It's very difficult to stay on a diet if you are feeling deprived. Have you looked into low carb desserts? There is a great blog I use that has tons of keto dessert recipes

http://mariamindbodyhealth.com/

I've made her twix bars (which were amazing!) and I eat her keto fudge (fat bombs really) almost every day. I have a horrible sweet tooth, and without making low carb desserts I wouldn't be able to stay on this diet.

The sugar replacement (Swerve) can be a bit pricey, but you don't need much. I typically order it online and a bag lasts a long time. Typically I use half the amount called for in a recipe and it's still plenty sweet.

I guess what I'm wondering is if I'll need to stay this extreme, or if I can get my hormones in check maybe I can incorporate a whole wheat sandwich or brown rice at some point and not have things crumble?

The short answer: maybe.

The longer answer - still maybe. The truth is, it depends on your body. Some people can incorporate things back in on a regular basis, others have to keep it to "once in a while," and for others, such things are blacklisted for life. You will have to experiment to figure out which one you are, but I don't recommend doing so until you've gone about a year in your low carb diet. This is about healing your body, and that takes time.

It's like the runner with the sprained ankle -- she could let it heal and not run for a couple of weeks, or she could wrap it, keep running, and possibly cause more damage and maybe not even be able to run at all anymore. Yeah, it sucks to not be able to run for a couple of weeks, but what's that compared to a lifetime of still being able to?

The timeline is longer, but it's the same principle with diet and PCOS (albeit more complicated; disclaimer, it's not as black and white as this). You could keep eating sugars and starches, take Metformin and/or Spiro and/or Clomid and/or whatever other meds the doctors want to put you on and continue to gain weight, have increasing fertility and health problems, etc. Or, you could spend a year or so eating low carb, turning down those old standbys, reduce or even eliminate the meds you need, lower your insulin, maintain and even lose weight, and in the future may even be able to tolerate that sandwich or rice or whatever every so often.

Like I said, it's not quite that black and white, but the less you consume foods that your body can't handle, the more your body can heal and the less time it takes to do so. That doesn't mean you can't eat any of it ever, but it is good to weigh the pros and cons of eating such foods right now.

Now, as someone else mentioned, it's very difficult to maintain a diet -- any diet -- if you feel deprived. I think, though, that you're feeling deprived more because you simply don't know what else to eat besides carb-based foods. This is compounded by the fact that processed carbs, especially, and sugars, can have an addictive effect on the brain. They trigger the pleasure center of the brain and make us want more, and it takes more to satisfy that craving over time.

But you don't have to feel deprived. There are a number of ways to reduce your carbs, and there are a number of levels at which you can set your carbs.

Perhaps you start by swapping out your spaghetti for spaghetti squash, or using zucchini noodles instead of pasta noodles in your lasagna, and slowly go from there. Or, you go cold turkey with something like a Whole 30, 21-Day Sugar Detox, or other whole foods based challenge diet. Either way is perfectly valid and a useful tool, it just depends on what works for you.

I personally don't do the substitution thing much. Spaghetti squash is about it, because most replacements for things suck in comparison to what we're used to (and just objectively suck in a lot of cases). So that leaves reframing how you think about foods.

Instead of basing your meals around a starch or carb, base it around a protein and fat:

Omelet with ham, veggies, and cheese
Salad with mixed greens, grilled chicken, avocado, sunflower seeds, and an oil and vinegar dressing
Grilled steak with grilled asparagus with butter/olive oil, and a small serving fried potatoes
Stir-fry with pork or steak, peppers, onions, broccoli, cauliflower, in a curry made with coconut milk, eaten alone or with a little bit of jasmine or basamati rice

The longer you limit your carbs to non-starchy vegetables and some starches (and stay away from sugar), the less you'll crave those things, and when you do eat sweeter foods, you'll need less sugar to make it taste sweet enough for you. After a while, you won't even want those things.

If you need recipe ideas, I highly recommend checking out whole-foods Paleo and Vegan websites for recipes. They can give you interesting and new ways to do things with meats and vegetables. They won't necessarily be low-carb by default, but they will generally be lower-carb, lower-sugar, and the carbs that are in them will be easier to spot.

You can also friend me, if you want. My diary is open to friends, though my tracking is admittedly spotty (I stopped about a year ago due to it causing psychological problems; I'm tracking again, though more for informational purposes). I do generally low-carb Paleo, so you might be able to find some ideas there, too.

The exception I've found to this is cauliflower. I love using cauliflower rice, particularly because I love Indian food (Saag paneer, YUM) but the dishes are centered around rice. Now I use cauliflower rice and it has really expanded my meal options. I also use cauliflower instead of potato for mashed potatoes. It's so good loaded up with butter and cream.

Where do you find cauliflower rice? I love cooking Indian food too would be great to have a rice substitute

Perfect thanks!

I found out I had PCOS back in 2009. I was never told that I should be on medication for it. I had joined slimgenics back in 2011. I lost 100 pounds. However, 3 years later it has all come back. Last month I went to my new doctor who told me that I should have been on metformin this whole time. It really pissed me off that I wasn't told this in the past. But now I can't reminisce on the past. I went in and spoke to a dietitian a couple days ago. She gave me some great advice. In the past two days I have lost almost 4 pounds. I can eat carbs. You just have to portion them out correctly. If you imagine a plate add an invisible line down the middle then on the right hand side place another invisible line going from the center to the edge of plate horizontally. You will come up with 3 parts to your plate. On the largest half fill it with veggies. In the other two spots; one spot is for protein the other spot for carbs (potatoes, beans, noodles, etc. I too was raised on a high carb diet. Just be mindful of your portions. I did this to in slimgenics but they were crazy strict and that's not the life you want to live even though I saw crazy results it's not worth gaining it all back. Now I'm back on track with my diet and on metformin let's see how it goes.

Technically speaking, veggies are carbs. That other third of your plate is more accurately described as starches.

Usually, I'm not so picky, but the idea that veggies somehow aren't carbs is a myth that's damaging the image of low-carb diets and is keeping people away who could be helped by them.

Yes, this is quite true. Even though I really love veggies, I have to limit them to get into ketosis. The 20g net carbs per day is a hard and fast rule for my body, so it seems. I feel sad that I have to limit things like green beans, broccoli, cauliflower, etc. The truth is that I want to lose weight in order to get pregnant, so until I've lost enough to ovulate regularly I have to suck it up and limit my veggies.

Are you adding fat in? I know initially I thought I had to stay away from both and it was sooooo hard! Now I do lchf (most days keeping my total carbs between 30-40) and it's really not that hard (unless I have no food left in the house lol). Sunday I "binged" at a family reunion, but really I had a small sliver of one pie slice and a bite or two of other desserts and about 4 bites total of the macaroni and cheese pies around. I think I still stayed below 100g total. I also was totally satisfied and didn't feel deprived. Today my husband made this faux-tato skin casserole thing lol. Basically cauliflower instead of potato, was AWESOME! I also eat a lot of squash noodles. I just shred them up and will even take it with me to the in laws when we're having spaghetti. My plate fills me up and is tons less carbs and lots more nutrients!

Spaghetti squash + favorite cheese + favorite sauce = heaven on plate! :happy:

"Macaroni and cheese pies"? I'm not sure I want to know. :laugh:

Re: no food - I know that feeling. My fridge is pretty empty right now. My go-to lately has been tuna salad with homemade mayo. I found a hell of a mayo recipe that doesn't take long and is far less likely to fail than most others I've tried ( http://thehealthyfoodie.com/fail-proof-home-made-paleo-mayo-whole30-compliant/ ), and add that and some mustard to a can of tun and chow down. Combine that with some veggies dipped in homemade dressing from that same mayo and I've got a quick and tasty lunch in a pinch.

Depends. A lot of other posters have said it already. Really depends on how "low carb" you want to go, how well your mind and body responds and how consistently you can keep it up.

I'm more of a proponent of IIFYM - so if it fits into my daily carb limit, I eat it. Contrary to IIFYM myth believers, no I am not eating ice cream or bagels all day - BUT I can if I choose too. It's just that one bagel is pretty all my carbs for like TWO days. So do I choose to eat that bagel? HELLS NO.

I try to make my breakfast as high protein/low carb as I can get it. If I know I'm going out in the evening (and possibly eating something a little higher in carb) then my day is going to be pretty much extremely low carb and then I go out and enjoy that piece of whatever I want that fits into my macros I'm happy, my mind is happy knowing I did well all day.

Everyone works differently, and weight loss is as much mental as physical, maybe more.