From Obese to a size 4- 61 lbs down with PCOS!

From the time I was young, I have always been overweight, noticeably from I would say the age of 8. I remember being noticeably bigger than all of the other girls that I played sports with, having to buy XL uniforms, when I was just as active as any of my other friends. Sure, I did not eat a super "clean" diet as a child, but definitely no different than any other. I developed low self-esteem early on and just for the life of me could not figure out why I was different than everyone else. Fast forward to junior high and high school, nothing seemed to work. I would lose the same 10-15 lbs every time but I could never make it past that first threshold. FINALLY, in high school I was diagnosed with PCOS (polycystic ovarian syndrome) which is a condition that throws all of your hormones out of whack making it so I would never have a period and insulin resistance. My doctors have told me that having PCOS makes it essentially 3 times harder to lose the weight than an average person.

Being overweight from a very young age caused me to start to develop certain beliefs about my life and my journey has been far from easy. All I ever wanted to was to feel "normal" and not disgusted every time I looked in the mirror. Having started and quit a million times over because I didn't know how to get past that certain hurdle caused me to question, "could I really do this?" Was being "skinny" even in the cards for me? And I really started to believe that it wasn't.

I'm not 100% certain what it was about this time around, but in less than a year and a half I have gone from being obese to the smallest I've ever been, and a size I never thought I could possibly fit into. In this past year and a half, I have battled PCOS, several stress fractures in my foot, chronic knee problems, etc. but the question I would start to ask myself when I felt like quitting was "do you really want to give up on yourself now?" When I couldn't run for 5 months because of my foot I found alternative ways to get my exercise in (swimming, bike, weights).

The moral of my story is ALWAYS, no matter what life throws at you, do NOT give up. Reflect and think about the progress that you have already made and I guarantee you, you will not want to start over. It may take longer, but it always important that you get back up one more time than you have fallen. Small changes in everyday life add up to BIG changes in the long run.

I leave you with this: "Never give up on a dream just because of the time it will take to accomplish it. The time will pass anyway." -Earl Nightingale".

Okay, now for the pictures!!!!

SW: 193 (tight 16/18)
CW: 132
GW: 130 (size xs/s in shirts, 4/6 in pants)

BEFORE:








AFTER: