A woman has said her entire life has changed after she dropped a huge eight stone in a year.
Abigail Ames, 26, gained weight due to her polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) – a condition that affects how the ovaries work. She was told by doctors that it would be “extremely hard” to slim down, and that cutting out all carbs, as well as intense daily exercise, would be her only hope.
But by discovering an exercise she could do while she worked at her desk, Abigail lost just over eight stone and now feels "more confident than ever".
READ MORE: My friends joke that I look like an extra from Austin Powers
READ MORE: Man 'didn't think anything of his big hands' before grim diagnosis
She said strangers come up to her in the street to compliment her on her clothes and hairstyle – something she "never got to experience" before she lost weight. Abigail found she was able to walk miles after initially trying to walk 10km each day.
The social media lead, from Plymouth, said: "Thanks to an under-the-desk treadmill, I'd walk [12 miles], every day, while working at my desk."
Abigail said a picture she saw of herself while on holiday made her think she needed to "get a grip on my PCOS and change my weight." Before then, she said, she had always ignored how she looked.
She continued: “I’ve not cut anything out, I still want my ice cream, Haribo and crisps. I crave it and I enjoy eating it. If people saw what I eat on a daily basis, they wouldn’t think I was on a diet.”
Abigail was first diagnosed with PCOS in May 2020, after noticing symptoms – including irregular periods, excess hair and weight gain – when she was a teenager. But it came to a head in September 2019, after she graduated from Plymouth University.
Abigail was experiencing extreme fatigue and insulin spikes and her weight jumped up to more than 16 stone. She stopped exercising, and started getting intense cravings for sugary foods. including bars of Dairy Milk and Haribo sweets.
In May 2020 she was diagnosed with PCOS and had her implant removed to help regulate her hormones. She was also told she had insulin resistance, and was offered a number of appetite suppressants and supplements, like inositol, to aid her weight loss.
But Abigail wanted to lose the weight in a natural way. She said: “I didn’t want to take any medication, I didn’t want to go on any more contraception. I wanted to lose weight and keep it off.
"I certainly didn’t want to keep going back to the GP. The way that women with PCOS are approached around weight loss – we’re very aware we’re overweight, we’re made to feel guilty for eating that packet of crisps of that slice of cake."
Abigail started out by doing intense, daily high intensity interval training (HIIT), but she found it made her blood sugar plummet even more, and she’d often finish it off by diving into the fridge. She also “wasted” a lot of her time prepping low-calorie meals, and making “colourful” shakes inspired by weight loss influencers on TikTok.
Abigail swapped her HIIT for walking, both on her under-desk treadmill and out in the country. She'd rack up 20km, or 12 miles, a day, totalling at 84 miles a week, and 336 miles a month.
She also made "healthier" food swaps and in the space of three years has dropped half of her body weight to just eight stone and one lb.
Now, she feels much more confident trying on clothes, and believes her PCOS symptoms have eased. She said: “For the first time, I’m buying clothes to fit my personality and not my body.
“I’m not wearing neutral clothes, I don’t feel like I need to blend in. I feel happy and confident wearing colours and summer dresses. I feel like I’ve got control over my condition back – my acne has gone and I don’t feel anywhere near as tired any more”.
Abigail's food swaps:
- Dark chocolate instead of milk chocolate
- Baked crisps instead of fried
- Orange juice for berries
- Regular ice cream for low-calorie ice cream
- Fish instead of beef or pork
- Jarred pasta sauce for homemade
Receive newsletters with the latest news, sport and what's on updates from the Liverpool ECHO by signing up here