PCOS, weight loss, and trying to conceive.

mandamoxie

I'm 27 years old and 250 lbs, and was diagnosed the other day with PCOS. My doctor told me that I'd have to lose 50 lbs before even looking at trying to get pregnant, so weight loss is my primary goal.

My doctor referred me to a weight loss consultant, but I want to get started now instead of waiting until my first appointment with them. Starting today I'm going to attempt to eat 1500 calories/day. PCOS can make losing weight hard, so I was wondering if there is anyone who has PCOS that has any helpful tips they could share? Any help is appreciated.

Anyone who's in the same boat is more than welcome to add me - I would love to be surrounded by those who are going through a similar struggle

valerieuk1708

Iv got Pcos and currently losing weight by eating better and exercising about twice per week. I switched to low GI food (brown pasta, bread, brown rice instead of white ones), eating more protein and fibre as well as good fats (avocados, healthy oils, fatty fish). As long as you keep your sugar under control you should have no problems losing weight. What's your stats (weight, height, age, activity level?) so I can help u calculating your calorie deficit if you want.
I added you as well :-) good luck!

foiensoi

Hey, I have PCOS and am losing weight with it. It can mean weight loss is slower but it's certainly not impossible so don't let it be an excuse.
Take a realistic calorie goal on MyFitnessPal, don't try to lose too much too quickly as that's not sustainable. Maybe 1.5lb a week depending on how much you have to lose. This gives you almost a year to hit that goal, and be realistic about that year because if you don't have the long term goal in mind it's very easy to get disheartened. Then I would adjust the macro settings if you're using MFP religiously, and I would bring carbs down from the default 50% to around 40-30%, and make the rest up with protein and fats. My personal one is about 30%carbs, 35 protein and 35 fat but it's sometimes got more carbs if I'm working out. Measure your food carefully on a food scale using grammes and measure liquids in a measuring cup, and then you can be sure you're logging your food correctly.
The first step is creating a calorie deficit, so using more calories than your body needs. This is primarily done from taking fewer calories in from food, and trying to increase your expenditure through exercise although I can tell you diet itself is enough to control PCOS!
So I explained how to log food and set up a macro goal - be very careful with your carbs and sugar. Some people will say macros don't matter, low-carb isn't necessary, eat what you like within your calorie goal BUT you have a condition that affects your insulin and therefore you need to take care with it. AVOID candy, chocolate (70% dark choc or more is ok), cookies, junk food, sugary drinks (soda, fruit juice, adding sugar to coffee), white bread/rice/pasta and any refined carbohydrates. Stick to a diet high in protein (meat, poultry, fish, eggs, Greek yoghurt, whey supplements if you need, nuts in small amounts) and high in healthy fats (nuts in small amounts - they have a lot of calories, eggs, chia or pumpkin sees). Get plenty of fresh vegetables and I advise to get most of your "5 a day" (I eat way more than 5 a day) from vegetables rather than fruit. Fruit has loads of nutritional benefits and is low in calories but has lots of sugar and will affect your insulin levels. Include a little bit for variety but favour vegetables. Also include beans/peas/lentils if you like, they can be very filling and low in sugar, check the packet under "Carbohydrates - sugars". If you still have room for carbs they should be very complex with very low sugar eg oats, quinoa, brown rice, brown pasta. If something has 50g carbs per 100g on the packet and 49g of those are sugar, it's junk. If something has 50g carbs and 5g sugar it is a much healthier option. Don't worry about the carbs from vegetables.
That's it for what to include in your diet, make sure it fits in your calorie goal. I eat about 4 meals a day and each meal has a portion of meal or fish and a huge portion of vegetables to help keep me full. How many meals you eat is up to you, I like this amount and maybe another snack. Drink lots of water and if you're still hungry, aim for low sugar snacks such as nuts, and make sure you're getting enough protein and fat at every meal as they help you feel full.
Exercise is very beneficial for PCOS. Even taking a brisk walk improves insulin resistance so get moving as much as you can't. Your muscle:fat ratio is a big factor here so if you eventually can afford the money or time, I advise doing some weight training (get an instructor or a personal trainer for a bit to help) and this will help increase your muscle mass while you lose fat, which is good news for everyone especially people with PCOS. HIIT is also worth looking into, you can find videos online and do workouts at home.
that's diet and exercise for you! Stay using less calories than you consume, try to eat the best foods you can within those calories, AVOID SUGAR, take regular exercise.

Re: pregnancy.. I had several years of 5-6months between periods. I made a few small changes, lost 10lbs before MyFitnessPal was even invented, and my periods return to normal. I maintained that weight for a while, but have slowly been losing over the years and am about 30lbs down from my first weigh in with the endocrinologist. Periods occasionally fluctuate if I gain weight or low weight, but they're now fairly predictable and I controlled this through diet and exercise.
When the time comes to plan a family, there is loads of help available, medications to help ovulation (eg clomid), or a medication like Metformin might be prescribed for your PCOS.

You're doing great going to a weight loss consultant, it's a great start. What's been most important for me is educating myself on nutritional values of different foods and always opting for the healthy choice. Find an exercise you enjoy. Keep your goal in mind and be patient. Take progress photos every week or 2 weeks and watch your body change. Stick to the plan, having some discipline is so worthwhile when you see those lbs and inches coming off. Remember you're not doing this for aesthetics, you're doing it to fix a metabolic condition so you can get healthy and have a healthy pregnancy and baby! There's loads of support on these forums so do visit and ask for support... There's also occasionally misinformation so take everything with a pinch of salt! Best of luck on your journey!

mou_254

http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/1448249/diagnosed-living-with-pcos-read-me/p1

this is some good information regarding pcos.
i have had it for 5 years now, and diet, exercise and calorie deficit works for me. but, everybody is different,so you might have to play around with macros a bit to find what works for you.
best wishes!

yirara

Do get a digital food scale and weigh everything you eat in grams, and then find correct data base entries here. Please don't trust information on packaging as it's often just an approximation, and don't use measuring cups as there's no fixed definition of what a cup is and in most cases people tend to fill them up far too much, and thus eat too much. With PCOS you want to make sure your daily calories are absolutely spot on.