Losing Weight & PCOS

The only way I can curb my cravings (I have pcos too) is to lower the carbs and refined sugars that I have. If you search the forums for pcos, there is loads of great advice. Good luck

what type of foods and recipes if u have any would u suggest

PCOS is definitely the reason why it's so hard for me to lose the pounds. 3 weeks and i only lost 1lb after all the healthy diet and exercise I did. But hey, with all these success stories...who wants to give up now?

also have PCOS, have known it for many years, if you quit eating the junk, you will quit craving the junk, plain and simple

The docs put me on Metformin which helped me lose my first 25 lbs but I've been stuck here ever since with 75 left to go. I too crave the sugars/ pasta/bread all the time but I fight back with protein shakes. I have not liked any of the alt methods for pasta like using squash or even using spinach pastas- they just are nasty lol. So, when I do opt for a spaghetti now I don't do bread with it, I pair a salad a really big one to eat first so I don't overdo the pasta part. It's working as I am not gaining weight but I still can't seem to budge but a couple of lbs a month vs. someone else without PCOS.

I was diagnosed with PCOS about ten years ago when my husband and I were trying to conceive. I weighed 260ish. Doctor told me to lose 60lbs. He didn't tell me how hard it was going to be.

I took as much as 2500mg of Metformin. I lost about fifteen pounds, but the side effects of nausea and irritable stomach made me miserable. And it did nothing to regulate my system or help me get pregnant. I didn't have high blood sugar, so I don't know if I was insulin resistant or not. He just looked at my weight and irregular periods and made a snap judgement.

We moved. I started seeing a new doctor. I took Metformin AND clomid, and still didn't conceive or have regularly occurring periods. After quitting all the meds, I was up over 280. I joined WW and the first 20 came off easily, until we started traveling to do an international adoption. I didn't keep up with tracking food while we travelled overseas three times in two months. But the weight didn't come back, so I was sitting at 260s again.

I didn't make any real strides in losing weight until January of 2012, when I decided to join MFP and count calories and start exercising. I got to my lowest weight in those ten years, 234. I worked up to running a 5K in May of 2012. Had a period the next week - first in over a year. And got pregnant soon after. [see profile pic]

After the baby (born in February) I am down to 231, a new low for me. I take the minipill, that someone else recommended, because we're not trying to get pregnant any time soon.

So, since using MFP, I lost thirty pounds between January and May of 2012. Not really fast compared to some folks, and I had a lot of plateaus in there. After the pregnancy, I weighed 279 coming home from the hospital. A LOT of that was water weight. I had some complications during delivery and had to receive a lot of fluids to keep my blood pressure up. But in six months, I have lost 48 lbs.

All that to say - you have to be patient. Your weight may fluctuate. But don't take PCOS as an excuse for not sticking to a program. My husband and I do Paleo "Lite". We eat clean 85% of the time. And that has made the biggest difference in changing eating habits and curing cravings. I can put away some pasta and sweets. But just this weekend, we had a birthday party for our daughters, and after eating birthday cake and pizza, i was all - "Where the salad at?!" Eating clean feels good. I never thought I would be one of those eaters. But it is so much better. I sleep better. I used to have aches in my knees and hips after sitting a long time. But not anymore. Getting grains and gluten out of your diet will really help.

You CAN change the way you eat. You DON'T have to obey your cravings. And even a small step toward your goal will eventually get you there.

I was officially diagnosed with PCOS a few months ago. I've always assumed I had it but never was diagnosed. I have lost 147 lbs in 13 months so it really hasn't seemed to affect me. My doctor did tell me that I could possible get rid of it if I kept losing weight. I guess time will tell. My sister also has it and it is a lot harder for her to lose weight than it has been for me. With hard work and dedication, I have no doubt you will accomplish your weight loss goals. Remember, it's not a race!!

Thanks for sharing your story
Im not at all, using Pcos as an excuse, but I would love to see some results from my changes in lifestyle.
I will be at my goal at some point. Maybe not as fast as some other people, but i will get there. And anyway, exercising and eating healthy is about many other things than weight!

changing your eating and exercise habits does work whether you have pcos or not- pcos does not make your body defy the basic laws of physics and human survival-- so keep at it and it will work, and as you lose weight your hormones will start to balance better and you should have less pcos problems then

I don't have PCOS, but was on Metformin to try to get pregnant. It just gave me horrible diarrhea, so I'm off and much happier. I also lost 27 pounds (I think about 40 in all because I dropped an additional 10-15 before I started charting, so my doctor told me yesterday!)

If you're trying to lose weight, you are probably going to have to work out at least 4 to 5 times a week. Three times a week is considered maintenance (you stay where you are) and more than that usually is for fat-burning. Maybe I'm old school, but that's how it was explained to me by my personal trainer.

In my head it can't be maintenance if you're used to doing nothing
Runnings 3 times a week is 3 times more than I used to. When my form gets better, I'll run more. For now, I'm adding some weights on the days I don't run

Of course it's better than not exercising! I'm just talking about it in terms of weight loss, that if you're going 4-5 times a week you will see many more results than 3 times.