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When I was 17, I had a lovely figure at 64kg… although, of course, at the time I thought I was fat. The joys of being a self conscious teen! I look back now and realise how naive I was and how little I knew about the obesity and weight loss battles that were yet to come. I know that we all have our journeys, and at the time our reality is absolute that. Our reality. I don’t think I couldn’t have convinced myself otherwise.

The next year, I moved out of home for the first time. Down to the big smoke for my first year of, what turned out to be 8 years, of University study. I didn’t necessarily love Uni, but I did love the knowledge. I’ve always had a passion for learning and hope I will carry that with me until the day that I pass from this world. It gives me inspiration and joy, passion and focus and my path in this lifetime.

My Mum and Dad have always been health focused, we had always eaten healthily. Lots of vegetables. Mum lovingly cooked for her vegetarian daughter and read about what would help me stay well. They always were conscious of their waistlines. There were some challenges… It took me many years to become a ‘good vegetarian’. I must say, I’ve never had a passion for food. I just want a ‘not hungry tummy’ so I could move on with the next thing.More important things.

That first year away from home, I moved in with my Auntie, Uncle and cousins. And while I love them and are very grateful for their support and hospitality, they ate differently to what I was used to. White bread, Golden Syrup dumplings, carbs with added carbs. It takes some preparation to feed a vegetarian well, particularly one who didn’t have an interest in food or cooking. Needless to say, I put on 20kg in that first year and my self esteem took a battering.

I lost significant amounts of weight twice. Both times, I had moved back home. But once I moved away, I couldn’t maintain it. I worked full time and studied full time for a number of years. I would go to work early, then drive 45 minutes to a one hour lecture only to return to work (who were great and gave me extended lunch breaks once a week for this class), then work back late. It was really hard for me to eat well and exercise and I was exhausted a lot of the time.

Life was hectic and hard. I missed home, my family and my friends. I feel absolutely ugly.

And I still didn’t really know why I’d gained so much weight and why it was so hard to shift!

Over University ended, a great weight shifted from my tired shoulders. It’s a big burden to bear for such a long time. After that, I continued to study and research. I continued to look for answers. I was going to work out this PCOS weight loss thing if it killed me!

And I did.

There is so much that can contribute to PCOS related weight gain, and there may be many contributing factors to successful PCOS weight loss. I’ve spend a long time creating the program ‘Successful PCOS Weight Loss‘. This program delved into each aspect, provides life changing insights, a meal plan, PCOS friendly recipe book and so much more. I do highly recommend it. But if there was ONE piece of critical advice I could give you. One thing that can help you lose weight permanently and reset many of your hormonal imbalances, it would be this…

Stop the refined sugar.

A big difficulty surrounding successful and permanent PCOS weight loss comes down to inflammation and insulin resistance. Sugar causes both. So, leave your sugar intake to what you receive from your fruits and vegetables. Stop adding it to your food and become aware of how much really is in everything you consume.

This is absolutely my #1 Weight Loss Tip For PCOS weight loss!

(I promise it is not as scary as it sounds :))