Will this work? I hope so! 80lbs to lose with PCOS

Hello everyone! I have been using the app and just figured out that there is a website. It is great. I am 33 and I have had PCOS that I think started when I was 18. It took 10 years of weight gain and other factors before a doc figured out what was wrong. Needless to say, during that 10 years of emotion I picked up some really bad food/ eating habits like not eating for days. Now, for a couple of years, I have worked really hard with a doctor to get healthier. I have built a tolerance to my medication, have made better nutrition choices (limited soda, etc.), finally eat 3 meals a day. I just met with a nutritionist for the first time last week and I am using the app to track the meal plan that she gave me. I am hoping that this works. I need to feel better because I do not feel like myself anymore at my heaviest weight of 205. This is regardless of the changes I made. My endo doc ran tests and it is showing low thyroid twice but they want to test again in 8 weeks before will proceed with anything. No matter what I know I need to treat my body right. My main motivation is that I want myself back and I want a baby in a couple of years. Neither will happen if I am not healthy. If you can relate in any way- feel free to add me. I could use the support! Good luck to everyone.

Replies

  • 1DayMarathonRnner
    1DayMarathonRnner Posts: 120 Member
    Hello! I am 28 and was diagnosed with PCOS when I was 18. I have lost 28 pounds in just about 2 and half months. For me (and for a lot of people I have spoken with) changing my eating habits to eating low carb, high protein has really helped in losing the weight. I start (in 2009) at my heaviest, 360lbs. I lost about 90 pounds and then gained 30 until I joined MFP. My goal was to lose 30 pounds by December, but I may have to change that. I sent you a friend request and maybe we can support each other.
  • jeniallen
    jeniallen Posts: 7
    Im 30 and have PCOS, i would love to be able to really do this and lose weight to make my dreams of starting a family become easier..

    Im new to this but have about 5 stone to lose and would love to make some friends who have similar experiences to me.

    Feel free to friend request me :)
  • locabutterflies
    locabutterflies Posts: 7 Member
    Hi! That really helps hearing that something worked for you. My nutritionist told me to start with 1500 calories a day and spread out carbs over 3 meals at 45-60grams each. No more than 175g per day and have a snack between lunch and dinner because I eat at that time around 6-7 hours apart. She said try to incorporate protein in every meal. Do you track carbs or just stay away from them? I tend to eat a lot of them before starting this because it helped with the nausea from the glucophage (metformin). I am trying to learn how to spread it out and reduce portions.
  • locabutterflies
    locabutterflies Posts: 7 Member
    Jeniallen I sent you a request. I am new too and praying this works!
  • I'm 18, and I was diagnosed with it last year. But I'm curious, I see a lot of people say that it makes you overweight and whatnot, or that being overweight makes it worse. But my sister and I both have it. She's 23 and probably about 100 lbs soaking wet. I'm about 110- 115. So I guess my question is, does the PCOS actually make you gain weight?
  • sun33082
    sun33082 Posts: 416 Member
    175g of carbs is a good place to start with PCOS. Like the rest of us with PCOS, you are probably a "carb addict". Start with the 175 but work to get it around 100g. That seems to be what most people do and it seems to work. You don't have to get rid of all carbs or do drastic low carb. Just stay away from the processed carbs and go for fruit and vegetables and a few low carb/high fiber options.
  • sun33082
    sun33082 Posts: 416 Member
    I'm 18, and I was diagnosed with it last year. But I'm curious, I see a lot of people say that it makes you overweight and whatnot, or that being overweight makes it worse. But my sister and I both have it. She's 23 and probably about 100 lbs soaking wet. I'm about 110- 115. So I guess my question is, does the PCOS actually make you gain weight?

    If you have insulin resistance along with the PCOS (most people do), then yes, it can make weight gain easy and weight loss hard because your body doesn't react to insulin the way it should.
  • james123567
    james123567 Posts: 15 Member
    My name is James, currently I'm 33, started using this regularly last year when I had the app on my tablet, but the company that makes the tablet uses an unheard of app system that doesn't support mfp. I found a comparable app for working out, but not that tracks anything to do with eating on their (Coby) apps program GetJar. I have a degree from the UMD, am a certified nursing assistant (CNA) in Maryland with what I'm told is an extensive knowledge of vitamins, natural supplements and of the human body. I've been learning about how to safely control my weight since I was heavy in high school, topping out at 255lbs my junior year. I'm now 15 yrs later and 49 lbs lighter, ready and willing to help anyone who needs it, just ask. This program, MFP, I've found very useful in creating and following an healthy diet. Good luck all, follow what you know, don't give into temptations (I was terrible at this when younger), be healthy and stay happy!
  • james123567
    james123567 Posts: 15 Member
    A lot of these posts seem to have to do with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS)? I'm not a Doctor, so anything I tell you about my theoretical means of treating the imbalance, please ask your Dr. and see what he/she thinks, or disregard it, no worries. Read my intro is a very short synapse of what I know, it is through that that I offer info. I'd ask my Dr. about a Peruvian herb/plant extract called MACA, which according to information I've read provides adequate substrates (building blocks) for a general set of human hormones that your body makes. Think about it, one reason your body may be out of balance is it lacks the substrates to make enough of the hormone because of whatever genetic or environmental factor. For depression/manic behavior can be caused by a serotonin imbalance, ask your doc about something called melatonin which your body uses to make serotonin through the tryptophan-melatonin-serotonin metabolic pathway. REMEMBER: DO NOT listen to any of this advice without asking your doctor first, they know you, your tests, etc., not me. Last thing I want is for an adverse reaction to occur and for you to hurt yourself or die. I've been overweight, BMI charts still consider me so at ~29.0 & 207.6 lbs/19.7% body fat.
  • TinaBaily
    TinaBaily Posts: 792 Member
    I'm 45 and have had PCOS all my adult life, although I wasn't diganosed until 14 years ago, after the birth of my 5th child. It was like a miracle to me, to finally realize that it wasn't all in my head!! At diagnosis I weighed about 230lbs (I'm 5' 3.5", with a large frame) and just taking Metformin allowed me to drop down to close to 200lbs without much effort. I have floated around in that range, dropping some serious weight once, but the death of a loved one sent me back into overeating mode once again. That was about 3 years ago.

    Now, my head is in the right place, and I've dropped down to 177lbs and counting. This is since April of this year! I highly recommend this site, especially if you are like me, and can tolerate entering what you eat honestly on the food diary here, and faithfully entering your exercise as well. If you aren't yet, weighing and measuring your food is the best way to calculate your calories. I've done it before, but it was still very eye-opening to me when I first started doing so on here. I had been eating much too much! It showed.

    The best advice I can give to you and anyone who is attempting to change their lifestyle to a healthier one in order to drop excess weight and become healthier is to make only ONE CHANGE at a time. It becomes overwhelming to try to do it all at once, and at least for me, is what leads to discontinuing the healthy program, and falling back into the old habits. I started out by adding more fruits and vegetables into my family's diet. I made more effort to get enough fiber in my diet (that is to prevent diverticulitis) and I have found that when I do, I don't feel hungry so often. That is a huge help. My most recent change was to make a serious effort to drink a minimum of 8 glasses of water a day. I don't count coffee, soda or tea, just water, so I'm getting plenty of liquids. Doing that has helped clear up the PCOS caused acne, and I only get menstruation-related acne now.

    Best of luck to you all. I know that sometimes having PCOS makes losing weight more difficult, and conceiving children more difficult, but it can be done.
  • locabutterflies
    locabutterflies Posts: 7 Member
    I HIGHLY recommend getting the book Living Well with PCOS by Jennie Brand-Miller and Kate Marsh....I just read it and it would have saved my life if I would have known about it when first diagnosed. It will explain everything going on and how to prevent where a lot of us are at right now.
    I'm 18, and I was diagnosed with it last year. But I'm curious, I see a lot of people say that it makes you overweight and whatnot, or that being overweight makes it worse. But my sister and I both have it. She's 23 and probably about 100 lbs soaking wet. I'm about 110- 115. So I guess my question is, does the PCOS actually make you gain weight?
  • 1DayMarathonRnner
    1DayMarathonRnner Posts: 120 Member
    Hi! That really helps hearing that something worked for you. My nutritionist told me to start with 1500 calories a day and spread out carbs over 3 meals at 45-60grams each. No more than 175g per day and have a snack between lunch and dinner because I eat at that time around 6-7 hours apart. She said try to incorporate protein in every meal. Do you track carbs or just stay away from them? I tend to eat a lot of them before starting this because it helped with the nausea from the glucophage (metformin). I am trying to learn how to spread it out and reduce portions.

    I attempt to stay away from any processed carb. I do eat veggies and fruit. I try to keep my carb count to under 100 and my protein above 100. I have not been put on any meds for my PCOS, yet, but I have heard a lot about metformin and the side effects of that.
  • 1DayMarathonRnner
    1DayMarathonRnner Posts: 120 Member
    There are groups on MFP for women with PCOS. If you are interested, please feel free to join them. It helps to have a group that understands what you are facing with PCOS.

    I am a member of "P.C.O.Sis" but there are a few other ones too.

    Just go to groups and do a search with PCOS, and they will pop up.
  • fit_librarian
    fit_librarian Posts: 242 Member
    I think Isa Moskowitz, a cookbook writer, has PCOS. She wrote a healthly cookbook, because of it. It's vegan though, called Appetite for Reduction.
  • locabutterflies
    locabutterflies Posts: 7 Member
    Thanks everyone for all of the feedback! I appreciate it. I am so excited I found this app and forum.
  • Hi Everyone! I haven't been a very active MFP member as I use another food tracking website. I was diagnosed with PCOS this week after suspecting that I had it for quite a while. I stumbled upon this thread while googleing losing weight with PCOS. I could use a few fellow PCOS friends that are trying to lose weight!! I am trying to 60 more lbs and could use some serious encouragement. lol. Feel free to add me if you want. :-)
  • pcosbeachbodycyster
    pcosbeachbodycyster Posts: 17 Member
    I have PCOS and currently have a group as well as blog for beachbody users with PCOS. I am blogging my journey with PCOS and my weight loss using Turbofire and shakeology. Please feel free to join if you are currently doing a program or have question or just a support group with fellow cysters.
    http://pcosbeachbodycyster.blogspot.com/

    https://www.facebook.com/groups/350587271685576/