PCOS and Weight Loss

DanerTee

Hi Everyone,
I don't have PCOS, I'm asking for a friend!

She lost about 80 lbs on a VLC diet, and low and behold, she is having a hard time not re-gaining the weight.

She says she eats 1300 calories per day and continues to gain. Has anyone else here experienced this with PCOS?

If so, what did you do to lose weight in a healthy way?

Thanks!

laur357

I lost weight and have PCOS. I've used a number of calorie points - 1200, 1350, 1480 - and still lost weight. (I'm 5'3 and sedentary to lightly active, for reference. So I don't think these amounts are too low in this case.)

Some research, and a lot of anecdotal evidence, shows that lower carb diets help relieve PCOS symptoms and help with weight loss. Many women with PCOS have/are prone to developing insulin resistance and diabetes, so that makes sense. I guess I eat a "moderate" carb diet (around 120-140g a day), but I lose weight when I eat more or fewer carbs as long as I eat at a calorie deficit. (For the record, both of my PCOS-specializing endocrinologists told me not to bother watching carbs since I was already losing.)

Her doctor should check her blood sugar regularly, and if she has issues, a lower-carb diet may be a good option. Many women also have success after they start using metformin. If she's not losing on 1300 calories (unless she's very short and assuming her intake is consistently accurate), she should talk to her doctor about it. Not a family physician, but a gynecologist or endocrinologist who has experience treating women with PCOS. Bloodwork and medication could be necessary.


Also, exercise is great! Building muscle mass slightly increases metabolism if she really does have a lower than normal BMR (maintaining existing muscle while losing is also very helpful - that was probably not happening while she dropped 80 on a VLC diet). Exercise can help with diabetes prevention and insulin resistance. My body is happiest when I get regular exercise, and I respond really well to resistance training - I look much less like a blob and have much more of a human woman shape. (We tend to carry a lot of weight in our midsections.)

DanerTee

thank you so much, this was very helpful!

kshama2001

The likely explanation for gaining on 1300 calories is that your friend is eating more than 1300 calories. Study after study shows people are terrible at estimating their food intake. How is she measuring hers?

DanerTee

kshama2001 wrote: »

The likely explanation for gaining on 1300 calories is that your friend is eating more than 1300 calories. Study after study shows people are terrible at estimating their food intake. How is she measuring hers?

No idea really. I know she weighs her food etc, but I don't know how well she sticks to it.

Batmansgirl07

I am by no means a doctor, but my own experience with PCOS has been that I wasn't eating enough! All of my doctors had me on a strict 1200 calories, but I tried upping it 1600 and the weight started to come off. I carb cycle at about 1900 calories now so just a thought. PCOS is fickle and each woman is different in how they respond!
I lost around 30lbs and dropped 7% BF with this method.

Bearbo27

I have PCOS and lose better with lower carb. I haven't been officially diagnosed with pre diabetes, but my sugar was high at the last appointment. I eat 1480 calories and watch my carbs and it works. I started logging my food on July 2nd and I've lost 26.7 lbs as of this morning.

itwillbefun

Batmansgirl07 wrote: »

I am by no means a doctor, but my own experience with PCOS has been that I wasn't eating enough! All of my doctors had me on a strict 1200 calories, but I tried upping it 1600 and the weight started to come off. I carb cycle at about 1900 calories now so just a thought. PCOS is fickle and each woman is different in how they respond!
I lost around 30lbs and dropped 7% BF with this method.

My wife has PCOS and we've been working on our health for 8 months and she wasn't seeing results. She was at about 12-1400 calories and I had a suspicion she wasn't eating enough. Just bumped her up to 1800 calories about a week ago, so fingers crossed! It's nice to hear it's working for others, I'll be sure to show her this.

PinkSuede

Lots of great advice... you may also want to check with her and see if she has had her thyroid checked recently on top of having her blood sugars evaluated since this is also common with thyroid conditions. I have PCOS and have no issues losing weight on a calorie restricted diet as long as I stick to it. My biggest suspicion is she is not sticking to it. Either having too many cheat days/meals or not counting calories properly. If that's not it there's gotta be a medical explanation like thyroid, etc. Another thing you might ask is what kinds of foods shes eating. That makes a huge difference for me. Despite counting calories I find that if those calories are coming from frozen, processed, sugar and sodium laden foods my weightloss slows down dramatically. I've also found for me artificial sweeteners slow my weightloss since they cause me to retain water badly and stimulate my appetite making me crave more food and more artificial sweetener. So cutting artificial sweeteners out can help as well. On the flip side when I cut out added sugar, remove all processed foods and focus on real whole foods prepared from scratch I see a huge increase in my weightloss.