What's WRONG with my BODY?!?!

So before I get into why I need to lose weight and be healthier (because let's face it, I'm not the only one) .... I thought it would be helpful to go ahead and just list out all the things that are wrong with my body that can sometimes make working out and losing weight less than fun.

Contrary to what the title portrays, I am not doing this to try and get sympathy, or make anyone feel sorry for me (I just wanted to make that the title to grab attention). I am by no means someone to feel sorry for! There are way more people with more substantial disabilities and/or disadvantages than my own. 

I guess the honest truth about what I am about to tell you are my sad excuses for sometimes not doing certain exercises or routines. (I know...I should do better). But perhaps this process of leaving it out for the whole world to see what I use as my "crutches" will help me to suck it up and toughen it out. :)

So to make this more interesting and perhaps educational for some of you...I will list out the symptoms first, then a picture, and then state the actual diagnosis (that way maybe some of you can guess what it is before you actually see it. .... Ready? ... Let's begin!!

Round 1!

Symptoms I believe when I was around the age of 15 (around the time I was playing soccer in high school) my hip began to really bother me in a way it had not before. For a couple years, I had been aware that my hip would sometimes "pop" or "click" as I walked, but I could only really tell this was happening when my palm was against it. But around this time it actually began to reach a level of discomfort that made doing certain stretches and activities such as lunges pretty uncomfortable and sometimes even painful. When this became more frequent and home remedies could not explain it, my mother decided to take me to the doctor...

Diagnosis The doctor told me I have "minor bursitis" of the hip. In my mind, translating simply to "muscle tissue inflammation" around the bones of my hip. For more information, you can click here. (If you decide to do a google image search on this, do NOT worry! It looks nothing like that! My hip looks perfectly normal and it is not as big of a deal as the internet makes it appear to be.) All though I did get a laugh at the look on my grandma's face when I told her about it ... she didn't want to believe me!

Round 2!

Symptoms I sometimes like to joke with close friends and say that this next one all started because I was so distraught after the news of Michael Jackson's death because I can first remember it happening the day he died in 2009. I was sitting with my sister in the car when out of no where, it felt like an invisible force grabbed inside my chest and started pumping (right by my heart of all places). The pain only lasted 5-10 seconds but took me by such surprise that I curled in and grabbed my chest as if in fear I might collapse. Then just as quickly as it came, it was gone. I looked at my sister, with probably the same expression of confusion as on her face. "What just happened? I'm only 19 and I'm perfectly healthy! Why does it feel like my heart just spasmed?!" We both ended up laughing at how ridiculous I was in the way it just came and went. Any who...when it happened again out of no where and I experienced the same pain in front of my father, he did not quite have the same reaction. When I said it felt like something was squeezing at my heart, he thought perhaps I should see a doctor and get a chest scan...

This is not my chest, just an example of what I had done.

Diagnosis The doctor seemed a little puzzled and all though she mentioned that I have an unusual amount of liquid in my lungs, her diagnosis was (and feel free to laugh) ... gas! She said that I gas pressure built up to the point that I felt it in areas of my upper chest! Now, I will say that sometimes it seems I should get a second opinion, but it does seem correct to say that when I experience changes in my diet, this acts up. So I guess it must be true! She told me to be sure to eat more fiber and if I remember correctly, she also put me on a medication similar to what I had when I was diagnosed with gastritis at age 11! Anyways, as laughable as it is, it does pop up occasionally, making it hard to breath in small moments and causing a brief look of constipation. The way this applies to my working out? It acts up when I change my diet and I noticed certain yoga poses that focus on deep breathing and being in an upside down position can sometimes cause small "gas" attacks. (Don't worry, I'm laughing with you).

Round 3!

(WARNING: Involves female parts)

Symptoms So to preface this one, I have to go back to when I was 15 and my very first period! From the beginning, I was highly irregular. After the first period, I believe it took over 7 months before my next one! Lucky right? Well it gets better! After that time, I was still really irregular for a long time. I believe it shortened to 5 months, then three months. But even when I did become what was "regular" for me, it would be sometime between 5 to 8 weeks. Not a normal cycle for most women I'd dare say. Part of my symptoms also include that from the age of 12, I've had acne. Since then, I do not think there has been a time where I have been absolutely acne free. (There have been my share of flare ups and "good skin" times). 

So over two years back, my sister was in Chile and was experiencing some serious issues with her acne after going to another country (an infection in her face!!!). So to prepare for my study abroad to Paris, I decided I wanted to go on birth control to help get a handle on it before it would possibly get worse. So all though I was only gone for about four months, the birth control worked well for my acne so I decided to stay on it for the course of the year. It was towards the beginning of 2012 when I decided it was no longer needed so I stopped. (While on birth control, I knew the exact day ever 4 weeks that it would start which was pretty convenient). I went back to my "normal" regular of about 5 to 8 week ( most of the time closer to 8) until about May or June. After that it took 3, almost 4 months, and still no period! So, I went to see a doctor at a women's clinic. She had her suspicions on what it might be and sent me to get some blood work done as well as put me on some medication that would basically force my period to start (which it did). When I went back, she confirmed that while most of everything was normal, my blood work did show I have pretty low iron (no big surprise there) but that I also have extremely high levels of testosterone for a woman, confirming her suspicion that I have...

Diagnosis PCOS, or polycystic ovarian syndrome which is believed to affect 1 out of 10 women. For those of you who do not know much about it, there is the link above, as well as this blog from a fellow woman with PCOS, The Curvy Blogger. There is no specific treatment for this except for prescribed birth control to help with the irregular periods. PCOS is said to be the number 1 cause for infertility, but symptoms can be alleviated with exercise, dieting, and weight control. But it is also said that uncontrollable weight gain is another symptom of PCOS, so perhaps this is why I gained 30 pounds last year almost unexplainably?

Any who...I feel that this blog post has reached it's end and has been long enough, but hopefully perhaps educational for some of you! PCOS is a big topic, and I do not want to let it be a crutch that I use to justify gaining weight. 

Next blog post, I want to get more into what I have learned so far during my weight loss crusade! So I hope you stay tuned! Perhaps if anyone else has PCOS, or feels they may have it, feel free to comment!

Much love to you all!