26 with PCOS and want to lose 140lb

Hi I am 26 and have PCOS and am looking to start the journey of weight loss as this is now restricting me from having a normal life.

And help,tips or sucess stories you have would be great xx

Replies

  • rannc
    rannc Posts: 13 Member
    Hi! I'm 25 and am looking to lose ~100-110 lbs total. I wish you much luck! :smile:
  • teddiebare
    teddiebare Posts: 46 Member
    My first suggestion would be to find a good doctor who you trust. I have had PCOS since puberty, but was just diagnosed in November. Everyone was always convinced that my weight issues were either my thyroid (which is fine), or ME (which its not). I actually have my first appointment with a new doctor tomorrow because my primary care physician isn't taking me very seriously. Because I was able to lose over 40 lbs on my own, and have a great diet and exercise routine going, she isn't concerned about the fact that I haven't been able to lose any more weight in a year and a half.

    You will save yourself a LOT of frustration if you can work on getting your hormones under control right away. Sure, you can manage it to a point with diet and exercise, but with PCOS you might need more help than that. In all the reading I've done, I've found that we need more exercise and less calories than someone without issues to have any results. But if you are just starting out, just focus on being aware of what you eat and track it, and start getting some gentle movement in. You don't have to go all-out right away, you can just start with consciously walking more and trying to reduce the amount of white carbs you eat.

    Good luck!
  • KatieWH
    KatieWH Posts: 68 Member
    I have found that tons of exercise is key. I usually do a rigorous 45-60 minute workout 4-5 times per week. I stick to a 1500-1800 calorie diet. So far I have lost 35ish pounds and have been at it for about 90 days. The weeks where my weight stalled were weeks where I didn't get all of my workouts in and ate closer to 1800.

    Also, I have really focused on upping my protein - minimum of 100g per day.

    Hope this helps and feel free to add me - my diary is open to friends.

    Katie

    Edited to add: leading up to the last 90 days I was doing moderate workouts but not watching diets. I think that helped me be able to do the level of exercise I am doing now.
  • jenn_2102
    jenn_2102 Posts: 6 Member
    I have PCOS also, In the year and a half since I have been diagnosed I have lost about 15 pounds or so. I eat about 1500 to 1700 calories a day. Some things that have helped me is keeping a food log, watching what I eat, not eating too many carbs, not eating a lot of junk food (like chips, sodas, cookies and candy) and going to a weight management class.

    I had found out about this weight management class at a local clinic when I went to go get at pap smear.
  • first of all you can do it!!! I also have had PCOS since I was a teen I am now 31 and my doc finally decided to do something about it because I wish to get pregnant . I started taking metformin on Christmas it is a very hard drug to get used to but as long as I eat healthy I do not have any problems. ask your doctor to check if u have insulin resistance and the metformin may help I lost 12 pound since Christmas I do 1200 calories ( I am also only 5 foot tall) and hardly any exercise thought I am trying to add it just had some unfortunate events in he family so the time is just not there. I will be going to see an entomologist or whatever they are called (a diabetes Doc) Feb. 28th hopefully he will give me better advise on how to lose more weight but I hope this info helps .
  • Dragonwolf
    Dragonwolf Posts: 5,600 Member
    My first suggestion would be to find a good doctor who you trust. I have had PCOS since puberty, but was just diagnosed in November. Everyone was always convinced that my weight issues were either my thyroid (which is fine), or ME (which its not). I actually have my first appointment with a new doctor tomorrow because my primary care physician isn't taking me very seriously. Because I was able to lose over 40 lbs on my own, and have a great diet and exercise routine going, she isn't concerned about the fact that I haven't been able to lose any more weight in a year and a half.

    You will save yourself a LOT of frustration if you can work on getting your hormones under control right away. Sure, you can manage it to a point with diet and exercise, but with PCOS you might need more help than that. In all the reading I've done, I've found that we need more exercise and less calories than someone without issues to have any results. But if you are just starting out, just focus on being aware of what you eat and track it, and start getting some gentle movement in. You don't have to go all-out right away, you can just start with consciously walking more and trying to reduce the amount of white carbs you eat.

    Good luck!

    So much this.

    You can find more details of my story in my blog and on other posts here, but the short version is that I had doctors that didn't take me seriously and insisted that I was to blame for my lack of weight loss, despite the fact that I was working out to the point of burnout and wasn't even eating enough to fuel what I was doing (to make matters worse, I was told to eat less and that the exercise I was doing wasn't "right," because it was HIIT instead of steady-state cardio).

    I lost the better part of a year and a half of actively trying to lose weight, even knowing I had PCOS to that, and it took a mental and emotional toll, and even now, thinking about the progress I could have made had someone just listened, makes me angry (especially since at the moment, for various reasons, I can't do the stuff I was doing a year or two ago that would have had phenomenal results). I finally found a doctor that would listen to me and realize that what I was doing should be working, and because it wasn't, it was worth trying Metformin. Lo and behold, I've now been able to lose weight, despite not being able to work out as intensely as I used to.

    So, the sooner you can get someone to listen to you and be willing to work with you to find a solution that works for you, the better off you'll be, not only physically, but emotionally as well.
  • Hi, I am 26 with 80-100lb to lose, goodluck!
  • jcgutierrez
    jcgutierrez Posts: 53 Member
    Hello! My 26th birthday is next week. I also have about 50 pounds to loose. I did it once watching my calorie intake and doing zumba at home. After baby #3 its been a little more difficult. But I am determined to do it again.... best luck :)
  • Lauryn2888
    Lauryn2888 Posts: 13 Member
    Hey i have PCOS too. I've lost about 50 pounds so far, looking to lose 100+ (Could reasonably lose 150 pounds)

    Get a good doc. Excercise, and stay away from simple carbs! They'll stick you like crazy. I've found success on medifast (for now) but thats just me!
    good luck!!
  • buxomlisa
    buxomlisa Posts: 6 Member
    Hi everyone! I'm newly diagnosed although they said I was borderline so couldn't officially diagnose me. I have some of the symptoms but not all of them. I've lost 40 lbs in about 10 months with clean eating, moderate calories and lots of weight lifting. hardly any cardio at all. I've been stuck for almost 4 months now. from talking to a few fitness professionals I'm actually going to raise my calories a bit since I'm still heavy and I'm working out so hard my body might not be responding because of the lack of calories. I am also going to try gluten and dairy free since there seems to be some success there.

    good luck everyone!! You can do it!! feel free to friend me here as well as on fb! I'll be posting updates there and I think I might start a blog of my journey!! I'm actually starting Jamie Eason & Kelsey Byers lean body for her challenge tomorrow and I'm very excited!!

    Lisa

    https://www.facebook.com/lisa.nairn.125
  • Hi I am 26 and have PCOS and am looking to start the journey of weight loss as this is now restricting me from having a normal life.

    And help,tips or sucess stories you have would be great xx

    The awful state of "PCOS makes you fat" and "being fat make PCOS worse".

    I too have PCOS and have managed to lose nearly 70lb in the last year, I have gone from "obsese" to the middle of "ideal" but it has not been easy.

    I would recommend viewing it as a total life change and not a diet. Stick to something you can carry on sticking to forever. Don't be upset by small losses. They soon add up!

    My tips: Don't have cheat days. (Except your birthday and Christmas day)

    Don't ban a food type.

    Don't drop below 1200 calories

    Eat regularly but stick to either carb snacks or fat snacks. The combination of the two is my weakness. makes you want to eat more!

    Find a way of exercising that you can do and isn't a hardship. I have an exercise bike pointed at the tv and I try to use it for 20 minutes a day. That is all.

    Take measurements. I feel massively disappointed when I haven't lost weight but remotivated if I've lost inches of body fat %. Motivation is key.

    Keep trying on old clothes. This keeps me more motivated because I can see how far I've come. Smaller clothes didn't work as motivation, just made me feel fat!

    Cutting out too many refined carbs is a good idea.

    Eating high protein foods is great for making you feel full.

    Good luck... you can do it!


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  • bribrijean234
    bribrijean234 Posts: 90 Member
    Im 26 as well, just diagnosed with PCOS in the beginning of January. For months, I kept gaining weight despite healthy eating and exercising excessively - resulting in an extra 35 lbs of weight from the end of August to the beginning of January. It was incredibly frustrating doing everything that used to work for losing weight and seeing the scale go up week after week. Once I was diagnosed my doctor put me on Metformin and since then i have been steadily losing weight. I started out with about 90 lbs to lose and am down to about 70 remaining.

    Ive found that it has helped immensely to add more protein and healthy fats to my meals while cutting down on processed carbs/sugar. PCOS affects each person differently from the next, so it takes time and patience to figure out what will work for your body. Definitely find a doctor you trust and surround yourself with support. Losing the weight is certainly not easy but it is not by any means impossible. :)

    Feel free to add me!
  • macchiatto
    macchiatto Posts: 2,890 Member
    I'm 37. I've had some of the PCOS symptoms since college but wasn't officially diagnosed till I was 31. Losing weight has been tough! Going really low-carb (Dukan worked for me) helped. For me, exercise doesn't really seem to have an effect on my weight loss but do it to be healthy. Hope you're able to find a good dr and get some good success! I'm not on any meds for PCOS but I have a friend who had struggled very much to lose weight and when she finally went to a dr who adjusted her dose of Metformin, she was able to lose 90 lbs.