Season 4 - PCOS and weight loss

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Foreign.

Matt and Courtney: 00:00:51

Loss podcast, where we offer solutions to the obstacles you face when it comes to achieving your health and fitness goals.

Matt and Courtney: 00:00:57

As a married couple who's lost a combined weight of 100kg and 11 clothes sizes, our raw, real and relatable stories will show you the path you must walk to achieve and more importantly, maintain the results you know you can reach.

Matt and Courtney: 00:01:10

Because we know it works.

Matt and Courtney: 00:01:12

So get ready to share the success and show the results with your hosts, Matt and Courtney.

Courtney: 00:01:17

Hello and welcome back to season four.

Courtney: 00:01:22

This is very exciting, very exciting episode.

Courtney: 00:01:25

Matt's here, by the way.

Courtney: 00:01:26

Welcome, Matt.

Matt: 00:01:27

Hello.

Matt: 00:01:27

Matt's here, Courtney's here, and there's three of us.

Courtney: 00:01:30

Yes, Megan's here.

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Welcome.

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Hello.

Matt: 00:01:34

Big hello to Megan Thomas, host of the PCOS podcast.

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Yes, that's correct.

Matt: 00:01:42

The number one PCOS podcast in the world.

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I can't debate that.

Matt: 00:01:47

As voted by the three of us.

Courtney: 00:01:49

We'Re going with it.

Courtney: 00:01:50

So, hence, today's episode is about PCOS and weight loss.

Matt: 00:01:56

So we may as well just jump straight into it, Megan, because we've got you on the show, because you are an authority when it comes to PCOs, but the first question we need to ask is, what's pcos?

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Good question.

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So PCOS actually stands for Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome.

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And because that name is so complicated, we just stick to the acronym, which is great.

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And PCOS is a hormonal condition that affects all kinds of.

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In all kinds of ways.

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It actually affects females.

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And we're 1 in 10 that experience this condition.

Matt: 00:02:36

So.

Matt: 00:02:36

A lot.

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It's a lot.

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Yeah, it's a pretty popular condition, and you probably have seen the acronym thrown around, but no one really knows what it is.

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And it's a hormonal condition that affects everyone differently.

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So even though there's one label, we all experience something a little different quite a lot.

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What we see is fertility problems.

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So our cycle and our hormones are affected in the fertility cycle sector.

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And when your hormones are imbalanced, in a sense, you then start to experience all different kinds of symptoms, whether it's fatigue, skin problems, digestive problems.

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You can have cysts growing on your ovaries as well as the actual fertility side.

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It's constantly an evolving kind of condition that's, you know, they are getting more.

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More research into what it's about.

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So, yeah, it's obviously one of the most broad terms, but everyone can suffer it differently.

Matt: 00:03:35

So what can be the symptoms of this?

Matt: 00:03:38

That can vary from woman to woman quite a lot.

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What we see is infertility.

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So women can't get pregnant because they've got so many cysts growing on their ovaries that the eggs aren't able to stick to the, to our internal systems.

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And if you're lucky enough to be able to release the egg and be able to ovulate, well, there you go.

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But quite often the problems exist way back in the back shed because women can't ovulate because of their hormonal condition and because there's so many other imbalances happening.

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The most common side effect would have to be weight gain.

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So inability to lose weight, insulin resistance is thrown around quite a bit because that again, is insulin as a hormone.

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And what we see as a side effect of that is our emotional health always takes a dive and our physical health, it just snowballs from there.

Matt: 00:04:38

And how's it affected you?

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It affected me mostly in my mid-20s because I started the pill when I was quite young.

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So I jumped on the pill when I got my first or second period.

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My mom took me down to the doctors and she's like, yes, Megan, it's time for the pill.

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Like, I don't know, maybe she thought I was going to go and get pregnant right there and then.

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I have no idea, God bless her.

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But so I jumped on the pill at the age of 13 and I stayed on that pill, that same pill for 13 years, which is a really long time for medication.

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So during that time I had my scheduled bleeds, which weren't really periods, it's just a fake period, let's call it.

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And it wasn't until I got to around my 20s and my teens that I was starting to notice a few problems where I was getting lots of pain in my pelvic region.

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So in my ovaries I was not able to lose.

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I was quickly gaining weight, so I was quickly having to diet myself back again so that I didn't blow out my periods that even though they weren't real, they were getting shorter and shorter and shorter until I just never had them at all.

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So even though I would take those little white sugar pills that you're supposed to take when you are on the pill, nothing would happen then.

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And I just kept getting sicker and I was getting a lot of fatigue and I would come home from work and I would sleep for like, you know, 20 minutes and then I'd go back to the gym and I was just honestly taking a nose dive quicker than I could imagine.

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So I eventually knew that something was up because I just wasn't getting any better.

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No matter what I did and so I went to the gyno and I said, look, I'm going to come off this pill because I feel like it's.

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It's been too long on some kind of medication.

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And she's like, yeah, sure, whatever.

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Like, you know, because no one knew that I really had PCOS back then.

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And that's sort of when I came off the hormones from the pill.

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And that's really when a lot of my problems started coming to light.

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So everything that I was experienced just hit me triple fold.

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And plus interest.

Matt: 00:06:56

Weight gain.

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Yeah, definitely weight gain.

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I came off the pill and I instantly.

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Not instantly, but fairly soon after that.

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Of course, I didn't have a period.

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And I hadn't had a period for a while then, which at the time when I first didn't get it was like, oh, this is actually pretty good.

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And Courtney, I know that you would appreciate that, like, sometimes you're like, yeah, this is a bit of a pain in the ass thing to have as a female.

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But soon after that, I was like, actually, there is something actually very, very wrong with me because I'm still getting the pain, I'm still not able to lose weight.

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And I just.

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No matter what I was trying, no matter how I was dieting or exercising, I just kept blowing out.

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And so that's when the anxiety started to hit me.

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And the doctors were not really.

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They weren't really concerned.

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And they knew by this stage that they're like, oh, okay, yeah, we'll go and send you for some tests, we'll get you some bloods done.

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And they go and get you to do the ultrasound and they're like, yeah, you've got like 40 to 46 cysts in your ovaries right now, and that's not good.

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And because I hadn't had a period, and because I had a whole heap of these other symptoms, they're like, yes, definitely, you have pcos.

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And even though I just spit it out like that, it took like quite a few months for them to actually diagnose me with.

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With anything.

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And it took me three gynecologists, an endocrinologist, a naturopath, and two GPs for them to actually come up with that diagnosis because they all thought different things.

Courtney: 00:08:33

Wow.

Matt: 00:08:34

So you mentioned 46 cysts.

Matt: 00:08:39

For those of us that are new to this, what's the normal acceptable level?

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Well, just in perspective.

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So the 46 cysts, and they're sitting inside your ovary, in your ovaries, and what they look for is that they need to be polycystic so there's a certain criteria that they have to meet.

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Just in perspective of what my life is like now, I have nine cysts on my ovaries and they're not polycystic.

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They replicate someone who doesn't have pcos.

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But every female would have cysts on their ovaries, just whether or not they're polycystic or not.

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And I had 46 bad ones, let's call it.

Courtney: 00:09:29

That's a lot.

Courtney: 00:09:30

That's a lot.

Courtney: 00:09:31

And I think I just want to touch on the diagnosis for you because I think that that's a really big one for women.

Courtney: 00:09:39

That's a lot of professionals to go through to get a diagnosis.

Courtney: 00:09:43

In your experience with this now and talking to other people, is that common for it to take that long for women to get diagnosed?

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I don't actually like to admit it, but yes, it is.

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And I know that you said it's a lot of professionals to go and see.

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It's also a lot of money to throw away.

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That year I probably spent maybe $5,000 on seeing professionals and trialing all them at different medications, paying to see them in their, in their consults, but then having to pay for all the extra tests that weren't covered by our Australian health system.

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So I probably spent maybe $5,000 in that 12 month period of trying things that weren't working.

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And in the end I just walked away more fat and upset and depressed and I was sick.

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I was sicker than when I first started.

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And that is, I paid for that.

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And that still to this day, it still does get me a bit upset.

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But to this day that it kills me to think that I'm not the only one that's done that.

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I'm not the only one who's throwing money at people that we trust in the medical world to try and get some answers, to try and get some help, to try and get a solution.

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And you walk away empty handed and often worse off.

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And I know I'm not the only person that's been through that.

Matt: 00:11:13

That's what I was going to ask.

Matt: 00:11:14

So you just, for full context, you are a coach, a transformation coach like us, and you specialize in women with PCOS and other chronic conditions.

Matt: 00:11:26

What you just described in terms of going through a small army of specialists and sinking a lot of money into that, only to have nothing at the end.

Matt: 00:11:36

Have you seen, you see, this is common.

Matt: 00:11:39

Is that normal?

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Yeah, it is.

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And it's not nice to say it, but it's the reality for so many women.

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And it breaks my heart, honestly, because I know how it feels.

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I know emotionally how it can bring you down and how useless you feel when you've trusted people that should know more and should be able to at least point you in the right direction if they don't know.

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But unfortunately, our medical system is just not set up to help us the way that we need to be helped.

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And I think that that really just narrows down to the fact that because we live with such a complex condition, even though it's a label, because there's so many different complications to it, and everyone lives through it differently because we all have a different hormonal platform, the science and the knowledge just isn't there by general doctors and general specialists that consult people of all different types of conditions.

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And the gynecologists, they were probably, in perspective, they were probably the most knowledgeable, but they're not interested in actually helping you live a life that you want with a body that you like.

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They're really interested and focused in helping you become pregnant.

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And that's eventually the kind of story that you get when you see these gynecologists, like, oh, you're so sick.

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Well, why are you even worried about this?

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You're not even trying to have kids.

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And I'm like, I am horribly sick and no one is listening to me.

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And you sort of.

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I always have the perspective that you don't want to be sick.

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And then all of a sudden you feel like, you know, it's the right time to have children or you want to know that you can have kids and they're like, oh, when you're ready, we'll just start trying and see what happens.

Matt: 00:13:26

So if I'm hearing that correctly, is it sort of put across to you like, you're not trying to have kids, you should live with this.

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Correct.

Matt: 00:13:36

What the fuck?

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Yeah.

Courtney: 00:13:40

It's really unfortunate that you got so many of those sort of professionals in your experience, Megan.

Courtney: 00:13:47

It's.

Courtney: 00:13:48

Yeah, it sort of is.

Courtney: 00:13:50

It is upsetting.

Courtney: 00:13:52

I can understand why you would be even like, there's a mixture of emotion plus fury at that.

Courtney: 00:13:59

Completely understandable.

Courtney: 00:14:01

So in terms of.

Courtney: 00:14:03

We'll bring it back now to the weight loss side of things.

Courtney: 00:14:05

So how can.

Courtney: 00:14:07

How is.

Courtney: 00:14:07

You mentioned how this affected your own weight gain at the time.

Courtney: 00:14:12

So you struggled through weight gain through that.

Courtney: 00:14:16

You mentioned dieting earlier.

Courtney: 00:14:17

So you struggled with some yo yo dieting then in your past as well, once.

Courtney: 00:14:23

What did you change in terms of once you realised that this was pcos, you obviously did a Bit of research because unfortunately you didn't have great health professionals behind you.

Courtney: 00:14:36

So what knowledge did you start to gain in terms of then how to help your own weight loss?

Matt: 00:14:42

Actually before that, Can I ask a question that probably might come before that?

Courtney: 00:14:48

Yes, of course.

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I think I know what Matt is going to ask now.

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I know you guys.

Matt: 00:14:54

Yeah.

Matt: 00:14:55

Full transparency.

Matt: 00:14:56

The three of us know each other very well.

Matt: 00:14:58

So Megan probably sees what's coming here.

Matt: 00:15:00

You mentioned before and Courtney just touched on it.

Matt: 00:15:02

Megan, you did go through a number of yo yo diets.

Matt: 00:15:06

Can you illustrate for us when you were in a land of confusion, what exactly do you mean by yo yo diets?

Matt: 00:15:14

And what were you also doing for exercise back then?

Matt: 00:15:16

Like, what was your, your approach to this before you sort of got on the straight and narrow?

Courtney: 00:15:21

And then we'll move on to my amazing question.

: 00:15:23

Yes, Courtney, your question was so amazing.

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I love it.

Matt: 00:15:26

My question is the entree is the main.

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So when I have always been the type of person that once I could have a gym membership, I was down there as soon as I could be.

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Because I am, just for full disclosure, you put a ball and a bat in my hand.

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I cannot play sports.

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I have zero coordination.

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It is amazing that I can walk and talk at the same time sometimes.

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So as soon as I was old enough to go and get a gym membership, I did.

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Because by that stage I knew that I always needed to stay active, even though I didn't really want to.

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But, you know, it's just part of life, you know, you kind of have to do some things.

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And to be honest, I just wanted to be like all my skinny friends.

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And that's where it sort of opened up my whole world where it's like, okay, well you go to the gym and you go off to school every day and that's it.

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You don't go on the weekends because mum can't take you.

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She's busy doing other stuff.

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And it just snowballed until I got to you know, sort of 18, 19 and I was like, yes, wait, I'm driving myself to the gym every day.

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I'm going to go before work, I'm going to go after work, I'm going on the weekends and I'm going to go every other time and I'm going to be like the skinniest person ever.

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And behold, like the weekends, I, you know, I was a bit of a drinker in my early years.

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So the weekends, like if you work hard during the week, like the weekends is free for all.

Matt: 00:17:00

It doesn't count, does it?

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It doesn't.

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No, it doesn't.

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And if you go, if you work really, really, really hard, Monday to Thursday, maybe Friday afternoon, if, you know, if you're good, then Friday afternoon test Sunday is, you know, what you deserve because you work so hard for four days.

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And so I lived that life for a few years and then all of a sudden it's like, I'm just actually getting, like, I'm not changing, I'm.

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I'm still getting quite fat.

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So then come in the diets, right?

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And then it's like, oh, okay, what's everyone else doing?

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And then you start to think that, okay, well, I should be doing all this calorie counting.

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So I hit the calorie counting and macro world.

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I hit it hard.

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Like, you guys have no idea.

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My phone, I had like so many apps.

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I had the apps, I had the step counters, I had the trackers.

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And I was just, I was so dedicated and I could honestly reel off calories and macros to you.

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Like the touch of it at one breath, then that wasn't working.

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So it's like, oh, let's just cut them down a little bit more.

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And I'll have to go to the gym every day, twice a day.

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And I was doing at least like 12 hours a week of exercise.

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Yeah, yeah, it's a lot.

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And living off, like, honestly, I was eating not much at all.

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And when I saw a few of my friends that were getting into the sort of the fitness model world, and I was like, oh, yes, that'll be great.

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That'll get me really lean.

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And obviously you still go to the gym and I'll be really fit and healthy.

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And I launched into a bit of a fitness model regime.

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So with the food and the exercise and around that time, that's where my body kind of hit rock bottom because I was dieting so hard and training quite a bit.

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Like probably still, you know, 8 to 12 hours a week of exercise.

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And it was hard sessions.

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Like, I was killing myself.

Matt: 00:19:06

How many calories a day were you eating?

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At one stage?

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When I was coming down towards a show date that I was aiming for, I was on 900 calories and I was exercising nearly twice a day.

Matt: 00:19:21

How do you feel doing that?

Matt: 00:19:23

Energy levels, etc.

: 00:19:25

Fucking rat shit.

Courtney: 00:19:26

Okay, well, you would, because 900 calories.

Courtney: 00:19:31

For people who don't know calories.

Courtney: 00:19:32

900 calories is like one good sized meal.

Courtney: 00:19:37

Like, you probably split it up.

Courtney: 00:19:39

Like you were probably splitting it up into several tiny meals, but and licking.

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The containers, it's not much.

Courtney: 00:19:46

It's not many calories.

Matt: 00:19:48

Breakfast or Halo?

: 00:19:48

Yeah, breakfast and lunch, I would say.

: 00:19:50

Yeah, Maybe.

: 00:19:51

Maybe two meals.

Courtney: 00:19:52

Two meals.

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And I was feeling horrible.

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Obviously, I wasn't sleeping.

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And then all of a sudden, that's where my body just sort of.

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It honestly just went.

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I wasn't sleeping because I was hungry and my body was so stressed and it wanted to stay up and look for food so it could continue to work properly.

: 00:20:10

Meanwhile, I'm just like, you need to sleep, Megan, because you've got lots of exercise to do and you've got a show coming up.

: 00:20:15

And at the time, it all seemed okay.

: 00:20:19

I was pretty determined.

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Like, I really wanted to do it, but in the end, my body just spoke louder than my brain.

: 00:20:26

And that's when I.

: 00:20:28

Within the course of about four weeks, I put on maybe seven kilos by eating the same food and doing the same amount of exercise.

Matt: 00:20:37

How'd that make you feel?

: 00:20:39

The show never happened.

: 00:20:40

I never got stage, and I felt like I honestly cried, cried and cried and cried.

: 00:20:45

I dedicated over a year to doing this, and it just got handed back to me by my own body.

Matt: 00:20:51

And this was after a previous 12 months trying to find out what's going on with my body in the first place.

: 00:20:58

Yeah.

: 00:20:59

So at the time, the coach I was working with, she didn't really want to entertain the idea that I had pcos.

: 00:21:06

It was really just about her taking my money and trying to put me on these things, to put me on a stage.

: 00:21:12

And that's not.

: 00:21:14

I don't have bad blood about that because there are coaches that still do that, and that's just how it is.

: 00:21:20

But that's when my body started really reacting, and obviously I'd come off the pill, and the doctor said to me, megan, we need to put you on all these hormones to try and give you a period because you are severely unwell.

: 00:21:32

And that's where the start of, you know, more money, more pills, more sessions at the doctors.

: 00:21:39

That's when it really hit.

: 00:21:40

And that's when I was at my fattest.

: 00:21:43

And from that seven kilos, I put on a lot more weight after that.

: 00:21:47

And I say a lot.

: 00:21:48

It was a lot for me because I'd always tried to.

: 00:21:52

I'd always made an effort to diet myself down so I couldn't give myself a chance to blow out.

: 00:21:58

But I knew, and I still know now, that if I let myself go that my body would just go.

Matt: 00:22:04

We know that.

Courtney: 00:22:05

You and me both.

Matt: 00:22:06

Yes.

: 00:22:07

Yeah.

: 00:22:08

So after all that, I was already in the world of what you, Matt and Courtney, what we do now.

: 00:22:15

But it had been suppressed by the doctors saying, no, you shouldn't be eating that many vegetables and, you know, you need to be doing more exercise than that.

: 00:22:23

And they really tried to contradict what we know now and what we practice now.

: 00:22:29

And I remember being at my last gyno appointment when I was quite unwell, and he'd tried so many things and so many different pills and medication.

: 00:22:40

He just looked at me and said, I don't know what else to do now.

: 00:22:45

And that was like, honestly, I just sat there and cried and I didn't know how to take it because, you know, like you said, I trusted so many people for so long, and I'm like, you have made me do everything and I have been so good and I've followed all along your silly recommendations.

: 00:23:03

I've spent all this money and it's not.

: 00:23:06

I'm not, you know, not working out.

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So after that I just went home and cried for probably four weeks.

: 00:23:13

And after that I kind of picked myself up off the floor, I cried out, I cried myself out.

: 00:23:21

And I was like, you know what?

: 00:23:23

I actually know people in this world that have pcos and have been managed to control their symptoms and do it the healthy way, in the right way, without having to do any of this stuff that I have been doing.

: 00:23:39

So that, that was basically my turning point in that if I'm going to do something, I have to do it now.

: 00:23:46

Because at that time I was so unhappy and I was so depressed and I was still having a lot of my anxiety that it was.

: 00:23:56

I would rather like dive and continue to live the way that I was.

Matt: 00:24:02

When, when you were there, like you mentioned basically crying it out for four weeks leading all up to that.

Matt: 00:24:08

Like, what was going through your head in terms of things you were telling yourself, questions you were asking, you mentioned anxiety.

Matt: 00:24:14

What was this also doing for your confidence and self esteem at the time?

: 00:24:20

Yeah, my.

: 00:24:21

My confidence in myself dipped quite a bit and I.

: 00:24:28

I had lost basically all belief in my body that it was.

: 00:24:33

I thought my body was screwed, and it was always gonna be screwed, and I just had to live with it.

: 00:24:40

And that's a really horrible.

: 00:24:42

Emotionally, it's a really horrible and toxic place to be.

: 00:24:45

Because if you don't believe in your body and that it's what it can do, then your emotional game plan is very, very close to follow behind it.

: 00:24:55

So physically, when your body's not working out like it should and like it can, then your emotional mindset just takes a dive.

: 00:25:03

And often that's what triggers all these, you know, anxiety attacks and what have you.

Matt: 00:25:09

I think there something as well you mentioned, Megan, like, I know, Courtney, you and I have seen this a gazillion times when you tell yourself, I'm meant to be this way.

Matt: 00:25:19

And that just isn't like, you know, from your perspective, Megan, it's relating to pcos and weight gain that just goes to change in general.

Matt: 00:25:29

Like, I'm sure we've all seen it, where people will tell themselves, I'm meant to be this way, but then their actions will sort of reflect that belief to make it happen.

Matt: 00:25:38

Does that make sense?

: 00:25:40

I agree.

: 00:25:41

If you don't believe you're capable of change, you've already lost the game.

: 00:25:46

Yeah, there's no.

: 00:25:49

There is no.

: 00:25:50

There's a really hard road to travel when you're in that space.

: 00:25:54

And it, as much as, you know, negativity feeds off negativity.

: 00:25:59

And it's like, why even.

: 00:26:01

And it feeds into the position.

: 00:26:03

It's like, why even bother having a shower when you're just going to be fat and unhappy and depressed after your shower?

: 00:26:09

And it sounds silly saying that, but that's what it's really like.

Matt: 00:26:14

It doesn't sound silly because I can imagine everyone listening to this can relate in some way, because I know I can.

Matt: 00:26:22

When you tell yourself that you're like.

Matt: 00:26:23

Or everything's off the table in terms of the shit you can do and you know, like, you kind of talk yourself out of it, don't you?

: 00:26:31

Yeah.

: 00:26:31

And you have a lot of resentment for people that don't have what you have or aren't suffering the way that you're suffering because it honestly feels like you, you aren't understood because you've spent so much time and dedicated so much time to people that are supposed to get you on that level.

: 00:26:49

And when they don't and when it's not listened to and when what you try doesn't work, it's like, well, why, why do I bother?

: 00:26:55

I'm.

: 00:26:56

You just convince yourself that you're a.

Matt: 00:26:57

Useless piece of shit when you were, when you were at that stage.

Matt: 00:27:01

Did that have any effect on friendships, relationships, social life?

: 00:27:07

I was in a really toxic relationship at the time with a guy and he was quite emotionally abusive.

: 00:27:14

And I didn't realize how bad it was at the time.

: 00:27:17

And it was only that.

: 00:27:19

I'm going to throw in another whole stack of information.

: 00:27:23

I actually, whilst I was on all these medications, I actually fell pregnant.

: 00:27:29

So they gave me all These medications to stop my cycle, basically stop the show, stop everything from happening.

: 00:27:36

And then the next lot of medication was to put me into a position where hopefully I would ovulate and that would kick start me into having a cycle that I hadn't had for 18 months.

: 00:27:46

So whilst I was on this medication, obviously the doctors are saying to me, yeah, look, you're probably never ever going to get pregnant naturally, but you may still be able to have a period, which is what we inevitably want you to be able to have.

: 00:27:58

And I was like, yeah, for sure, let's do it.

: 00:28:00

So during that time, obviously, you know, there's the belief and the whole backstory of me not being able to conceive.

: 00:28:07

And then I went back for some more blood tests and they said to me, megan, your blood test hasn't come back quite well.

: 00:28:16

And I said, oh, what do you mean?

: 00:28:18

They said, oh, it's not quite right.

: 00:28:20

We'll just.

: 00:28:20

Can you come in tomorrow and do another one and then we'll send it off?

: 00:28:23

I said, yeah, yeah, yeah.

: 00:28:24

And I went and got that done, went back to the endocrinologist and she said, I can't really look at these because you're.

: 00:28:30

You're pregnant.

: 00:28:31

And I'm like, what do you mean?

: 00:28:34

She goes, you're pregnant?

: 00:28:36

And I said, you got to be joking me.

: 00:28:38

I said, that is not even possible.

: 00:28:40

She said, I know.

: 00:28:42

And I was like, how did this happen?

: 00:28:44

And I was like, I knew how it happened, but she just looked at me and she's like, yeah, I have no idea how this has happened because you're on medication and hormones and treatments that should not have put you in this position.

: 00:28:59

What would you like to do?

: 00:29:00

And I said, I'm gonna have to go away and have a little think about that.

: 00:29:03

And I just.

: 00:29:04

I got in the car and I just sat in the car for an hour and I'm like, how the hell is this even possible?

: 00:29:09

And in that time, it was a bit of a light bulb moment for me that the person I was with was very toxic.

: 00:29:16

And I knew that deep down that I couldn't.

: 00:29:20

I just knew that I couldn't be with that person for the rest of my life.

: 00:29:25

But equally, I was drawn because I now had a kid in my belly that I've been told that I shouldn't have ever been able to have.

: 00:29:34

So that was a really hard decision.

: 00:29:35

I was really, really sick.

: 00:29:37

I had a lot of morning sickness.

: 00:29:39

It was really horrible.

: 00:29:41

And eventually I made the choice to terminate that pregnancy and terminate the relationship.

: 00:29:49

As well, which was a huge emotional relief.

: 00:29:53

But it was equally one of the most hardest decisions I have ever made.

Courtney: 00:30:00

Yeah, that is, that's really tough.

Courtney: 00:30:03

There's really no other way to say that.

Courtney: 00:30:06

And then to have to have still your ongoing anxiety struggles, mental battle, weight battle on top of that.

Courtney: 00:30:17

That's a really tough time.

Courtney: 00:30:19

And all feeding into each other.

Courtney: 00:30:20

No doubt.

Courtney: 00:30:21

So mental struggles, anxiety struggles leading into weight trouble.

Courtney: 00:30:27

And then it's just an evil sort of loop, isn't it?

Courtney: 00:30:31

It just keeps going around and around and around.

: 00:30:34

It does.

Courtney: 00:30:35

So then after you sort of obviously hit a bit of a rock bottom and you decided that enough was enough and that you were going to decided that there were people out there that were able to live with this and that were able to lose weight to live a healthy lifestyle, that's when I'm assuming you decided to sort of really kick start your own research and putting things in place to change, to change that for yourself.

: 00:31:03

Yeah, definitely.

: 00:31:05

After I sort of recovered from all of that because it did take me a couple weeks to get over that.

: 00:31:12

Just physically it was, you know, emotionally I was still a mess.

: 00:31:15

Let's.

: 00:31:16

Let's face it, I'm not going to sugarcoat that at all.

: 00:31:19

But I knew that deep down, like I knew that I didn't want to go back to the way I was ever because I'd lived that hell for long enough.

: 00:31:27

And that's where I started practicing what I knew.

: 00:31:31

And you guys will know that because we are in the same field and we practice what we preach and that's what I had to do.

: 00:31:40

I'm like, I already live this.

: 00:31:42

I already know this information.

: 00:31:44

All I have to do is do it.

: 00:31:46

And that's where my mind started to transform, that my body is capable because I can see it, I can see other people doing it.

: 00:31:55

And I know that they can do it healthily and they can do it the right way.

: 00:31:59

And it's not going to.

: 00:32:00

You don't have to be extreme like I used to be to get there.

: 00:32:05

And so that was basically my.

: 00:32:08

For the first 12 months, I just had to rebuild my own foundation of health and where I was emotionally and physically.

: 00:32:16

And I just had to basically start again.

Matt: 00:32:20

Do you think going through best word I'll use is all that horseshit up to that point got you in a position where you were ready to accept that hey, there could be a better way?

: 00:32:33

Yeah, I was definitely ready.

: 00:32:35

Like, I had tried so many things and nothing had worked.

: 00:32:39

That the only thing I hadn't tried was it sounds so silly, but when you had trusted so much of the medical team and you're like, yeah, they should know more than us, and then when that backfires, you honestly just have to go back to what works.

Matt: 00:32:57

Well, here's the thing, like, does it really sound silly?

Matt: 00:33:00

Like the three of us here have so much experience, you know, working as trainers and coaches, how often have we heard, I've tried everything and nothing has worked.

Matt: 00:33:10

And then when you unpack what someone means by I've tried everything, it's all the, all the gimmicks, all the shit, all the short term stuff and they haven't tried what we know is the right way.

Matt: 00:33:23

Like you say silly vegan to me.

Matt: 00:33:25

Unfortunately, it's normal.

: 00:33:27

It's not silly because all three of us sitting here have all lived it.

Matt: 00:33:30

Yep.

: 00:33:31

And we're not the only three people in the world, it's everyone.

: 00:33:35

And I think, I think there's something quite powerful and people saying, I have tried everything and nothing works.

: 00:33:44

I think it's that people have tried everything that they know of and those things haven't worked.

: 00:33:52

And to be fair, what we know now, we know a lot of the science behind how food works and you know, what happens to food when we eat it, how to exercise the right way, how to make it impact our lifestyle so that it fits how we want to live our life.

: 00:34:07

And that's why we coach, because we want to teach people exactly what we know, because it's, to put it simply, it's life changing.

Matt: 00:34:15

Absolutely, absolutely.

Matt: 00:34:17

So excuse me, you used some pretty strong language before, Megan, saying you got to the stage where you'd rather die than stay the way you are.

Matt: 00:34:27

Something I can personally relate to there.

Matt: 00:34:29

That's obviously what we call a snap point.

Matt: 00:34:32

That's a classic rock bottom moment.

Matt: 00:34:35

And you said that you started applying what you knew.

Matt: 00:34:38

What exactly did you start applying, though?

Matt: 00:34:41

Give us a breakdown because you mentioned before you were exercising up to 12 hours a week and eating enough food to barely sustain a 10 year old child.

Matt: 00:34:52

How did that change?

: 00:34:53

I started with what I emotionally could cope with because, you know, we only do what we feel like.

: 00:35:01

And I was like, you know what, if I have to start this, I have to start somewhere.

: 00:35:05

And I knew that I had to do it slowly because my body, if I had just stopped and transitioned into what I do now, my body wouldn't have coped, it wouldn't have adjusted very well.

: 00:35:18

So I basically started cutting down my exercise.

Matt: 00:35:22

Cutting down your exercise.

: 00:35:23

I know it sounds ridiculous, but it bloody works.

: 00:35:28

So I cut down my exercise and I went down from.

: 00:35:31

I think I was by that stage because I'd been really unwell with this pregnancy and then I've been sick.

: 00:35:36

So I was really only exercising maybe seven or eight hours a week of exercise, which is still a lot.

Matt: 00:35:42

What were you doing?

: 00:35:43

Oh, everything, Everything, Matt.

: 00:35:45

I was doing spin classes, boxing, weights, running, walking.

: 00:35:51

Oh, you.

: 00:35:52

You name it, I was right into it and I told myself that I liked it, but you know, deep down you don't.

: 00:36:01

So I cut down my exercise and I went from about seven or eight hours a week of, and I cut it right back down to maybe six, which was a big deal back then for me.

: 00:36:12

And in that also emotionally you're like, holy crap, I'm going to be fat by the end of this week because I didn't do my hour of exercise.

: 00:36:23

And you know, you've got this big hesitation and lack of trust in your own body that you know by the end of the week you're going to be 10 sizes bigger than what you started out with.

: 00:36:33

I switched a lot of that movement in that time to weights, so I was doing a lot of resistance based exercises, but I was still doing quite a heavy hand of cardio in the same.

: 00:36:46

So I would say probably half and half at that time.

: 00:36:49

And then slowly over the course of, I'm going to say maybe nine months, I had cut my exercise down to maybe five hours a week exercise and most of it was based on weights and a little bit of cardio.

: 00:37:07

So very similar to what I do now, except I'm usually at around four hours a week of exercise and mostly weights.

Matt: 00:37:16

The impressive thing that you said as well was that you made the decision that this is going to be a long term approach.

Matt: 00:37:25

So obviously you didn't just launch into like an eight week challenge or a 30 day detox or something like that, which is impressive as well.

: 00:37:34

I think I tried all of them, Matt.

: 00:37:36

That's the thing.

: 00:37:37

I tried all of them before twice and they hadn't worked.

Matt: 00:37:40

Thing is though, as well, you have to get to a stage where you truly are ready to accept the reality of it.

Matt: 00:37:47

And in many cases I find you don't necessarily need to like it, but you need to accept it.

: 00:37:55

Like a lot of what I was doing because emotionally for so many years I had conditioned myself to believe that I had to always be on a diet.

: 00:38:03

I emotionally conditioned myself to believe I always had to be killing myself at the gym with exercise.

: 00:38:10

And having to change that mindset is hard work.

Matt: 00:38:15

What was the hardest part of that for you?

: 00:38:17

It is.

: 00:38:18

Honestly, I advocate for anyone that has lived that lifestyle that emotionally bringing your head into the game is the hardest part.

: 00:38:28

It's like 90% of the work, at least.

: 00:38:32

Yeah.

: 00:38:33

At least the other 10% is actually doing it.

: 00:38:35

And that's.

: 00:38:36

It's okay.

: 00:38:37

Physically, our body can do it.

: 00:38:38

It's our head game that struggles.

Matt: 00:38:41

You have to get to that stage.

Matt: 00:38:42

And there's no sort of one size fits all approach to that.

Matt: 00:38:46

Everyone has to have their own sort of individual snap point.

Matt: 00:38:50

So what.

Matt: 00:38:51

Can you give us a breakdown?

Matt: 00:38:52

What does your training and dieting look like these days?

: 00:38:58

So my training is still heavily based around resistance exercise.

: 00:39:02

So I do four sessions a week of weights and they usually.

Matt: 00:39:09

Isn't that too much for a woman?

Matt: 00:39:11

4 weight sessions a week?

: 00:39:12

Yeah.

: 00:39:12

Look how massive I am.

: 00:39:16

And look, that's a huge belief with women that have pcos.

: 00:39:19

They believe that because we can have imbalances with our testosterone and our estrogen and progesterone, that if our testosterone is too high, if we go to the gym and do one bicep curl, we will walk out like the Incredible Hulk.

: 00:39:38

And there's a huge, huge resistance against resistance training that that's what will happen.

: 00:39:45

And my testosterone was super duper freaking high.

: 00:39:48

And I am not an incredible Hulk, so it's not like that.

: 00:39:54

The muscles that I have on my body now are quite nice.

: 00:39:57

I like them and I like them especially because they make me look good.

: 00:40:01

But I.

: 00:40:01

I like them because, as you guys know, they have helped me change on the inside dramatically.

: 00:40:08

They've helped me become healthier on the inside.

Matt: 00:40:10

Well, I think.

Matt: 00:40:11

I think the.

Matt: 00:40:12

I should also mention, just as a slight aside, if you're interested.

Matt: 00:40:16

You listening?

Matt: 00:40:17

You will find some pretty cool before and after photos that I will put of Megan over on the show notes page for the episode at where Courtney.

Courtney: 00:40:26

The what?

Courtney: 00:40:27

The weightlosspodcast.com so the thing is with.

Matt: 00:40:30

Megan as well, like, yeah, definitely have changed a lot on the outside, but I think probably with you, Megan, the biggest change has been at least since we've met, is on the inside, emotionally, mentally, but also like the numbers you were giving before in terms of your cysts and the way that's been sort of reversed.

: 00:40:52

Yeah.

: 00:40:54

I know that everyone's like, oh, wow, that, that seems a little bit impossible.

: 00:40:59

And I can tell you, when I went to see the ultrasound lady, I'm sure they've got a professional name, but I can't remember what it is.

Matt: 00:41:06

Ultrasound lady.

: 00:41:07

The ultrasound lady, you know, because they go in there and they're shoving the wand thing in here and up here, and it's not nice.

: 00:41:13

And she's like, oh, wow.

: 00:41:15

She goes, oh, look at these.

: 00:41:16

She's like, you have textbook ovaries.

: 00:41:18

I'm like, what?

: 00:41:20

She's like, oh, yeah.

: 00:41:22

She goes.

: 00:41:22

And then a bit of background of the story.

: 00:41:24

I have moved to another state.

: 00:41:26

So this lady had never seen my ovaries before.

: 00:41:29

And she said, oh, yeah.

: 00:41:31

She goes, oh, we should trainee here.

: 00:41:32

Like a little trainee.

: 00:41:33

She goes, if she was here, I would show you exactly your ovaries.

: 00:41:36

And I was like, honestly, I was just, like, bawling my eyes out while she's doing the check.

: 00:41:41

I'm like, can you please check it again?

: 00:41:43

Because I don't believe you.

: 00:41:45

She's like, yes, look.

: 00:41:46

Look how good it is.

: 00:41:47

And I'm like, holy crap.

: 00:41:49

And I told her, I said, you know, I used to have pcos and I used to have this.

: 00:41:54

She goes, well, I can tell you right now that this ultrasound does not indicate that you have ever had pcos.

: 00:42:01

And I know that that's a huge thing for me, and I'll never forget that moment.

: 00:42:06

But I know that if it's very similar to the weight gain, I know that if I stop looking after myself, that my symptoms will come back again.

: 00:42:16

It's just like any other chronic condition like diabetes, PCOS is exactly the same.

: 00:42:23

So if I stop looking after myself and stop feeding myself with good food and exercising and just generally looking after my body, that my condition will come back triple fold.

Matt: 00:42:33

I remember, without digressing too much, I also remember when you got that diagnosis, because you sent me a message.

: 00:42:40

I knew you'd bring this up.

: 00:42:42

I walked straight into this.

Matt: 00:42:45

I was actually at grocery shopping at the time, and I just got into my car, and your mentors came through.

Matt: 00:42:50

And I'm glad I listened to it when I wasn't driving, because it's just like, what the fuck?

Matt: 00:42:55

Yeah, big news, Blown away.

Matt: 00:42:58

And I can never empathize.

Matt: 00:43:01

I can only imagine how that must feel for a woman like yourself who's had to live this for so long to then be told like, well, yeah, bro, it doesn't look like you actually have it.

Matt: 00:43:12

And you almost think, like, is this fucking possible?

: 00:43:15

My bloods that I got at the same time also turned around and everything at that time, when I had the check with my ovaries, the bloods at that time indicated that every part of my hormones were functioning well and.

: 00:43:31

And operating within the normal ranges.

: 00:43:34

So they were producing the normal ranges but they're also functioning well.

: 00:43:39

The only thing at the time was my estrogen that was, was low and the gp sort of, she, she was lovely, she was very, very good.

: 00:43:50

Again, I hadn't ever met her and I gave her a bit of background and she said, yeah, look, I don't believe, like she didn't say she didn't believe it.

: 00:43:56

She said, but I can't see it.

: 00:43:58

So next time, what have you been doing?

: 00:44:01

Just keep doing it.

: 00:44:02

And then in 12 months time we will check the bloods again.

: 00:44:06

And she said my estrogen and my progesterone was slightly askew, but everything else was relatively fine, which again was a huge leap and bound from where I was.

: 00:44:16

And then last month, I believe it was last month I went and had my bloods done again and my progesterone and my estrogen were in the normal ranges because previously to that they were at about, I think you have to have the range in between 30 and 100 and mine was at 9, like it was bottomed right out.

: 00:44:38

And when I went last month my levels were at 42, so I'm now in the normal ranges.

: 00:44:47

And she said, I'll tell you what Megan, she said, you have been ovulating and you're ovulating right now.

: 00:44:52

So now you are in a position where your body is able to conceive in a natural state.

: 00:44:59

And I would say as a medical professional, she said, I would say that you would no longer need to consider fertility signs if you wanted to conceive.

: 00:45:11

I'm like, oh, holy crap.

: 00:45:13

Because prior to that they did say that my hormones probably never would recover even though I had been pregnant once before.

: 00:45:20

That was still to this day a bit of a medical mystery.

: 00:45:23

But having hearing that now from me, looking after myself and not being on any medication, it was pretty unbelievable.

Matt: 00:45:34

So as the three of us know, we use the term success leaves clues because it actually does.

Matt: 00:45:39

So you mentioned, Megan, that you're now pumping the iron four days a week.

Matt: 00:45:45

How much cardio do you do?

Matt: 00:45:46

We talking like two hours a day.

: 00:45:47

Three hours a day, seven hours a day?

: 00:45:50

Matt, I actually don't have a job.

: 00:45:52

I just walk and run and hit the elliptical machine.

Matt: 00:45:56

Full time cardio.

: 00:45:58

Full time cardio buddy.

: 00:45:59

No, I actually I don't do a lot of cardio.

: 00:46:02

I do one or two high intensity sessions a fortnight, so not too much, let's say once a week.

: 00:46:11

And in between all that I just do some lower intense stuff like you know, walking or jogging or whatever.

: 00:46:18

I live in a beautiful part of the world, so I try and get out and make the most of it.

Matt: 00:46:23

You just move your body.

Matt: 00:46:24

Basically you're active.

: 00:46:26

Yes.

Matt: 00:46:27

So here's the big question.

Matt: 00:46:29

What do you eat?

Matt: 00:46:30

We talking just like chicken, green beans, broccoli, like the, you know, just all nothing but green.

: 00:46:35

Pretty boring.

: 00:46:36

Yeah.

: 00:46:39

Courtney's laughing.

: 00:46:40

You know I'm lying.

: 00:46:41

I'm not a very.

: 00:46:43

I am not a very good liar.

: 00:46:44

I will tell you now.

: 00:46:45

That was the old me.

: 00:46:46

I used to just eat, you know, tuna and broccoli and chicken.

: 00:46:50

And I remember doing this diet where I just had ham.

: 00:46:56

No, no, I don't even like ham.

: 00:46:58

It's disgusting.

: 00:46:59

I force fed myself ham three times a day.

: 00:47:03

It was horrible.

Courtney: 00:47:05

Gross.

: 00:47:07

No, it was from the deli.

: 00:47:09

Anyway.

: 00:47:10

Oh, God, I hate ham.

: 00:47:11

Like, it's.

: 00:47:11

It's honest.

: 00:47:12

I don't eat meat from pigs.

: 00:47:13

It just freaks me out.

: 00:47:15

Anyway, so now I eat basically whatever I want.

: 00:47:20

My diet is heavily based, and it's not a diet, but my food intake is heavily based around lots of plant foods, so fruit and vegetables.

: 00:47:30

I eat a lot of meat, and I also eat red meat.

: 00:47:34

And I know that for women who have pcos, red meat is a little bit of a devil.

: 00:47:38

But red meat contains a lot of nutrients that our body actually uses productively to repair a lot of the hormonal imbalances that we have.

: 00:47:47

So I do chow down a lot of red meat and I have fish and chicken and, you know, eggs and all the rest of it.

: 00:47:54

And I also have a lot of healthy fats, so oils and nuts and seeds and everything else.

: 00:48:02

Grains.

: 00:48:02

I eat a lot of grains, a lot of brown rice.

Matt: 00:48:04

And you eat normal food.

: 00:48:06

Lots of normal food.

: 00:48:08

So I've gone to eating not too much through the day.

: 00:48:13

And my typical day usually consists of maybe five, six, seven meals a day.

: 00:48:19

And they're meals.

: 00:48:21

They're not little handfuls.

Matt: 00:48:23

Sorry about eating too much.

: 00:48:26

Not really.

: 00:48:27

Our body actually needs a lot of food to look better and function better.

Matt: 00:48:32

Little known secret of weight loss right there.

: 00:48:36

Hopefully it's not too much of a secret because more people need to know this.

Matt: 00:48:40

Unfortunately, it is.

Matt: 00:48:41

We're doing our best to lift the lid on that.

Matt: 00:48:43

And I should mention as well what I'll do on the show notes page of the episode, I'll actually put a collage of the sort of food that Megan eats.

Matt: 00:48:51

Because there is one consistent thing, Megan, with what you eat.

Matt: 00:48:55

And it is color and it's delicious.

: 00:48:59

Filling and it tastes awesome.

Matt: 00:49:03

So no gimmicks.

Matt: 00:49:04

No real gimmicks there, is there?

: 00:49:07

No.

: 00:49:07

The only gimmick is that you have to prepare it yourself.

: 00:49:11

And I hate cooking, so.

Matt: 00:49:16

I feel ya.

Courtney: 00:49:17

That sucks.

: 00:49:19

It sucks.

: 00:49:20

But you know, when you eat so much food all the time, inevitably you've just got to cook a lot of it yourself because I honestly could not afford to eat out.

Matt: 00:49:29

There's certain prices that must be paid for the success that we want.

Matt: 00:49:33

And honestly, if one of the prices is you've got to cook your own food, that's like a first world problem of the highest order.

Matt: 00:49:40

Seriously.

: 00:49:40

Yeah, it is.

: 00:49:42

And look, it is a small price to pay.

: 00:49:44

Every Thursday is my cook night and I just loathe it.

: 00:49:47

Like it's nearly Tuesday.

: 00:49:49

By tomorrow, I'm just like, oh, God.

: 00:49:51

Oh.

: 00:49:52

Like I'm kicking and screaming for two.

Matt: 00:49:54

Days because I know it's your cook up night has an actual name.

: 00:49:58

Yeah, Thursday night is a cook up night.

: 00:50:00

And it's called, it's called Project Fill My Fridge.

: 00:50:03

And it is like a game plan that I put together so I don't have to cook for very long, but I cook a lot of food and I just fill the fridge with food so I don't have to even turn on the stove for the rest of the week.

Matt: 00:50:16

And that's also reflected, like I should mention, I have the privilege of looking at Megan's meal records every second week.

Matt: 00:50:26

And that there we talk about the rule of proximity.

Matt: 00:50:30

Like, you see how that affects your habits.

Matt: 00:50:33

Like you don't, you don't have binges, you don't go off the rails, you don't lose your shit.

Matt: 00:50:39

Because what you're having is prepared.

Matt: 00:50:40

It's prepared from you, with the choices that you make.

Matt: 00:50:44

So you decide what you have based on your tastes, your tolerances, whatever makes it more sustainable.

Matt: 00:50:50

So I'll be sure to put a pretty impressive collage from Project Fill My Fridge along with your before and after photos on the show notes page.

Matt: 00:50:59

Because I think it really, it can't be understated that there are different ways to do this and there are better ways to do this for women with this condition.

Matt: 00:51:09

And here's the question that's popped into my head for you, Megan.

Matt: 00:51:12

So you mentioned before, speaking about the diets that you've done and all the sort of the fuckery that you put yourself through on top of the shit you're going through with your army of specialists.

Matt: 00:51:24

Do you think from your experience with women with pcos, do they have a Similar approach to what you did in terms of thinking, I've got a diet to fix this.

: 00:51:32

Oh, 100%.

: 00:51:34

Even now.

Courtney: 00:51:36

100%.

: 00:51:39

Yes.

: 00:51:40

I love it.

: 00:51:44

So I am constantly getting clients and people that are in the PCOS world, women that are in the PCOS world coming to me saying, megan, I want your keto plan.

: 00:51:56

What is it, Megan?

: 00:51:58

How many calories a day to you eat, Megan, how do you, like, why do you eat red meat?

: 00:52:04

You realize that you're killing your body and it's gonna be worse.

: 00:52:07

I'm like, oh.

: 00:52:08

And so I am still to this day battling against the perception that women who have PCOS should be on a diet.

: 00:52:19

And I think that that's because it's so heavily plastered through the media.

: 00:52:24

And you guys both know the media does an awesome job of intoxicating the pot.

: 00:52:31

That it's going to be one of.

: 00:52:34

It's one of the hardest things because I had to fight against that emotionally and practice what I preach.

: 00:52:41

And now people obviously see me for what it is, and I don't sugarcoat it.

: 00:52:46

I say to them, yes, I've tried all these things.

: 00:52:48

I've tried going gluten free, I've tried cutting out dairy, I've tried not eating this and doing that.

: 00:52:53

And it doesn't work.

: 00:52:54

Because our body needs as much nutrients as it can from so many variety of sources to be better.

: 00:53:01

It needs all that nutrients from the food to help repair all the hormonal imbalances, to make us work well on the inside.

: 00:53:09

To then the byproduct of working well on the inside is looking just as good on the outside.

Matt: 00:53:14

Funny thing is, as well, that is a universal prescription right there.

Matt: 00:53:18

Whether whether you've got pcos, whether you haven't, whether you're male, whether you're female.

Matt: 00:53:22

Like, if you want to look and feel better, like, more, more color is the shortcut to get there.

Matt: 00:53:29

How much harder do you reckon?

Matt: 00:53:31

Like that approach of, you know, thinking you've got a diet and over exercise, how much harder do you think that makes the whole thing in terms of healing yourself?

: 00:53:40

I can confirm it is very, very hard because I persisted with that for years and I just tried from one thing to another.

: 00:53:48

And when it didn't work, it's like, okay, well, it doesn't work.

: 00:53:51

Maybe it wasn't the right thing for me.

: 00:53:53

Maybe I did a little bit wrong.

: 00:53:54

Maybe it's me.

: 00:53:55

And then that's where you start to think that your body's just screwed.

Matt: 00:53:59

Here's a question that we need to get to.

Matt: 00:54:03

So from when you had your snap point where you decided, right, enough's enough, I'm going to do this the right way to.

Matt: 00:54:11

Now, what time frame are we talking here?

: 00:54:15

From my rock bottom to now, we're looking at about five years.

Matt: 00:54:22

Sorry, about five weeks, five minutes.

Courtney: 00:54:28

Five years.

: 00:54:29

It's five years and five years.

: 00:54:32

Five years.

: 00:54:33

And to be honest, a lot of my hard work was probably in the first three years, three and a half years where I had to undo all of the damage that I had done.

: 00:54:44

And the first three years for me were the hardest because I made every fucking mistake ever twice.

Matt: 00:54:52

You have to, though.

: 00:54:53

Yeah.

: 00:54:55

And to be fair, I wasn't working with anyone else at the time because you, Matt and Courtney, you and I have worked together for a little while now.

: 00:55:03

The first three years, I was gone on my own, and I was just trusting my body and having to listen to my body and emotionally, I was just so messed up that I think it took that long for my head to go to come into the game.

: 00:55:14

Like I mentioned at the start.

Courtney: 00:55:16

Yeah.

: 00:55:17

And after that, once I.

: 00:55:19

The first three years, it was easily the hardest because quite often that's the time where you don't see change because all the internal things have to happen first, which is the most frustrating.

: 00:55:29

And you're constantly having to remind yourself, like, every day, every, like, hour, that you're doing this for the long game and you're sitting in that seat having to work against what you've done for yourself.

Matt: 00:55:45

So I'm glad.

Matt: 00:55:47

I'm really glad we're talking about this now.

Matt: 00:55:50

How long did it take from when you first started after you hit rock bottom, to the point where you could say, shit, I'm improving, I'm changing.

Matt: 00:55:59

I can see it.

: 00:56:01

I would say the first.

: 00:56:04

Well, when I started giving up, letting go a lot of my exercise, that was a real turning point for me because I started to feel better.

: 00:56:12

I wasn't as fatigued.

: 00:56:14

I wasn't feeling as hazy in my head.

: 00:56:18

I've never been one to get migraines or headaches, but you just constantly, when you have pcos, it's kind of like you have this constant hangover in your head and you just can't think properly.

: 00:56:28

And that clarity started to come back.

: 00:56:31

So I honestly felt better before I started to look better.

: 00:56:36

And that's, you know, how that works.

: 00:56:38

It works every time.

Matt: 00:56:40

That works, though.

Matt: 00:56:41

But how often do we.

Matt: 00:56:43

Do we get questions from clients and people that are in our circles that it's the other way around.

Matt: 00:56:48

Like, why Am I seeing a result?

Matt: 00:56:49

I've been doing it right for a month.

: 00:56:51

Yeah.

: 00:56:52

Yeah.

: 00:56:53

It's a hard one to battle.

: 00:56:54

And I think that it's about trusting, trusting a lot of yourself that you're doing this for yourself.

: 00:57:01

You're not doing this the short term diet way anymore because you know that that didn't work.

: 00:57:07

And it's about trusting that your body is capable of change and trusting the people that have been there and walked that path before and trusting the professionals that they're going to.

: 00:57:18

They've got your best interests at heart.

Matt: 00:57:20

So how do you feel these days in terms of, you know, inside, outside, etc.

Matt: 00:57:24

Like, what's, what's it like being Megan now?

: 00:57:27

Honestly, it's weird saying that I have PCOS now because it doesn't feel like my condition controls my life like it used to.

: 00:57:38

And I remember, Matt, when I got that diagnosis from the specialist and they said, I haven't got pcos, I just had not even contemplated that my life would ever be like that.

: 00:57:50

And I remember coming to you saying, how am I going to run a business when I don't even have this condition anymore?

: 00:57:56

And now I can.

: 00:57:58

I know you're shaking your head, but I can.

: 00:58:00

I just.

: 00:58:00

Even now I look back on my.

: 00:58:02

How stupid was I?

: 00:58:04

Like, it was just all part of the unbelievable, like the unbelievable story that had come from that.

: 00:58:09

It's like, wow, this is actually possible.

Matt: 00:58:12

Yeah, I suppose as well that's a hard thing to come to grips with because you've been kind of conditioned for years to think this is how it's supposed to be and I've got this and that's just the way it is.

: 00:58:25

Correct.

Matt: 00:58:26

And that can really sort of fuck with you.

: 00:58:30

Yep, yep.

: 00:58:31

It honestly feels like now I, I'm certainly still aware that.

: 00:58:35

Just going back to the whole idea that I know that if I stop looking after myself, I know that I will get sick again and I'll become awfully unhealthy.

: 00:58:46

So it is a conscious effort that we make.

: 00:58:49

But that's not to say that it's a harder effort than anybody else.

Matt: 00:58:53

Well, here's the thing as well, like what you just said there in terms of if you stop looking after yourself, you'd go back to being sick and unhealthy.

Matt: 00:59:00

That's not exclusive to pcos.

Matt: 00:59:04

The human body has to be looked after regardless of what we've got.

Matt: 00:59:08

And the sort of symptoms and conditions that we develop will be different person to person.

Matt: 00:59:13

But they all suck.

: 00:59:14

Yeah, yeah.

: 00:59:16

100% agree.

Matt: 00:59:18

Might have to sample that one to play a new one, I think, rather than just playing Courtney's.

Matt: 00:59:23

Here's a question for you.

Matt: 00:59:25

What would be your top five tips for women with pcos that are struggling to lose weight and get in good shape?

: 00:59:33

Oh, I knew you were going to ask me this.

: 00:59:34

And you know what?

: 00:59:35

I even wrote them down like, good little girl, because preparation, preparation.

: 00:59:41

I get so sidetracked and I'm like.

Courtney: 00:59:42

I've written them down the best.

: 00:59:44

I write things down all the time.

: 00:59:46

This is my.

Courtney: 00:59:46

I would write them down too.

: 00:59:47

Don't worry.

: 00:59:49

No, look, they're not that bad.

: 00:59:51

And I remember most of them so easily.

: 00:59:54

Number one would be that most of the work is done in believing that your body can do it.

: 01:00:02

PCOS is not a death sentence.

: 01:00:06

I used to.

: 01:00:07

There was a time there when I thought that it was, and I thought that if I was going.

: 01:00:14

You start to find ways that you think you can cope with it, even though deep down you just honestly would rather die than stay the way you are.

: 01:00:24

Number two.

: 01:00:25

Excuse me?

: 01:00:26

Number two is going back to that.

: 01:00:29

If you've tried everything and you think that nothing works, it's honestly that you've probably tried everything that you know of and it's probably a good.

: 01:00:38

Yeah, it's probably a good time to accept that you need external help because not even the professionals have done it alone.

: 01:00:46

I know that I did it alone for a few years and I did get a fair way, but I was still really unhappy and I wasn't progressing and I hit a lot of plateaus that there's nothing wrong with reaching out to people that can help and know how to help you the right way and the healthy way.

Matt: 01:01:03

Before we continue, was it hard for you to ask for help?

: 01:01:09

I was hesitant to ask for help by another medical professional.

: 01:01:15

In fact, I had just lived.

: 01:01:16

I had just accepted that I wasn't going to go and see another gynaecologist or another GP for quite a while.

: 01:01:23

So, yeah, I knew that I needed help with something, but I knew that it wasn't going to be with the typical medical world.

: 01:01:33

I knew that I needed to employ someone that knew the holistic way.

Matt: 01:01:36

Where do you think the challenges are for people in asking for help?

Matt: 01:01:39

Because that's a massive step.

: 01:01:41

Shame and guilt and resentment that they need to pay and ask for help when the expectation that they put on themselves is that they should know how to look after their body.

: 01:01:53

And I feel like that was.

: 01:01:54

I felt that with me, it was like, I have this thing I've done this myself.

: 01:01:58

Like I've put a lot of my symptoms onto me because PCOS is impacted by our lifestyle and I've created this monster for myself and I've made it worse.

: 01:02:08

That you have to admit that you've made mistakes and you have to admit them to the person that you then start working with.

: 01:02:16

And that's embarrassing and that makes you feel vulnerable and it puts you into a really horrible position of yeah, I've done this and I need help to make it better.

Matt: 01:02:27

How do you think it helps once you get over that?

: 01:02:30

Honestly, it's life changing.

: 01:02:34

No other word.

: 01:02:38

Nice.

Courtney: 01:02:39

Number three.

: 01:02:40

Number three.

: 01:02:41

That's again, the results aren't found in exercise and eating alone.

: 01:02:48

It's not found in the food that you eat, it's not found in the exercise.

: 01:02:51

Those two things are just a piece to the puzzle.

: 01:02:54

It's about the holistic approach.

: 01:02:57

So what you do with your life, where, what your lifestyle looks like, how you, you know, impacts your sleep, you have to look at your stress, you have to look at your emotional mindset and your support networks that you surround yourself with because if you're poisoning the pot with all of those things, you're going to have a hard time getting anywhere good, fast.

: 01:03:20

So PCOS isn't, isn't controlled by just the two factors of eating good food and exercising.

: 01:03:27

It's having to look at your whole lifestyle.

: 01:03:31

Number four.

: 01:03:32

Excuse me, Number four is.

: 01:03:35

See, this is why I wrote them down, because I'll get sidetracked.

: 01:03:38

So you have to revert back to my little book.

: 01:03:43

I know, I'm shocking.

: 01:03:45

Anyway, number four is eating the healthy way is not going to yield you the quickest results.

: 01:03:56

It's pcos.

: 01:03:59

And living with PCOS is not going to get you there the quickest.

: 01:04:02

When you do this the right way and you have to have a long term mindset, but an equally long term game plan so that when you're, when you're actually living this life that you want to live, it's achievable, it's not overwhelming.

: 01:04:20

It doesn't replicate anything like those diets that us three have all tried because they're all short term and you know that they're too unrealistic to sustain for any length of time beyond that five day detox or the eight week challenge.

: 01:04:34

You can't, you have to, can't back it up.

: 01:04:36

So whatever your game plan is, it has to be long term and it has to be achievable so that you can keep, keep going at it every day.

: 01:04:43

Of your life.

: 01:04:44

So what I do now is what I intend to be doing in 20 or 30 years time when I'm an.

Matt: 01:04:51

Old lady playing the long game.

: 01:04:54

Yeah.

: 01:04:55

And the last one is for women that have pcos.

: 01:05:01

If it doesn't feel right, if you don't feel right, trust your gut and know that if it doesn't feel right, trust your body and say that it doesn't feel right.

: 01:05:14

So if you're having pain when it comes around time to have your period and it doesn't feel like the typical pain that you.

: 01:05:21

That's something.

: 01:05:22

Trust it.

: 01:05:23

It's not right.

: 01:05:24

And seek help.

: 01:05:26

Don't feel like, oh, it's just period pain.

: 01:05:29

And just put yourself into that classic symptom bucket.

: 01:05:33

If it doesn't feel right, trust it.

: 01:05:35

Because 99.9% of the time it's not going to be right.

: 01:05:38

And there'll be some underlying issues under there that you need to get help for.

Courtney: 01:05:44

Love it.

Courtney: 01:05:44

Great tip.

Matt: 01:05:46

Can I ask one final question?

: 01:05:50

Of course you can.

Matt: 01:05:51

How does your future look to you now?

Courtney: 01:05:54

Good question.

: 01:05:55

That is a good question.

: 01:05:57

What can?

: 01:05:57

I don't know.

: 01:05:58

It's filled with possibility.

Courtney: 01:06:03

Good answer.

: 01:06:04

Yeah.

: 01:06:05

I feel like for so long it felt like.

: 01:06:08

Like my condition was going to hold me back and stop me from doing the things that I wanted to do.

: 01:06:15

Even down to wearing the clothes that I wanted to wear.

: 01:06:20

The body that I have now and the mindset that I have now.

: 01:06:24

Those things are all possible.

: 01:06:27

And that's.

: 01:06:29

You can't put a price on that.

Matt: 01:06:35

Courtney, anything else you want to add or ask?

Courtney: 01:06:39

Nothing's popping to mind at the moment.

Courtney: 01:06:41

Nailed it.

Courtney: 01:06:42

That was great.

Courtney: 01:06:43

Great chat.

: 01:06:44

It's been a great chat.

Matt: 01:06:46

You'd like to add Megan, any other pearls of advice, words?

: 01:06:51

Oh, look, you couldn't.

: 01:06:53

We can take this.

: 01:06:54

So many different angles.

: 01:06:54

I mean, we could be having this podcast for four days and days.

: 01:06:58

Like, we didn't even touch my binge eating or my emotional eating.

: 01:07:01

And that's gonna have to be a chat for another day.

Courtney: 01:07:04

That will be a chat for another day.

Courtney: 01:07:06

Yes, absolutely.

Courtney: 01:07:07

Because that will come in handy, I'm sure, for a lot of.

Courtney: 01:07:09

A lot of people listening.

Courtney: 01:07:11

So where can we find you?

: 01:07:15

So I'm on Facebook, Instagram.

: 01:07:17

You can find me on my website, which is PCOSpodcast.com and all the links are in the website to the podcast.

: 01:07:27

If you're not on Spotify and Google podcast and all the rest of it, you're not.

Matt: 01:07:31

You should be.

: 01:07:33

Yeah.

Matt: 01:07:34

How are you listening to us?

: 01:07:35

Yes.

: 01:07:37

Yeah, maybe they're coming from Stitcher or somewhere, which we're also on.

Matt: 01:07:40

What I'll do as well, though, because quickly, Megan, is I'll put links to all the apps on the show notes page for this episode as well.

Matt: 01:07:48

So you know your Spotify link, your Google link, Apple, etc.

Courtney: 01:07:51

Cool.

: 01:07:52

That's why I need you in my life, Matt, because you can do all that.

Matt: 01:07:57

There are some perks of being a nerd.

Matt: 01:07:58

There are some perks to being a nerd.

Courtney: 01:08:00

Tech support.

Courtney: 01:08:01

Yes.

Matt: 01:08:01

But it's all.

Matt: 01:08:02

It's all.

Matt: 01:08:03

It's all the usual places and really just search PCOS podcast.

Courtney: 01:08:08

Yes.

Matt: 01:08:10

Hard to find, is it?

: 01:08:11

If you.

: 01:08:11

If you punch the PCOS podcast into Spotify.

: 01:08:15

Yeah.

: 01:08:15

You come across me.

Matt: 01:08:17

There's only one.

Matt: 01:08:18

That's why it's the PCOS podcast.

: 01:08:20

That's right.

Courtney: 01:08:22

Love it.

Matt: 01:08:23

Megan, this was fucking amazing.

Courtney: 01:08:25

Great chat.

Courtney: 01:08:26

Thank you.

: 01:08:28

Thanks for having me.

: 01:08:29

It's been awesome.

: 01:08:30

I didn't expect anything less.

Matt: 01:08:32

The value you've given is just tremendous.

Matt: 01:08:34

And I think what you've mentioned there before, Megan, in terms of binge eating, emotional eating, etc.

Matt: 01:08:39

That clearly leads us into an eventual part two of this.

Matt: 01:08:44

So any excuse, I think, to all of us to get together again and talk some shit.

: 01:08:49

Yep.

: 01:08:50

Down for it.

Matt: 01:08:52

Just a big thanks.

Matt: 01:08:53

So you listening?

Matt: 01:08:55

If you suffered with.

Matt: 01:08:56

With pcos, like, look this girl up, there's no other way to put it.

Matt: 01:09:00

Like, she's the expert when it comes to this.

Courtney: 01:09:04

Absolutely.

Matt: 01:09:04

Just ask her.

: 01:09:11

Thanks, Matt.

: 01:09:12

I appreciate all the compliments.

Matt: 01:09:16

When it comes to.

Matt: 01:09:17

I'll be deadly serious about this.

Matt: 01:09:18

Like, nothing beats doing and what you've done for yourself, even just since we've met and leading up to then as well.

Matt: 01:09:29

What do you say?

Matt: 01:09:30

I mean, you look at the photos, you look at your lifestyle, you look at your personality now you're open, you're bubbly, you've got a big, warm personality and there's a lot of confidence there where we know that wasn't how it used to be.

Matt: 01:09:44

And you don't get that way overnight.

: 01:09:46

I used to hide away from having PCOS because it's so confusing to have condition that there's so much conflicting advice about.

: 01:09:53

So it's much easier to stay quiet about it.

Matt: 01:09:56

And you think there's shame in talking about it for women or men.

: 01:10:00

Yeah, there's shame in it because you don't know what you're saying to your friends or how to tell people if you don't know if it's the right thing because you get told 10 different stories about what this condition is all about and you think, well, don't know which story is right.

: 01:10:13

So often confusion just leads to silence.

: 01:10:17

No one says anything.

: 01:10:18

And that's what happens in our world.

: 01:10:19

We just get.

: 01:10:20

We just.

: 01:10:21

Everyone's really afraid to talk about it and let's face it, talking about periods and things like that, it's gross.

: 01:10:27

And people don't want to gross other people out, so we just keep it quiet.

Matt: 01:10:32

Which probably honestly just creates a bigger problem.

Matt: 01:10:35

Like, you know, you may think it's gross, but it's also necessary because, oh.

: 01:10:40

I talk about periods and discharge and stuff like that all the time now.

: 01:10:43

It just rolls off my tongue.

Matt: 01:10:45

I think discharge is probably your most used word.

Matt: 01:10:49

Yeah, maybe you said before, though, Megan, like, you know, one in 10 women are affected by this.

Matt: 01:10:54

Like, that is not a small number.

Matt: 01:10:58

That's a fucking lot of girls.

: 01:10:59

No, and you know what?

: 01:11:01

Since I have moved into where I live now in the Sunshine coast in Queensland.

: 01:11:08

I know, just rub it in.

: 01:11:10

I know, it's beautiful here.

: 01:11:12

Look, I'm in short sleeve top.

: 01:11:14

No, it's.

: 01:11:15

I have a lot of friends.

: 01:11:17

When I used to live in Melbourne, where you guys are, I never used to have any friends that had pcos.

: 01:11:21

But to be fair, I never spoke about it.

: 01:11:23

So, you know, maybe I dug myself my own hole now that I'm here and people.

: 01:11:29

Obviously I'm on Facebook and people know all about what I do for work and my business and what have you.

: 01:11:36

I've got three friends that have pcos.

: 01:11:39

And it feels like when you just have a small group of people that, you know, that might be suffering, not the same, but they can just get you on another level, that's something that's quite powerful.

: 01:11:53

But, yeah, prior to that, I used to just hide away.

: 01:11:55

Never knew a soul.

: 01:11:57

And now that I just talk about it all the time, it's like, oh, yeah, Megan's got that.

: 01:12:01

Yeah, go and talk to her.

Matt: 01:12:04

It's good to shine a light on these things because so often people can almost think it's like a taboo sort of thing.

Matt: 01:12:09

Like, oh, we shouldn't be talking about that.

Matt: 01:12:11

Should just be internal.

: 01:12:13

Yeah.

: 01:12:14

And I think it's a really big, like, my goal in life is to get men on board with this because I think that there can be a bit of a closed mindset with guys.

: 01:12:22

I don't want to know about it because it's gross, it's a bit weird, you know, and females can be a bit.

: 01:12:28

Oh, he won't want to know about that.

: 01:12:31

But since I have been doing what I'm doing, like, people come to me, like, I never knew what that was, Megs.

: 01:12:37

And then I listened to your podcast thing, and now I know, and it's actually pretty cool that you do that.

: 01:12:43

And I didn't realize how popular it was.

: 01:12:46

And I didn't.

: 01:12:47

And I'm like, yeah, okay.

: 01:12:49

So that's my number one goal, is to get more exposure about what's going on because it's so popular.

Matt: 01:12:55

Well, you also touched on it there as well.

Matt: 01:12:57

Like, how many.

Matt: 01:12:58

How many men.

Matt: 01:12:59

You know, how many people live with a woman who goes through this?

: 01:13:04

One in ten.

Matt: 01:13:06

It's not.

Matt: 01:13:06

Again, not a.

Matt: 01:13:07

Not a small number.

Matt: 01:13:09

So I think as well, there's obviously a discussion to be had later on about what's it like to live with someone who goes through this.

: 01:13:18

Yeah.

: 01:13:18

My partner loves it all.

: 01:13:20

He sees now.

: 01:13:20

I mean, to be fair, he's only.

: 01:13:22

He hasn't seen me in my depths of my struggles because he's a new partner.

: 01:13:27

He's on the scene, but he now loves it because I eat so much food, and I'm.

: 01:13:32

Or eat lots of delicious food.

: 01:13:34

He loves it.

: 01:13:34

He's like, oh, is it time to eat again?

: 01:13:36

Because what was that made the other day?

: 01:13:39

That was nice.

: 01:13:39

We have that again.

: 01:13:40

I'll help you make it.

Matt: 01:13:41

And so I think as long as he appreciates that what.

Matt: 01:13:44

What he sees living with it with you is not the normal.

: 01:13:50

Yeah, he knows that it's not the normal because I make a very conscious effort to look after myself.

: 01:13:55

But he.

: 01:13:56

He's very much aware of the con.

: 01:13:58

The contrast of life that other people live that have.

: 01:14:02

Because I talk about it all the time.

: 01:14:03

He knows that there are people out there that just won't go out to dinner and eat because they should be dieting or they have to be exercising all day, every day.

: 01:14:14

And he sees that there's another life that other people live.

: 01:14:18

And then he looks at me and he's like, yeah, why don't people do what you do then?

: 01:14:22

And I'm like, oh, I've been those people before.

: 01:14:26

I said, you're lucky now that you sort of live with my lifestyle that I have now.

: 01:14:31

He's like, yeah, it's cool.

: 01:14:32

It's like, you don't even have it.

: 01:14:33

Yeah.

Matt: 01:14:36

We asked before where we can find you.

Matt: 01:14:39

I think this would be a good time for you, Megan, as well, to plug the fact that you have a Facebook group specifically for this.

: 01:14:47

I do, yes.

: 01:14:48

And it is Funnily enough, called the PCOS podcast Facebook group.

Matt: 01:14:54

Holy shit.

: 01:14:56

I'm so creative.

: 01:14:57

Right?

Courtney: 01:14:58

Keeping it simple.

Courtney: 01:14:59

Keeping it simple.

: 01:15:00

It's the best way to be.

: 01:15:01

And that's.

: 01:15:02

And I do have a heavy male.

: 01:15:04

Well, it's not that heavy, but there are certainly quite a big number of men in that group too.

: 01:15:10

You're in there and, you know, there's quite a few other guys in there who have daughters or sisters and cousins and friends that have the same condition.

: 01:15:21

So it's also really good.

: 01:15:22

But the females in that group that have PCOS are absolutely amazing.

: 01:15:26

And so if you do have PCOS and you want to be a part of that, feel free to join because you'll love it.

Matt: 01:15:34

We can definitely vouch for that.

Matt: 01:15:36

Having a support group and having a community of people that are like minded, that you can talk to, that can understand, that goes a long way.

Matt: 01:15:45

Especially you mentioned before, Megan, about internalizing things, how isolating it could feel.

: 01:15:52

Yeah.

Matt: 01:15:53

You can start.

Matt: 01:15:53

And this is just universal.

Matt: 01:15:55

No matter what you've got, you start to tell yourself, I'm the only one that goes through this.

Matt: 01:15:59

My nose will get this.

Matt: 01:16:00

And then to have a group or a community where actually 99% of people in here have the same thing as you and they all go through it in their own way.

Matt: 01:16:09

And you can talk about it now.

: 01:16:10

Yep.

: 01:16:11

And the thing is, what your problem is is not going to be the.

: 01:16:15

You're not going to be the only person that's going through it.

Matt: 01:16:17

Yeah.

: 01:16:18

Because even though we do have one condition, we all suffer a little bit differently, but quite a lot of the symptoms are very, very similar.

: 01:16:25

So if you're having struggling with food or you've got a question on there that seems a bit gross, it's about your cycles, whatever.

: 01:16:33

Ask it.

: 01:16:34

Because the only questions that you don't ask, you don't get answers to, but you're also helping other people as well.

: 01:16:40

When you ask the question.

Matt: 01:16:42

One of the best things you can do is understand that, oh, it's not just me.

: 01:16:48

Yeah.

: 01:16:48

It's very empowering.

Matt: 01:16:50

Megan, you've kicked ass.

Courtney: 01:16:52

Thank you.

Matt: 01:16:53

Loved it.

Matt: 01:16:54

Thank you so much.

Matt: 01:16:56

I'll play us out.

Matt: 01:16:58

Well done, Megs.

: 01:16:59

Well done, well done.

: 01:17:00

Thanks, Courtney.

: 01:17:01

Thanks, Matt.

Matt: 01:17:01

We love your face.

Matt: 01:17:02

Like you're a fucking superstar.

Courtney: 01:17:06

Could talk for hours.

Matt and Courtney: 01:17:10

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Matt and Courtney: 01:17:12

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Matt and Courtney: 01:17:22

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Matt and Courtney: 01:17:25

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