I was diagnosed with PCOS at 26, had a complete hysterectomy in June 2014, still suffering from PCOS and related weight gain, suffer from metabolic syndrome and pre-diabetes. Got a new Dr in December and he changed my life. I had tried everything (I thought) to lose weight, slimquik, hydroxycut, atkins, weight watchers, liposene, sensa, etc. Dr. told me due to the metabolic syndrome, PCOS, and prediabetes the ONLY way I would lose weight was to go low carb, I have been Keto since January 3rd, lost 8 lbs my 1st week, 5 the second and tapering off now to 1-2 lbs a week and sometimes no lbs but inches. I strive for 20grams or less of carbs per day, some days I may go up to 35 or so. I eliminated pastas, breads , all wheat.

Journeywithyou wrote: »

Dragonwolf will checkout your blog. Edurham great information. Recently I have been cutting back on the carbs but I struggle wrapping my mind around the high fat side of low carb. How can that be OK?

It's okay, because everything you've been taught about fat is wrong.

Take an hour if you can, and watch this:

https://player.vimeo.com/video/45485034

Also, for your reading pleasure, here are a number of write-ups on the matter:

http://www.cholesterol-and-health.com/Does-Cholesterol-Cause-Heart-Disease-Myth.html
http://chriskresser.com/the-diet-heart-myth-cholesterol-and-saturated-fat-are-not-the-enemy
http://www.nbcnews.com/id/22116724/ns/health-diet_and_nutrition/t/what-if-bad-fat-isnt-so-bad/
http://www.jlgh.org/Past-Issues/Volume-9---Issue-3/On-Trial--Saturated-Fat.aspx

Not enough? I just got my numbers back from my latest blood draw. I've been aiming for 50g of carbs, 150g of fat, and 100g of protein and have averaged fairly well for the most part.

Total: 209 ("desirable" is under 200, so this is "borderline" by conventional standards)
HDL: 56 ("desirable" is over 40, the higher the better; this is nearly ideal)
LDL: 139 (calculated; "near ideal" or "normal" is 120-129; I'm currently in the "borderline" which ranges from 130-159)
Trigs: 70 ("desirable" is under 150, so this is pretty damn ideal)

This puts my ratios (which are arguably more important) at:
Total Cholesterol/HDL ratio: 3.73 - (preferably under 5.0, ideally under 3.5) GOOD
HDL/LDL ratio: 0.403 - (preferably over 0.3, ideally over 0.4) IDEAL
triglycerides/HDL ratio: 1.250 - (preferably under 4, ideally under 2) IDEAL

(Calculated from http://www.hughcalc.org/chol.php )

The thing to note, too, is that a high fat intake "elevates" LDL in the standard test, because it increases LDL particle size. This is a good thing. It turns the particles from small, dense (the ones that tend to collect and cause problems) to large, fluffy (which float and act more like HDL particles). It seems bad on the standard test, because the standard test is asking the wrong question in this kind of situation. (There's a sign at my son's daycare with a quote from Albert Einstein, "every child's a genius, but if you judge a fish by his ability to climb a tree, he will spend the rest of his life believing he's stupid." It's apt, here, I think, because the effect a high fat diet has on LDL is a fish, and the standard test is judging how well it can climb.)

Also, total cholesterol is pretty much meaningless, especially by itself (as are most of the measurements by themselves). The ratios are what matter. So, while a couple of individual numbers are "borderline," my ratios are ideal, or damn close.

Oh, and I get anywhere from 30g to 100g of saturated fat, depending on how much dairy and coconut I eat in a day. Believe it or not, animal fat is only about half saturated. The other half is monounsaturated fats and a few polyunsaturated fats.

Aaaannnnd.... numbers like this are common among people on this diet. Even those who started out at higher risk. Find any of the "bloodwork" posts in the following communities if you still don't believe me:

http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/group/1494-reddit-keto
http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/group/1143-keto
http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/group/394-low-carber-daily-forum-the-lcd-group

Journeywithyou wrote: »

I am fairly new to the group. DX after difficulty getting preg with my 2nd child. I have been living with a PCOS DX not really knowing much information. I have slowly gained weight with having a difficult time taking it off and leaving it off. Looking for understanding friends who can help me on the way.

Hi I highly recommend PCOSDiva, it's a huge source of information, https://pcosdiva.com you won't be disappointed !