Any Women suffering from PCOS- Need friend/support

I am 27 and live in Texas, I was recently diagnosed with PCOS and would like to have a baby one day. I have been married for two and a half years with no luck on getting pregnant. So we started looking into why and that's how we figured out I had PCOS. I am a stay at home wife taking care of my mother and grand mother. I joined mfp to finally get to a healthy weight. I have been overweight since high school but a desk job after college packed it on ten fold. This is my first trial into forums, I have always been a behind the times sort of person. But none of my local friends really want to commit to loosing any weight so I am looking to the web to find a support group.

Hello ^-^ I was diagnosed with PCOS when I was 15 so it's been 5 years
I too have struggled with my weight and symptoms, I have been through my fair share of diets and all the jazz even before I was diagnosed.
Now I can safely say I am losing weight the right way ^-^ when I really decided to lose weight, I guess I could say, it was the right time for me to start. I was in the right frame of mind that this is what I really wanted for myself ^-^
This was one of my motivations as well was to be healthier so that I in turn will be healthier for my future babies
I am also going at it alone, working out that is, as far as support goes my main support is my mama, my dad, and my auntie

So my leedo 2 cents of advice would be:

Come to a point where you really decide you want to commit to getting healthier ^-^

Make leedo changes in your diet gradually ^-^

Make time for yourself throughout the day to get a little exercise no matter what it is ^-^

Find a exercise activity you like to do, dance? walk to music like a boss lol something you enjoy ^-^

Don't go cold turkey on your favorite foods, it's okay to treat yourself every once in a while ^-^ everything in moderation

Above all else love yourself and don't feel bad when you have a few bad days and you fall on your face, just get back up and brush yourself off and keep on truckin' ^-^

You got this!!!! ( >^-^)> <(^-^ <)

P.S: My biggest help came in the form of calorie counting and MFP it helps me track how many calories I eat and how many I burn through exercise. I drop 8 calories per week and it helps me lose 1-2 pounds a week ^-^ been at it 11 months and have lost 60+ pounds. BUT! I know not everyone likes calorie counting ^-^ and it's alright if you don't either just throwing it out there it's what finally helped me, just depends on what floats your boat ^-^

Hello! Yes I suffer with PCOS and I'm 21!! I hope to get rid of it or at least control it.

Hi there. I have just been officially diagnosed with PCOS, but knew i had it for years. I too have been told I will be unable to get pregnant until I lose weight. I have been prescribed Metformin 500 mg, but so far have had a hard time take it on schedule. Also, I have had heard mixed reviews about its effectiveness in losing weight. I am going from 312 to hopefully 150 in the next 2 or 3 years. By then I will be 28/29 and finally ready for the next phase of my life :-)

I'm 31 and I have PCOS as well. I managed to get pregnant and have a baby last year
Feel free to add me.

Hi, I'm 36 and a mother of 3. My first two were born before my weight got really out of control causing my pcos to go crazy as well. My third is our fertility drug baby. 3 years of fertility treatments and dropping 30 pounds helped us have our little angel who is now 7. Unfortunately, the weight kept adding on. I did lose 80 pounds 3 years ago but between a month long vacation and a lot of stress, all that weight piled back on. In January I decided I was going to do something about the weight so I started walk/run intervals with one of our pups. I ended up falling in the snow and damaging my knee landing myself 6 months where I hardly left my recliner and packed on 40 pounds reaching my highest weight ever of 272. 3 pounds more than the day before our youngest was born. ( For a while I blamed the pain medication since I had to eat to take the pills, but I've finally taken accountability for it and can admit it was emotion eating)

In the past 2 months I've completed physical therapy and gotten more active as well as logging my food. I didn't officially start logging food and watching my calories until the very end of June. I'm down 12 pounds so far. Some things I've noticed from personal observation, both this time and the other two times I've lost weight, I can not do the TDEE (Total Daily Energy Expenditure) that many on here advocate. Eating at higher calorie ranges may allow others to lose weight but it doesn't work for me. The only way I lose weight is to drop my calories to between 1200 and 1350 and keep my protein level higher than my carb level. Many people on here will tell you that if your not following the TDEE concept, your eating too little. I've learned to ignore them because they don't understand how difficult PCOS makes it for us to lose weight.

Some tips:

Find a plan that works for YOU. It doesn't matter if it's low cal or TDEE. Low Carb. Or any other plan. If it works for YOU, that is all that really matters.

Don't avoid things you like. Figure out how to make them work for you. Analyze the nutritional information for your favorite fast food place may help you figure out how to still eat it but to eat healthier options. Check the recipe section for alternatives that people have come up with.

Log everything you eat or drink. If it has calories or carbs, log it. And watch those vitamins, they like to sneak in calories and carbs if your taking the wrong ones. If your stop at a favorite coffee shop, watch out for those syrups. Depending on which syrup is used you could be looking at zero additional calories or 80! Pre-logging can allow you to stay better on track as well as to fit in special treats.

Every little bit of exercise helps. Even if it's only a walk around the block or 1 minute on the elliptical. Surprisingly, grabbing a kick board and floating around the pool while kicking your feet like crazy burns a LOT of calories.

Find little ways to add steps to your day. Our kitchen is kind of smallish but I've started making multiple trips to put things away instead of just loading my arms to get as much as I can in one trip. It may only add 10 steps but it's 10 more than I used to take.

Look for support on here and at home.

If you mess up, don't let it take over. Learn from your mistake. Acknowledge it. And move on.

A lot of people skip this one but it can be an amazing motivator for when the scale is not moving. Take your measurements. Log them on here and recheck them every few weeks. Just because the scale isn't moving doesn't mean your not losing inches.

Wow, that was long winded. Feel free to add me.

I am 41 and due to PCOS and endometriosis had a hysterectomy at 34. I was lucky to have been able to have one baby. The worst part for me was having so many people treat me like a hypochondriac for so many years. I would be in massive pain that acetaminophen and ibuprofen wouldn't even touch and teachers, Drs., even my parents just kind of rolled their eyes at me. I had one Dr. tell me that the pain was "just part of being a woman and I should get used to it." I started doubting myself and gaining weight. I was a pretty private person and discussing my period with a stranger was really hard! to go to multiple Drs. wouldn't have crossed my mind. But I knew there was something wrong. It just didn't seem to be normal to be in so much pain you would curl in a ball crying.
After I got married we started trying for a baby, but I wasn't getting pregnant. My OB/Gyn found a mass on one of my ovaries that was the size of a grapefruit! this turned out to be an endometrioma. This was actually a great thing because apparently it was what needed to happen in order for anyone to pay attention to what I was saying. I was put on Lupron Depot which put me in chemical menopause. I started losing weight. (I guess this is not a normal reaction, but I felt so much better!) I was feeling so much better I started back to school. During the first class I was in I met someone who gave me the name of a specialist. I had several laproscopic surgeries and was on the lupron twice more. I was able to get pregnant once. I had a perfect pregnancy at 32 and have a nine year old boy now. It was a long and painful road. We tried for more children but apparently it wasn't meant to be.
My reproductive endocrinologist retired last year. I was amazed how difficult it was to find someone to treat PCOS aggressively, especially if you have no interest or ability to get pregnant. (at least where I live) I finally found a Dr. and I am getting back on track. I am on both metformin and spironalactone.

Hi

I got diagnosed with PCOS age 14 i'm now 29, i have always struggled with my weight as well as other pcos related symptoms.

After 7 years of trying we had a healthy baby girl nearly 3 years ago. i have also had a still birth and miscarriages too so i know all about the fertility side of it.

I lost weight before having my little girl but since put it back on and more due to having a dvt after giving birth in which i couldnt walk
unaided for several months.

I'm now back losing weight it isnt easy but im here to help and support anyone. Feel free to add me

I was diagnosed with PCOS yesterday. I'm actually glad that they caught it. They also put me on Metaformin 2x a day 500mg because I'm insulin resistant and 1 point away from diabetic - That was terrifying news for me, but also I think he helps me understand the way I need to eat now to lose the weight and that the met should help with the insulin resistance and the weightloss. I'm 180 today and hopefully will be losing 30-40lbs. I'm eating NO carbs and NO sugar per the nutritionist.

20 year old from NC as well OP! Found out I had PCOS after I didn't get my period just kind of stopped coming for 2 years... Weight has always been a huge issue for me, got way worse when I hit puberty though. I'm just sort of coasting now, trying to lose what I can.

I am 37 and was diagnosed w/PCOS when I was 18. After being told I would not be able to get pregnant, I had 2 healthy babies 2 years apart. My pregnancies were not healthy- I had pre-eclampsia and other complications with both- but my babies were healthy. Following the birth of my youngest (who is 15 now) I had a tubal ligation, cystectomy and then a uterine ablation. None of these were successful long term- simply treating symptoms. I FINALLY got a doctor once I was in my 30s who got to the root of it instead of treating symptoms. My last surgey was in 2011. I was on Metformin but did not notice any differences so (with my doctors go-ahead) I went off of it again. I was on and off hormones, and other meds- but currently take none because nothing seems to help!
The most frustrating part for me is, while my weight doesnt go up- it plateaus so that no matter what I do and how hard I workout & eat right, I cant seem to lose. One challenge of PCOS I have found is to others I "look ok" so they just think I am overweight because of bad habits or laziness. It is not a visible disease so others are quick to judge! Keep up the effort & get the most accurate information you can!

Yes, people are quick to judge despite a very healthy lifestyle. I am probably the most health conscious person in my family by choice, but because of PCOS, people assume I'm not. I'm so encouraged that so many have had healthy pregnancies with PCOS. I've been on a whole foods diet for a while but am not thinking of taking it to Paleo to reduce carbs even more. Anyone had success with that?

For those that are trying to conceive, when we were trying I got a lot of support from the PCOS forums on fertilityfriend.com. It also helped with tracking my cycles. And since they have a pregnancy side that is separate, it was a little easier to deal with than reading tons of info about perfectly healthy happy families that were conceived with little trying. Infertility is devastating. Even though we've given up adding to our clan, I still have trouble dealing with people in the family having new babies. Especially those that are not ready to have a family and get pregnant so easily. One of my step-sisters had a baby in October and I would do anything for them because I know the tough road her and her husband went through and are still going through now that the baby has been diagnosed with a life long illness, but another is due this month and I can't bring myself to have anything to do with her or the baby since it was an oops with a "friend" and she's still bouncing from her dad's to her mom's even though she's 30. A little selfish and irrational maybe but infertility makes people be irrational at times.

soulcysters.com is supposed to be another good site for pcos support.

Thrive has helped my daughter with this.......check it out www.cobywhite.Le-Vel.com

After I had my 1st child back in 2005, I was diagnosed with PCOS. I lost over 50lbs in 2010 and all of my PCOS symptoms went away. I have had 2 children since then and gained 35lbs back, and now I'm working on losing that 35lbs and then some Good Luck!! Also, you can add me if you want