Perimenopause arrived and my world changed. I put on 30lbs over the course of 3 years. Due to previous health issues, my primary physician and my OBGYN refused to give my anything to balance my hormones. The weight kept coming, in addition to the hot flashes, body odor, fatigue, leaking bladder and sleepless nights. Suddenly depression kicked in.
I found a women’s specialist in 2017 that prescribed a hormone patch and testosterone cream to help balance things out. It helped curve some of the symptoms, but I still continued to gain weight. I am now in my third year of this journey and in March, 2018 I peaked at 194 lbs. I was devastated to say the least. I had to fight through all the obstacles because the more I gained, the more I ate…my depressed mindset was telling me that “nothing is working so you may as well eat”. I also found comfort in shopping for clothes that I would eventually fit into once I lost the weight. Those two processes made things worse mentally.
Physically, everything began to hurt. I actually have a petite frame, but I’ve always been healthy in a very well-proportioned way. So, it wasn’t a surprise when my knees, back and ankles began to hurt. I already had plantar fasciitis (inflammation of the tissue that runs at the bottom of the foot), but with the weight gain, the pain increased. I had absolutely no energy. It was time to do something. I hired a personal trainer on two occasions and I joined a gym that had high-intensity interval training (HIIT) workouts. Yet, I was not losing the weight. (Click to read the remainder of the story)
