My weight loss story: dealing w/ PCOS and IR

laurenmichellefrank85

Hi! I've never posted before, but I've learned a lot through my weight loss journey and I thought maybe I might be able to share something that helps someone like me!

I was pretty much always on the heavy side, but freshman year of college I noticed I started gaining a lot of weight. I ate a fair amount of fast food, but I also walked a lot and didn't really overeat. At the time I was struggling with severe depression so I would have a lot of days where I would go all day without eating then eat junk at 1am or simply not eat at all, but I would also have binge days where I would eat until I made myself sick. I thought it was pretty clear where my weight gain was coming from, I just didn't know how to fix it.

Once I got on antidepressants, I was finally in a place where I could start taking control of my diet. I decided to become vegetarian, and the pills were suppressing my appetite, so many days I was struggling to reah 1,000 calories, but I monitored my calories closely and went to the gym a few times a week. But still my weight climbed. It was frustrating and made my self esteem plummet. I returned to my patterns of starvation and binging, but my overall calorie intake was still at a deficit. By the end of my sophomore year, I had hit about 210 lbs.

Around that time, I asked my gynecologist to check my testosterone levels because of an unrelated problem I thought might be caused by low testosterone. It turned out my testosterone levels were actually unusually high. My Dr. Thought I might have something called Poly Cystic Ovarian Syndrome so she took an ultrasound of my uterus and said she didn't see anything. she referred me to an endocrinologist for a second opinion. After a lot of testing, the endocrinologist said I did in fact have PCOS, but we caught it early, and I also had something called IR, which is often what causes people to develop PCOS.

Basically my body can't process sugars well, so my vegetarian diet, which was full of bread and rice, was wreaking havoc on my body and causing my insulin levels to spike, my hormones to go crazy, and my weight to shoot up. I went on a paleo diet and was put on birth control to manage my hormones.

Within the first month I dropped nearly 20 lbs little exercise and eating a ton of food (I was almost tired of eating by the end of the day) it was difficult to change my eating habits, but when I did I felt so much better. I had more energy, my skin cleared up, the migraines that I had been getting a few times a month almost completely went away!

I was so relieved! I finally had answers to why my weight had been so bad when, for the most part, I was doing what I should have been doing. I didn't feel like so much of a failure.

Sorry, I know this is really long, but I just really wanted to share my story because I've told this to several people who realized they had some of the same problems (weight gain, migraines) and tried curing out grains, and they said they dropped a lot of weight and didn't have as many migraines. I'm not trying to force people to go paleo, (I kind of do a modified version anyway) but if you've been doing everything you are supposed to and you still can't loose weight, it might be a good idea to try it and see if it works for you.

Some stats:
Age: 21; height: 5'8"; SW210 CW175 GW160
It's been about 6 months since I started loosing weight!

If anyone has a similar story I'd love to hear from you!!

kimkowalskikiernan

Wow! Great job! I too have PCOS. What does IR stand for? Thanks for sharing your story.

schwest76

I have a similar story. I kept gaining weight and couldn't figure out why I gained 20 pounds in a few months or why I was having serious digestive problems. My PCP finally diagnosed me with PCOS and put me on metformin. This happened in 2010. My endocrinologist said insulin resistance is because I have PCOS so he continued the metformin. It has helped tremendously! I've since learned my stomach issues were because of all the carbs I was eating. I also recently learned that I have a sluggish thyroid so I'm medication for that too. I hate being on medication but I'm so glad to know it helps my body function properly. I haven't seen serious weight loss since I've started the medications but it has definitely kept me from gaining weight. I just adopted a lower carb diet this year. I try to limit my carbs to a meal a day and the rest of my meals and snacks are protein, vegetables and fruit; I also watch my calories and excercise 4-5 days a week and all that helped me lose about 45 pounds (maybe more, I haven't weighed myself in awhile) since January. I had a bad back injury so I couldn't exercise for three-four months and, even watching carbs and calorie counting, my weight loss stalled. I also tried vegetarian for a few months but even the "low carb" options still had too many carbs for me.Super frustrating sometimes but I'm glad to be back on track.

artemisabauer

kimkowalskikiernan wrote: »

Wow! Great job! I too have PCOS. What does IR stand for? Thanks for sharing your story.

Insulin Resistance. Basically your body doesn't process sugars well, so carbs are the devil.

Kally2202

I was diagnosed with PCOS a couple of months ago after having ridiculously high testosterone levels. My doctor gave me metformin to start taking but didn't give me any advice on what to cut out of my diet or what to have more of. Do you have any suggestions ?

laurenmichellefrank85

Kally2202 wrote: »

I was diagnosed with PCOS a couple of months ago after having ridiculously high testosterone levels. My doctor gave me metformin to start taking but didn't give me any advice on what to cut out of my diet or what to have more of. Do you have any suggestions ?

My endocrinologist recommended Paleo (there are tons of websites and books about it) but I found parts of it difficult to stick to. Basically what works for me is to cut out grains as much as you can (if possible completely) so that means no bread, pasta, rice, grains like quinoa, and then limit starchy foods (corn, potatoes) and sugars-and yeah, that means fruit too- . Try to keep your diet mainly protein, leafy greens, and health fats like nuts and avacados. The ratio I tend to try for is 20% carbs 25% protein 55% healthy fats. (It seems like a lot of fat but I was having a hard time reaching higher protein levels, and the fats give you plenty of energy for the day) Play around with ratios to see what works best for you, but keep your carbs the lowest percentage. most websites suggest you keep carbs below 100 grams/day. Hope this helps!

Kally2202

Thank you so much! It definitely helps!