Gauri is Fat and Happy! How She Dealt with PCOS Guest Post by Divita Joshi

Your Story is a series by WonderfulWomen where you will read inspiring Guest Posts from women around the world. Here they share their experiences, stories and things that matter most to all women.

Today’s post is by Divita Joshi from CheeersToLife In this post she has presented a beautiful short story of a girl Gauri and discusses through her the alarming PCOS in women and ways to fight it. Go through the story to stay positive and alert. 🙂

#FAT AND HAPPY

Today I am going to bring a very common yet inspiring story on board. Very common! yes because the problem I am bringing up through this Blog today is common, Inspiring! Yes, because there is always a way out and one should look at finding the solution rather than crying over the situation, and this is uncommon with most of us.

“Gauri was 16 when she noticed an abnormal behavior in her mensuration cycle. While her friends would be trapped once in a month in the bleeding game, she was the one bleeding every 10 days, and hence her dates were unpredictable. Her mother does not take it seriously for 2-3 months, attributing the problem to hormonal changes in this age. Also bringing up this problem to Father and in laws is not an easy job, most of us often follow the stereotypes of ‘not talking about your periods’.

When consulted to doctors Gauri was inspected with PCOS i.e. Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome. PCOS is one of the most common hormonal disorders in women of reproductive age, affecting 5 to 10 percent. Women with PCOS have irregular menstrual bleeding and often have difficulty getting pregnant. The syndrome occurs when levels of hormones are abnormal. The name “polycystic ovarian syndrome” refers to the appearance of small cysts along the outer edge of the enlarged ovaries of women with this condition. *

 

No I am not talking about PCOS today! I am going to talk about the side effects of having PCOS. So gradually Gauri started accumulating fat and within sometimes she weighed 330lbs. Already living a curse now Gauri has to handle other that she was fat. I am very close to this girl and I have had a lot of stories from her about her journey.

 

“She was a joke to others in school, colleges, Bus stand, Metro, restaurant or any public place. Being compared to an elephant, a whale, a giant alien sometimes HULK, she was used to listening all these trolls on her.”

“Taking and Auto or Rickshaw was a tough thing for her, for the Auto driver would first scan through her plus size body and most of the time refuse to offer a seat. And to be noted like many of us, Gauri couldn’t afford a car for herself.”

“While being interviewed at a company the HR complimented to her that while she is very good at her writing skills, but they do not have a chair of her size.”

“The elders in the house would curse her because no good boy would prefer to marry her. To be honest I could never understand this ‘Good boy’ concept ever, she says.”

“In family functions relatives would often look at her and pass a sheepish smile, some were mature enough to laugh at her back, while she could notice”

These are some common experiences of day today life. She is still under medication and faces a lot more. She is married and working and let me highlight she is a highly paid professional. But despite all this mess in her life, how did she make it? Here is her simple approach to life, which I am sure would inspire many of us. Gauri is close friend and having said this, I observed her a lot through these years, here is some things about Gauri that inspires me:

 

1. BODY POSITIVITY AND LOVE FOR YOURSELF: Gauri believes in loving herself, whatever shape and ailments she comes with. She says that at a time in her life she realized no one loves her, because she looks fat and ugly, so she decided to love herself. This love comes with no expectations and hence never hurts her, at the same time she is affirmative and balances to handle other things in life.

2.LIVE WITH CONFIDENCE AND WORK UPON YOUR SKILLS: Gauri is a fanatical writer, she has a sharp strategic brain and at her work she has been awarded  many a times for her strategic skills. So under her body weight she never disgraced her strong skills. She knew that this is her only weapon and she focused on her Skill development and is  doing very well in her carrier.

3.AVOID NEGATIVITY: Yes! this is easy to say, but very tough I practice, because you can isolate from rest of the world and lock yourself inside a room but how to avoid your own parents and relatives, who sometimes shit bricks of frustrations, as they are equally stressed. Gauri found a way, she won’t give an ear to negative complements, even positive ones for that matter, which often come a pinch of sarcasm inside them. She accepted the fact that her body is not normal as others and neglected all those who have a problem with her shape.

4.HAPPY SOUL: Gauri is a Happy soul. She is sarcastic, witty and full of fun person. People love her because she is a good human and a happy vibe. She met a guy in a common gathering who finally they got married after a year. Not because she is pretty and well in shape, but because is a Happy soul. To all those who ever said, ‘No good boy will marry her’, she nailed it with her positive and go-getter attitude.

5.CHOOSING RIGHT OUTFIT: Gauri does a lot of research on her outfit and dresses up with what makes her look confident and smart. I like this nice approach, sitting and crying over your shape, it is rather better to find what outfit suits your body type. You can always look good, just with right choice of clothes.

6.MENTAL WELLNESS AND NATURE HEALING: Gauri does frequent meditation tours and nature site seeing. “it’s not that I never gets hurt, but I know how to heel myself” says Gauri. She finds her heeling in nature, so she often goes out to hills, forest safaris, and meditation camps.

7.PLAY DANCE WALK REPEAT: Gauri does not like going to gym but loving your body doesn’t mean that you need not sore. No! No! No! all that I wrote above doesn’t mean that one should not focus on her health and fitness. Exercise not to walk on a ramp with a skin fit designer dress, but to keep your body fit. So, Gauri often dances on her fav Bollywood item number while cooking, she likes playing TT and evening walks are done 2-3 days a week.  She says small steps count and hence we should always give time to exercise.

8.UNDERSTAND YOUR BODY TYPE: Gauri is a foodie. She likes to cook and experiment with food. She never goes on salad weeks, or crash diets, rather she eats what is best for her body. It is very important is to know your body type. Metabolism works differently for each body, behaving according to the daily lifestyle, food habits and physical condition. Hence, it is always good to consult a nutritionist to understand your body time and the way metabolism works inside your body and then eat accordingly.

9.WEIGH YOURSELF AND COUNT CALORIES: One good habit that Gauri had picked up, after she got married is to keep a check on her weight and calories. This gives her an alarm at the right time and she can accordingly manage to control the situation.

10.SEIZE THE DAY: The best about Gauri is that she lives her day, every day. Despite the social pressure she still faces, she chooses to not react to it and get stressed, rather focus on herself and her happiness. No matter what you do, some people would always pin point your flaws, you cannot make everyone happy, all the time. Hence it is important to seize the day and make yourself Happy, Today!

There are a lot of woman around us who have been facing issues being obese, or have a dark skin tone, have PCOS, couldn’t conceive, are short heighted, have extensive acne prone skin, even some are still being cursed because they couldn’t give birth to a boy. Society have million reasons to demean you with your flaws but trust me no one is born perfect. The hype of beauty and fairness in media is all marketing buzz, its all lie. It is important for every woman to know her own worth and stand by it.

Gauri did it, we all can!

*reference: https://www.mayoclinic.org

About Divita Joshi

This post has been authored by Divita Joshi, a blogger from New Delhi, India. She is a Digital Marketeer, an artist by heart and owner of CheeersToLife where she writes inspirational writeups highlighting women empowerment. Her articles are focused around Physical and Mental Wellness, sharing daily life stories and ways to improve lifestyle and empowering women.

Connect with Divita

twitter: twitter.com/atangledtale

LinkedIn: in.linkedin.com/in/divitajoshi