Pcos/Carbs/Low GI????

Kelly_1981

Hi all,

Sorry if this has been asked before, I ma looking for some guidance. I am 100% gutted I have been eating 1200 calories a day and I have been doing JM 30ds for the past 10 days (I havent done it today because I have been sick) but I have been working out eating right etc, I got on the scales today and I have put on the weight that I lost last week!!! I am so mad it seems the more that I do the less I lose.

I have PCOS, I have done pretty much every diet that is on the market from southbeach to WW and slimming world. They all seem like they work short term and then I fail, I dont want to do that this time in fact I refuse to let that happen this time.

I know that PCOS is linked close to insulin and blood sugar, I have a really bad sweet tooth and crave sugar of a night time, I also switched to sweetner instead of sugar (but after a lot of reading I am thinking of ditching that and start the sugar again because of the chemicals) Anyway my question is do you think that I should try low carb? Or Low GI? I tried low carb before and just could not deal with it I get sick of eggs I run out of food ideas, I got terrible headaches etc (I have since stopped drinking the amount of caffine that I was drinking) so help me whats the best food plan to follow I want to shift this weight and keep it off!

Help me succeed, I am ready and willing to learn!

Kelly x

rockerbabyy

i supposedly have pcos - every dr ive talked to says i have the symptoms but ive had no tests or anything done. (other than an ultrasound on my ovaries once, which showed no cysts)
but they all suggested low-ish carb for me. i do try to stick to 114-150 a day, i dont know that its actually "low" carb, but its lower for me

Kelly_1981

Thanks:-) Thats a good point if I should do "low carb" how many carbs do I shoot for?

carolann_22

The RE told me a low carb diet

carolann_22

The RE told me a low carb diet for PCOS. I'm doing it, and something is finally working. I stick to under 30g of carbs a day, and only from green veggies and nuts.

dawnemjh

There is actually a PCOS group here, if you search under groups you will find it and you may find that helpful.

I have "atypical" PCOS, and I dont have insulin resistance, and I have tried low carb diets before and have gained weight :noway:

Try looking into the pcos group. I also just purchased the book The Metabolism Miracle and I have heard great things about it with reference to PCOS...

Good Luck!!

kenyonsmom10

Thanks for this post, I actually have PCOS as well. I lost a TON of weight but I have been stuck now at 167 for a few months.... maybe Ill cut down on carbs and see if that changes things for me!!! Good luck hun! I would give advice, but it seems like what you are doing is the same as me! I run a mile a day, do 30 day shred, and I do ripped in 30. I work out 6 days a week and watch what I eat!

MaryDreamer

I have PCOS as well. I take these supplements daily to curb my sweet tooth: Chromemate, L-Glutamine and B-Complex. I take all 3 together, the combo really works. Good luck!

BodyRockerVT

I have very mild PCOS but I find if I just lay off the sugar itself it makes a huge difference Not only in weight loss but in my energy level and my pain as well. Things like candy/ice cream/baked goods all make it worse but fruit doesn't seem to cause too much trouble.

TXPiper

Not to beat a dead horse, lol...but yes on lower carb. Like so many, I also have PCOS. But I can't totally give up most carbs. Not gonna happen! But I do try to eater lower-carb, and make sure that I get protein in with the carbs. I've been able to follow many of the principles of the "Insulin Resistance Diet" plan relatively well. You can google it for details, but the basic gist is that carbs and protein are eaten in a ratio of 15 g carb : 7 g protein. No more than 30 g carbs are eaten every two hours (which of course would necessitate having 14 g protein with it). For breakfast you might have eggs and toast, or milk or yogurt with cereal. No foods are banned, and it is very similar to a diet that doctors recommend for diabetics. I also track calories and try to stay around 1300-1450 per day. I've found it has helped me quite a bit with my sweet tooth cravings.

MSepp

Hi all,

Sorry if this has been asked before, I ma looking for some guidance. I am 100% gutted I have been eating 1200 calories a day and I have been doing JM 30ds for the past 10 days (I havent done it today because I have been sick) but I have been working out eating right etc, I got on the scales today and I have put on the weight that I lost last week!!! I am so mad it seems the more that I do the less I lose.

I have PCOS, I have done pretty much every diet that is on the market from southbeach to WW and slimming world. They all seem like they work short term and then I fail, I dont want to do that this time in fact I refuse to let that happen this time.

I know that PCOS is linked close to insulin and blood sugar, I have a really bad sweet tooth and crave sugar of a night time, I also switched to sweetner instead of sugar (but after a lot of reading I am thinking of ditching that and start the sugar again because of the chemicals) Anyway my question is do you think that I should try low carb? Or Low GI? I tried low carb before and just could not deal with it I get sick of eggs I run out of food ideas, I got terrible headaches etc (I have since stopped drinking the amount of caffine that I was drinking) so help me whats the best food plan to follow I want to shift this weight and keep it off!

Help me succeed, I am ready and willing to learn!

Kelly x

Low carb diets are usually not very successful.

1.) Your body's preferred source of fuel is carbohydrates...like gas for a car. Your body does not break down fat/protein easily or use it efficiently.
2.) When you do not have enough carbohydrates in your diet and you do have to break down fats and protein for energy, your body produces something called ketones. Long story short, they make you feel awful.
3.) your body will use muscle before subcutaneous fat for energy. Not good for your heart or for building lean body mass.
4.) When you do give up on the low carb diet and go back to eating normally, any weight you lost while on the low carb diet will come right back.

Low glycemic index foods seem like a good way to go. the less refined something is, the lower the glycemic response will be (multigrain bread vs white bread, brown rice vs white rice, etc). Also, adding protein to a carb (cheese and crackers, cottage cheese and apples, apple and peanut butter, etc) will slow down your body's glycemic response. Hope this helped.

newCourtney

The question about low carb is really a question of HOW low carb you go. Yes, your body needs carbs to function. However, that doesn't mean it needs 300 carbs a day to function. Most people who do low carb diets tend to try to stay around 30. This is not really sustainable, since people want carbs (especially women during PMS) and people need carbs. I have found that I don't lose weight unless I give some attention to controlling the level of carbs I'm ingesting. I stick to a range between 100-120 (you can tailor you MFP diary to a lower amount also). I have found that to be successful so far. I have done south beach and sugar busters, but I end up getting frustrated with the same foods all the time and being limited to eating that low carb and trying to not feel like I am torturing myself.
The low GI guideline is good as a general guideline, but there are some problems with it as well. Mostly, there is not enough reliability from one group's range to another to be sure you have the right numbers.

Anyway, I have found that with my PCOS I am sensitive to sugar and carbs. I have to keep an eye on them, but I'm not as extreme as some people are. Above all, you have to remember that what works for one doesn't work for all. If you do something for a few WEEKS and it doesn't work, you may consider tweaking something. BUT one week of bad results doesn't mean what you are doing isn't working. There are MANY other things that could cause one bad week (none of which you have control over). Hope that helps. :0)

jdleesta

Hey Kelly,

I have PCOS too. I tried every diet going, did the low GI thing for ages but never saw any real results. I always new that I had a problem with sugar - I have a mad sweet tooth & eating sugar sends me on a never ending sugar binge. The more I eat the more I want. There is no 'off switch' I never feel full when sugar is involved. Anyway, I came across a book called 'The Sweet Poison quit plan' by David Gillespie. Its all about how bad sugar is for us, completely addictive & how much sugar is hidden in everyday foods. I gave myself one last binge & stopped eating sugar the next day. The books walks you through how to get off it. Best decision ever. I've lost loads of weight, my confidence is growing everyday, my skin looks clear & healthy and for the first time my periods are regular. I havent eaten sugar in over a year and I'm never turning back. I've also met a couple of other people with PCOS who have had awesome results from going sugar free.

Giving up sugar sounds hard but once you have you lose the cravings for it and your appetite decreases dramatically! I now fill up quickly and dont feel the need to snack constantly.

Good luck, I hope you find something that works for you!

hmcminton

have you considered meeting with a nutritionist? They will be able to point you in the right direction and should be able to create a meal plan that you will be able to live with...

yeabby

I am good at maintaining weight when eating a clean low calorie diet. I lose weight when I cut out grains and dairy. Because of this I do a few Paleo Challenges a year to lose weight. I can't live Paleo full time because I love rice and potatoes. Currently I'm on day 14 of a 50 day challenge and have lost 5 pounds (admittedly the first 3ish pounds were water weight). Friend me if you'd like more information.

margypan

I'm doing low carb too. It's the only thing that's worked for me. I'm doing less than 20 net carbs a day, but you don't necessarily have to go that low, but I started Jan. 5th and I've already gone down 8 pounds. That's not too bad for 10 days! Anyway, if you really want to do low card, here's a great website with TONS of recipes - including deserts! http://www.genaw.com/lowcarb/ you can also check out reddit.com/r/keto for other great low carb recipes and support.

Jessb1985

I have PCOS and insulin resistance and struggle to lose weight. I tried taking tablets (Metformin) and conitinued to eat 150-300 grams of carbs per day and still felt horrible.

I then found a book called the Primal Blueprint from Mark Sissan and it's changed my life.
I now eat only fresh meat and vegetables and have cut out processed foods such a bread, pasta and rice and I feel great and have lost 23 pounds (11 kilos). There is a carbohydrate curve for weight loss but the emphasis is that it's a lifestyle change not a diet.

He also has a website and I found this link regarding PCOS
http://www.marksdailyapple.com/primal-nutrition-and-fertility/#axzz1jUcDAuEy

I hope you go well with your weight loss journey

AdAstra47

Low carb diets are usually not very successful.

1.) Your body's preferred source of fuel is carbohydrates...like gas for a car. Your body does not break down fat/protein easily or use it efficiently.
2.) When you do not have enough carbohydrates in your diet and you do have to break down fats and protein for energy, your body produces something called ketones. Long story short, they make you feel awful.
3.) your body will use muscle before subcutaneous fat for energy. Not good for your heart or for building lean body mass.
4.) When you do give up on the low carb diet and go back to eating normally, any weight you lost while on the low carb diet will come right back.

This is not precisely accurate.
Low carb diets done incorrectly, without a doctor's guidance, are often unsuccessful.

1. Yes, your body would prefer to use carbs for fuel, because carbs break down very quickly & easily. But carbs are also stored as fat if you don't use them all very quickly after eating them. And if you eat too many carbs in one sitting, they can spike the insulin of someone who has PCOS / insulin resistance. But in the absence of carbs, your body has no problem switching over to burning fat & protein. That's the whole point of storing fat: so it can be used when you need it. If you deny your body the carbs, it is forced to burn fat. Which is what you want, right?
2. Yes, ketones are a byproduct when your body is using fat & protein for energy. But they're harmless. Your body may go through a period of adjustment when you begin a low-carb diet, but any discomfort you experience (and some people do, some don't) is not due to ketones.
3. The chemical reaction that allows you to burn fatty acids for energy also requires amino acids (protein). The ratio is roughly 3 parts fat to one part protein. So if you're not burning carbs, you are burning a combination of fat & protein. This is one aspect of the low-carb diet that many people get wrong: you MUST eat plenty of protein! If you eat protein, your body will burn the protein you eat along with your stored fat. But if you don't eat enough protein, and your body is trying to sustain the fat-burning reaction, it will harvest those amino acids from your muscles and you will lose muscle mass. But all you have to do is make sure to eat enough protein, and you will lose fat without losing any muscle.
4. Again, many people do low-carb incorrectly, without enough protein, so they lose muscle as well as fat. So, yes, when they stop, they have less muscle mass than when they started. Muscle burns more calories than other body tissues, so if they have less muscle mass, they need fewer calories. So when they go back to their "normal" diet, it now contains too many calories so they balloon back up again. The first secret is to eat plenty of protein, so that you lose fat and not muscle. And the second secret is to realize that this is a lifestyle change. If you are insulin sensitive, you will probably need to eat a lower-carb diet for the rest of your life. If you go back to your unhealthy habits, you'll gain the weight back.

My doctor put me on a low-carb (25-30 carbs per day, 6 meals per day) diet 10 months ago. He also told me to eat my body weight in protein per day. Started out weighing over 300 lb, so I ate 300g protein per day. Yes, it was hard. I buy flavored protein powders in bulk. But it works. This is the only time in my life that a diet has succeeded for me. I have now lost almost 60 lb, brought my cholesterol down from over 200 to squarely in the middle of the healthy range, lowered my blood pressure from "dangerous" to "healthy", and cured my mood swings & depression. And TOM has come regularly and on time ever since I started this.

Everyone's metabolism is different, everyone's body is different, so low-carb may not work for everyone. But I know it is the ONLY thing that has worked for me. So please don't believe the people who say it's just a fad or that it doesn't work.

I'm constantly learning new things, tricks to create low-carb versions of foods I love. So feel free to send me a message or friend request. People on the various forums here have helped me a lot, so I'd be happy to pass it on. Good luck to you!

AdAstra47

I end up getting frustrated with the same foods all the time and being limited to eating that low carb and trying to not feel like I am torturing myself.

I have heard a lot of people say this, but I've found that it gets easier and easier as you go along. You just have to be willing to experiment & figure out ways to eat low-carb versions of all the foods you love. I had meatloaf (made with grated zucchini instead of bread crumbs) and mashed potatoes (really cauliflower, steamed and mashed with a little ricotta cheese, black pepper and garlic, but the taste and texture were just the same) for lunch yesterday. For breakfast I often have a muffin: Atkins has a brilliant muffin-in-a-minute recipe where you use flaxmeal instead of flour. I make pancakes & cookies using vanilla protein powder or almond flour. I often spend my Saturday afternoon baking and cooking the things that I will eat for the rest of the week, and trying out new recipes. Yes, it's a pain at first. I hate the fact that I can't just buy a Twinkie off the shelf. If I want a Twinkie, I have to go home & spend an hour making some. But the alternative is going back to being fat & sick, so... no contest! My point is: there's certainly no need to eat the same foods all the time. If you look hard enough & do enough Google searching, there's a way to make almost *anything* low-carb.

Above all, you have to remember that what works for one doesn't work for all. If you do something for a few WEEKS and it doesn't work, you may consider tweaking something. BUT one week of bad results doesn't mean what you are doing isn't working. There are MANY other things that could cause one bad week (none of which you have control over). Hope that helps. :0)

This is very good advice, especially for women. If energy is the fire, and fat & protein are the wood & oxygen that fuel the fire, then hormones are the spark that sets it off. Various hormones tell your body when to burn energy and when to store it. And hormones are influenced by all sorts of things: TOM, medications, colds/illness, how much sleep you're getting, how much stress you're under. So I try to give any diet or lifestyle change at least a month (one hormonal cycle, for most women) to make sure the results I see aren't due to some other variable.

I know that for me, personally, I eat and exercise very consistently. Yet I usually have two weeks where I don't lose anything, followed by two weeks where I lose 3-5 lb. It averages out to about 1-1.5 lb per week if you look at the entire month, so I figure that's pretty good. I would only start to worry if there were two months in a row where I lost less.

Grokette

Hi all,

Sorry if this has been asked before, I ma looking for some guidance. I am 100% gutted I have been eating 1200 calories a day and I have been doing JM 30ds for the past 10 days (I havent done it today because I have been sick) but I have been working out eating right etc, I got on the scales today and I have put on the weight that I lost last week!!! I am so mad it seems the more that I do the less I lose.

I have PCOS, I have done pretty much every diet that is on the market from southbeach to WW and slimming world. They all seem like they work short term and then I fail, I dont want to do that this time in fact I refuse to let that happen this time.

I know that PCOS is linked close to insulin and blood sugar, I have a really bad sweet tooth and crave sugar of a night time, I also switched to sweetner instead of sugar (but after a lot of reading I am thinking of ditching that and start the sugar again because of the chemicals) Anyway my question is do you think that I should try low carb? Or Low GI? I tried low carb before and just could not deal with it I get sick of eggs I run out of food ideas, I got terrible headaches etc (I have since stopped drinking the amount of caffine that I was drinking) so help me whats the best food plan to follow I want to shift this weight and keep it off!

Help me succeed, I am ready and willing to learn!

Kelly x

Low carb diets are usually not very successful.

1.) Your body's preferred source of fuel is carbohydrates...like gas for a car. Your body does not break down fat/protein easily or use it efficiently.
2.) When you do not have enough carbohydrates in your diet and you do have to break down fats and protein for energy, your body produces something called ketones. Long story short, they make you feel awful.
3.) your body will use muscle before subcutaneous fat for energy. Not good for your heart or for building lean body mass.
4.) When you do give up on the low carb diet and go back to eating normally, any weight you lost while on the low carb diet will come right back.

Low glycemic index foods seem like a good way to go. the less refined something is, the lower the glycemic response will be (multigrain bread vs white bread, brown rice vs white rice, etc). Also, adding protein to a carb (cheese and crackers, cottage cheese and apples, apple and peanut butter, etc) will slow down your body's glycemic response. Hope this helped.

All of this stated above is myths that have been disproven time and time again.

Jazzyjules71

To comment on other things not even related to carbs......

If you're faithfully doing JM you may be adding muscle weight while losing fat, so you may gain weight but actually be losing inches. Sometimes the scale isn't the best measurement of how you're doing, losing inches is.

Also, are you drinking plenty of water? if you're running dehydrated, your body will retain water and you might gain. A trainer told me a 1/2 ounce of water per pound of body weight is what you require a day in water. so hydrate up if you're not, and that might make a difference.

I subscibe to the lower carb/high protein thought because I am insulin resistant. I feel TONS better eating lower carbs (when I say lower I mean about 100 gm a day) and higher protein, it evens out my insulin spikes and dips.