311 lbs to 211 with PCOS ( Pic heavy )

..I am 6 ft tall. I have PCOS which has made it very difficult to lose weight.



Up until recently PCOS ran me....the hormones were out of whack and weight just seemed to pile on and i had no idea what i was doing wrong.



Ive been losing weight steadily for the past year or so, my starting weight before I reached MFP was 311 lbs. I could barely walk a flight of stairs without being out of breath. that was in January of 2012.



Last summer I reached my goal of being Under 250.






But I noticed I platued at 236. I had been working out and eating right for over 4 months and hadnt lost ONE pound. PCOS is one of those syndromes that will do that unfortunately for some people.



I hadnt actually brought any of this up to my doctor until one night I had really bad pain in my lower abdomen. The pain was excruciating! I went to the hospital doubled over in pain to find out that a cyst had burst.

They released me , prescribed me bed rest and birth control in an attempt to regulate my hormones so that these cysts didnt happen again.

I began taking birth control and I was having strange and bad side effects from it. My body was pretty much rejecting it, so i was taken off of birth control.

as soon as they did another burst cyst on my next cycle had me crying in the hospital.

My doctor discussed metamophin along with a few other perscription drugs but the side effects seem to have a worse effects than my syndrome!

The only option that was left was to diet and excerise with the care of my doctor and a registered dietition. ( up until recently I thought that a nutritionist and a RD were the same thing , sorry for the confusion )

They told me that for 8 weeks I will eat a 1200 calorie diet. In the beginning I will wean myself off from refined sugars, gluten and high fatty foods.

and I will have somewhat of a bootcamp for an excersie program for 6 days a week, 60 minutes cardio and 30 minutes strength, as it turns out both of those things are good for women with PCOS. I was instructed, due to my PCOS to not eat my calories back if I want to see results. Once I reach the 8 week mark they will re-evalute my results and put me on a different plan. By any means dont follow my diet, and if you follow my excersise program Eat back your calories! Everyones PCOS is different , I would discuss any of these methods with your doctor before trying them.

They said they didnt care what cardio or strength I took , so long as it fit in those categories and i followed my program and i was diligent about it.

So I chose zumba. I was skeptical at first, but then again I hadnt had my new diet combined with aerobics either, so i decided to give it a shot. Plus just some workouts, like running or elliptical just dont motivate me enough to stay on track! I get bored !
zumba really helped me find the passion in working out and staying active. I havent missed a day since I started!

The bloating in my stomach, that is associated with PCOS, started to fade just weeks after I started working out and staying away from sugar. So although my weight had hardly changed from the vigorous amount of fitness I was doing along with my diet, the inches were getting smaller around my waist due to less bloat. I lost about 2 inches from fat from my stomach, the rest was pure water weight.
..now I am on week four doing Zumba Exhilarate!

What I love about zumba is that i dont get bored or distracted doing it! And no matter how many times i do it, Im always sweating bullets!

The dancing itself has given me confidence!

On top of the zumba I have been doing Jillian Micheals Yoga Melt Down.



Between the two of them I was able to start seeing some real results in my body. I lost pretty much all of my bloat. I finally see my waist which I havent seen in years. And a little bit of abs are showing through.

I am really happy with the results as I have gotten an actual period this month

Hopefully things are going on the right track!!!

My point is if you dedicate yourself, to whatever goals you may have....you can accomplish them !
dont give up and beat the odds!

thanks for all of your support my friends

me at my heaviest 326 lbs 2011


Me at 311 lbs January of 2011



236 starting before I started my routine 222 lbs after I started 4 weeks later




Im starting to see a little bit of abs!