PCOS and 5:2 or IF

Walks32

Hi all
I was diagnosed with PCOS in 2002 after coming off the pill, bleeding heavily for weeks at a time and gaining 28lbs in 3 months. Back then not much was known about it, I tried Metformin but didn't agree with me so ended up back on The Pill (Yasmin) over the years with exercise and low carving I lost the weight and have stayed on Yasmin although the docs are keen to take me off (they say due to increased risk of blood clots, I'm inclined to think because it's expensive).

Anyway I digress. I'd managed to control my weight but the past six months I've put on about 14-21lbs. I've been doing the 5:2 diet (eat 500kcals 2 days a week and TDEE the other 5) for 3 weeks which I've found really good as I'm only obsessing about calories for 2 days at a time though am conscious of messing with my blood sugar levels by fasting.

Does anyone with PCOS have experience of this diet (or intermittent fasting of any kind) and do you know of it is beneficial or detrimental to those with PCOS

Thanks so much in advance and wish you all we'll on your weight loss journeys with PCOS :-)

Lupercalia

My experience with IF is a bit mixed--I'm PCOS/insulin resistant, by the way.

First time I tried IF, I was still obese and I think my fasting window was too long or something. I was trying to eat sort of like I do now, from about noon until 6pm, I think. Not sure what the problem was on my end, specifically--perhaps it was just my obesity at that point. But it really messed with my hormones/blood sugar in a very obvious way, so I stopped after about a month.

I tried a different form of IF some months later, after I'd lost some pounds. That time I would drink bulletproof coffee (coffee with MCT oil and butter) each morning, train fasted, and then eat from about 1pm until 7pm. Rinse and repeat. That seemed to work out ok in terms of my hormones/blood sugar, but I felt sluggish at the gym with all the fat from the BP Coffee, so it wasn't going to be the solution.

Now I'm just drinking a couple big cups of black coffee with cinnamon and sometimes a spoonful of unsweetened cocoa. Works much better for me. I eat when I come home from the gym around 1, sometimes 2pm up until 7 or 8pm that evening. Seems ok so far...

I think what has been most helpful to my own case of PCOS/IR is lifting weights and changing my diet, and of course losing weight. My symptoms have improved GREATLY from before, and I'm hoping they will continue to head in that direction as I get closer to my healthy weight. As for IF, I think of it as just something I do so I can workout without having to wait for my breakfast to digest. That's what it is for me, anyway. It doesn't seem to help or really hinder my weight loss, which is very slow at this point anyway.

I'm not currently on any sort of medications (including BC pills) for PCOS/IR. Just trying to control everything via diet/exercise.

WifeofPJ

Hi all
I was diagnosed with PCOS in 2002 after coming off the pill, bleeding heavily for weeks at a time and gaining 28lbs in 3 months. Back then not much was known about it, I tried Metformin but didn't agree with me so ended up back on The Pill (Yasmin) over the years with exercise and low carving I lost the weight and have stayed on Yasmin although the docs are keen to take me off (they say due to increased risk of blood clots, I'm inclined to think because it's expensive).

Anyway I digress. I'd managed to control my weight but the past six months I've put on about 14-21lbs. I've been doing the 5:2 diet (eat 500kcals 2 days a week and TDEE the other 5) for 3 weeks which I've found really good as I'm only obsessing about calories for 2 days at a time though am conscious of messing with my blood sugar levels by fasting.

Does anyone with PCOS have experience of this diet (or intermittent fasting of any kind) and do you know of it is beneficial or detrimental to those with PCOS

Thanks so much in advance and wish you all we'll on your weight loss journeys with PCOS :-)

I don't know anything about IF, I eat as clean as I can which means limited refined simple carbs, and I do not eat any gluten. I have lost 38 lbs in 90 something days eating like this, and I eat a good amount I have 1400-1800 calories a day but I am very active. When I went of birth control I gained weight pretty quickly, 35 lbs in 5 months. I noticed you said your DR wants to take you off of Yasmin and I believe that there has been some side affects from Yasmin and that actually there is a class action law suit out there for the Yasmin. I would think that is why your DR wants you to go off of it.

Good luck I hope you find something that works for you.

Walks32

Thanks for all your replies, much appreciated, I have found success in losing weight before by restricting carbs/Atkins but I don't really want to have to restrict a particular food group unless I really have to, though the more I'm reading up on PCOS and diets I guess the low car/low sugar/low GI seems to be the one that works best. I guess I was just hoping 5:2 would work as I'm only obsessing about calories 2 days of the week instead of 7 LOL

Yep the doc said there was an increased risk of bloody clots with Yasmin but out of all the BC I've tried it's the only one I feel ok on and controls my symptoms so I really don't want to come of it and/or come of BC at all as I couldn't bear to put all that weight on again for no reason other than my stupid insides