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As someone who has PCOS and has
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struggled with gaining weight, losing
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weight, gaining weight, losing weight, I
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think I've been very transparent over
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the years and always will continue to
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be. Weight gain and dealing with my PCOS
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is not something that was easy for me. I
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really struggled for a very long time
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with it. And to be honest, I still do to
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this day. I like to make these yearly
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updates of my PCOS journey because I
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truthfully believe that being
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transparent is the number one key to
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allowing other people not to feel alone.
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When I first got diagnosed with PCOS, I
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feel like it was not spoken a lot about
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and there was a lot of videos online
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kind of knowing what it was, but not
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really knowing what it was at all.
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Basically, the only reason I learned
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what it was was from my doctor and doing
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research. It was not something that I
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heard a lot of people talk about or
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advocate for and try to make awareness
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for. And that's when I really decided to
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start my YouTube channel back in 2018. I
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wanted to be someone who could really
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inspire others and really just be there
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to be that guiding hand and help someone
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who may be going through the same thing
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as me or a similar situation as me.
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Before I get any further into this
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video, I do want to say I'm not
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certified in anything that I'm talking
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about and I want to make that very
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clear. This is about my own personal
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story and just keep in mind that what
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worked for me may not work for you. But
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with that being said, PCOS has been
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something that I really did not have a
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good time with growing up. I got
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diagnosed back in 2018 and it was a very
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hard diagnosis. I like I said did not
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know what it was and also I feel like
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there was not enough research at least
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at that time or from a perspective of
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the research and information I was given
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that made me feel comfortable with
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anything that was happening to me and
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comfortable might not be the right word
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but I mean this in a way of I feel like
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I have support. I feel like I am going
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to be okay. I was basically told that
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there is no cure and I was basically
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stuck in a body that I was not happy
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with. And I do not mean that from a how
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I looked perspective. I am not going to
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lie. I was not happy with how I looked.
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But it was more about how I felt inside.
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I did not feel healthy. I did not feel
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confident. I felt very very sad and I
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honestly didn't really want to do
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anything with my days. I would wake up,
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I would try to go to the gym, but it was
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very not motivating when you try to go
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to the gym and you eat right and you're
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in a calorie deficit and you're doing
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everything quote unquote on paper that
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is supposed to help you lose weight and
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get healthy and it's not working. You're
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going to doctors and you're drinking a
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lot of water. You're cutting out sugar.
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You're doing every single diet that you
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can think of and it's not working. It
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was beyond frustrating. I literally have
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no other words for it. I think of myself
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a few years ago and I look at how far
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I've come and I get so proud of myself
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sometimes because the amount of issues I
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went through to get from here, which was
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rock bottom, to here was very hard and
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it was very detrimental and it took a
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lot for me to become the person I am
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today. So, when I started my first
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YouTube video, I knew it was going to be
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something that would allow others not to
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feel alone. PCOS is something that needs
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to have more awareness and needs to have
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more understanding. And although I
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cannot sit here and tell you exactly
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what it is, I will put a definition of
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it on the screen right here. My whole
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goal is to just make these yearly
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updates, make a yearly check-in, talk
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about my weight gain throughout the year
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to make it very known that this is an
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issue that continues to come up for me.
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Sure, I may have times where my PCOS, in
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my opinion, is stable and then I have
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what I like to call them PCOS flare-ups.
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When I have PCOS flare-ups, I am not
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happy. I trap myself in my house. I
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don't like going out. I will literally
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wake up, go to work, go to the gym, come
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home and be upset. Like I don't want to
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go out with my friends. I don't want to
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be a social butterfly. And usually I am.
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Usually I love going on adventures. I
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love going to the city. I will say yes
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to anything and everything. Like I love
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those adventures. But the second I don't
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feel confident in myself and I don't
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feel good on the inside, it really does
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start to show on the outside. And I
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think it's so important to talk about
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because even though a part of it is in
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my control, a big part of it also isn't.
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Now, I'm not going to sit here and lie
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to you and tell you I didn't have eating
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issues growing up. I did. There was
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times where I ate too little. There was
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times where I ate too much. With that
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being said, when I really put my mind to
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it, I knew what I had to do to get
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myself from here to here, rock bottom to
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what made me happy and then exceed what
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made me happy. Even though on paper I
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knew what to do, that does not mean that
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it was easy by any sense. And even
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though I believed in myself, even though
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I knew I was capable of doing it, at the
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end of the day, it really just came down
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to do I want to? Do I really have the
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motivation to keep going? Do I really
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have the determination to not give up on
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myself? And eventually I realized that
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that answer was yes. Does that mean I
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will never have a PCOS flare up in my
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life again? No. I have them quite often.
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But it does mean I am more understanding
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and can recognize when one is happening
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and fix it or kind of tweak things in my
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diet, tweak things in my workout routine
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to change those things before the PCOS
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flare up gets bad. So yes, I do have
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PCOS flare-ups to this day. Yes, it does
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make me unmotivated. Yes, it does make
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me upset and yes, I cry a lot. But I do
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know that I was once at a place where it
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was so bad. I had to lose 70 80 lbs to
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make myself healthy again. Not talking
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from a how I looked perspective. I want
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to say right now you are beautiful just
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the way you are. You do not need to
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change and that is not the point of this
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video. I'm just saying I was unhappy
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with how I felt inside. I didn't feel
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like I was healthy at all. And honestly,
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from test results that I got and
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everything I was hearing from my
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doctors, I wasn't. I was overweight. I
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had way too much water retention in my
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body and I needed to make a change. When
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I come back now, yes, that may still
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happen. I may get flared up with water.
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I may not feel my best at times. I may
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feel a PCOS flare up coming. It's just a
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lot easier for me to control because I
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don't need to lose 80 lb. Maybe I need
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to lose 10 lbs to get healthy again. And
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even though that may be frustrating,
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especially if I feel like I'm doing
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quote unquote everything right to stay
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healthy, it's okay. Things happen.
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Weight fluctuates all the time. And it
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is not as bad as it used to be. And the
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thing that keeps me really motivated is
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I was able to lose the 80 lbs. I did
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that in 6 months. And a lot of people
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always ask me, "How did you do that?
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That's not possible. You really could
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not have done that in 6 months." When I
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tell you I did that in 6 months, I did
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it in 6 months. This was right before
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quarantine was about to happen back in
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2019. I started going to the gym. I
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started being very consistent. Within 6
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months, I did go from 200 lb to 130. I'm
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51 for reference, so at that point, I
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still needed to lose around 10 lbs. But
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I was very happy and more comfortable
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with my body. Being in that healthy
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range weight and not really having to
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overthink what I was eating and
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everything like that made me a lot
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happier. When quarantine came around, I
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got very scared because I thought that
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not being able to go to the gym and to
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Orange Theory would really, I guess,
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alter the way my PCOS was working with
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my body. But I decided to go on runs
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every day outside. I decided to get a
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treadmill at my house. I decided to get
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weights at my house. And I continued
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that training all throughout quarantine.
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And it really did make a difference. The
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second I did stop weight training and
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running and staying active, I instantly
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gained weight. And still to this day,
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the second I am not consistent, I will
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go in a rabbit hole and gain weight and
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my eating issues will come back.
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Consistency really is key. I'm not going
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to sit here and tell you that the only
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thing that ever worked for me was Orange
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Theory cuz that's not true. I think that
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highintensity workouts could work for
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some people. I think that lowintensity
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workouts can work for some people. I
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think Pilates is great. For me, Pilates
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is not the type of exercise that makes
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me happy. I think that finding a healthy
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medium between things that make you
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happy with exercise and with eating and
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that balance in your life of things that
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are going to push you and keep you
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disciplined and keep you motivated is so
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important and honestly makes the
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difference between making a lifestyle
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change, not just, oh, I'm going on a
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diet, if that makes sense. So, now that
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I introed that and kind of gave like a
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little background, I want to talk about
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how my year has been this year. Last
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year, I posted a PCOS update video, and
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I'm not sure that anyone else is going
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to be able to see that, but if I look at
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that video, and I look at my face in
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that video, I look very inflamed. I look
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very puffy, and I look very unhappy. I
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say that in a way of that is a PCOS
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flare up. I had a 10 lb weight gain
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within 1 to two weeks, and that is very
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normal for PCOS. And all of that was
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water. One of my family members had a
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really good way of describing it. When I
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get hugged and I'm having a PCOS flare
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up, I feel like air. It feels like my
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body is just holding on to way too much
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water and I feel like a balloon. My
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family member does not mean that in a
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mean way, nor do I. That's just how I
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can describe it for somebody who maybe
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doesn't have that and doesn't really
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understand what I'm talking about. When
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I look at this video here from last
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year, that's exactly how I was feeling.
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It made perfect sense when my family
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member said that and it honestly kind of
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gave me clarity that even though I was
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doing everything right on paper, this
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was not my fault. This was something
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that my body was going through and I
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just needed to learn how to regulate.
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Fast forward, I think I stayed in a
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really bad rabbit hole and in a bad rut
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for around 6 months. Then coming up to
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my birthday on June 3rd, my birthday
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last year, I was so upset. I was looking
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at pictures. I really remembered how
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badly I wanted to make a change. And
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that's when I kind of said to myself,
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"Stop. Don't be upset. This is a flare
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up. This is fixable. This is not
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something that's not fixable. It just
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needs to be recognized." Once I realized
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that it was something that needed to be
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recognized, I really locked in. I had my
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one last day because my friend was
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throwing me a birthday party. I had what
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I wanted. I drank what I wanted. And
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then that next day, I was locked in. I
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did everything and everything I could to
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make myself happy again. I signed up
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with a personal trainer. I followed a
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meal plan. I went to Orange Theory. And
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I stayed consistent. And I want to say
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happily from there. My weight slowly
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started to go down. But again, it really
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wasn't just about the weight. It was
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about how I was feeling inside. I'm not
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going to sit here and tell you, "Oh,
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it's so easy to stay motivated. It's so
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easy to go to the gym. It's so easy to
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just show up. It's not. Especially at
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6:00 a.m. in the morning, especially at
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9:00 p.m. at night or after school or
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after work. It is hard despite the
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situation, especially when you do not
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see results. I was not seeing results,
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at least not right away. I want to say
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for a month and a half, I saw the weight
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on the scale going down. But I was not
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seeing results. I did not feel better.
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And I honestly was so unmotivated. I
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didn't know what else to do. I wanted to
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quit every single day. But the number
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one thing I tell myself, if you stop, if
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you quit at a goal, you have to start
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over. If you fail at a goal and you
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don't quit, you don't have to start
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over. You're that much closer to
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reaching your goal. Failure is only
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failure if you stop. Failure is not
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failure. It's only a setback if you
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continue to keep growing from that
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failure. So, even though I saw the
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weight going down, but I wasn't happy
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with the results, I went to my trainer.
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I said, "Hey, I don't think that this
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meal plan is working for me. I'm also
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not happy with the food I'm putting in
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my body. I don't like it. I feel like
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I'm basically like forcing myself to
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have the meal plan. Can we tweak this?
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She was like, "Of course." And I'm a
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picky eater. I don't like a lot of
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things. We worked together. We found
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things that actually worked for my body
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and things that fueled my body and made
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me feel happy and eager to eat that
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healthy food. And that's when I started
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to see the game change. Let's say I
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didn't want to have grilled chicken
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every day. I air fried a chicken cutlet.
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Making healthier life choices, but
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choices that are going to continue to
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allow me to keep this lifestyle. Ever
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since then, I went from 160, which is
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what I was in the video I showed from
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last year, to now, which is a healthy
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130. And I maintained that for 7 months,
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meaning I did not have a PCOS flare up
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since last June. And I say 7 months from
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when I actually started my weight loss
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journey, but from that video, it would
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be a year. And that just makes me really
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happy because I used to go through all
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of these phases of up and down and up
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and down. I would just yo-yo. And it
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wasn't because I was really choosing to.
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It was because I felt like when I had a
00:11:09
PCOS flare up, that was it. There was no
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other option. It was just happening. I
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couldn't reverse it. I couldn't stop.
00:11:14
Like the PCOS flare up just had to stop.
00:11:16
It had to fix itself. Where now I know
00:11:18
that's not the case. I'm not saying I
00:11:19
didn't have a moment this year where I
00:11:21
didn't gain 5 lbs. That's not what I'm
00:11:23
saying at all. I'm saying when I
00:11:25
realized it and I knew that it was just
00:11:27
border weight and a PCOS flare up, I was
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able to recognize it, tweak the change
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in my diet and my exercise and correct
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it without it being noticeable and
00:11:35
without it affecting how I felt inside.
00:11:38
And because of that, it did not affect
00:11:39
how I felt outside. So basically, the
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whole point of this is yes, I still do
00:11:43
have PCOS flare-ups. I always will. I
00:11:45
have PCOS. Unfortunately, it's not
00:11:47
curable. However, at least in my case,
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and I'm very very lucky and fortunate to
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say this, and I do not take it for
00:11:53
granted, it is manageable, and I'm very
00:11:55
thankful for that, and I'm very proud of
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myself because even though it's
00:11:58
manageable, it doesn't mean it's easy.
00:11:59
It doesn't mean that it should be
00:12:01
overlooked. Yeah, I know how to maintain
00:12:03
my weight, but that doesn't mean that I
00:12:04
don't face the challenges within my mind
00:12:07
every single day. So, basically, when I
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get asked, "Oh, how did you lose weight
00:12:10
so fast? How do you change your body?
00:12:12
How do you change your perspective?" You
00:12:13
change your mindset. Honestly, you show
00:12:15
up. You do what's going to work for you.
00:12:17
You do some form of exercise. You do a
00:12:19
meal plan that is going to allow a
00:12:21
lifestyle change. Same with the gym. Not
00:12:23
something that feels like a diet.
00:12:25
Something that makes you feel happy.
00:12:27
Something that is going to fuel your
00:12:28
body to make you feel like your highest
00:12:30
self. And it honestly does start with
00:12:32
changing your mindset. When I used to
00:12:34
think of PCOS, I would really think of
00:12:35
negative things and that when a flare up
00:12:37
came, it was negative. I couldn't change
00:12:39
it. Now when I think about it, I
00:12:40
recognize the issue and then I make a
00:12:42
change to fix it. The whole entire thing
00:12:44
is if you believe in yourself, if you
00:12:46
have the willpower to actually show up,
00:12:48
be motivated, be disciplined on those
00:12:50
days where it's a little bit harder, the
00:12:52
change will come. It just really does
00:12:54
start with mindset. And the second you
00:12:56
realize that it starts with mindset,
00:12:57
that it starts with that change in your
00:12:59
mind, that's when the game changes. That
00:13:01
is going to be it for this video. I hope
00:13:02
you guys enjoyed. Let me know if you
00:13:04
want more videos like this because I
00:13:05
love speaking about this. I'm very
00:13:07
passionate about it because of all the
00:13:08
issues I went through with it. And if
00:13:10
you are someone going through PCOS or
00:13:12
any health related issue or anything at
00:13:14
all, just know that my DMs are always
00:13:16
open. I'm always here. Again, I'm not
00:13:18
certified in what I'm talking about.
00:13:19
This is just my own experience, but I
00:13:20
will always listen and lend a hand to be
00:13:23
there for you. I love you. I believe in
00:13:25
you. You got this. Thank you guys again
00:13:26
for watching. If you stayed up until
00:13:28
this point of the video, comment this
00:13:29
emoji down below. And I'll see you guys
00:13:30
really soon in my next video. Bye.
00:13:34
[Music]
