Low carb diet - need help!

Laura_134
Laura_134 Posts: 1
edited November 13 in Food and Nutrition
Today I was diagnosed with Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome and my doctor has told me that I need to lose some weight. Wondering if there is anyone out there with the same condition and if so what do your everyday meal plans look like? I've read that the best thing is low carbs, but i've had some problems in the past when I have tried this, such as constantly feeling drained and becoming light headed.

Any help will be appreciated!

Thank you :smiley:
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Replies

  • yarwell
    yarwell Posts: 10,477 Member
    The light headed thing on transitioning to low carb is reduced if you up your sodium / electrolyte intake to offset the drop in blood pressure. It takes a few days to pass. You need to increase your fat intake to avoid being too deficient in energy.

    There's at least one PCOS group on here - http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/group/3070-p-c-o-sis

    or put "pcos site:myfitnesspal.com" into Google to find other threads.
  • RodaRose
    RodaRose Posts: 9,562 Member
    Add lots more fat, esp the first three or four days. If you eat bacon and cheese and such you will not miss the carbs as much. Eat leafy greens for fiber -- kale, swiss chard, romaine.
  • jddnw
    jddnw Posts: 319 Member
    Laura_134 wrote: »
    I've read that the best thing is low carbs..

    Low carbs is just one strategy and it's highly debatable if it is "the best."


  • _lyndseybrooke_
    _lyndseybrooke_ Posts: 2,561 Member
    Laura_134 wrote: »
    Today I was diagnosed with Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome and my doctor has told me that I need to lose some weight. Wondering if there is anyone out there with the same condition and if so what do your everyday meal plans look like? I've read that the best thing is low carbs, but i've had some problems in the past when I have tried this, such as constantly feeling drained and becoming light headed.

    Any help will be appreciated!

    Thank you :smiley:

    You read wrong. Weight loss is calories in vs. calories out. Eat at a calorie deficit and you'll lose weight. Don't make it more complicated than it is.
  • KylaDenay
    KylaDenay Posts: 1,585 Member
    Laura_134 wrote: »
    Today I was diagnosed with Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome and my doctor has told me that I need to lose some weight. Wondering if there is anyone out there with the same condition and if so what do your everyday meal plans look like? I've read that the best thing is low carbs, but i've had some problems in the past when I have tried this, such as constantly feeling drained and becoming light headed.

    Any help will be appreciated!

    Thank you :smiley:

    You read wrong. Weight loss is calories in vs. calories out. Eat at a calorie deficit and you'll lose weight. Don't make it more complicated than it is.
    Maybe she read it was the best for PCOS, which is something I am seeing on here a lot for people who have that.
  • af_wife2004
    af_wife2004 Posts: 149 Member
    I have an autoimmune disorder, and I like using the IIFYM calculator http://iifym.com/iifym-calculator/ It will help you set your caloric needs as well as percentage of macros (fat, carbs, and protein). You can alter you MFP plan manually. It took me a couple weeks to find the right balance.
  • astrampe
    astrampe Posts: 2,169 Member
    edited March 2015
    You don't have to go crazy low carb...I eat around 100g of carbs a day, and its enough to still have a bun or slice of bread each day, as well as potatoes or rice or corn.... Just set your macros around 35, 35,30 and work with that....Get most of your carbs from fruit and veggies, and keep bread and refined stuff to a minimum.....
  • SueInAz
    SueInAz Posts: 6,592 Member
    edited March 2015
    KylaDenay wrote: »
    Laura_134 wrote: »
    Today I was diagnosed with Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome and my doctor has told me that I need to lose some weight. Wondering if there is anyone out there with the same condition and if so what do your everyday meal plans look like? I've read that the best thing is low carbs, but i've had some problems in the past when I have tried this, such as constantly feeling drained and becoming light headed.

    Any help will be appreciated!

    Thank you :smiley:

    You read wrong. Weight loss is calories in vs. calories out. Eat at a calorie deficit and you'll lose weight. Don't make it more complicated than it is.
    Maybe she read it was the best for PCOS, which is something I am seeing on here a lot for people who have that.
    This is correct. Most women with PCOS find that they need to cut carbs to lose weight. I've heard some say it didn't matter for them, but I think the OP would get better information from the PCOS forum than in the general area. This type of statement is going to keep popping up from people who don't know the condition or didn't really read the post before responding.

    OP, the sluggish feeling is very common when switching to low carb. It usually lasts a few days to a week and then it goes away as long as you consistently keep your carbs low. Your body is switching from burning glycogen to fat for energy which is a perfectly normal process. However, your energy will be low until the process is complete. If you have high carb days during this time you'll set yourself back and it'll take longer to feel better so really be consistent with it, especially at first.
  • Chaskavitch
    Chaskavitch Posts: 172 Member
    There is also a low carb group. Lots of support for a low-carb lifestyle, recipes, suggestions, etc. I think there are some ladies on there with hormonal issues (IDK if it is PCOS specifically) that they're managing with diet/lifestyle changes, so you might get some more specific info if you post there too.

    http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/group/394-low-carber-daily-forum-the-lcd-group
  • maren45
    maren45 Posts: 2
    edited April 2015
    You read wrong. Weight loss is calories in vs. calories out. Eat at a calorie deficit and you'll lose weight. Don't make it more complicated than it is.

    The human body processes carbs, fats and proteins in different ways. Carbs are way more fattening even if they're often far lower in calories. Limit your carb intake and you should see great results. It can be hard to begin with so maybe try doing an intermittent carb "fast". So you'd try to eat virtually no carbs (don't stress about it though) just get some protein instead and some healthy fats like avocado. Then the next day you can eat a bit more of carby food, you know, treat yourself (within reason) and just keep doing that and finding good low-carb recipes so you won't miss carbs so much.
  • Unknown
    edited April 2015
    This content has been removed.
  • Keto_Tara
    Keto_Tara Posts: 3
    edited April 2015
    I don't have PCOS, but I'm doing keto (low carb) and there are quite a few people in the reddit keto community with PCOS who have had wonderful results on this diet.

    My diary is public if you'd like to have a nose at what I eat every day. You're welcome to add me as well.

    A girl with PCOS posted this yesterday:
    http://www.reddit.com/r/keto/comments/30vps2/pics_1_month_15_lbs_down_still_have_lots_of_work/
  • LKArgh
    LKArgh Posts: 5,178 Member
    I was diagnosed with PCOS more than 20 years ago. I am also insuline resitant. For me, I am completely symptom free when I maintain my weight at the lowest part of the healthy range and exercise regularly. I have never been on a low carb diet, although at times I have been on a diabetes eating plan (not the same at all as low carb). The emphasis from all the drs I have seen throughout the years was on exercise and on wathing calories. Since I have managed to have 3 babies this way, I can say it has worked for me.
  • kalamitykate83
    kalamitykate83 Posts: 227 Member
    You can still have healthy carbs, like sweet potato, brown rice, quinoa, oats. Try switching what you usually have carb wise to things like this to start with if I was you. Also, make sure you're getting plenty of healthy fats!
  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,426 MFP Moderator
    maren45 wrote: »
    You read wrong. Weight loss is calories in vs. calories out. Eat at a calorie deficit and you'll lose weight. Don't make it more complicated than it is.

    The human body processes carbs, fats and proteins in different ways. Carbs are way more fattening even if they're often far lower in calories. Limit your carb intake and you should see great results. It can be hard to begin with so maybe try doing an intermittent carb "fast". So you'd try to eat virtually no carbs (don't stress about it though) just get some protein instead and some healthy fats like avocado. Then the next day you can eat a bit more of carby food, you know, treat yourself (within reason) and just keep doing that and finding good low-carb recipes so you won't miss carbs so much.

    That isn't correct. While your body will breakdown nutrients differently, if you maintain protein and calories the same, their fat loss will be the same, as demonstrated here. Where people would suggest you see greater weight loss with low carb is the initial glycogen depletion (water weight loss) over the first few weeks.

    A natural benefit of low carb is that you increase fats significantly, which increase satiety and may make things easier. And while for some this is an effective weight loss strategy, but for a person like me, the restriction will cause binges. Overall though, there is NO one best diet and going low carb, for the general population, will not automatically make the weight drop off.

    But for the OP, generally women who have PCOS need to limit carbs. I generally see between 80-120g total to be effective. You can go lower, but that may be personal preference or a little trial and error. The biggest thing is, if you lower carbs, you must increase fats. And I would also recommend the OP check out the groups since she has specific medical issues.

  • eric_sg61
    eric_sg61 Posts: 2,925 Member
    maren45 wrote: »
    You read wrong. Weight loss is calories in vs. calories out. Eat at a calorie deficit and you'll lose weight. Don't make it more complicated than it is.

    The human body processes carbs, fats and proteins in different ways. Carbs are way more fattening even if they're often far lower in calories. Limit your carb intake and you should see great results. It can be hard to begin with so maybe try doing an intermittent carb "fast". So you'd try to eat virtually no carbs (don't stress about it though) just get some protein instead and some healthy fats like avocado. Then the next day you can eat a bit more of carby food, you know, treat yourself (within reason) and just keep doing that and finding good low-carb recipes so you won't miss carbs so much.

    You know how I know you've never seen an overfeeding study. Its the fat that gets stored
  • Queenmunchy
    Queenmunchy Posts: 3,380 Member
    You can really eat anything any time of day, but for a "traditional" menu:

    Breakfast:
    -omelettes, bacon, sausage, eggs in any form

    Lunch:
    -soup, salad, sandwich wraps made of greens

    Dinner:
    -Zoodles with sauce, stew, chili, stuffed vegetables, stir fry, curries, any protein plus any non-starchy vegetable
  • Sugarbeat
    Sugarbeat Posts: 824 Member
    You can really eat anything any time of day, but for a "traditional" menu:

    Breakfast:
    -omelettes, bacon, sausage, eggs in any form

    Lunch:
    -soup, salad, sandwich wraps made of greens

    Dinner:
    -Zoodles with sauce, stew, chili, stuffed vegetables, stir fry, curries, any protein plus any non-starchy vegetable

    This, only I add veggies to breakfast. I'm LCHF and T2D, not PCOS. Low carb may not be the only way to lose weight with PCOS but from what I've read its helped a lot of women with that issue not only lose weight but feel better overall. Please come and join us in the low carb group.
  • yarwell
    yarwell Posts: 10,477 Member
    psulemon wrote: »
    That isn't correct. While your body will breakdown nutrients differently, if you maintain protein and calories the same, their fat loss will be the same, as demonstrated here.

    Do you find a single study which is partly staffed by the author of one of the diets tested and employees of his company / foundation to be a credible reference ?

    Always worth looking at more than one study, as at http://authoritynutrition.com/23-studies-on-low-carb-and-low-fat-diets/ , http://smashthefat.com/science/ and http://www.dietdoctor.com/science for a list.
  • yarwell
    yarwell Posts: 10,477 Member
    eric_sg61 wrote: »
    You know how I know you've never seen an overfeeding study. Its the fat that gets stored

    Depends on the fat, see below, but it's true that in general eating carbs suppresses the oxidation of fat and the release of fat from storage - ie the fat gets stored on account of eating carbs.

    cornoil.png

  • eric_sg61
    eric_sg61 Posts: 2,925 Member
    edited April 2015
    yarwell wrote: »
    psulemon wrote: »
    That isn't correct. While your body will breakdown nutrients differently, if you maintain protein and calories the same, their fat loss will be the same, as demonstrated here.

    Do you find a single study which is partly staffed by the author of one of the diets tested and employees of his company / foundation to be a credible reference ?

    Always worth looking at more than one study, as at http://authoritynutrition.com/23-studies-on-low-carb-and-low-fat-diets/ , http://smashthefat.com/science/ and http://www.dietdoctor.com/science for a list.

    Wow extremely unbiased sources, and Sam Feltman is a considered a joke amongst nutrition science researchers
  • yarwell
    yarwell Posts: 10,477 Member
    edited April 2015
    It's a list of references, none of which refer to sam's personal n=1 experiments IIRC. Do you have a better list ? Sam wouldn't consider himself a researcher, but I can imagine his activities causing distress to some (even if they can't even spell his name).
  • eric_sg61
    eric_sg61 Posts: 2,925 Member
    yarwell wrote: »
    It's a list of references, none of which refer to sam's personal n=1 experiments IIRC. Do you have a better list ? Sam wouldn't consider himself a researcher, but I can imagine his activities causing distress to some (even if they can't even spell his name).
    http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0100652
    http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25182101
    http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23035144
  • yarwell
    yarwell Posts: 10,477 Member
    So no actual experiments then, only meta-analyses that pick and choose inputs and dilute the outcomes out of existence ?
  • eric_sg61
    eric_sg61 Posts: 2,925 Member
    yarwell wrote: »
    So no actual experiments then, only meta-analyses that pick and choose inputs and dilute the outcomes out of existence ?

    But, you'll take the hand-picked low carb studies that do not control the confounding variable of matching protein intake smh
  • JenniferIsLosingIt
    JenniferIsLosingIt Posts: 595 Member
    Laura_134 wrote: »
    Today I was diagnosed with Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome and my doctor has told me that I need to lose some weight. Wondering if there is anyone out there with the same condition and if so what do your everyday meal plans look like? I've read that the best thing is low carbs, but i've had some problems in the past when I have tried this, such as constantly feeling drained and becoming light headed.

    Any help will be appreciated!

    Thank you :smiley:

    You read wrong. Weight loss is calories in vs. calories out. Eat at a calorie deficit and you'll lose weight. Don't make it more complicated than it is.

    Sadly for many with PCOS cico is not true. It is the combination of foods in addition to cico. cant lump all intoone box and make it fit.
  • ndj1979
    ndj1979 Posts: 29,136 Member
    maren45 wrote: »
    You read wrong. Weight loss is calories in vs. calories out. Eat at a calorie deficit and you'll lose weight. Don't make it more complicated than it is.

    The human body processes carbs, fats and proteins in different ways. Carbs are way more fattening even if they're often far lower in calories. Limit your carb intake and you should see great results. It can be hard to begin with so maybe try doing an intermittent carb "fast". So you'd try to eat virtually no carbs (don't stress about it though) just get some protein instead and some healthy fats like avocado. Then the next day you can eat a bit more of carby food, you know, treat yourself (within reason) and just keep doing that and finding good low-carb recipes so you won't miss carbs so much.

    so much no ...

    why not just eat in a calorie deficit and hit your macro/micros?

    why do you have to come up with some complex carb cycling routine..???
  • yarwell
    yarwell Posts: 10,477 Member
    You don't have a list then ? One of those meta-analyses eliminates anything that isn't isocaloric. Why ? Is it too painful that the low carb people ate less voluntarily or ate more and lost more or whatever. Hand picked for sure.

    Seems you want to hand pick isoprotein cases, I'm waiting for this list of RCTs that pop out with low fat doing better than low carb. As far as I am a ware the lists I posted incorporate any study with a low carb arm (probably require lower than the <=45 from carbs bollocks in the meta-analyses) so look forward to being corrected with RCTs that have low carb arms with contrary outcomes ie low carb coming out worse.
  • alfiedn
    alfiedn Posts: 425 Member
    There's a group called P.C.O.SIS that you should check out. I am on there as well. Basically, my doctor recommended a diabetic-type diet to alleviate PCOS symptoms and did recommend low carb. The reason is that carbohydrate rich foods and sugars spike your blood sugars, which spikes your insulin. Progesterone, Estrogin, and Testosterone are all derived from insulin. Most PCOS people produce too much testosterone when their insulin levels spike, so regulating them will help regulate your hormone levels.

    Many of the women in that group are very understanding of our specific health needs and dietary needs. Everyone is different and does have a different diet style, but a lot of them are finding success in eating low carb, high fat.

    Here's an article:
    http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1334192/
  • eric_sg61
    eric_sg61 Posts: 2,925 Member
    yarwell wrote: »
    You don't have a list then ? One of those meta-analyses eliminates anything that isn't isocaloric. Why ? Is it too painful that the low carb people ate less voluntarily or ate more and lost more or whatever. Hand picked for sure.

    Seems you want to hand pick isoprotein cases, I'm waiting for this list of RCTs that pop out with low fat doing better than low carb. As far as I am a ware the lists I posted incorporate any study with a low carb arm (probably require lower than the <=45 from carbs bollocks in the meta-analyses) so look forward to being corrected with RCTs that have low carb arms with contrary outcomes ie low carb coming out worse.
    You realize most all the 23 studies you posted were part of the meta-analysis.
    http://m.runnersworld.com/weight-loss/low-fat-diet-tops-low-carb-in-first-controlled-trial

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