How to get better results?

jryan83

Ok. So I've been diagnosed with PCOS for over a year now and hypothyroidism for 2 yrs.
I'm taking hormone replacement to stimulate my ovulations and medication to boost my thyroid.

I've made changes to my eating and according to my best efforts I can only loose about 1lb a week instead of the 2lbs I want to.
I eat about 1200-1300 calories on days I'm not working and about 1300-1500 on days I work.

I don't know if I'm not creating a big enough calorie deficit or if I need do something else...but I want better results without having to cut my calories down or exercise much more.

Any suggestions?

xASHYxSMASHYx

You might not be eating enough calories. 1200 is the bare minimum, but try calculating your BMR under the tools section of MFP and eat that amount of calories for a week and see what your results are like. Also how are your carb numbers? Us women with PCOS really need to watch those levels, if your carbs are too high that might be why your losses are slow. I try to keep my carbs between 100 grams a day to 150 maximum.
Hope that helps!

jryan83

I've tried eating more calories and results were the same. Plus when I used MFP to calculate BMR first few times I had my activity level as being higher than what it usually is. Right now my current stats are on target with what MFP suggests and I have lowered my carbs. It's very hard for me to do. Most of the time I'm between 120-160 for carbs.

Also, my doctor has told me that I don't have an insulin resistance problem yet (thus no Metformin or similar meds). She said my PCOS is mostly affecting me hormonally.

The clinic offered to set me up with a nutritionist, but I've been to one before (several years ago). All they did was give me a meal plan and tell me to exercise.... I mean..DUH! Waste of time!

I'm confused and frustrated. *sigh*

claire1977

I read that a 1lb loss for a woman with pcos is equivalent to a 3lb loss for someone without pcos so to achieve a 2-3lb loss with pcos you'd be losing 6-9lb without it, which is unrealistic....so I think a 1lb a week loss is super and if you do that every week the lb's will add up really quickly:)

xASHYxSMASHYx

well I'm sorry that things that you have tried haven't worked so well... I know how frustrating it is, because we have to work that much harder than anyone else to lose weight.
The only other thing I can suggest is changing the type of exercise you are doing. I know you said you don't want to exercise much more, but maybe if you are just doing cardio you could try swapping it for strength or resistance training type exercises. I read several books that stated these are the best types of exercises for PCOS. Since I have started doing them, my losses have increased. But it's important you also take your measurements, because sometimes you might not see a loss on the scale but you are building lean muscle.
Anyway just hang in there... I know it's tough, but I think it does get easier with time

simplementtraverser

I know this is a controversial subject and so Im not trying to offend anyone. But to share from my personal experience....i kinda had the same experience. Once I started seeing an endo he recommended 60-90 carbs a day (with no enriched/bleached flour), no artificial sweeteners, and 15-30 grams of sugar a day. When I stick to this I see a huge improvement.