After the birth of my second child I was quite overweight. I used pregnancy as an excuse to eat whatever-the-hell-I-liked. I didn't know, or care, about nutrition. I didn't like being overweight, my knees and ankles hurt whenever I walked. I was often constipated. My pre-pregnancy clothes didn't fit me anymore. I remember going through my wardrobe and throwing out anything that I would never fit into again.
Doing some calculations online for body mass index (BMI), which is an indicator for a healthy weight range, it turns out I was pre-obese. I'm tall so people always said I "carried it well", meaning, they didn't think I was really that fat. Turns out it wasn't doing me any favours. When my son turned two I nearly lost vision in my right eye. I felt the most unwell I've ever felt in my life and I could barely string a sentence together. It was then that the diagnosis of MS was made.
After a bit of time feeling sorry for myself, I radically changed my diet and lifestyle. I eventually found that whole food, plant-based foods significantly reduced my risk of further MS relapses and progression to disability. An added side benefit of just eating plants was that the weight melted off me. I eat large quantities of food every day until I'm completely satiated and I don't put on weight (unless of course I start eating too many nuts, but that's another blog!).
Fast forward 6 years and I'm lighter than I have ever been. I can wear any clothes I like and I even bought my first two piece bathing suit that I plan to wear this summer! Sure, I have some loose skin and some stretch marks but I couldn't be happier with my current weight. My only wish is that I did this 10 years ago, perhaps then I may not have developed any autoimmune diseases in the first place.