Just started-positive thoughts, PCOS, calories and hunger; )

omg i just posted on this... i also have pcos but its outa control... add me i want to loose 50lbs

Hi everyone.

I started calorie counting yesterday. I would like to lose .5kg a week so my calories are set at around 1600.

I have PCOS and was diagnosed in march - since march ive lost 8kg without dieting at all, just through being on medication for PCOS.

I have now been sitting at this weight since august and I noticed the scales SLOWLY creeping up so I thought I better do something.

I am a 31 y.o female, no kids ( yet ), 163cm ( short!) and very solid build ( more thick than fat looking ).

My mission statement is: I would like to lose 10.5kg which is also what my endocrinologist would like to see.

With PCOS its really hard to lose weight so I hope my body responds to this program.

All I know right now is I am REALLY hungry, went to bed last night hungry and woke up hungry. I also have no energy and am super tired- is this normal for the start.

Its crazy how much your calories add up during the day, ive got to be careful to leave enough for dinner.

Fingers crossed this works for me. Any advice, comments or thoughts would be great!

J x

As far as hunger, what has helped me is this thought - every time my stomach says "feed me", that is my body converting stored fat cells into energy until I eat again. So long as you have more than essential body fat (10% to 13% for women), your body easily converts stored fat into the energy/calories it needs to function on when you have not eaten recently. Changing how I think about hunger really helped me deal with it, and push on a little longer to my next meal.

While I was losing fat, I was eating about 1700 cal/day, and yes, I got hungry 2 -3 times a day. In the scheme of things, I was a little hungry, but I was not starving to death. I can deal with that. I was not harming myself, I was burning fat. It's what the body does, and why it stores fat - energy for when we need it.

Keeping hydrated with water helps keep the stomach feeling full, and tea is also good. Coffee if you like, but watch the calories and sugar, as they can make a dent in your daily allowance and leave you wanting more.

You also may want to try to take a bit more time at the start, and set your goal as 0.25 kg/week. That is still a great goal (12 kg/year!), and leaves you with less hunger to deal with. After a month or two, once you have a better handle on dealing with hunger, step it up to 0.5 kg/week.

Also - if you have been slowly gaining weight, that means you have been eating a bit more than maintenance, and storing extra calories. For example, 100 cal/day extra over maintenance needs adds up to 10 lb (4+ kg) per year of stored calories (as fat). So, say your maintenance number (at your current weight) is 2100 cal/day, and you are used to eating 2200 cal/day (pushing your weight up slowly). Now you are going to 1600 cal/day, that jump is not just a 500 cal/day deficit, it is 600 cal/day under what you have been used to eating. Another reason why starting with a 0.25 kg/week goal might be a good idea for you.

I find on mornings after I eat dinner late, or dinner that is very rich/heavy, I wake up hungry (makes no sense to me, but there must be a reason for that). So, those would be bad mornings for me to skip breakfast (as you noted, calories really add up quickly, and if you know you want to eat something specific, skipping a meal before/after will allow you to meet your goals on calories). Knowing what was for dinner really helped me as well. For example, if tonight will be nachos night (about 1000 calories with all the chips I pile on the plate), I will have only coffee for breakfast, and keep my meals through the day to a minimum. Bell peppers are low calorie, and I like them for snacks on these days. Half a sandwich for lunch, and a bell pepper for early/late snacks, for me is about 400 cal (450 if I use mayo on my sandwich instead of hummus). That keeps me on track for 1000 cal dinner that I love and savor every bite. I am really hungry by dinner time, but it's worth it.

I also found that I had to reset my Goals when I would lose 2 - 4 kg. I don't think MFP updates your daily caloric needs on your current weight if you enter it on the Check-in tab. As you lose weight, your body needs less calories to maintain. So, as you lose, if you do not reset your current weight, you start cutting into your deficit, so you will start to lose weight slower. Instead of a 500 cal/day deficit, you are actually doing a 450 cal/day deficit. Then a 400 cal/day, then 350 cal/day. And so on... When 1 lb of fat = 3500 calories, a 500 cal deficit per day will yield 1 lb of fat loss per week. At a 250 cal/day deficit, you will lose only 0.5 lb of fat per week. So reset your Goals tab every couple weeks if you are seeing your weight trend in the downward direction.

As far as energy goes - I can't speak for PCOS and what it does, but for me, I found that attitude really made a difference. Keeping an eye on my goal, and making progress kept me feeling good, and energetic. Also, getting enough sleep. When I was cutting calories, a 6 hr night of sleep affected me like it was 4 days in a row of 6 hour nights... Getting 7+ made a huge difference. So be diligent and protective of your sleep.

Hopefully something here helps. Keep up the good work!

I have PCOS too. Losing weight and keeping it off is much harder for us, but it is achievable.

Things that have helped me:

-I set a reasonable calorie deficit. I eat around 1650 calories a day. I'm 5'2" and 255 lbs.

-I aim for foods with a lower glycemic index. When I don't eat low GI foods, I plan for the sugar crash so I don't exceed my calories for the day. Follow what your doc suggests for your insulin resistance. Low GI may or may not work with that. If you're unsure, ask him.

-I follow a modified Intermittent Fasting diet. Generally on an IF diet you either fast or eat like 500 calories on two days of the week and the other 5 days you eat near maintenance level. I eat around 500 calories one day a week. It helps me feel full faster on the other 6 days of the week, which helps me control my portion sizes. It also allows me to eat a little more on the other days because I have 1150 calories left over that I didn't eat on my fast day. If you want to try IF, check with your doc first. When you're on meds for insulin resistance it can really mess you up if you fast for a day. You'll want to make sure you diet safely.

-I eat more protein. This has more to do with my weight training, but protein helps keep you full. I aim for a 40/30/30 split between my carbs, protein, and fat. What works for you may be different, this is just what works for me.

-I've switched from cow milk to almond milk for the most part. I saw someone mention that the hormones in cow milk can make us more emotional and stuff. I thought I'd give it a try and see if I noticed a difference. I do feel more emotionally stable, which means less emotional eating. I'm not sure if it's really the milk or just a placebo affect. If you drink a lot of milk you might try switching to almond milk and see if it helps. I don't recommend switching to soy milk for this purpose because it affects hormones too.

Good luck on your journey

Here's an article about the 5:2 Intermittent Fasting I mentioned. http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2013/07/29/205845319/two-day-diets-how-mini-fasts-can-help-maximize-weight-loss

Just googling Intermittent Fasting will also bring up results of people who only eat during a certain time of day (e.g. they only eat in the afternoon.) That can work for some people too, but it's not my cup of tea.

Here is a great (short) article those with PCOS may be interested in - At least it may give you a spring board of what things to start looking into and researching yourself

http://holisticsquid.com/the-best-diet-for-pcos/

Do you know how to get a RMR test? Im wearing a fitbit flex for the first time, but it doesnt work on heart rate so might be useless if i fall into a different category.

Neither FitBit nor HRM would be able to tell your RMR.

FitBit is basing activity calorie burn on step based movements - very accurate unless the wrong kind of exercise.
It is basing non-moving calorie burn on BMR based on age, weight, height, gender, so same potential inaccuracy.

HRM is basing calorie burn on estimating VO2max. Cheap HRM base this on your BMI, and your estimated HRmax - both of which could be very far from your VO2max. Better ones have a self-test and stat you can correct.
But that still isn't based on your RMR.

You could have a higher than normal RMR, and terrible cardiovascular system and can hardly get any intensity in workout, and burn very little.

Search Google for your area for Metabolic or metabolism or RMR testing.
Some will visit gyms to use their equipment on certain days of week, you meet them there, some have an office, some have portable unit in a van and visit a mall or gym as surprise to folks and sell a test.

Avoid that last group - they know those are totally invalid tests since you must prep for them, as such they have no need to spend money calibrating their equipment since they are giving out terrible figures anyway.