PCOS and type 2 diabetes weight loss help needed

It's calories in/calories out. Set her up on here with a budget and get her started logging her food. With that much to lose she should have immediate success. Some people with PCOS are carb sensitive so she could cut carbs but to make it simple I'd just start with straight calorie cutting. She doesn't need a special diet.

I have PCOS and am a borderline Type 2 diabetic. I have lost my weight mainly by cutting my carbs to less than 10% of my total calories and aiming for 70% of my calories as healthy fats (saturated and monounsaturated). Tell her to look into a ketogenic diet.

She needs to find the right diet/carb levels for HER, and may need to do so with a dietician/nurse practitioner/medical professional of some sort. There is no magic answer because different diabetics have different specific challenges. What is the carb number for 30% of her diet? What is her daily calorie goal? One thing you want to avoid is shocking the system too much too fast. A super rapid drop in blood sugar can result in some very unpleasant side effects including fainting, fatigue, and severe nausea. So, I'd recommend starting by getting her on a lowER carb diet and seeing how that helps before going full blown keto or atkins.

First of all disreguard anything you read about calories in/calories out, it's not that simple for everybody. With insulin resistance issues (PCOS and diabetes) she needs to reduce her carbs a lot! She should probably see a dietician and if that dietician recommends "healthy whole grains" find another one. I got diagnosed with diabetes in 2004 and was told by several doctor's and dieticians to eat "healthy whole grains" and my A1C went up and up. I now eat a low carb diet (between 25g and 100g per day) and my blood glucose is under control. She needs to get her blood glucose under control and weight loss will probably follow shortly after.

While on a low carb diet she needs to make sure she is checking her BG often especially if she is on Glipizide or other BG lowering drugs.

15 year T2. Carb reduction is the answer. What does that really mean? It varies from person to person. There are boards here for pcos and diabetes. Here are some other good resources:

Learn to eat to your meter on bloodsugar101.com There is a lot of great info here.

TuDiabetes.com also has a lot of info and a very knowledgeable and supportive group of people on the forums. It is for all types of diabetes.

Participate in bigbluetest.org which is a diabetes/exercise awareness program going on 10/15-11/15. The sponsor will make donations to diabetes awareness groups if goals are met. Non-diabetics are encouraged to participate too.

Here's what sort of works for me. It requires a meter since I eat to my meter. You can get a pretty cheap one from Walmart and some other places called True Result. The big cost of meters is in the strips and you will use a lot when figuring out what your body needs. I have had this meter for a couple of years and have found it to be as accurate as the more expensive ones.

I tried eating super low carb at less than 25 grams per day.It kept me from being able to exercise to my fullest. I ate like this for 2 or 3 months and ate extra fat and salt but I never adapted. I know some people feel great. It is miserable to start with and honestly, if I wasn't desperate to reduce my blood glucose I would never have stuck it out that long. I now try to stick roughly around 100 which means some days are 60 and some 125. If you really look at what most people eat like this is still about 1/3 as many carbs. For me, my blood glucose is actually better with some carbs although not too many.

I eat lots of veggies, a pretty good amount of protein and fat and try to limit carbs. I am on amaryl and metformin. I am currently experimenting with different doses of each med trying to find the optimum control (this is with my endocrinologist's blessing).

I have to say that when I was given the diabetic diet it didn't help because it was too heavy in carbs. For me, it didn't work, it caused me to go from bg of 300+ to bg of around 290. I guess that is an improvement but not enough.

I try to exercise every day. I love to run but lately the fog has kept me from going out in the morning which is my preferred time to run. I try to walk a couple miles as a minimum exercise. I also like to heavy lift which really does great things to my bg but right now that isn't an option for me.

IF she is on metformin it shouldn't cause dangerous lows regardless of improvements. If she is on insulin or any drug that cranks up insulin production she needs to be careful. I always carry glucose tabs/liquid with me. I also test a lot since sometimes I'm not that hypo sensitive.

With insulin resistance weight loss can be a struggle yet any reduction may improve her bg. The goal is to stop the rot which happens when bg is too high. Even short term spikes may cause deterioration. Rot can cause you to go blind, need amputation be unable to digest food properly, kidney failure, heart attack, stroke and who knows what else.

Taking meds/insulin is not failure. I was diagnosed young, active and in normal weight. I have never been obese. I have ranged from active to very active throughout my adult life. I have some serious control problems despite being pretty good about what I eat (hey we all have weak moments). Her body may fail her but that is not her failure. Remember the goal is always to stop the rot by whatever means that it takes.

Everybody's given great advice for in the long run but for someone who has a significant amount of weight to lose and hasn't been dieting or particularly careful about eating up to this point if will be overwhelming. You can't expect someone to go from eating and doing whatever they want to low carb, high exercise, low calorie overnight without them feeling frustrated.

I still stand by start with logging food, calories in/calories out until she can see some loss. Then you can start tweaking low carb, lower calorie for more progress. I'm sure everyone here just dove in and started eating 1200 calories a day with less than 10 grams of carbs and was successful but it doesn't usually work for long before the dieter is grouchy and wanting to give up.

If she weren't diabetic, sure. But since she is, I'd suggest the other way around - lower carbs modestly and keep calories the same for now. Diabetics simply cannot metabolize high levels of carbohydrate properly, regardless of calorie intake.

And I don't think anyone here is advocating she eat 10 grams of carbs a day - that's insane. Not even I'd do that and I am extremely insulin resistant. Keep calories the same, lower the carbs, see how blood glucose levels are affected and go from there.

I'm assuming that since she is diabetic and aware of it that she has been eating somewhat correctly for that condition to stay in check to this point. Maybe not.

I'm not assuming that. A lot of 'newly minted' diabetics *don't* know how to eat properly for their condition. If she was, she wouldn't have asked this question in the first place.

pretty much what so many people are telling you - quick look at this might help.... definitely limit the carbs for both....
WHAT IS THE RECOMMENDED MEAL PLAN FOR PCOS?
Currently there is no scientific evidence to support one particular diet for PCOS. Evidence-based recommendations suggest that women with PCOS should focus on balance and moderation. Recommended lifestyle changes include:

Weight loss of 5-10% if overweight or obese in 3 months.
Decreased caloric intake if weight loss is desired.
Decreased intake of enriched carbohydrates.
Increased fiber intake including fruits, vegetables, and beans.
Decreased fat intake, particularly saturated fat.
Smaller, more frequent meals (every 3-4 hours) to help control blood glucose levels.
Balanced meals including carbohydrates, protein, and fat.
At least 150 minutes of moderate or vigorous activity per week for diabetes prevention.
KEY POINTS TO REMEMBER
Consume a wide variety of whole foods
Foods in their most natural form (fresh, frozen, or dried).
Fruits, vegetables, beans, legumes, whole grains, fish, lean meats, nuts, and seeds should be eaten daily.
Aim to eat 25-30 grams of fiber per day
Introduce fiber gradually to your diet to minimize gastrointestinal upset.
Choose vegetables such as broccoli, lettuce, celery, cabbage, cucumber, parsley, radishes, spinach, turnips, and watercress.
Choose legumes such as fresh cooked kidney beans, soy beans, lentils, black eyed peas, chickpeas, and lima beans.
Choose fruits such as strawberries, raspberries, grapefruit, apples, cherries, peaches, pears, and plums.
Eat them as snacks, salads, sandwich fillings, in smoothies, soups, and casseroles.
Limit sugars and enriched carbohydrates
Complex carbohydrates take longer than enriched carbohydrates to digest and absorb.
Choose whole grains instead of enriched grains (brown rice, whole wheat breads and pasta, oats, barley, etc.). Look for the word “whole” as the first ingredient on the Nutrition Facts Label.
Talk to a Registered Dietitian about the appropriate number of carbohydrate servings you need per day.
Limit salt intake (aim for less than 2400 milligrams of salt per day)
Use lemon juice, mustard, vinegar, pepper, herbs and spices instead of table salt to season foods.
Limit foods such as cured and smoked meats, salted nuts, canned and processed vegetables, meats, marinades and sauces.
Minimize intake of processed foods.
Choose unsaturated fats
Avoid saturated fats by choosing low fat or fat free dairy products and spreads, white meat and fish, and lean cuts of red meat.
Look for unsaturated oils such as olive, corn, or canola oils.
Use nuts rich in monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats such as almonds, walnuts, pecans, flax seeds, sunflower and pumpkin seeds.
Eat fish two to three times a week. Fish such as tuna, salmon, herring, sardines, and trout can improve heart health.
Bake, grill, broil, boil, steam and microwave foods instead of frying them.
Eat protein and and/or fat with every meal or snack
Protein has a stabilizing effect on the sugar released from carbohydrates into the blood.
Protein can be found in lean meats, fish, poultry, dairy products, beans, nuts and seeds.

Easy. Skip the carbs.

Anyways, OP you are a very sweet sister, and yes it can be overwhelming. It's such a cyclical condition and there are so many external and internal factors that play into PCOS.

For myself, the best tools for me have been

1. Remove all caloric drinks from my diet (excluding alcohol )
2. Portion control everything. I would limit my meals to 8-12oz of weight.
3. Scale and measuring cups are your best friend. Measuring and portioning your carbohydrates is especially essential
4. Water (doesnt help with the PCOS, but helps with the hunger and carbohydrate desire)
5. Be kind to yourself, and patient

This has served me well, in addition to the metformin, I was able to become pregnant something I thought I would never see in my lifetime.

Limit Carbs....

I've lost over 50 pounds recently and have PCOS. The good news is that only 30 pounds into my weight loss, I got back my period and I've had it ever since and its regular WITH ZERO MEDICATION/PILLS. This has never happened before!

If you have PCOS, it is harder to lose weight than others especially around you mid-section (it seems to be the last thing to go). But I will tell you what has worked for me:

I've been calorie counting. The weight loss has been consistent with calorie counting but when it starts to slow down, I jump to low-carbing to kick start it again for only 2 weeks and then switch back to calorie counting. The best calorie calculator to calculate your daily caloric needs is: http://www.fitwatch.com/qkcalc/weight-loss-calculator.php

Also, I intersperse working out. I don't work out every day but I do mild cardio a few days a week and do high-intensity or weightlifting a few days too per week.

To date: I've lost about 8-10 pounds per month. And its been pretty consistent except for a couple of plateaus. YOU CAN DO IT!