For years, this was what I thought. Years of my life hoping. Years of my life dedicated to extreme exercise, extreme food restriction, extreme supplement intake, extreme everything. Years of thinking ahead to the next occasion and setting another goal of what I might weigh if I work hard enough. Years of believing that a few sizes smaller was THE goal. But I was wrong. When lipedema hit my life hard, though I didn't have a label for it at the time, I gained 50 pounds in three months. No...

First, I'll start by saying I'd love to never hear this phrase again. Cheat days. Cheat meals. Just who are you cheating on? As an adult, you're allowed to make your own choices about what you eat and drink. So, this holiday season, let's have a new perspective. Know your body. Know the effects of what this food or that food does to your body. Weigh the mental and physical pros and cons and decide what you, as a grown human, will consume. That's it. After you've consumed it, whether it was...

The question always comes when someone brings up another "thing" for a chronic condition. We already do so much each day. We already invest more effort into just keeping our pain and other symptoms at a low enough level to get through each day than anyone else we know. We already have tried and discarded a multitude of other promising options. We already are tired of doing all the things all the time. So the question of whether or not a new thing actually will help us, right where we are is...