Nothing compares to the frustration of not understanding what is going on with your body. During my senior year of high school, I would look in the mirror and stare at my puffy face and my protruding gut. I would brush my hair and was horrified by how dead and straggly it looked. I did not understand what was causing me to feel so tired all the time despite getting a full eight hours of sleep, or why I could not make it past 8:00p.m. before going to bed. I was working out two to three times a day, seven days a week and had nothing to show for it. No matter how hard I worked, I would gain weight instead of losing it. It was not until a blood test showed my thyroid levels were abnormal, that I would finally have an answer.

My parents took me to see an Endocrinologist who diagnosed me with Hashimoto's Disease. Hashimoto’s Disease effects a gland in the lower part of the neck called the Thyroid. This gland regulates the metabolism by controlling breathing, heart rate, digestion, and body temperature. The result is Hyperthyroidism which causes various systems of the body to slow down. The symptoms of this include: feeling tired, sensitivity to cold weather, straggly hair, swelling that causes a puffy face, unexplained weight gain, muscle aches, and depression. It is important for people to realize that this disease is common among women and men. However, it is not something that you can look at someone and know that they have. For this reason, it is important to think before you judge someone for being overweight. I have always hated being called fat and have learned through this experience that you should never judge a book by it's cover.

I was inspired to write this article after I read an interview where Jane The Virgin's Gina Rodriguez talked about how she dealt with this disease. She found out that she had it when she was 19 and like me, struggled with rapidly gaining weight. She viewed it as a curse at first, but has learned to embrace it and love herself. Like Gina, I am thankful that I now have this under control and am at a point where I am happy. I have to take a pill every morning that acts as the hormone that my thyroid should be producing. I have to take this medication for the rest of my life, but have already seen major improvements since I have started. I have more energy and no longer feel sluggish and tired all the time. The summer after I graduated high school, I lost fourteen pounds and lost an additional sixteen pounds during my first semester of college.

While I am happy to finally see the results that I have always wanted, it is about much more than losing weight. For me, it has been liberating looking in the mirror and liking the person I see staring back at me. There is too much pressure put on women to look a certain way in order to be defined as beautiful. I have learned throughout this process that it is more important to see yourself for the remarkable person that you are. In the end, as long as you are happy with the person you have become, nothing else matters.