Welcome to the wonderful world of being different! Haha! I remember when I first found out I had PCOS and that my cholesterol was high. I was only 21! I cried the whole day over it. Now its been 4 years, roughly, later and I am finally ready to take control of my life and my condition.

What has helped me is that I have finally came to terms with the fact that I am different. I am going to have to be one of the people that will have to eat right and work out every day. Once I realized that, life has been somewhat better. I have had much more ease with motivating myself to work out and eat right.

Adding people on here is helps tons as well. It is nice to have friends that understand EXACTLY what I'm going through. I also check my wall now like it is facebook which has helped keep me accountable. So add me as a friend if you'd like.

Hope this helps!

Hey there,

I was diagnosed with PCOS and Impaired glucose absorbtion (which is slightly worse than insulin resistance). My husband was diagnosed with insulin resistance and these conditions are related to stress.

The more stressed out we become the bigger we will get! Soo not cool...

So after about 12 mths of this, and seeing dieticians and drs. The simplest advice I can give is low carb/high protein eating plan.

Low carb of about 15g carb per meal - so breakfast, morning tea, lunch, afternoon tea, dinner, supper.

It sounds a bit daunting but is super easy. All you do is eat as you normally would BUT only have the 15g of carbs per meal and have lots of protein for breakfast lunch and dinner.

one serve of carbs is one peice of toast, a small potato, piece of fruit, some vegetables.

for example, for breakfast I have, piece of multigrain toast with egg on top, and a coffee with just a splash of milk.

This particular weight loss process is very slow and can be disheartning when other people can lose weight at the drop of a hat, but there is light at the end of the tunnel. When the weight has come off you can eat as you did before, just be mindful of bad foods.

I hope this helps & has clarified some things for you.

Emma

Hi, I had just found out myself about a month ago that I ahve PCOS, I was put on Metformin, I am insulin resistant with high bloodpreasure, not high cholesterol but I do have very low Good Cholesterol. It is hard finding out that you have something wrong that causes things to be harder for you, like loosing weight and getting pregnant. In the month after I found out about PCOS I have lost 15 lbs on a Low Glycemic index diet I have about 150 carbs a day coming from Fruit, vegitables, and whole grains such as Quinoa, Farro, and whole Wheat Couscous, and on a very limited basis Whole wheat pasta and Brown Rice. I do not eat any bread at all, and I get lots of protien I strive to go over my protien allowance. I had started eating a diet like this about a 2 weeks prior to being diagnosed because of taking a class called jump start your metablism and learned that High Protien and adding more fats (the good fats) helps you loose weight. I have lost at least 20 lbs since then (I weigh in tomorrow). I do workout 6 days a week, 3 days I do 80 minutes cardio and 30 minutes strength training, and 3 days I do from 45 - 90 minutes of cardio. I also realize that I have to work that much harder to workout. I am 31 and have struggled with my weight and I am starting to find the knowledge of PCOS freeing because I no longer beat myself up for my weight and I know what I need to do now.

Good luck with everything!

To deal with insulin resistance, it is better to eat 5 small meals a day to keep your blood sugar steady rather than 2-3 large meals per day. I recommend checking out the American Diabetes Association's Website. They have tons of info about insulin resistance and meal plan ideas for dealing with it.

Regarding your cholesterol: This is very common in women with PCOS, unfortunately. Mine used to be high too. I would need more info about your levels though. Is your good cholesterol high or low? What about your bad cholesterol and trigylcerides? Usually when bad cholesterol and trigylcerides are high, and good cholesterol is low, this is due to diet. The thing that has helped me the most is being a pescatarian. I avoid all meat but fish, and only eat fish occasionally. I am also careful about how much dairy I eat. I try to substitute certain dairy items with vegan ones, so I drink coconut milk instead of real milk, Earth Balance vegan butter instead of real butter, for example.

My doctor also told me to eat enough fiber, as that can help cholesterol. So I eat only whole grains and lots of fruits and veggies. After doing this for a few years, my cholesterol dropped significantly and I was told it is now in a very healthy range. Let me know if you have other questions!