PCOS and weight loss.. How can you do it faster?

I used to be 185 lbs and now I am 158. I JUST started consistently working out. And although my job is physical and not just sitting in an office, I can say I lost most of my weight by educating myself in terms of food, and the vitamins and nutrients they do or do not provide.

One of the first things I did was replace my frequently consumed foods with a better option, or I eliminated it altogether. I stopped eating white rice, white bread, potatoes. I eat them maybe once or twice a month, if that. I do not focus on it. Well, here's what I did specifically actually... but over time, not all at once. And I am still not perfect, believe me, I can bingo on some donuts, but that's extremely rare haha.

But this is how I lost.

Buttermilk Pancakes, Waffles - don't eat as often. When I do, I either make or buy 100% Whole Grain or similar.

Syrup- Never. I buy Sugar Free, or Grade B Maple as a treat, and use VERY VERY little. Most of the time I use Polaner All Fruit and sometimes butter.

Butter- Went from typical butter to Smart Balance and Earth Balance, and stopped using it so often... mainly bc I wasn't using it on breads and pastas and potatoes... because I wasn't eating them. So that helped.

Ketchup- Hunts, whatever, now I have organic with no sugar added. And not often.

Veggies/Fruits- I buy fresh, rarely frozen.

Canned Foods- cut them out completely with the exception of the occasional Campbell's Chicken Noodle Soup. As in, a few times a year.

Sugar- sometimes Splenda (not saying it is healthy, ultimately I believe it should be avoided, but my point with this is how I lost weight), mostly Stevia, and rarely did I eat sweet treats like I did before.

Sweets- Replaced sugar cravings with fruit. Carried glucose tablets with me and would have those if I was desperate.

Mayo- Rarely had it anyway, but switched to organic/all natural.

Soda- never drank it that much, but cut it out almost completely.

Juice- Orange Juice, 100% pure with no added sugar. And that is rare in itself because I have no control and will drink the whole thing, blood sugar shoots up, and then I feel like crap. So I eat oranges and actual fruit instead, haha.

Alcohol- didn't make changes here, if anything I drank more then than ever before, a glass or two a week? Sometimes more. I do tend to avoid beer or much of it because it makes me bloated.And again, this is something I would like to possibly completely eliminate some day, but it isn't my priority right now.

Chocolate- A lot more PURE dark chocolate. You know, the bars that are like $3 a piece and have the fancy labels. 65% +

Fast Food- cut it out for the most part, but would still have it maybe once every few weeks, more or less. But I didn't have near as much. I wasnt ordering the biggest size of everything PLUS a milkshake or pie. Nope.

I would eat about 35 carbs per meal and half of that protein- 15 g. At least on average anyway. This was advice from my nutritionist. She was based out of my Endocrinologists office at the time. But I always try to balance my carbs with protein and some fiber as much as possible. And I try not to eat anything high in carbs at once, no matter what it is, refined or not.

Ice Cream- Stopped buying it! Sugar free was okay but not even worth it lol. Sometimes sherbert. Sometimes regular ice cream. But I hardly ever had it in the house. Every few months or so, more or less. And rarely big containers, even when it costs more- it was better than having a ton left over.

Bread- 100% whole grain... now I focus more on Ezekiel bread, the healthiest bread anyone could possibly eat. It has the most benefits. To me, it is better toasted. Overall, cutting it out completely would be ideal, esp if sensitive to gluten, look out for that.

Flour- No more bleached flour, no white flour. Whole Wheat only. And even now I am looking into replacing that with almond flour or experimenting with others.

Cook- COOK AT HOME! If you care, you will FIND the time to do it. Have fun with it, look up recipes, challenge yourself in ways to make them healthier. And STOP buying processed and premade crap! It's rarely loaded with nutrients and often has so many other fillers. And the healthier you eat, the quicker you will feel full and not want more and more... processed food leaves you unfulfilled and wanting more. Bigger servings.

Salt- SEA SALT. And I don't add it often. Just a tiny if any.

Plenty of other changes I made over time... and I am still trying to get there.. mostly with working out now.


Your taste buds get USED to things! Even when you think they don't. It's breaking old habits and making new ones. GOOD ones.

I still want to and need to lose 30 lbs at least. I am 158ish and only 5 ft tall, but medium build. Unfortunately I will never be petite. Not because of the weight/fat, but I really am big boned-ed as they say, ha. Stocky, weight or not.

Focus on how you feel. NOT how you look. This has helped me most of all. Those damn chips and salsa last night had entirely too much sodium. I felt slim as a board despite my weight for a few days. Had those chips, and that was it. Bloated, and felt it all day long.

I hope some of this helps someone!

Ultimately I believe in a diet full of fruits and vegetables, nuts and legumes, lean meat, and all natural/organic as much as possible. So everything I mentioned is NOT ideal... it is just how I started losing a lot of weight by making some rather simple changes over time.

Exercising makes me not crave sugar. I walk minimum 2 miles every other day or so right now. Depending on my schedule. And 3.5mph, not slow and blah. It works for sure.

I have lost over 180 pounds with PCOS - I am not insulin resistant (as not all with PCOS are). I lost my weight over 6.5 years...yep long time but I think in the long run it was worth going this slow. I ate and eat 1800 cals ...i try and have at least one meal per day grain free...and try to focus on getting as much protein as i can.

Bumb, to show my wife. : )

There is no losing weight fast with PCOS, the best things I found was like many people have said in here eat like u are a diabetic that is because most people with PCOS are insulin resistant and eating like you are a diabetic and eating 5-6 SMALL meals a day(I eat every 2.5-3 hours starting at 7am until 7pm, do not eat or strictly limit processed foods, we eat 95% organic, lean meats, whole grain. Sugar, white flour/breads, are some of the worst things to eat with PCOS. With working out most females are scared to lift weight but it is actually good, 2-3 days a week of strength training and 6-7 days a week of cardio. Also limit/remove empty calories like juices, soda, for the first 2 weeks it was hard for me to remove soda I was drinking 5-8 cans a day now I only drink 8oz of coffee in morning, rest of the day water even if go eat out water, 8oz green tea in afternoon, also learn portion control because the social norm now with portions is 3-5x more than what u are supposed to eat, we measure everything we eat/drink, we do not eat on big plates only small bowls and small plates easiest way is buy kids plates, bowls, cups, utensils. Something else I learned if you don't eat cinnamon start to it really helps keep blood sugar lvls in check, doesn't have to be much but add to some your food each day. Also another thing don't just weight yourself also buy a body measuring tape and learn where to measure yourself, sometimes the scale will not move or will go up but measurements will go down especially if u strength train since muscle weights more than fat. I always made excuses for not being able to lose the weight but if you are serious there is lot out there that you can do. Also, I learned do NOT diet, this is a lifestyle change so you have to stay at it even if you think your PCOS is cured guess what there is no such thing you will always have PCOS but with the right exercise and eating healthy you can minimize your symptoms to almost non existent. These are all the things I learned over the years and I got serious the last year an I was never able to lose weight but it was because I never done the work, I weight 274 January 2013 now im down to 204 pounds. The first couple of weeks u might lose about 5-10 pounds that is mostly water weight but after that u should lose 1-2 pounds per week if u lose more probably wont keep it off and if u eat less that 1200 calories a day that is not safe because that means your body is probably not getting the right amount of nutrients it needs and you will actually be hurting yourself than helping in the long run, you cant look at it as fast weight loss you have to look at it as a life long journey

I also have PCOS. Insulin resistant. I recently met with a nutritionist with a special interest in PCOS. She recommended the Paleo diet and that I start powder Inositol. I did loads of research before I started the inositol and it works wonders for lots of women with PCOS and it is natural. I have been on the Insoitol for 2 weeks and my diet for a little less and I have lost 3lbs and already feel healthier (more energy, less muscle pain, etc). Paleo isn't for everyone but maybe look into the Inositol. Low carb is key from what I have told but Inositol helps promote weight loss for us ladies with this terrible syndrome. It also has been shown to help some with depression, anxiety, and those symptoms that are also usually caused by PCOS and I can definitely say I have felt the improvement in that area.

pretend you are a diabetic and a hippie at the same time!!!!!!
It's the only thing you can do. look up what a diabetic has to eat,and what hippies eat and you will be fine.
My sister and I both have PCOS. I think You can cure it. She thinks you can't. But then again, I'm 190 and she's 290. She won't let go of those sweets and eats way too much bread. Once the weight is gone. PCOS will be gone.

This is absolutely not true. I was 140 lbs when I was first diagnosed and I still had a lot of the physical symptoms inc awful skin, irregular cycle and darker body hair. Weight loss can ease a lot of symptoms for a lot of people but don't think that it's some magic cure!! PCOS can't be cured >> http://www.nhs.uk/Conditions/Polycystic-ovarian-syndrome/Pages/Treatment.aspx

Weightloss is slow with PCOS but the comments about eating a diet suitable for diabetics seem to be in line with a lot of research into the condition. Bare in mind as well that slow and steady wins the race and you have a better chance of keeping the weight off if you do it slowly than if you opt for quick fixes!

I have really bad PCOS and i take Metformin twice a day to help with the sugar balance because otherwise i pass out a lot and its really annoying, its also good to get a blood test to check your insullin levels as if they are too high just store as fat. So far i've lost 30 pounds on my diet, and even my doctor was amazed as i had pretty much tried every fad diet you can think of (within reason of course), seen numerous dieticians, personal trainers etc and nothing had worked and was seriously considering surgery. I am pretty much Wheat, egg, dairy free, i try and stay as low sugar as possibly but i still allow myself treats or i go mad! But i'll have things like diabetic chocolates or diabetic ice cream, its pretty yummy. Its hard work and i wont lie, i have slipped up a lot and just gone 'stuff it i want normal foods!' but i always regret it afterwards. I also would say if you change your diet do it slowly, as you get used to it more.

When I was younger I was also on Metformin with terrible periods (My doc never diagnosed me as PCOS but I did have endometriosis and really awful menstrual cycles. This was before we knew what we now know about PCOS and it is more commonly diagnosed.) I tried EVERYTHING. Worked out like a maniac but saw no results until I switched to a plant-based / low GI diet. My periods have been better and have needed Metformin in ages. It isn't an easy change, but it was worth it. You can read more below:

http://thekindlife.com/blog/2013/04/treat-pcos-polycystic-ovarian-syndrome-with-vegan-plant-based-diet/