Meet Amanda.
A Journey to Hope, Happiness, and Restored Fertility
Amanda is a small-town Wisconsin gal. She enjoys crafting, fishing, kayaking, and clay pigeon shooting. She loves the changing of the seasons and likes to photography the beauty of nature. Amanda loves spending time with her husband, family, and friends.
Challenge: Infertility, PCOS, Hopelessness, and Feeling Inadequate
Amanda longs to be a mother but has not been able to have children. Amanda laments that not being able to have a baby is a heavy emotional burden and has made her feel like less of a woman. In her many years of trying to become pregnant, Amanda became pregnant one time, but she suffered a heartbreaking miscarriage. After the devastating loss, she quit caring for herself and felt guilty whenever she tried to do so.Before working with Heidi, Amanda had not had a regular menstrual cycle since the onset of menses at age 12. She’s now 40. She would go months and even years between menses. When she had periods, they were long, heavy, and excruciating— so much so that she would stay home using heating pads to try to alleviate the pain.
PCOS also caused struggles with weight control, unwanted hair growth, frustrating hair loss, insulin resistance, abnormal testosterone levels, and painful intimacy.
Over the years, Amanda felt that doctors didn’t offer much hope or help. They would tell her that if she’d lose weight, her problems would go away, but they didn’t have effective ways to help her. A few prescribed birth control medications to try to regulate her cycle, but Amanda’s condition didn’t improve. She tried various exercise routines but they didn’t help.
“I seriously didn’t think there was any hope,” Amanda recalls. She thought her symptoms and infertility would last forever and she'd always feel, “inadequate as a woman.”
Beyond her struggles with PCOS, Amanda realizes that she’d long focused on caring for others but neglected to care for herself. She would often go all day without eating, then eat for 2-3 meals at dinner time and feel sick afterward. She only slept for 2-3 hours nightly and couldn’t go back to sleep if something woke her.
Enter Heidi
In early 2019, Amanda met a new OB-GYN who dug deeper to get to the root of her symptoms and create an effective treatment plan. As a part of Amanda’s care plan, this doctor referred Amanda to Heidi Czerkes Coaching. She hired Heidi that May, and Heidi created a custom plan based on an initial assessment.
Amanda was uncertain Heidi would be the right fit for her because many of Heidi's clients are busy moms; however, Amanda loves the program that Heidi tailored based on her unique needs and emphasizes that Heidi will do that for anyone. Amanda describes Heidi as, “knowledgeable, and if she doesn’t know something, she’ll get the answers. She gets back to you quickly. She’s very thorough.”
In the beginning, Amanda would become discouraged by slow progress on scale. Heidi asked her to trust the process of healing her body and building new habits.
Progress started slowly for Amanda. She recalls, “I wasn’t drinking water. I wasn’t eating three meals a day. In the beginning, I was kind of a hot mess.” Heidi helped her scrape away layers of mindsets that had built up throughout her life. She learned that it's okay if she doesn't always empty her plate and that she shouldn't neglect her own needs while caring for others.
Amanda says that there’s been a learning curve as Heidi has helped her shift her mindset and let go of unhealthy notions. She’s learned to go with the flow. “You never know what kind of homework you’re going to have, but… she’s got her ways about getting you to make progress,” Amanda shares. While it’s hard for her to trust in and open up to others, Amanda says she trusts Heidi deeply.
Amanda looks forward to weekly check-ins with Heidi and says they’re one of her favorite parts of each week. The calls help her re-group and refocus. During these calls, they update Amanda’s goals based on the past week and what Amanda anticipates in the upcoming week. “It’s not just about doing the work. It’s about the relationship… the support and encouragement,” Amanda explains. She values that she doesn’t feel punished or shamed. “She’s there to help you, not to say, ‘hey, you didn’t meet your goals today,’…She’s going to say, ‘hey, what can we do next week to make it better?’”
Her primary goals are to have regular menstrual cycles and to get pregnant, but Amanda shares that her focus is on positive lifestyle changes. She views weight loss as a bonus. She doesn’t feel restricted or like she’s on a diet and feels that Heidi’s coaching has led to an overhaul of her habits. Amanda values that she’s learned moderation and to make compromises.
Amanda recalls that on “bad days,” Heidi helps her reflect on the progress she’s made. “Heidi just has a way of pulling you out of the trenches and going, ‘okay, we’re going for progress, not perfection.”
Results: Ovulation, Reduced PCOS Symptoms, Hope, and More!
The “progress, not perfection,” approach is working beautifully for Amanda.
For the first time in her life, she’s had 8 consecutive, normal menstrual cycles. Bloodwork has confirmed that she is now ovulating and that her eggs are viable!
Before working with Heidi, Amanda’s menstrual periods were irregular and far between. They lasted a week or more with intense, debilitating cramping and heavy bleeding. She now has 4-day periods with decreased symptoms as a part of regular menstrual cycles that allow her to carry on life as usual.
“I think my body is starting to feel safe, as Heidi calls it… I’m not in starvation mode.” Now that she’s developed healthy habits and improved her hormonal health, Amanda is seeing other positive changes.
She has lost four pounds in recent months, and her husband has noticed that she’s slimmed in certain areas. Her blood pressure has improved from 130-140/80-90 to 117/70. “I’d never in my entire life had it that low,” Amanda reveals. She’s noticed a reduction in unwanted hair growth and that the hair on her head that had fallen out is growing back. Her acne has improved, and intimacy is no longer painful.
“This whole year has been about scraping away layer after layer,” Amanda shares. She recognizes that her overall mood has improved. She’s now exercising, sleeping through the night, thinking about her food choices, and swapping in healthier alternatives when choosing foods. “Every chance I get, I look back and see that I’m moving forward and becoming healthier… When I stop to look, I guess I’m making a ton of progress.”
About her success, Amanda says, “I owe it to her (Heidi). It really helps when you have that support from somebody outside of your circle." She describes that Heidi’s approach is, “from a place of love and caring. Everybody should have that kind of care, and I know that a lot of people don’t get that kind of care.”
Amanda has realized she can’t take care of others if she’s not healthy, so she has learned to prioritize taking care of herself. “Aside from the physical stuff, mentally and emotionally I’m in a better place,” Amanda shares. Amanda finds herself repeating Heidi’s advice to herself in her mind. “When I start hearing her voice in my thoughts, you know the program is working.”
She’s learned a lot about and feels more content with herself. Looking back on her journey working with Heidi, Amanda says that she’s reflected a lot on who she is. “I’m strong, and things don’t define me like the PCOS… I feel like it’s been an all-around life-changing experience… I’m starting to be in a place where I feel safe and okay in my own skin.”
When asked the most positive aspect of working with Heidi, Amanda emphasized, “There’s hundreds of things. I couldn’t give you just one answer ‘cause that would be doing her an injustice. I could be struggling, and I would still tell you all day that I would do it again. She’s such a blessing.”
Amanda hopes others will find hope through her story.
Regarding her desire to have a baby, she shares, “Just being in this spot gives me that hope… I’d love for my story to help someone else with PCOS. I’d love to help others have hope.”
“If I had to do it again, I would absolutely… I needed to do something because I was just so discouraged... I would do it, absolutely, and I would encourage anyone else to do it,” Amanda emphasizes. “If you have Heidi on your side, you’ll go far… I’m just glad I took that leap."
Take the Leap!
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