Any users struggling with PCOS?

[Shantal]

My PCOS is making it sooo hard for me to lose weight and I was just wondering if anybody has some advice/tips on how to get through it

[Elendili]

I am sorry you are going through such a tough time.  I don't know anything about PCOS.  I don't know what it is.  But I hope you get some help soon!

Elendili

[awood08]

Sorry to hear you are struggling. I do not suffer from PCOS but have a family member that does. She sent me this link, hope it can help some!

https://jeanhailes.org.au/health-a-z/healthy-living/managing-healthy-weight

[kitebitch]

HI There, Yes I have PCOS, and yes it is horrid and hard work to Loose weight with PCOS , are you taking Metformin? what are you doing to help, as in are you cutting any carbs out? 

[Mermaid3011]

Hi Shantal, 

yes! Here - I do. It hasnt been easy, but my weight came off eventually. (58 lbs as of today since January)

I lined up everything I could though: 

- a food and workout plan that is designed for me and that I enjoy (because I like Pilates and Yoga more than weight lifting or running)

- a personal coach who is inspiring and motivating and reminding every day of my ultimate goal

- a facebook group that is run by that coach to have people see/realize that they are NOT alone in this and that we all have the same goals.

- my GP who gave me Metformin first, but then we switched to Liraglutide and it's working wonders to keep my blood sugars steady. It also makes me feel full longer which Metformin doesnt. 

Message me if you want more details on anything. 

Best for your journey!

Birgit

[smoggy]

Hi Shantel -

My granddaughter has PCOS and she's 16 and about 20-25 pounds over weight. I know it bothers her, and she's bery self conscious of how big she's gotten.  She does not eat that much, and no red meat at all, but if you are struggling to lose weight, then maybe this is what is causing her to not to be able to take weight off either.  I'm so sorry you have this syndrome but hang in there and keep going no matter what.  God be with you and protect you through life with the ups and downs. I know you will make your goal whatever that is

[CaraMia886]

Hi all,

I have been using the fitbit in the last year and a half and unfortunately, it hasn't been life-changing for me. I suffer from PCOS with Insulin Resistance. I just celebrated my 29th birthday and realized I have continuously been on a diet for 17 years. I have done every diet from Weight Watchers (unsustainable) to the Special K diet, low-carb, dietician-based, paleo (I gained weight), SlimFast, and just skipping meals altogether. Now I get low blood sugar so the latter isn't an option. 

My DH has had a lot of success with fitbit. It motivated him and he lost 50 lbs through extra steps and just cutting out a few bad foods. It's really sad anymore. I don't want to go out and see anyone due to my weight gain. I have joined a medical exercise program 3 days a week and not lost any weight, although I do feel better and stronger.

Full disclosure: I work an inordinate amount and am in graduate school. I am also an emotional eater and am no saint. That being said, I am totally exhausted from dieting for 17 straight years. Does anyone have any personal experiences with PCOS/ IR and diets that worked? That were sustainable?

[Odyssey13]

Hello and welcome to the forums @CaraMia886

I moved your post over here where there are a few ladies with PCOS.

Be sure to take a peek at this thread also - click  where @MRose listed two activity groups you might want to check on.

[MRose]

Hi @CaraMia886!! Glad you swung by our neck of the woods! 

I feel your pain with the dieting and the work/school load. It can be absurdly difficult. I work 50-60 hours/week and I'm working on grad school (albeit much slower now than in the past), and it's rough! So... stressed much? Yeah, about that... Cortisol is known as the "stress hormone" and promotes, among many other things, weight gain, increased cholesterol, and ultimately, ta-da, insulin resistance. My husband can probably eat pizza all day long and as long as he does a 20 minute workout, he stays healthy. I was eating salad and 100-calorie packs with measured amounts of Crystal Light and still felt like a blerch. PCOS is a heartless foe. Seeing as you have struggled with this as long as I have, I'm not going to preach about the science of it because you've probably heard all that, amongst the "simply eat less and move more!" people. Those jerks.

First off... Food is either your friend or your enemy. There is no Swizerland here. Food is the steering wheel, axle, and suspension system of your hormones. No amount of birth control (and I'm assuming about 12 different doctors have tried to put you on 30 different kinds of it?) will help your body fix itself if your hormones are out of whack. How familiar are you with the cycle of insulin resistance? I had to go to several doctors and a nutritionist and learned nothing, until I finally went over it as a specialty course in one of my nursing classes, so it can be hard to track down reliable information that didn't just come from someone's blog. The reason it's important is it allows you to choose better options for yourself when you know what's causing it, but I don't want to write a novella if you already know 85% of it 😛 The point is, you need to be making food work for you rather than working out all the time with the hopes of working off your food. That's just defeating. You mentioned that you get low blood sugar now; are you actually diabetic, or just pre-diabetic?

My doctor (which, btw, if you don't already have one that you really, truly trust, keep looking!) put me on the Zone diet a few years ago, and let me tell you, once I really started doing it (I dabbled on and off because I didn't think it would make a huge difference), I can't believe the difference. No, the weight didn't fall off overnight like Alice in Wonderland falling out of her dress, but I have lost a TON of weight, but that really isn't the point. Do you just want to be skinny, or do you actually want to be healthy? After Zoning, I cut out caffeine and sugar (I don't want them anymore), and I feel like a million bucks. The hair has (mostly) cleared up so I don't feel like newfoundland dog before his groomiing, I've been able to run races, but more importantly, I don't go to the ER anymore, I don't have to take tons of medicine anymore, and I'm not pre-diabetic anymore. Am I still insulin resistant? A bit, yes, but that's on it's way out the door as well.

A word of warning: The Zone diet is weird at first. It seems restrictive and sometimes you feel like portions are small, but that's not the case. Often, the correct portions of what we eat are small, but with a few changes, food is everywhere. Would you rather have a banana or 10 cups of spinach? It's a happy medium 😉 The first month of the Zone will be HARD. The sugar cravings? The carbo-loading? It hits hard at the end of the first week, but it's withdraw. After the first month or two, those all subside, and you don't even have to think about it anymore, you can eyeball everything. What really helped me restart the diet was the Whole30 (DEFINITELY look into this!). Those 30 days are about eating well, yes, but most of it is retraining your brain after years of use and abuse via late nights in the library and an ungodly amount of Red Bull and bundt cake (oh, the bundt cake...).

I've already written "War and Peace 2" here so I will stop now, but please either comment or message me and we can chat about it! I know it's defeating to try so hard and end up not losing or even gaining, but there's a turn-around!

But as a "start today!" note: Go back to low-carb and Paleo, if you can, BUT! Low REFINED carb and actual Paleo; not the paleo-ice-cream-pancake-substitution thing. Your brain doesn't know the difference between banana ice cream and a Dairy Queen Blizzard when you're so insulin resistant. You should have plenty of carbs, but they need to come from spinach and kiwi and squash, not the low-fat mini-muffin (that probably actually has lower calories). 

[Galaxy55]

I have pcos. I can relate.

[Mermaid3011]

@MRose @CaraMia886

MRose has pretty much said it all! The biochemical thing that is working against us is a b... and it takes a lot to outsmart her. And: you can't outrun your fork. Weightloss happens in the kitchen! 

I actually did my own bit of medical research readings and came to the conclusion that I wanted to try Liraglutide (Saxenda) - a medication that is taken once a day and used to be prescribed to diabetics or pre-diabetics. That's when they realized: it makes your blood sugars more stable, gets your insulin under control, makes you feel fuller longer because it slows the emptying of your stomach into your bowels and... apparently it's also good for depression (thats what a specialists for obesity and depression just told me). 

So... I've been taking Liraglutide for the last few months and have to say it really helps me a lot! I am also on an antidepressant which makes me feel less hungry, turns off the "comfort eating" aspect and gives me the energy to connect with people, go out and socialize which is so so so important if you are feeling a depressive episode coming up. My medication is called Wellbutrin and I cant imagine not taking it right now. 

Together with exercise and especially healthy, real, natural foods (mostly vegetarian) I have lost 58 lbs so far and I am pretty certain that this whole concert of actions is working together in my favour.

Reading your story @CaraMia886 I wonder if this could be something for you: 

- print out medical research papers that support liraglutide/Saxenda for PCOS and weightloss, read and think about it. Giving yourself an injection every day may be taunting, but it's totally doable and doesnt hurt. Promise!!

- print out the description of Wellbutrin and other weight-neutral antidepressants, underline the effect it has on appetite (it is one of the few antidepressants that wont make you gain weight). 

Take your research folder to your GP (because they may not have heard about the research done specifically for PCOS) and discuss what you would like to achieve. 

[Trooper]

Would someone please tell me what PCOS is? 

[Odyssey13]

@Trooper    Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS)

[yshetzline]

Hi!

I have PCOS, and have managed to make some progress with it, but it has been a difficult, uphill battle at times.  MRose makes some very good points, and has very sound advice.

For me, weight loss didn't happen until I started managing my blood sugar.  I started to take my medication religiously (because I was very bad about that), and avoided food that would spike me too fast and tear my insulin response asunder.  I actively avoided food with high fructose corn syrup or other crazy sweeteners, and had a limited intake of sugar.  If I had oatmeal, I tried topping it with cinnamon instead of sugar.  (I've heard anecdotes that cinnamon helps with blood sugar, but I'm not certain on this one.)  

Oddly enough, when that was removed from my diet, I started to taste things again.  An apple started to taste like an apple!  I can't think of an effective way to explain it other than prior to removing or limiting that stuff, its like I was drowned in "sweet."  That's just an interesting aside.

As far as managing goes, I also had to remember to eat breakfast, lunch, dinner, and a healthy snack here and there.  It sounds crazy, but sometimes when I get stressed, the first thing to go is my apetite, and I don't even realize it.  When I do that, I'm not keeping my levels on an even keel, and my system had the idea that I was supposed to be in starvation mode.  Not great for weight loss.   Sometimes it got to where I just had a headache, felt dizzy, and "stupid," and THAT was my realiztion that I skipped a meal.  Once the regular meals started coming in, my system got the hint.  In a sense, I had to eat more to lose weight, which seems so counterintuitive, but works.

I also walked in the morning just prior to breakfast, until the weather got dangerously frigid.  I have a treadmill now, so that helps.  I was using the Runtastic app, and only started using the FitBit because of a PE class, but any exercise tracking helped a lot.  I could see how far I've come, and set my own goals.

Another thing that helped me, personally, was that I stopped watching the scale.  My goal wasn't to lose weight, it was to treat or reverse the condition and improve my quality of life. The little victories, like not feeling depressed and/or like I was losing my mind all the time, were milestones that I celebrated.  I had to, because that stupid scale wasn't doing me any favors at first.  When the weight started to drop, it was more of a side effect of all those other goals. 

I also had inspiration in some family members who, through weight management, completely reversed full blown type 2 diabetes and were officially taken off metformin.  I was amazed, but apparently if you manage it, there is a possibility that the pancreatic cells go back to a state prior to the onset!  That inspired me, because in my family, type 2 diabetes has been a death sentence.  It gave me hope.

The end result of all this was that I dropped 30 pounds and was taken off the metformin because my GTT came back within normal limits.  I also started to have normal cycles again (I know, TMI, but this is a big victory for me,) and ultrasounds have indicated that I'm actually ovulating again.

One last thing and I'll leave you be:  Stress is mentioned quite a bit, and it absolutely sabotages any weight loss effort.  Cortisol can wreck your day, with cravings that you know are stupid choices and fat sitting on you.  My job and family... I'm not even going to go there... One thing my doc recommended was to literally walk it off.  At the very least, it "brings me down from the ledge," and gives me a little bit of "me time" to clear my head.

This has been a lot to sort through, I realize.  Sorry about that... I wish you the best, and hope that you will be able to reach your goals!   Thanks!

[CaraMia886]

Hi everyone,

Over the years I have been to 6 different Endocrinologists in the NJ area. I am deeply dissatisfied with my current endo. My experience has been that as I am not currently TTC, they lose interest and seem not to care about my general well-being. I just want a thorough doctor who will care about my well-being whether I am TTC or not. If you are from the NJ area and can recommend, I would really appreciate it.

[kyrstin326]

I have PCOS, diagnosed around 10 months ago or so. About three months ago I decided it was time for a change, I was tired of seeing the scale always slowly climbing upward. I've lost 27 pounds since, taking metformin 500mg twice daily and eating healthier and hitting 11,000+ steps a day. I don't eat low carb (though I do watch my carbs and don't go crazy) and I don't follow any certain diet- just calories in/calories out. I eat about 1200 a day, sometimes 1400, and the weight is steadily coming off!

[MRose]

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@kyrstin326 wrote:
I have PCOS, diagnosed around 10 months ago or so. About three months ago I decided it was time for a change, I was tired of seeing the scale always slowly climbing upward. I've lost 27 pounds since, taking metformin 500mg twice daily and eating healthier and hitting 11,000+ steps a day. I don't eat low carb (though I do watch my carbs and don't go crazy) and I don't follow any certain diet- just calories in/calories out. I eat about 1200 a day, sometimes 1400, and the weight is steadily coming off!

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Hi @kyrstin326! Congrats on your progress, and keep it up!!!

[SunsetRunner]

@Trooper

On Wikipedia it's explained in more detail.

URL: Wikipedia (PCOS)

[puff-into-tuff]

Hi, I am 24 and found out I have PCOS/insulin resistance about 2 years ago. I am over 100lbs overweight. It has been a huge struggle to lose weight and keep it off. I could use all the help anyone could offer, please and thank you! I thought purchased a new fitbit on Friday!

[MRose]

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@puff-into-tuff wrote:

Hi, I am 24 and found out I have PCOS/insulin resistance about 2 years ago. I am over 100lbs overweight. It has been a huge struggle to lose weight and keep it off. I could use all the help anyone could offer, please and thank you! I thought purchased a new fitbit on Friday!

---

Hi @puff-into-tuff! Welcome to the addiction!

My biggest "quick tips:"

1) Get a group. Gather with friends to get moving (and eating well. This is a bigger deal when you're leptin/insulin resistant), and even if you're talking to your friend across the country or your mom and her gal pal, make sure someone knows how much you want to lose and what your recently accomplished goals are (i.e. "I want to lose 100 lb total and I've already lost 4 this month!"). Saying "I want to lose weight and be healthy" is great, but make sure your goals are tangible!

2) If you don't have one, find a doctor you really trust (I wrote a novel about this already, so if you want to read a bit then scroll up  ).

3) Make food fight for you! You're insulin resistant (and thus leptin resistant. You become leptin resistant before insulin resistant), and you could be running marathons and still feel like you got hit with a baseball bat if you aren't taking care of the insulin resistance. With all of this, if you eat a normal "healthy" diet,  you will feel like you're starving yourself (and your brain thinks you are), even though you will likely either stay the same weight or gain. So for starting off today (without wiping every item in your pantry and performing an exorcism on the fridge), cut back on ALL refined sugars/grains. Ultimately, it's best to cut them out, but sugar can be, and often is, an addition. So depending on where you are psychologically, use your best judgement on how to go about that. If you can afford it, talk to a nutritionist and/or an endocrinologist. If not, often schools with nutrition programs will set up free/low cost appointments with people in the community.

And for the record: Eating well does not have to be more expensive. It can be, depending on how you go about it, but most certainly does not have to be. Best of luck!