten (eg. a sauce or cake) if it is spread out and I am willing to put up with mild discomfort. This is helpful in situations where someone else is providing the food.   At home now, I just limit my gluten intake as much as possible.

I feel a lot better and I have started to research the information on the link between gluten and infertility. So far, I can see that individuals with coeliac disease often suffer infertility, but as for gluten intolerance, there is very little hard evidence on the ground. Most fertility specialising dietitians recommend a good intake of grains, so there is little to suggest to cut them out.  For me, the next step is to find some grains that I can tolerate well symptomatically.

In the mean time I feel a lot better, and I don't have to worry about elasticised clothing to accommodate my self-inflating tummy after meals - so Homer Simpson!

Success and a Sweet Smile

As part of our journey through infertility, we are going to try a course of a drugs called clomid.  I am hoping to try this in the early new year. As I have Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS), there is a high likelihood that I do not ovulate regularly, if at all. Clomid stimulates ovulation and will hopefully help us to conceive on our own, without the need for further, more invasive, treatments. 

As part of preparing for this treatment, I have been trying to loose weight. This is because the drug itself can cause you to gain weight (and I have that kind of luck!) and also because a healthy body weight can help to regulate fertility on its own. For more information, see here.

Sorry if this photo is unhelpful! 

So I have been quietly and gently trying to improve my diet and exercise for the last 3 months. The weight is coming off.  Slowly. Slower than I would like, but each week when I weigh in, its a little less.

Last night was a success with 400gm lost. I know, it doesn't seem much. But I was so happy just to see the minus sign on my log book that I didn't really care how much. If its still going down, I'm happy with that.

My next goal is to achieve 5% loss of my original weight. That will take me to 76kg. I'll leave you to do the math!  From there its just a hop skip and jump to 10% and then my goal weight of 70kg.

I really want to have this done by Christmas. I'm just not sure I have the will power, but the promise of being able to 'try a little harder' to beat infertility next year is a sweet smile.

I realise that I need to be consistent with my food and exercise. Something that I have always found hard. I'm sort an all-or-nothing type person.  I'll go hard for a week (more like 3 days), eating well and exercising like a Trojan  then I will sabotage it with a block of chocolate. Part of this weight-loss program has been to focus on the one choice at a time scenario. Just make a good breakfast choice. Then choose water to drink. Then choose to have a piece of fruit. Then choose to go for a walk at lunch.

It's just choices. Just one at a time.