Saturday, January 15, 2011

Beating PCOS

Sixteen months ago, I entered the Ms. Chronic Disease of America pageant hosted by The Meanest Mom and was selected as one of the seven finalists. Jana Matthews, the meanest mom herself, has Crohn's Disease and felt it was high time us women with autoimmune issues unite in one hilarious satire of our ailments. My entry was as follows:

“Congratulations! You will have the privilege of being interviewed today by the Editor-in-Chief of Sexy Disease Weekly, the most popular disease tabloid in the world.”

(contestant squeals with excitement)

[everything that follows written by Ms. POS]

SDW: So tell me Miss PCOS, you look A.MAZ.ING and our readers are clamoring to know: what’s your skin care regiment?

Ms PCOS: Okay, I confess. (whispers) Excess androgens.

SDW: Really? You mean, like elevated levels of testosterone?

Ms PCOS: Believe it or not, yes. I totally underestimated the effect testosterone could have for my skin. The excess facial hair and body hair. The acne. The skin tags. The sun spots. If Lancome ever gets hold of this patent, I’ll be a lot less interesting to the paparazzi and I may lose my job (laughs).

SDW: Speaking of the paparazzi, they seem to catch you at the gym frequently. Rumor has it that you work out 2+ hours per day, usually twice a day, every day. How is it that you can exercise so much and still maintain that voluptuous figure of yours?

Ms PCOS: Another secret of the testosterone. As my celebrity nutritionist has informed me, my body “stores fat efficiently.” I don’t even have to worry about all-purpose flour, refined sugars, desserts, white bread, chocolate, juice, anything! My body will maintain my fat reserves and increase them just by thinking of a snickerdoodle. AND, I can gain weight by eating fruit before 2 pm, unlike my unfortunate friends. They eat doughnuts for breakfast and chocolate all day long--the poor little things can’t gain a pound. They'll have to work their way up to the ranks of obesity, whereas I don't even have to try. They're victims of circumstance and it's unfair to them.

SDW: Truly. So when did you discover your own good fortune? When did you know this was your chosen path?

Ms PCOS: The turning point in my career was in college when I went from a size 3 to a 10 in less than a year. Seven sizes! I didn't even have to change my eating or exercise habits. I just sort of fell into it, ya know? Not a lot of people have that good fortune.

SDW: Wow. Incredible. With all this good luck, can you even narrow down your journey to the best experience thus far?

Ms PCOS: (enthusiastically) Yes, certainly! The most favorable part of the whole experience was the infertility. Due in part to amenorrhea and anovulation and 73 cysts on my ovaries, I didn’t have to have a child for 5 years. And even after conceiving, the labor was super-easy. The contractions weren't any worse than my usual nether-region pain. I was well-prepared for it, thanks to my body's foresight.

SDW: Everything just came together for you and I don't suspect that to end any time soon. Your future looks so bright--any plans in the works?

Ms PCOS: If I play my cards right, I have a really good shot at breaking into the diabetes scene. Possibly even hypertension, heart disease, uterine cancer, stroke, ovarian cancer...the works!

I may not have been able to beat out Ms. Rheumatoid Arthritis; however, nearly a year and a half later I'm beating PCOS.
The short end of it: Nutrition. Nutrition. Nutrition. Sleep. Exercise. And not the way your doctors, personal trainers, government agencies, and media sites have been telllin' ya!
The long end of it: Eat Paleo. Eat clean. Take some fish oil. Get some rest. Build muscle.

How to do it? More to come.

Monday, August 23, 2010

Day 15: PTP Deadlift and Press Strength-Building Cycle

Buy-in:
3 easy rounds of Cindy: 5 pull-ups, 10 push-ups, 15 squats

PTP
Deadlift
Set 1: 120 lbs, 5 reps
Set 2: 110 lbs, 5 reps

Press
Set 1: 55 lbs, 5 reps
Set 2: 50 lbs, 5 reps

Cash-out:
Helen
3 rounds for time: 400m run, 21 KB swings (16kg), 12 pull-ups

Time

Postpartum Recovery: Day 22

Sunday, August 22, 2010

Day 14: PTP Deadlift and Press Strength-Building Cycle

Skip.

It has something to do with thrusters and rows that I would have to completely modify. Plus, I'd like to get the original program to match up to my personal rest days, so I will move straight on to Day 15 tomorrow.

Day 13: PTP Deadlift and Press Strength-Building Cycle

Rest.

Saturday, August 21, 2010

Day 12: PTP Deadlift and Press Strength-Building Cycle

Day 12: PTP Deadlift and Press Strength-Building Cycle

Buy-in: Dynamic warm-up drills. Figure out roughly 50 feet (about 15 meters), perform each drill up and back (except the last)

  • Walking on heels
  • Walking on toes
  • High knees (jogging, pick your knee up high with each step)
  • Butt kicks (jogging, kick yourself in the butt with each step)
  • Side shuffle
  • Skip forwards
  • Skip backwards
  • Inchworms, 5 forward, 5 backward

PTP
Deadlift

Set 1: 115 lbs, 5 reps

Set 2: 105 lbs, 5 reps

Press

Set 1: 50 lbs, 5 reps

Set 2: 47.5 lbs, 5 reps

Note from PTP: These weights will start to get heavier and more challenging as we get deeper into the Power to the People program. Remember – do not go to failure on your work sets. Keep your reps pretty. If the 3rd rep is hard, stop there. It’s 3 to 5 reps. You don’t always have to get 5.

Cash out: You are allowed no hand switches here. Stick with one hand, and perform all swings and the farmer’s walk. Use the other hand for the next round. Penalty for dropping the KB is 10 burpees. Tough it out.
  • Run 400M
  • 4 rounds of: single KB farmer’s walk 100M (24K/16K) + 20 one-hand KB swings
  • Run 400M

Postpartum Recovery: Day 20

Friday, August 20, 2010

Day 11: PTP Deadlift and Press Strength-Building Cycle

Day 11: PTP Deadlift and Press Strength-Building Cycle

Buy in

Dislocates and rotational dislocates
15 squats

PTP
Deadlift

Set 1: 105 lbs, 5 reps
Set 2: 95 lbs, 5 reps

Press
Set 1: 45 lbs, 5 reps
Set 2: 42.5 lbs, 5 reps

Cash-Out
Power Clean 3-3-3 (17.5, 27.5, 37.5, 45, 55, 65)
Front Squat 5-5-5 (45, 55, 65)

Postpartum Recovery: Day 19

I was supposed to go heavy, but I am still pretty inexperienced with doing a power clean, so I opted to go less weight and more reps in order to get used to the 2-pull motion and start training my muscles. I definitely need to do this as a skill day after finishing up PTP.

I also can feel my body getting stronger and it's liberating. I am operating on zero sleep these days because of the new baby, but I feel fantastic. Of course I'm tired, but I'm not exhausted. The combination of the better eating + PTP strength building cycle is doing wonders for my body. And as of yesterday, I've lost 8.5 lbs. Hallelujah!