Dani Holzwarth
In late 2012, my husband and I decided that we should begin expanding our family. My husband and I have always wanted children and we were finally in a place in our lives where we could make our family grow. After about a year or so of no results we became patients at Center for Reproductive Medicine in Wichita, KS. Tests and ultrasounds were ordered and conducted. The results came back that I suffered from PCOS (Poly Cystic Ovarian Syndrome) and although treatable, it would be a process for me to even become pregnant. I could be on hormonal medicines that could increase our chances of conceiving, but I would have to take an active role in creating a healthier lifestyle for me and my future children.
It just so happened that my parents, sister and best friend started a healthy regimen called “Stimulock” around that time. While back visiting my family for my sister’s graduation from nursing school, I could not believe how different my family looked! They were barely 1 month into the program!
The summer rolled on and firmly believed that I would get into the local gym and start working out. I did, but I did not follow an eating plan. I watched my carbohydrate and sugar intake, but it didn’t help. After doing the workout session for 6 weeks, I only lost 1 pound. Talk about frustrating. During this time, I had completed 2 rounds of fertility therapies and those two did not yield positive results. We would have to try something else.
My mom finally convinced me to give Stimulock a try. So, on August 5, 2013, I began day 1 of loading. I kept a strict journal of everything I ate or drank and activity I did. I continued my strength training workouts, which is great for women with PCOS. I had to alter my protein intake to reflect my workouts. Once we got that figured out, I could not believe the results. In September of 2013, my husband and I had to meet with a high risk pregnancy doctor. This was a requirement for us to move forward with invasive fertility treatments. At that appointment, I stepped on the scale and I was down 17 pounds in only 4 weeks!
I successfully continued with Stimulock all the way to early December 2013. By the first week in December, I was down a total of 42 pounds in only 4 months. I was eating so cleanly, continuing my strength training workouts 2 times a week and gave up caffeine! During this time, my husband and I decided that we needed to move forward with the paperwork for us to begin invasive fertility treatments. This seemed to be our only option. The paperwork was signed and I was to fax it the following week. Throughout that weekend, I felt so sick. I had no energy and I was so tired. My body ached and I figured it was the flu. On Monday evening, I still wasn’t feeling any better. My husband asked me, “Have you taken a pregnancy test?” I shot him this “are you crazy look.” Hey, it was worth a try. The following evening while he was deer hunting, I took a test. To be honest, I began doing laundry and forgot I even took it. Pregnancy tests were just routine for us up to this point. When it dawned on me, I went to check it. This time there were 2 bright, pink lines. When my husband got home, I did another one and it read the same results. How could I be pregnant? I was told it was going to be so hard for us to conceive naturally. After a blood test and what seemed to be the longest day ever for us, it was confirmed that I was 5-7 weeks pregnant. I didn’t have to fax the agreement sheets to our clinic. Instead, they got shredded.
During my pregnancy, Karey, my Stimulock practitioner, advised me to stop taking the drops, but to follow the lock in phase. I followed her rules and kept up with my workouts. I was able to continue working out up until 10 days before my son was born. I had an incredibly easy pregnancy and delivery. Since my body was healthy and had a healthy foundation, everything seemed to fall into place.
On August 5, 2014 exactly one year after beginning Stimulock, Brian and I brought the brightest, blue eyed baby boy into this world. Brady is the light of our lives. He has made our lives so happy and Brian and I are over the moon in love with this kid. I give a large amount of credit to Stimulock for changing not only mine or my husband life, but Brady’s as well. Because of this system, my life not only got better because of weight loss, but the extra 25 pounds I gained that sleeps on my chest, calls me “mama” and still has the brightest blue eyes.
