Life Update and Return to Normality

Good Afternoon everybody!

Finally managed to get this post written up! It's been 4 months and I'm not surprised it's taken this long but still, it's nice to have the time to write again. There's been quite a bit going on lately actually, I've been backwards and forwards from hospital in Birmingham loads but everything is going well so I'm a happy bunny. I've got a good few more posts coming up, 5 or 6 more posts after this one so it'll definitely keep me busy, but for now I though I would give all of you guys a little update.

The last time I was here I believe I was talking a bit about how I was doing a lot of research for my dissertation, I had picked a topic and I was so excited to get started on it, well things changed a little with that because around September time I completely changed my mind about what topic I wanted to do and basically had to disregard the 60 pages of work I had gathered over the summer. Nightmare! I've finally managed to choose a topic that I am settled with and really happy to do, the only problem is I don't think I will have enough words to write everything I want to about it haha! Still I have got about 30 pages of relevant quotes so I am well on my way to getting the research done and starting to write up the first draft of the literature review, woop woop! 

Snowy walk around Hardwick Hall late October

When I actually started back uni in September I was having a really struggle with my mental health and my physical health had been wobbly for a few months, I've started getting palpitations quite regularly, 5 to 6 times a day I get very strong palpitations that make me dizzy, doctors aren't quite sure why its happening because my heart is in pretty good condition and I'm eating and exercising well so I've kind of got to take things easy now. I ended up making a super hard decision to leave uni for the year, so I have taken a leave of absence from early November this year until September 2019 when I'll return to study hopefully in a better state. I have felt that since leaving there has been a huge amount of pressure lifted and I am managing to get my mental health back under control slowly, but I keep trying to push myself to do too much too soon which is never a good thing.

It feels so much better now that I am able to sit and work on my dissertation without the pressure of deadlines because now I know I can take a break or have a couple of days off when I need to recover, so I'm really pleased with that and it means I'm getting to spend more time with my family. Unfortunately since I've left i feel like I might have lost a couple of friends which that's just something that happens in life I suppose, friendship isn't a one way street and I need to remember I'm not the one who has to make all the effort; I've stayed in touch with some amazing people from uni though and I'm so grateful for those people :)

Outside of my uni life I've gotten myself a personal trainer which was a turn up for the books, I'm not at liberty to discuss this fully because of rules of pharma companies and such but I've been doing well health wise other than my palpitations and a chronic sinusitis (since APRIL!!), generally my physical health has improved a little and I have been getting out and about trying to walk more. This has meant that I've seen a good few changes in my body, not all of them good, so I've been trying to build up a bit of muscle and I must say my trainer is awesome, he doesn't work me too har and I'm able to take breaks as and when I need, couldn't ask for someone more understanding and the workouts are actually really fun... the soreness and aches aren't afterwards but hey ho haha. I'm really pleased with my progress and can't wait for my next session. I've been out walking Luna quite a lot, she gets walked everyday for 90 minutes (usually takes me 2 hours to get around mind but still its an improvement) unless its super cold then she shivers until I take her home or Simon takes his jumper off and wraps her up :)

Out new Christmas tree <3

I don't know how I would have managed with the immense pressure I was under if I hadn't had that little one to come home to, dogs are little angels and no house is complete without one. 

I've been working on the Invisible Disabilities and Disorders society at uni while I've been off, trying to help people with projects they're wanting to undertake, there's been a good bit of work on with that trying to talk to the Disability and Wellbeing teams at the uni but so far so good, hopefully we can plan some events soon and I will update you guys about that too. 

The final thing that I've got to update you all on is my absolute favourite thing in the world... CHRISTMAS!!!!!!!!! Oh my God, its December 1st tomorrow and I absolutely cannot wait! We have had out Christmas tree up since about November 7th, we had to put it up twice because the first time the lights went off and needed to do it again, then Luna came in and pulled the whole thing down! A chihuahua Vs. a 6ft tree! Last night me and Simon watched The Grinch and tonight we will be spending time with my nana watching National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation, so far we have also watches Spongebob Squarepants Christmas episodes, The Simpsons Christmas episodes, Jim Carey's A Christmas Carol and Adam Sandler's 8 Crazy Nights :) 

I love December because on the 14th it's mah birthday, then 17th is Luna's 1st birthday and then Christmas. I love to take my nana shopping eVery year for food and last minute presents so I'll be doing that this year which I can't wait for, I have sorted out my outfit for my big family meal and I and just so excited :) I hope all you guys are super excited too!

For now though I shall say goodbye and let you lovely people enjoy the last day of November! 

I'll be putting up another post later in the week and will aim to write around 1 blog post per week, apologies if not because I am still doing dissertation research and helping ready the house for Christmas!

Bye for now lovelies xx

Katy. 

Managing Weight Bias in Healthcare

Good evening everybody!

I hope you're all doing really really well, massive that you to everybody who read the previous post it was an absolute pleasure to write it and the response to it was awesome! Because of such a fab response to the more practical advice based posts I'll be planning a few more of these to come up pretty soon. From this point on I'll be using my summer to do 4 things one being blogging for this account, blogging for my university blogging platform, reading for my dissertation and enjoying my time off with trips, so I'll try to write as much as I can for both of my blogging roles. So, today's post is a pretty important one all in all and I have to stress as a disclaimer that although this blog is aimed at promoting awareness for genetic obesity disorders none of the advice or tips/suggestions I provide are limited to those with genetic obesity. This post in particular will be about how to handle weight bias in healthcare, something that I know fine well that almost every single overweight or obese person in on the planet will have or will face at some point. I know I have done a similar post to this but this one is much more in-depth and should be so much more helpful, hopefully. 

Source: MyGutTellsMe.com

The fact that there is so much weight bias, hatred, prejudice or whatever you like to call it, in society is hard enough to handle at the best of times but the issue becomes more than hard to handle when that weight bias creeps into YOUR healthcare. To really kick off this post I am going to tell you all a story... It was about 9 months ago I went into my local GP surgery, West Cornforth Medical Centre for those who are interested in which medical centres to stay away from, and I had been suffering from a chest infection, sinus infection, the psoriasis in my inner ears had flared up and I had made an appointment to attempt to deal with my chest infection. Being Asthmatic from birth I know how serious chest infections can end up being, I sat and explained my symptoms to the GP manning the surgery at the time and the first thing out of that man's mouth was "May I ask how you are managing your weight?". This isn't an uncommon thing in the lives of obese and overweight people, we deal with this kind of thing on a daily basis in healthcare, then have strangers on the street telling us we are putting a strain on our healthcare system by being overweight... as a side note I will point out that it is not our weight that most often is wasting money or time for healthcare systems around the world, if Doctors were willing to listen openly and actively to our concerns as human beings maybe we wouldn't be wasting appointments constantly poking for new Doctors who understand out current, very personal circumstances. The following are tips and tricks that I have had to develop over the years to get the healthcare that I not only need but that I am entitled to as a human being. 

• Unless your appointment is weight related make it known that you will not be discussing your weight in the appointment - I don't know how many times I have had to do this. I've attended an appointment for dermatology or my chest infection and ended up being asked about my weight. Often times it can make you so angry you want to scream or hit someone but the most appropriate way to deal with that kind of question is simply say "that topic is not relevant to the matter at hand, I am here to discuss my original problem". It is as simple as that and you need not swear, shout or get upset. As long as you are confident in how you handle the doctor and remember that if it wasn't for people using their services they don't get paid, so make the most of your time at the Doctors office by only speaking about what you need to. 

• If your weight is brought up again, without you explicitly discussing or asking about it, leave - Again, unless the appointment was weight related, and you are asked about your weight repeatedly, leave. You have not wasted your time to be hounded by questions regarding your lifestyle which may not be directly related to the problem you are presenting with. I fully understand that weight does play a role in many other health complications but if you are aware  your problem is weight unrelated then leave. I had to do this with the situation with my chest infection, the matter was pushed by the Doctor so I left. I ended up making another appointment later in the week and specifically requesting another doctor who was much more objective. 

• Second opinion - This is a lead on from my last point. If your doctor is blatantly telling you that you health concern is weight related and you feel he or she may be incorrect then get yourself a second opinion and ask for an extended appointment to fully explain your concerns. Your health should be number one priority to all doctors but sometimes it isn't, often times doctors can be too focused on skin deep issues and associate everything with visible issues such as weight concerns. If you're not comfortable with your Doctor's decision, make an appointment at a later date and ask for a second opinion, it doesn't hurt and you might get a different or the same answer but at the least you have tried to ask. If it feels wrong keep asking, keep pushing for answers because you have been in your body all of your life and you know when something is wrong, a Doctor doesn't have that intimate knowledge of your body, this is especially true of those with genetic obesity problems as many doctors do not understand these conditions. 

• Make Leaflets - This is something that I have had to do for a long time and I know other parents and people with genetic obesity conditions have done also. I have created an information sheet and a leaflet outlining what genetic obesity condition I have, what it is, what it means for me and what medications I can and cannot take. I often find that doctors do not read my notes which puts a serious barrier between myself and and good quality healthcare as they often treat me as the average oversight individual which is absolutely not the case. If you have complex healthcare needs I would highly recommend making information sheets and leaflets that tell your doctor everything he or she needs to know, especially if you will be working closely together in terms of your health. Often I do this when I get a new Gynaecologist, dermatologist or GP because they simply do't know about my genetic condition. Make those Doctors read the leaflets, make them understand YOUR healthcare needs because after all YOU are the most important person in that room when you have an appointment. 

So those are my main tips for dealing with weight bias in healthcare on a day-to-day basis. Eventually you will find a doctor who truly understands you it just might take time. Often you have to wade through all of the rubbish to find some treasure. I hope you have found these helpful and I will leave you with some parting wisdom:

Doctors do not know everything! You have been in your body longer than most doctors have been practising, you know yourself and your body so trust your gut!

You are a human being who is entitled to care, good health and supportive healthcare professionals. You can always make a complaint if you feel you've been treated unfairly. 

Bringing a dictaphone to your appointments can be a godsend, especially for those with chronic illnesses or memory troubles, dictaphones are a lifesaver.

You never EVER have to accept the words of one single doctor. There are many more who are willing to give you a second opinion. 

If your problems are weight related you are entitled to ask for psychological support to manage your emotions during a difficult time, even if those psychological problems are caused by your weight. Being overweight or bees is a stress on your mental health too!

Bring someone else along with you, its a lot less scary if you have someone you know will support you next to you during any appointment. 

I hope this has helped you and I shall be back sometime soon, once I have more posts ready to go that is! :) 

Katy xx

Hate Free Zone: How I Cope with Hurtful Comments

Good evening all,

Image from Google.com

I hope you're all well and having a good day, the weather has been beautiful lately here in the UK so we have all been making the most of it. I had mentioned in a previous post that I had a number of other posts planned such as managing toxic friendships and such but a couple of days ago I had a bad experience. I woke up and did what i do everyday after waking myself up properly, I checked my email for my university, personal and blogging mail accounts and all was good except I had received a rather nasty email from someone who was clearly attempting to keep themselves anonymous. Usually I don't get a massive amount of emails on my blogging email account I've had some people talk to me and thank me for blogging so honestly and some women who have shared their stories about managing their weight and all of the people I've spoken to have been lovely up until today. The email I got today basically told me that what I was doing, what I had to say was pointless, I don't want to discuss everything that was said because it was absolutely vile and nobody should have to listen to or read that again, this blog is a safe space for larger bodied people and those with genetic obesity conditions.

I have been given so much support from so many amazing people since I mentioned this email online and I can't thank everybody enough but it was the mother of another warrior of genetic obesity who inspired me to write this post. I have experienced this kind of abuse all through my life, just as I am positive other oversight and obese, not just hose with genetic obesity have, and as much as this horrid person's words were upsetting I would like to share with you all how I cope when I have abuse directed towards me. 

• Stop obsessing - I struggled with this a lot when I was a child,  I would have something shouted at me in public and for the rest of the week, literally, I would spend every single waking minute torturing myself with the words that had been directed towards me until I started to believe them. One day I had been at College and someone had shouted something at me and I was so tired that day and so busy that I just smiled and walked away. I wasn't about to waste my energy that I could use working on assignments or trying to build up my own confidence by obsessing over a strangers words who didn't  know me whatsoever. Once I made the decision to smile and walk away the guy looked so confused and just mumbled something and he never shouted anything at me again despite me seeing him quire regularly in college. 

• I talked about it with people who understand - Throughout comprehensive school I had one particular friend, who is now an ex friend, who would not stand up for anybody but herself. She would regularly see me being berated at school and never said or did a single thing to stop it or make me feel better. When I started to surround myself with different people I felt so much more comfortable going to those people just to have a rant and get it off my chest, lots of swearing was usually involved, lost of shouting and usually I end up laughing at the stupidity of the people being involved. It does definitely help to offload to someone else who will listen then have a laugh about it!

•  I challenge them - I know this is extremely difficult to do for so many people but even  if you do it once it can make you feel so so much more empowered. I used to challenge people to shut up, tell them I would do this that or the other to them if they continued and as soon as they saw they were getting a negative reaction out of me they would carry on calling me names or hitting me and so on. Now when someone says something about or to me and I have the chance I am more mature and rational about it, I once asked someone what had gone so badly wrong in their lives that they had to be so abhorrent to a complete stranger and they literally didn't have an answer other than bright red cheeks and ears for me to look at. Other times when I can't be that bothered with people I will try and out do them with my vocabulary, I can almost guarantee that anybody who had the nerve to should rude words at someone in public is not very well educated either in qualifications or morals so try to confuse them where you can. It may sound mean but it is quite funny. The key to this is trying to deflate the commentator without provoking a negative reaction, ignoring them also works very well. 

•  Change how you view yourself - If you constantly listen to those awful comments, dwell on them and start to believe them you will never ever change how you feel when those comments come around again, which they will because we live in a society where fatness is despised, thinness is admires and aspired to and we cannot change that fact anytime soon. What we can change is our opinions of ourselves. Around 18/19 years old I started looking in the mirror every single day and telling myself 2 things that I was happy about one for my body and one for my personality. i started by telling myself that I had lovely eyes, because I do, and that I am a brilliant worker, because I am. Those 2 things everyday ld to 4, to 6 to 10 things I can list off that I am positive about. Eventually when you get those comments they start to roll off your back because why should I care about someone who things I am unattractive when I am a good friend, or really good at writing essays, I have a great bum and a pretty face. Eventually it becomes more important what you think of yourself than what anybody else can say to you to bring you down, because you will forget what was said 2 days ago and look in that mirror to see how freakin' amazing you are right now.

This might not have ben the most helpful post in the world, and these things I do to cope might not work for you but I can't stress how important it is for you to start viewing yourself as worthy, valued and relevant and stop obsessing over little comments that will not matter in 3 days never mind 3 weeks. Your mental health and self-perception is way more important, because the people who love you and care for you would tell you that nasty people aren't worth a second of your time. Life is too short. If anybody needs or wants to talk please go to the contact me page, find your favourite way to chat and send a message because I will always be here to talk, listen and laugh with you. 
Now get yourself to the closes mirror and compliment yourself ladies and gents! Have a wonderful evening. 

Katy xx

Exciting Things Going On!

Good evening all you gorgeous people!

I don't know how many time sI have to say this but I am really sorry for the extended absence, I'm doing my best to stay on top of things. There has been so so much going on lately, last time I posted I think I mentioned that I had finished uni for this year and would be preparing for my dissertation? Well I've finally managed to settle on a topic and have just discovered how much I adore social policy so I'm super excited time 10 to be getting ready for the dissertation. 

In terms of uni I actually found out that I finished my year with an overall first class, same as last year just at a higher degree and I'm hoping to keep that up for my final year and come out with an overall 1st for my undergrad degree. 

At the end of the year I went into uni to have some discussions with lecturers just about how to proceed with research for the dissertation and so on but I actually ended up getting myself and internship throughout the summer which basically involves doing some human rights research and writing a report on particular human rights abuses in a country of my choice. Human rights isn't something I've ever dealt with before but I've got to say it's been heartbreaking reading about some of the atrocities that are happening now throughout the world. Other than difficult and often heavy reading I am really enjoying it and it's something that I can add to my CV. I've also joined the University of Sunderland's Student Blogger team so I've put up a couple of posts for them right now and that's been so fun, I love blogging as you know and I love teaching and my blogging style tends to gravitate more towards academic help and support which is something that I am privileged to be doing and helping others with. 

I've also been volunteering with a company in Sunderland that promoted health and wellbeing and undertaking a few training course, so far I've been trained in emotional resilience and other similar things, I'm looking forward to becoming a fully fledged health champion. I feel like I am doing really well as lecturers at university are wanting to use m work as exemplary for next years students as well as getting some of my work published on the University of Sunderland Social Sciences blog soon so that'll be awesome! 

Unfortunately not everything has been rosy in terms of uni and personal life, I'm struggling with some issues with people in my inner circle, things are being made difficult for me and my mental health is starting to be impacted by it. The only thing that I can say about this topic as, obviously it's very personal to me is that an issue around friendships and supportive relationships becoming toxic to me is getting me significantly overwhelmed so I am attempting to distance myself from situations that I feel will be unhealthy for me. I am actually planning a post about this type of toxicity in your life as soon as I possibly can, it may take a while due to other commitments with the internship and dissertation research but because it's something I feel passionate about it is definitely on of the next posts coming up. 

I have been spending a huge amount of time in hospital lately backwards and forwards from the North East to the West Midlands for care and although I'm not at liberty to disclose any information about what has been going on, I can say that I have never felt this good and things are looking quite positive for me at the moment. I'm hoping to access some counselling services to help me manage my stress and emotions as there has been a significant amount of upheaval in my personal life and with my health and I am a complete advocate for counselling I think it's a wonderful way to relieve stress, learn new ways to cope with changes and sometimes it's better than ranting to family members because at least counsellors are paid to listen haha! I am also planning a post on my reasons why counselling services should be accessed if you're feeling overwhelmed of are struggling because it's a topic that is a real hot one in the media at the moment and definitely is something that needs to be talked about and de-stigmatised, so keep an eye out for that one! 

As you can tell, I have been a bit of a busy been and shall continue to be a busy bee until my feet drop of and my brain melts (if I don't melt before this heat that is) because if I have noting to do I will go mad. I have an exciting couple of weeks planned for self and Simon as we are planning to go to Simon's graduation ceremony for his Foundation Degree on Friday, we have dog trainers out on Thursday (because Luna is becoming a terror!), I'm off to see Pixie Lott with one of my best friends and hopefully another one of my wonderful friends, trips planned to go to Edinburgh, York, Whitby and Beamish open air museum coming up! I'm so excited for the future and honestly, I am overwhelmed at the joy I feel getting to share it with all of my amazing readers. I know I am not the biggest social media mogul or the best, most well known blogger out there but I am grateful for every single person who reads my blogs, thank you all!

P.S. If you would like to see the blog posts that I have created on the University blogging team please go to this link!,

Have an amazing day everybody and Happy Sunday!!!

Love Katy xx

Just me :)

The POMC Series: A Partner's Perspective

Hello everybody!

Earlier this week myself and Simon celebrated our 3 year anniversary of our relationship together, there have been many ups and downs in our relationship but we truly love each other and I wanted to take this opportunity to develop a post that I've been meaning to do for a long time. When I started this blog Simon asked me how he could help. This is his contribution, he has chosen to write and article for the blog outlining what it is like being in a relationship with someone who has a genetic obesity condition, and I myself could not be more grateful and proud of him. I hope you all enjoy his perspective and the next instalment of The POMC Series. Here goes...

"When a person is born into the world, they never have a choice in the cards they hold. Hair colour, the colour of ones eyes, even down to their individual personalities, nobody ever gets their say on what they want. This is no exception when it comes down to medical issues, issues that can be, or is, the bane of our existence. Personally, Asthma is my Achilles heel, one which has affected my whole life (Thank you, asthma!) yet it is a condition which I will never hope to submit to. However, there are some people in this life who really suffer much more that what we could ever comprehend, ones which we could never hope to understand unless we walk in their shoes. This post aims to shed a perspective in the life of my long-term partner, Katherine Simpson. 

The first, and best, picture I ever saw of this gorgeous woman

Me and Katy (her preferred name) have met under weird circumstances but we have that chemistry that just simply took off. No idea how she puts up with my randomness but that’s respect for you! We have had many dates out, however, it wasn’t long until I noticed problems with the way Katy was walking. She needed to stop on occasion and this only escalated the more I’ve been with her. Katy mentioned early early in our relationship that she suffered from POMC, Lordosis and a very unique genetic coding which is beyond my understanding. I have attended multiple doctors appointments and assessments as support and even medical professionals struggle with understanding what really makes Katy tick.

From my understanding, Katy suffers from a what-do-you-ma-call-it genetic deficiency in which her metabolism is permanently off. Because the body assumes that it is starving, fat is biologically formed and stored as a back-up energy source, not a great understanding as I mentioned but I wanted to write this without Katy giving me any direction so as to you you all what I see of this condtion. Due to this nature, the body can never truly function properly and this causes Katy to go up in weight. Newcastle RVI and Addenbrooks, Cambridge, are able to explain to a degree, and its such a difficult thing knowing that the one you love do dearly is not able to get treatment or help for an awful condition. Operations, some drugs and even gym has not worked; I can attest to how hard this sweet woman works, only changing shape but not losing weight whatsoever. I have experienced Katy suffer from an ovarian cyst which further compounds how much exercise and activities she can participate in. It is so upsetting to listen to your partner apologise for being who they are, because a medical condition stops them doing things they they desperately want to. 

Personally, I encourage Katy to the best of my abilities to rest and take breaks, yet she always felt guilty that she cannot have a normal life like everybody else in society. Memories with her are much better than distance she can walk and I have bad  short term memory anyway so there is no likelihood I would remember how far we travel anyway! Walking around places like Newcastle and the Metrocentre has always been a struggle, 10 minutes of walking puts a huge strain on her back, legs and pelvis. She is always hungry and finds it very difficult to manage that, she can eat a bigger portion than me and be hungry again minutes later as if she has never eaten at all!, any deviations can physically knock her sick. This is a medical attribute which I am wholly in the dark about and I am still learning more each day. 

I do feel empathy that Katy, no matter how much effort she tries, will just continually struggle. As her supportive partner, we will fight tooth-and-nail for medical and practical solutions but there are very limited channels open. Aspects of our life together have been negatively affected, I can’t express the pain you feel when you are walking down the street, hand-in-hand, with a woman you see as truly beautiful when she gets some disgusting comments shouted at her from afar. You want to go up to them and tell them the whole story but some individuals do not comprehend other individuals circumstances. Because of this, Katy’s confidence with being around others is shot; I wish she could see herself as the beautiful woman I see her as. A medical condition should be no reason whatsoever to make people feel isolated from the rest of modern society. Despite the medical flaws, her conditions does not own her, she aims to own it!!

One of our best nights together at Russell Howard

When I first met Katherine, it was a first for being with someone with such debilitating medical conditions. I was petrified when her cyst flared up two years ago, now I’m so relaxed she jokes that I’m too relaxed! Truth is, If I cannot compose myself to be of help, I should not be a lover at all. I am not size-ist so I do not judge on weight. However, I have have learnt so much about her and myself throughout the three years of us being together. I have adapted to Katy’s needs and as long as we make preparations, we still enjoy days out, even with back pains and struggles and my asthma! My general rule of thumb on looking after people is this;

• Whoever it is you are with, Love them 120%. Yeah, time management is hard, yet, everyone cares for their love. The addition of unorthodox medical conditions are no exception.

• Always keep calm. Managing tasks and looking after Katy is challenging but we always got there in the end. Patience can be low but do not snap and always try and communicate.

• Never go in a relationship if you are not willing to commit. A no-brainer, this one!

• Take time to understand your partner and what makes them tick. They will undoubtedly feel uncomfortable with themselves and they are humans too. No different to the rest of us!

• People can be abusive, what do they contribute to life anyway? You and your partner will be 100% better people than what bullies will ever be. 

People are still people, those with these medical conditions challenge life in hardcore mode, only strong souls can cope, I don’t believe things in life are given to you unless someone, somewhere knows you can cope. Katy copes so well. It is a strain on our relationship at times because I just want to help her but I know I am limited, if I could wave a wand and change things for her I would. Anybody who cares for someone with a long-term condition who loves them would change it for them. The only thing I can suggest for those living with, caring for and loving people with genetic obesity is be there for them and love them and make amazing memories with them, because just like everyone else on the planet, people with genetic obesity conditions are still people and I will always love my amazing partner and accept her for who she is."

By Simon Steel

And there you have it. My wonderful partner wrote those beautiful words as he writes everything else in his life, with passion and meaning. I hope you all found this post enjoyable and enlightening, I am off to give my fella a massive cuddle!

Katy xx

100th Post - Appreciation and Thanks

Hi everybody!

Image from google

I hope you're all doing well today and making the most of your Monday. So today's post is my 100th post on this blog! It seems to have gone by so quickly and I've had the best time so far writing posts and putting out content for you guys. When I decided to shift the purpose of this blog up a little I knew I would be keeping up the lifestyle aspects and some other aspects of the blog previously but it would be more heavily intertwined with raising awareness for POMC as you all know. Since that shift the reception of this blog, the support I've received from all of my amazing readers has been amazing and I've been able to make some lovely new friends from all around the world!!
I was terrified of the reception I would get by telling my story but I knew how important it would be for all of the other people out there who are either struggling with their weight, long-term condition of genetic obesity conditions, and I am astounded everyday of love love and support given, I've been able to help many people, my email has been relatively non stop since last year! Please keep them coming if you have any questions or want more information please ask, as I always say every little helps in the way of raising awareness for so many misunderstood, heavily stigmatised and awful genetic obesity disorders. 
I thought I thought I would share with you some of the amazing things I have had the opportunity to get involved in thanks to this blog and so many supportive people around the world!

My Invisible Disabilities and Disorders
Community as UoS!

• Took part in an interview with a journalist from the University of Sunderland - nothing came of said interview which was hurtful but still it was a great experience to take part in that I am glad I agreed to.
• Met with the, then, president of the Student's Union to help set pans into motion of a day of rooting awareness for genetic obesity conditions as the University of Sunderland. 
• Got to talk with numerous people from around the world about their experiences of living with and parenting one with a genetic obesity condition. 
• Conversed with numerous people working for awareness organisations and pharmaceutical companies aiming to develop treatments and awareness for genetic obesity conditions!
• Set up a community (a mini society) at the University of Sunderland for individuals living with invisible disabilities while studying at University of Sunderland, at the beginning of the next academic year we will be discussing some changes that we wish to make at the University.
• Become a health champion at a local wellbeing centre, helping to improve the lives of people around me, currently trained  in promoting Emotional Resilience!

Thank you all!

All of the amazing stuff I've been able to do is because of the confidence that my readers give me to keep promoting for these horrible conditions, conditions that impact families, friends, colleagues and most importantly the individual diagnosed with it. If at least 1  of my, almost, 10,000 readers has taken something from my blog then I am doing something right! Thank you so much for being there for me, continuously reading my blog, giving me motivation and support and I can only say that I am SO excited to continue this blogging journey with you as there are lots of exciting things going on at the moment that I will HAVE to tell you all about at some point ;) 

Lovs of love,

Katherine xx

Busy Bee: What I've Been Up To!

Good Afternoon you lovely people!

It's been so long since I last did a post that I've rewritten this several times because I just wasn't getting into the swing of it. I am pretty disappointed in myself for not continuing to blog but honestly I just haven't had much time to myself whatsoever! I'm pay to be blogging agin though and I've got a fair few posts ready to write for the next fee weeks, so lets get on with this one which will basically just been a roundup of what I've been up to recently!

As per the main reason I haven't been blogging is university, I've just finished my second year and will be going into my last year come September which don't get me wrong I am super excited about, but at the same time I really don't want to leave! This is a big change for me as I have hated every single place I have studied from primary school through secondary, sixth form and college! Uni is brilliant though and I love it so much. With going into my last year I've been mulling over dissertation topics for the last few months and after having like 9 different ideas I think I have finally found a topic that gels with me and that I'm really passionate and excited to write! Next year will be heavy but so fun so overall I'm looking forward to it and I'm actually quite optimistic about my grades for this year too, so yey! 

Oh the frustrations of a Venflo!

I've had a LOT going on with my health lately, as you can probably gather from the image to the right, so me and Simon have been travelling halfway down the country for tests and things, the hospital appointments are really long and pretty boring sometimes so we are bringing books along with us, games, laptop just to keep up busy. I'm allowed to go for walks between tests so it's not like I'm sat on my butt all day doing nothing. Other than that I have been feeling pretty great lately, our puppy Luna is now letting us sleep until a decent time, usually she gets annoyed at us waking her up! We take her for walks everyday and she is absolutely loving it. So are we!

Like I mentioned earlier not much has been going on other than getting loads and loads of Uni work, revision, placement days, report writing and things to get on with which is all done now thankfully but in our spare time me and Simon have been going out to the cinema, we actually managed to go and see Love, Simon (ironically) on the day it came out in cinemas and Oh My God! That's definitely one of my favourite films I've seen recently, I absolutely love anything romance-ish and Nick Robinson is a fab actor so I just loved the whole thing from start to finish, I then went and bought the book so I'm hoping to read that sometime in the summer. We also went to see Infinity War which was way better than I ever thought it would be! No spoilers obviously, I know people who still haven't seen it, but yeah it was really well worked and considering the amount of different characters coming from completely different movies they gel well together and it is so so so funny in many places. We also went to see Deadpool 2, again awesome but personally I preferred Deadpool the original, in fact I prefer the comics but the movies are still fab, definitely getting all of those on DVD when they come out.

A great book!

I've spent a lot of time reading and taking up a couple of new hobbies. I started reading Pornography by Andrea Dworkin. This is a really really good book if you're interested in feminism and topics around patriarchy and pornography, it's heavy reading but very interesting. I've also been reading Fat is a Feminist Issue but Susie Orbrach and this has got to be the most interesting book I've read in a very long time, fatness and social perceptions of fat people have always both fascinated and enraged me and this book captured my attention from the introduction so I would give this a read especially if you're interested in body positivity and fat acceptance type arenas. 

I've recently also picked up a could of new hobbies, because I obviously can't do a huge amount of exercise because of back pain, and a more recent and happy *sarcasm* addition, leg pain. I've started swimming which really relaxes my my back is still a great way to keep fit, me and Simon have also taken up ice skating recently, which is something I struggle at and have to take a lot of breaks with, it tends to take me and hour to get around one lap of the rink and then I'm done after that but still it's a fun day out and something I could hopefully build upon. 

Afternoon walks with Simon and Luna

Finally, I've picked up a few books and CDs and I'm planning to teach myself how to speak German because it's something I've always wanted to do and I'm passionate about, I love the German language and I have no idea why. Hopefully at the end of my third year at Uni I'll be taking a trip over to Berlin or into the Christmas markets in Germany so we will see how that goes, haha! 

So, basically through Uni, movies, books, ice skating and learning German I've been pretty busy but now it's officially summer I am looking forward to getting back into blogging and will hopefully have another post up on Tuesday. 

I hope all of my readers are doing awesome and will see you very very soon! ;) 

Love Katherine   xx