Hi @elizass , I know with PCOS it can be am extra struggle! My niece has PCOS and she has a hard time with her weight, but even so she is getting there. Hopefully you will too!
Folks will tell you it is all about calories in / calories out and broadly speaking, that is certainly true... There is increasing evidence that different people burn calories differently: some people thrive well on a low carb diet; others fare badly on the increased fat intact that often follows a low carb diet...
It’s important for you to experiment to see what style of weight management, eating, and exercise, works best for you.
If you want to try intermittent fasting, I would suggest finishing eating a little earlier at night - maybe dinner by 7 and nothing after that, then skip breakfast and nothing until lunch. It’s a little more extreme than you have tried, but the latest research on IF suggests limiting all food to 8 hours in the day. An alternative form involves seriously restricting calories 2 days a week (500 max for women).
If you want to try low carb, at least for the initial period you might need to go lower on your carb (maybe 30 grams or lower). That’s hard to sustain for any length of time for most people.
Or you could try one of the many balanced low calorie approaches.
My best advice would be that as you have more than a few pounds to lose, so it will (and should!) take you some time, it will probably work best to find which dieting style seems to work best for you and try it for a while. Steady balanced low calorie doesn’t work for everyone. Intermittent fasting doesn’t work for everyone, low carb high fat doesn’t work for everyone...
Having said that, whenever you get into a rut, consider switching, and swap among different dieting styles (I don’t mean every day - that definitely won’t work!!) but maybe every couple of months.
I know it sounds odd, but sometimes your body ‘just get used’ to a certain weight. I think there are more scientific ways of describing it, but that’s what it boils down to. There’s good evidence that changing your dieting style can quick start a new weight loss phase.
And, finally, I hate to say it, but don’t forget the saying, ‘dieting makes you fat’. There’s also evidence for that. Sometimes it is a good idea to give your body a rest and between periods of dieting, spend some time maintaining your weight, and not trying to lose.
That will help solve the yoyoing rpoblem - not forgetting that the yoyo almost always manges to get just a little higher each time...
There are no strict timetables... If you are really sure that you aren’t cheating (keep a food diary or use your Fitbit app to log your food!) and you still don’t lose weight for a couple of weeks, then it is time to change up your dieting style, or go into maintenance mode, for a few weeks at least - and then try again when you feel really ready to re-commit.
While it is important to keep active, exercise alone almost certainly won’t make a big difference to your weight. It should make abig difference to how you feel, thoguh, so hopefully thst will help.
Finally, don’t underestimate community! Find friends, or post here in the many forums, to get feedback and encouragement in managing progress toward your weight goals. Good luck!
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