My Fitness Story... - Lauren

It's Thursday again so it's time for another guest post from someone taking part in the My Fitness Story... series. Today's guest poster is Lauren, who blogs at You Big Eejit. Lauren suffers from a condition that affects many women, polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS). This has recently affected her health and fitness. She decided to share her story to raise awareness of the condition, which may affect as many as 10% of women of reproductive age. Time for Lauren to take up the tale...

I have always been fortunate with my weight, hovering somewhere between 10 and 10 and a half stone, size 10-12, 14 on a bad day. I have never been a fan of dieting, and was always quite laid back about my weight. While I could never just eat what I wanted, I was fortunate in being able to regulate it quite well.

I wanted to share my fitness story because I have just come out of a difficult weight and health experience where all of that changed. Everything I knew about my body was flipped upside down, and while everyone is different, I wanted to encourage any of you who are, or suspect you may be, going through the same thing.

In October 2009, I decided that after 8 years of being on the Pill for acne, at the age of 29 I should be over it by now and came off it. It also coincided with a decline in my running regime, so I assumed that the weight that had begun to creep on was down to that. By April, my spots were back, worse than before, and my weight wasn’t shifting, if anything it was going up even more, but I still just put it down to eating too much and exercising too little. It was at this time that my periods – which had been normal since coming off the Pill – stopped entirely. Again, I made excuses and put it down to travelling, work stress, and the excitement of a new relationship but after 3 months, I decided to see my GP. He was brilliant – he took blood tests, arranged scans… in short he took me seriously, which is what I so desperately needed.

By this stage, I had put on a stone and a half in the space of 6 months and mentally was at rock bottom. I had just got engaged and should have been at my happiest – instead I was so low and unhappy. I joined a Rosemary Conley class and began a strict exercise and weight loss regime, but still the weight stayed on. My tummy was big and swollen and I could no longer fit in my clothes. I think what troubled me most was the lack of control I seemed to have over my body. If I was just putting on weight because I was eating too much, then there was something I could do about it. But I felt like my body had a mind of its own, putting on weight no matter what I did, and that scared me.

I went back to my GP, who told me that scans and blood tests showed nothing sinister, but booked a gynaecologist appointment for my own peace of mind. Also, because my acne was bad again, he put me back on the Pill. He also said this may kick start my cycle again. The subsequent change in my body, and my mentality, from that moment was unbelievable. I must emphasise that the Pill did not make me lose weight, but because my hormones were back to normal and I was having regular “periods”, the exercise and dieting I was doing was finally making a difference. The weight began to fall off – slowly but surely, and my confidence began to soar. The swelling in my hips and stomach went down, and my clothes began to fit again. 

Although my periods came back and things were back to “normal”, I still went to my gynaecologist appointment, and it was there that I was finally diagnosed with having Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome, or PCOS. I must stress here that I was told I have an atypical version of it. I do not have excess hair, and my scans did not show cysts on my ovaries. However, my LH and FSH hormone levels were consistent with women who have PCOS and the gynae suggested that being on the Pill for so many years had probably masked it. It was such a relief to be given this diagnosis, albeit an unconfirmed one. It just all made sense, especially since I had seen such a difference in my weight and body shape since I started the Pill again.

I remain on the Pill, and I am still continuing with my diet and weight loss programme. To date, I have lost 1 stone 2lb, with only 4lb left to lose before I am back to where I was. There is no further treatment for PCOS, only that I am now more aware of my body than before. I realise that this is something I will have to battle with, and it is difficult. I’m afraid I can’t sit here and say that everything is ok now because even with a positive ending to the experience, it has still left me with worries, paranoia and fears. I worry that because I associate being on the Pill with being able to regulate my weight, I am scared to come off it. With the joys of losing a huge amount of weight comes the paranoia that I’ll put it all back on. Any time my stomach feels bloated, I panic that the PCOS is flaring up. I do not like the idea of being out of control of my body again. 

The support I am receiving is helping me battle these feelings. My fiancé has been an incredible strength to me, loving me on my fat and skinny days; encouraging me, sometimes infuriating me, with his desire for me to stick to my regime and feel good about myself. In addition to this, my Rosemary Conley instructor, who is now running her own weight loss and exercise classes called “Healthy Visions”, has encouraged me on every step of my journey. Whether the scales go up or down, she is full of praise and support for my efforts, and leads us through challenging and fun aerobics sessions every week.

It has been a long, difficult journey for me, but I would encourage anyone for whom my story has rung a bell to take action now. Listen to your body and see your GP. There are ways to deal with PCOS and you can live a normal, happy, healthy and fit life!

I'm really grateful to Lauren for telling her story. I'm pleased that she has managed to overcome the problems that she has had and I wish her the very best in losing those last few pounds. PCOS is often difficult to diagnose and women may not even know they have it. If you do recognise any of the symptoms, a visit to your GP cannot hurt. If you want more information about PCOS, have a look at the Verity website.

If you suffer from PCOS, please share your experience in the comments below. Alternatively, if you have a fitness story to tell, then get in touch with me on Twitter or via the email address on the About me page. I will link back to any blog you write if you wish, or you can remain either partly or fully anonymous.

There'll be another fitness story here next week. Please don't forget that you can find all the posts from the My Fitness Story... series easily by visiting this page. 

Mother Love

Can you see the pride shining from her eyes? Her little family, one boy and one girl. Maybe not perfect, but they make her proud. They can take some looking after and they work her hard. Occasionally, she falls short of the challenge, but don't we all? Sometimes, they make her cry, but they also bring her endless joy. Their love for her is as unconditional and fierce as the love she feels in her heart for them. She protects them as if she were a tigress protecting her cubs. Like any mother, she is not perfect and, try as she might, she has a favourite who gets a little more attention and time than the other. She hates to leave them, but it has to be done. She feels guilty leaving them in the care of another. After all, you never know, do you? How can anyone else care for them in the same way that she does? How can anyone else love them as much to look after them as well? The looks on their faces when she gets home after a long day say it all. Well, to her anyway.

She is the embodiment of Mother Love, aged 4. Even if they are adopted, they are her children and she is their mother.

Missy Woo and her little family

Six go cheese-making in Cheshire

I do love cheese. I've loved it as long as I can remember. As a toddler and child, I had terrible migraines. Cheese was one of my trigger foods, along with chocolate, so I had to avoid them as much as possible, but I struggled more with not eating cheese than chocolate. Luckily, I grew out of the migraines! I eat any kind of cheese, although I do prefer stronger flavoured cheese as do the children. There's always cheese in the house, and whatever cheese we have goes quickly. Well, apart from the blue cheese - I get to keep that for myself as a rare treat.

So when I was asked by the British Cheese Board (great name!) if I'd like to visit a creamery and see cheese being made, I jumped at the chance. The fact we'd get to make our own cheese just added more excitement! I really love things like that - mainly because I did Food Chemistry as part of my degree course many moons ago.

The creamery that I and five other bloggers visited was Joseph Heler Cheese in Cheshire, who are the largest independent regional cheese producer in the UK. I was fascinated to learn that Joseph Heler himself, despite being into his eighties, still comes into work every day to see what's going on. It was so lovely that it still has a family feel to the place, despite being on a scale I couldn't imagine.

After dressing in fetching coats and hairnets (see left - sorry Jen and Lindy), we went around their biggest creamery, where they now make Red Leicester. This was cheese making on a vast scale. What doesn't help is that you need a lot of milk to make cheese. It takes 10 litres of milk to make 1kg so they have to find a way of dealing with the waste- which they do by extracting some by products for food manufacture and the water is then recycled too. A lot of the processing is mechanical but the key part of the process - the salting of the cheese -  is still done manually. It has to be done evenly, otherwise you might ruin the cheese and watching the curds being salted is something to behold.

We also took a quick look around their small creamery which they use to make specialist or artisan cheeses - like their Blue Cheshire - and also to run cheese-making courses.

Onto making our own cheese! It seemed to go quite well and it was fun, but that may just be because I'm odd. The milk had the rennet added just before we went on our tour. When we came back, the curds that had formed were cut (as per my Silent Sunday post last week) and the whey drained off. We had our own go at salting and mixing in the salt, then it was packed into moulds. Hopefully, in a week or two, the cheese - it's going to be a coloured Cheshire so it doesn't mature for very long - will arrive on our doorsteps. I can't wait. If you want to see all the photos taken of the cheese-making, you can find them here.

We also met their cheese grader who explained what he was looking for when he tastes cheeses and how they differ. It sounds obvious, but if you are eating cheese uncooked, then you get the best flavour by taking it out of the fridge for at least 20 minutes beforehand. We tried some reduced fat cheese - and yes, it did taste good but there is something about the texture that makes it different.

I know the perception is that cheese is quite unhealthy but it does have its place in a balanced diet. Did you know that giving children a piece of cheese after they've had sweets help to protect their teeth? I give my two a snack of cheese and raisins, which they love. The cheese stops the raisins from sticking to their teeth - something else that can contribute to tooth decay. Obviously, because the nutrients are concentrated down, it is a great source of calcium - great if your kids don't drink a lot of milk.

Also, did you know that full fat hard cheese has the same number of calories whether it's mild, medium, mature or extra mature? The difference is just the length of time it's left to mature. If you are cooking with cheese and want a great flavour, use a stronger cheese as you'll need less to get the cheesy flavour and that will help to keep the calories and fat down.

And the best part of the day? Being given lots of lovely cheese to take away in a lovely little cool bag. I'll do a full report on our cheese when it arrives, but I came away with piles of cheese to give us our fix in the meantime. A big thanks to Joseph Heler and British Cheese for organising a great day.

Meal Planning Monday

Oh yes, it's that time of the week again! A week comes around so fast. Last week, we had all the meals as planned, apart from a change of accompaniment to the Sausages in Onion Gravy -  homemade chips in the oven instead of mash, the kids had peas and we had broccoli. Everything went down well - especially the roasted veggie pasta I made on Saturday evening, which elicited the question from Monkey of whether we could have it again and if so, when - always a good sign!

And we had a fabulous time at Parkers Arms yesterday for Mother's Day lunch. Thanks so much to Stosie and the team for a lovely meal.

Enough of that, this post is about my plan for this week, which I managed to do on Saturday when I was lucky a bit of peace and quiet.

So here we go for the week commencing 4th April.

Monday - Lentil and Lamb Moussaka
Tuesday - Paprika Chicken
Wednesday - Salmon with Leeks and Parsnip Mash
Thursday - Pizza Pinwheels for the kids, Ricotta, Tomato & Spinach Frittata for us
Friday - Beef and Bean Crumble
Saturday - Pancetta, Mushroom and Leek Risotto
Sunday - We're away so I won't be cooking. 

A lot more balanced this week - something different every day - and no curries! Instead, it seems to have a more Italian feel with a frittata, a risotto, and the pizza pinwheels.

Why not pop over to Mrs M's blog and check out more entries for Meal Planning Monday? You might get some fab new ideas. Feel free to join in if you like.

Silent Sunday

Broken?

Photo credit: ba1969

You didn't break me;
Well, not quite,
Although you tried.
I should have known
The way you hero-worshipped
The memory of your father,
And yet
Your mother told me
Of the fear and dread
Every time she heard
The garden gate rattle on its hinges
Not knowing what lay ahead for her.
I knew to be on my guard
But still
I let you do it.
My bad.
Or not.

It was not physical,
Your abuse,
Although you hit me once
And I dialled 999.
You ripped the phone
Out of the wall
But the police still turned up.
The one time you had no answer.

No, your abuse was far more subtle.
It was psychological,
Emotional.
Still painful
But with no scars
That could be seen.
No-one knew
What you were putting me through;
You were too clever:
Far,
Far,
Too clever.
You made me believe
Bad things
About myself.
You made me
Hate myself.
I would get frustrated
Because part of me knew
They were not true;
They couldn't be,
But
The rest of me did.
Your iron fingers
Grasped at my soul,
Crushing the very essence
Of me.

I may not
Have been broken
But
I had no confidence,
No belief,
In myself;
I was trapped.
No way to get out
And re-start my life.
And yet,
Outwardly,
I was confident,
Strong,
Ambitious.
Work was an escape,
But in my head,
I was still
Trapped.

It didn't stop there.
You went
With your friend
To visit his brother abroad.
You started an affair
And broke up that family.
For months,
You denied it
To everyone,
Not just me.
Your best friend,
People who had supported you;
You betrayed their friendship.

Finally,
I broke free from you.
Work provided
A partial escape route;
I took it.
Slowly, I felt
The grasp of your iron fingers
On my soul
Loosen
And I began to grow
Again.
I started to enjoy life
Again.
I believed in myself
Again.
Work came to an end
But the link was broken.
I knew
I couldn't go back.
The only answer
Was to move away.

I went.

Although
I was free,
I suffered
For a long time
Because of you,
Because of your hatred,
Because of your vicious words.
I rebuilt
My confidence,
My self-belief.
It was hard work;
You changed me
For good.
Sometimes,
Even now,
I think I feel
Those iron fingers
Grasping, squeezing
At my soul,
Making me
Doubt myself,
Hate myself
Again.

But then,
I remember;
You didn't break me,
Although you tried.
I have people
Who love me,
Who care about me,
Who like me
For who I am.

That is my victory.
That I broke free
That I am me.

This is for everyone suffering from some form of abuse in their lives.


This post is a finalist in the "Blog Post of the Year" category in the MAD blog awards 2011.

Innocent party

The lovely people at Innocent Drinks - they of the gorgeous smoothies and veg pots - sent me a couple of vouchers to try their new juice range. I love freshly squeezed orange juice so I didn't need much persuasion to give this a go, and it didn't disappoint. It tasted like I'd squeezed it myself - the fact I'd chosen the juice with bits even added to the effect! I haven't tried it but I was pleased to see Innocent are also doing a lovely cloudy looking apple juice too. I'll be trying that soon.

Their juices and smoothies are quite expensive, but I guess that's the price you pay for quality products - and it is worth noting that Innocent gives 10% of its profits to charity.

At the moment, Innocent are giving you the chance to win a prize by visiting their website and giving the tree a good shake. Someone will win £1000 but there are hampers and coupons for free juice to be won as everyone who enters will win a prize. Why not hurry over there and have a go whilst the competition is still running?

(I was sent vouchers for two free carafes of Innocent juice. I have received no other compensation. The opinions stated are my own and I have not been told what to write.)