I need some advice.

savannahs21

How do I finally stick to losing weight? It doesn't matter what diet I'm doing or if I'm calorie counting, the most I've stuck to a plan is 1-5 days before I just give up or stop caring. I think one of the problems is that I know i need to lose weight ( I have PCOS) but I'm kind of lazy plus most of time I have zero energy. It feels like I'm burnt out but I haven't done anything so I cant be burnt out. Soda, energy drinks, Vit. D and B12 have not helped with energy. Sorry i know this post is kind of everywhere but any advice is very much apricated.

Psychgrrl

A couple additional medical things that can affect energy levels: low iron and low Vitamin D. Your doctor can check those levels with a blood test.

How are you sleeping? Poor sleep can also affect energy levels. So can dehydration (caffeine can act as a diuretic). And sometimes we just sit for too long. Get up and go for a short walk.

Consistency is key. Everyone has setbacks, bad days, days they give up. What’s important is not beating yourself up as a failure and letting those days turn into weeks and months.

Just keep going.

spiriteagle99

One thing that made a difference for me was to not try to lose the weight really quickly by drastically changing the way I ate. The more extreme the diet, the briefer my willingness to follow it. Make changes that will work for you over the long term, not ones that are only temporary. Track what you eat normally for a week or two. Look at the log and see what you can change that will reduce your calories. Less or no soda, smaller portions, fewer meals out, etc.

As to exercise, you don't have to exercise to lose weight, though it is good for your health and overall well-being. Try setting a time to go for a short walk every day. Start with 15 minutes - maybe before dinner, or before work, or after dinner. This is a good time of year to be outside enjoying the changing seasons. Then either increase the duration or the pace, or add another activity that you do for 15 minutes. Make it part of your daily schedule; not something you do when you're in the mood, but something that you do every day because it is an important part of your day. For me, it's easy: I have a large dog who needs walks to be happy and healthy. If you don't have a dog, do you have a family member that would enjoy walking with you? I find it is a good time to talk with my husband as well. Think about activities you enjoy or that your family would enjoy doing outdoors. Do you bike, or hike, or canoe? Do you like to dance? Putting some music on and moving to the music can be fun and relaxing, plus it burns some calories. Exercise doesn't have to be exhausting to be beneficial.

savannahs21

@Psychgrrl My sleep is pretty bad but even when i get 8 house of sleep I still feel like crap. I think its because of my low Deep sleep. I've looked up how to get more deep sleep but none of it helped.

savannahs21

@spiriteagle99 The thing is, I have to do it when im in the mood to walk because there are times where its like i cant walk more then just going to the fridge or bathroom. Even watching TV can be difficult, like its hard for me to watch one thing, i have to change it 3 or 4 times. Hopefully that makes sense. Thank you for the reply, i will try to work on it becoming a part of my day.

Strudders67

I'd start with the food aspect. Don't cut anything out or make drastic changes as you almost certainly won't want to stick to it long term. Assuming you've gone through the MFP guided set-up, re-look at what you selected - don't aim for an aggressive weight loss as it's likely to be too much. Aim for half a pound a week, which will give you more calories to eat, and see how you get on.

You don't have to exercise to lose weight - you just need to eat less than you are burning.

Dieting doesn't have to make you miserable though. You don't say how much you want to lose, but small changes will build to results. One fewer potato than normal with your dinner, a smaller portion of rice or pasta, one biscuit instead of two, one slice of bread and more salad instead of a sandwich for lunch, a smaller potion of cereal for breakfast etc etc. I still eat the same foods as before, just less of them. It's taken a while but I've lost 19kg (which is about 42lb / almost 3 stone).

Ultimately, though, you'll only lose weight if you want to. I know nothing about PCOS, but would losing weight help in any way? If so, is that enough motivation? As you lose weight, you may find you have more energy too, which may enable you to start moving more.

TwistedSassette

I also have PCOS and I know exactly the low energy thing you're describing. For me, I tend to run low in iron so I take a supplement for that, as well as a Vitamin D supplement - both of these are very commonly low in women with PCOS, so it's worth getting your doctor to check your levels if you haven't already. It really makes the world of difference.
For a long time, I subscribed to the theory that my PCOS made it impossible to lose weight. More recently, I realised that I hadn't ever really given it a proper shot - I had tried the shakes, the pills, all the fads but I'd never really approached it from a long-term health perspective. At the end of the day, it really is all about calories in vs. calories out, it's just that PCOS makes it harder for us to estimate those calories out. It's not that calorie restriction doesn't work for us, it's just that we don't burn calories like the "average" person so it's a bit more work and trial & error to figure out what the right level of intake is.
I started changing the way I approached weight loss in August, and I'm down 3kg (~6lbs) now. Not a huge rate, but I have been taking baby steps to find what works for me. Since I decided that I needed a lifestyle change, I thought about what I want my daily life to look like. I knew that I wanted to include regular exercise in that, so my first step was to do some type of exercise on most days. I started taking my son for a walk in his pram, and he loved it - which motivated me to go on days that I didn't want to. You don't need to start with anything big - just do five minutes of something to start with, it's about building the habits and setting yourself up for success. If nothing else goes right in your day but you do your five minutes, you have some success and you can build your momentum. You might just walk around the block, or walk in place while the ads are on TV, or do some stretching or yoga. Find the things you enjoy, and give everything a go.
Soon, I had that habit built up and I knew I needed to start doing more. So my next step, with nutrition, was to just start tracking what I'm eating. MFP is a great tool for this. Get yourself a digital food scale if you don't have one already, as weighing is a much more accurate way to track than volume. Don't try to "diet". Don't restrict anything to start with. Just start tracking, and do this for a week or two. You'll soon notice some patterns, and you can start to think about what small changes you can start to make. For me, it's really about portion sizes. I eat relatively healthy things, plenty of vegetables etc. but I just eat meals that are far too big and since I'm used to that, I hadn't really realised it. I'm now at a point where I'm starting to consciously reduce the amounts I eat, and I am starting to see that reflected on the scale. Sometimes I still fall into old eating habits, but I am making progress.

Sorry, this is really long-winded. I just really wanted to make the point that you need to do this slowly. Your best bet is to think really long-term - what sorts of foods can you see yourself including in your diet in 10 years? I couldn't give up things like pizza or chocolate, not completely, so I know it's best if I just have a small amount of them when I feel like it. Otherwise I know I'll eventually cave in and eat the whole damn thing and that can snowball into giving up again. Think long-term. Think baby steps. Think about what small things you can do today, right now, that will make you feel like you can actually make these changes!

ALZ14

Earlier this spring I was super tired, no matter how much I slept. I was obese at 196 pounds, PCOS, lots of aches and pains and generally not happy when I had every reason in the world to be happy.

I decided to try to start getting some activity in and bought myself an Apple Watch for motivation. It was rough the first several weeks because I was so out of shape, but I made sure I got at least 30 minutes of walking in during the day at a pace fast enough for my watch to count it as exercise (and there were many days in the first few weeks I had to go on 2-3 walks each day to get the full 30 minutes). After a week I decided to start counting my calories to keep myself accountable and I’m now down 29.5 pounds and I have more energy, feel better and my aches and pains are nearly gone.

One of the things that works for me is to find ways to fit the foods I like into my calorie limit for the day. I will never stay focused on my goals if I never allow myself to eat pizza, a cookie or an ice cream cone, so I work them into my plan in measured and sensible portions. Going on long walks usually gives me an extra 200ish calories to play with and that helps a lot.

Most people don’t stick to diets because they think they have to eat super plain, super healthy foods like plain chicken breast and a kale salad with no dressing. That just isn’t the case!