I have been struggling with this horrendous syndrome for 20 years! The only thing that works for me is low glycemic index and exercise vitamins multi, chromium, cq10, nac, fish oils and all organic foods . I have to lose 85 lbs

Unfortunately, there is no one plan that's even remotely guaranteed to work, and there's no "eat this, do this, lose weight" thing. There are just far too many variables when it comes to PCOS, and some women's bodies are simply resistant to letting go of the weight. Whatever way you choose, it requires consistency and patience. You can't half-*kitten* it and expect it to still work. It just doesn't work that way for most of us (especially those of us that are "hard losers").

That said, here is what I generally recommend:

Whole Foods This is the primary common denominator among the ways of eating that do work for women with PCOS. Ditch all processed and boxed foods, in favor of minimally processed meats, fats, vegetables, and fruits.

No or Very Minimal Sugar From All Sources This is the other big common denominator among what works. Get your carbs primarily from non-starchy vegetables and maybe some starchy vegetables. Avoid all refined sugars, and minimize intake of high sugar fruits in favor of low sugar fruits like berries and stone fruits. Fruits are no better for us, due to our impaired ability to handle the sugars.

Low-Glycemic or Low Carb This is the way that I've seen work the most. Some women can get results from just going low glycemic (which, if you follow the two above items, you're already pretty much there), but a lot of us have better results when we go low or very low carb. This means avoiding all starchy foods (even vegetables) and minimizing all fruit intake (except for fatty fruits like coconut and avocado), and primarily eating high fiber, non-starchy vegetables (green vegetables, some bright colored vegetables, etc) for our carb intake.

Moderate, High-Quality Protein Adequate protein is about .5-1g per pound of lean mass, or about 80-100g for most women. Protein is insulinogenic, meaning it raises insulin independent of any sugar content. Since our insulin usually already runs high, we don't want to do this with diet more than what's necessary to maintain lean mass. Get the best meat that you can afford, ideally pastured, which has the least amount of environmental toxins and better nutrient profiles than their industrially-raised counterparts. This doesn't have to be the fancy cuts, pastured eggs and 75/25 hamburger is better than conventional filet mignon.

Ample Fats Regardless of how much you lower your carbohydrate intake, you need to provide the body with fuel, and protein is not that fuel. So what's left? Fat. Specifically, you want to favor saturated (yes, saturated) and monounsaturated fats. Polyunsaturated fats should be moderated, and artificial trans fats and oxidized fats should be avoided like the plague. This means you'll want real butter, coconut oil, lard, and/or tallow for cooking (high saturated fat content is heat stable), and cold pressed oils like avocado, walnut, macadamia nut, and olive oil for cold uses like mayo or dressing. Stay away from seed oils, vegetable oils, and anything hydrogenated. These are generally GMO and/or go through some nasty processes to extract the oils, which oxidizes them (because of their high polyunsaturated fat content, which is very heat unstable). No, the saturated fats won't kill you, that was a myth that's been thoroughly debunked over and over over the past 70 years. Media has only just caught back up.

Lower Than Normal Calories Odds are, you'll have to drop your calories a little lower than MFP says is required to lose weight at a given rate. On a conventional (USDA) diet, studies have shown that women with PCOS have a resting metabolic rate of as low as 1,100 calories. Anecdotal evidence suggests that certain nonconventional diets (like very low carb or other diets that focus on high nutrient density) can increase the metabolic rate, allowing for a more sane calorie intake to lose weight, but this might still be lower than what all of the calculators say. So, if MFP says you should lose 1lb a week on 1,700 calories, and you're doing all of the above and still not losing, try dropping down to 1,500 for a couple of weeks and see if that changes anything.

Minimal Or No Grains From what I've seen, there's quite a bit of crossover between gluten intolerance and PCOS. I highly recommend at least a 4-6 week trial of no grains to see how you react. If you go low carb, you pretty much have to minimize or eliminate grains, anyway, since they're starchy and have a rather low nutrient density, but I feel this is worth mentioning. Modern grains are vastly different from their ancestors, so if you want to keep grains, favor the "ancient grains" like Einkorn.

Minimal Or No Conventional Soy Not only is most soy GMO, it's also a potent source of phytoestrogens, which can throw off our already delicate hormonal balance. If you want to consume soy, try to stick to traditionally fermented versions, since the fermentation process neutralizes a lot of the harmful substances in it. I personally just avoid soy altogether.

Moderate And Specific Or No Dairy Whey, one of the main proteins in milk, is insulinogenic comparable to white bread. Casein, the other main protein, is often cross-reactive with gluten. I recommend a trial of avoiding dairy for 4-6 weeks, then reintroducing it to see how you react. If you have insulin issues, try to avoid dairy products with a lot of whey (whey protein powders, ricotta and other protein cheeses, etc). If you have issues with gluten, be cautious of casein-heavy products (cheeses, Greek style yogurts, etc). For all dairy, stick to full-fat varieties. Favor cream over regular milk. If you're doing low carb, favor cream based and hard cheeses (cream cheese, cheddar, etc), which have a lower carb content. If you can, favor raw over pasteurized (if you can't get raw, look for low-heat pasteurized), and non-homogenized over homogenized, but get the best you have available to you. Butter is usually okay, because it has very little protein or lactose, but you can take it a step further and make clarified butter or ghee, which is all butterfat. These days, I generally just stick to butter, cheese, and cream for my dairy.

Reduce Exposure To Environmental Toxins There are a lot of endocrine disruptors in our household products. Do what you can to reduce your exposure to them, especially in things you come in direct contact with. Switch to real soap, the ingredient list should list things like "sodium coconate" or "sodium tallowate" (or sodium hydroxide/lye and coconut oil, olive oil, or other oils; don't worry, the sodium hydroxide is consumed in the soapmaking process) instead of "sodium laurel sulfate" or other "sulfate" (and other detergent) names. When in doubt, castile soap is a safe go-to. Learn to make your own detergent, shampoo, deodorant, and skincare products (my favorite resource for these types of things is http://wellnessmama.com/), at the very least. The skin is the largest organ, and anything that comes in contact with your skin gets absorbed to some degree. It's better, then, for things to either be neutral, or better yet, positive for your body. Cleaning supplies are another good place to switch to homemade and natural products. Conventional ones have some nasty chemicals in them, and most of them aren't needed. Things like baking soda, vinegar, and Borax can replace all of your cleaning supplies. (As an added bonus, you save money this way.) If you can, try to start switching away from plastic containers and favor glass or silicone whenever you can. Trade your teflon and aluminium stuff for stainless steel, cast iron, or ceramic.

Progressive Strength Training I'm partial to heavy weight lifting, but a progressive body weight routine should work, too. This does a few things -- 1. it maintains lean mass, not just muscle, but bone, too, which provides all sorts of benefits; 2. it helps balance hormones and sensitize the muscles to insulin. You should have a program for 2-3 days a week that is challenging enough that you can do 3-5 sets of 5-10 repetitions and have a hard time getting out the last couple of reps in the last couple of sets. You should also be progressing (more weight for the weight lifting, more advanced forms for the bodyweight) in your routine. No, it won't make you look like She-Hulk, even if your testosterone is high. Even with very high levels of testosterone, putting on muscle and looking like a bodybuilder requires a ton of dedication, years of training, and a very strict, very specific diet. (See also: http://www.nerdfitness.com/blog/2011/07/21/meet-staci-your-new-powerlifting-super-hero/)

Some Cardio The 2-hours a day, 5-days a week, medium to high intensity type "chronic" cardio is counterproductive, because it elevates cortisol, which hinders weight loss (and what weight it does go after is muscle). Instead, get a solid base with regular walking at a low to moderate pace (basically, your natural walking speed; I enjoy an hour of walking on my lunch breaks, especially when it's nice out, which has the added bonus of Vitamin D from the sun), and short sprint or high intensity interval sessions (no more than 30 minutes) up to 2 times per week.

Supplements There are a number here that can help, but get yourself tested, first. Know where your fasting insulin, estrogen, progesterone, testosterone, DHEA, LH, FSH, and cortisol are before you start spending money on supplements, otherwise you risk throwing your money away on supplements that aren't working for you. Inositol (the pseudovitamin B8) is a common one for insulin/blood sugar issues, as well as improving egg quality and aiding LH and FSH levels (if you can't get tested for whatever reason, this is a good supplement to start with, since it has almost no interactions and is generally pretty cheap). Vitex, or chasteberry, is good for general hormone balance, though it has some interactions and contraindications. Phosphatidyl Serine is a good one for lowering cortisol, which I've found to be helpful, though it does have some interactions (particularly with antidepressants and antihistamines). Probiotics are good in general, and especially when taking antibiotics (don't take them together, space your probiotics as far away from the antibiotics as you can). Vitamin D and Magnesium supplements are also common ones, but it's still a good idea to get your levels tested to make sure you'd benefit from supplementation of these or any vitamins, otherwise you're just throwing your money away.

This thread needs to be a sticky!

IslandSneezerooo wrote: »

This thread needs to be a sticky!

I've bookmarked it, so when I get some time, I'll clean it up and make a sticky out of it. I'm working on a post for my health blog on this anyway, so I'll probably combine the two in a more comprehensive one and make a sticky here.

mhulgan wrote: »

I don't know how much you need to lose or how active you currently are, but here is what worked for me. I am 5'11' and my max weight (not counting pregnancy) has been 205. I'm hovering around 175 now, so that's 30 lbs down and I have 10 to go. I know other women on here have different amounts to lose - that's why I mentioned it.

Along with Metformin, I restrict my sugar to 40 mg a day, and I work out hard five days a week. That's running, rowing, elliptical, etc 5 days a week for at least 30 minutes, and weight/resistance training tacked on to that. I also walk about 4 miles every day just to run errands (no car). I have been doing this consistently since January, and I have lost 4 lbs in three months. Then - over last week, I couldn't get to the gym for three days and I went crazy with some cookies...gained back those 4 lbs in less than a week.

So, my recommendation is find something you can realistically stick with, but also that pushes you. The unfortunate thing I have found is that if I eat and exercise like a 'normal' person, I gain weight.

I went to bodybuilding.com for a free weight training plan. (I don't pay any attention to their food recommendations or the protein powder they try to sell you). Don't worry - they have all levels and goals Having a set plan everyday that somebody else made for me had really helped!

Best wishes! Feel free to add me, and I'll try to shower you with encouragement

@mhulgan Also, a free app I've been told is great for when you can't get to the gym is called "Convict Conditioning," and it is essentially all body weight exercises made to do in small spaces...

I'm working on resolving my crazy exacerbated sun sensitivity before I get back to working out, as I'd prefer to be outside since the only gym I can get to is a tiny one in my apartment complex! LOL

leez839 wrote: »

@ravenstar25 i forgot to mention in this post that i take 1 tablet of metformin daily it was recommended to me by gynecologist but it seems to have developed resistance agaisnt my body

Without more details on that one, it's hard telling whether it has or not. There are a few possibilities for that:

1. You appear to pass the tablets. You're probably actually on the extended release (which is the more commonly prescribed one), which is actually a shell with medicine inside. Unless you've actually picked it up and verified that the medication is still inside, it's in your body and that's just the shell.
2. You have GI issues. This is common in the first few weeks of taking it, as well as any time you consume refined or simple carbohydrates (and in some cases, even unrefined or complex carbohydrates or even fiber). You have to adjust your diet accordingly.
3. It doesn't seem to be working at all (or it's objectively not working and your blood sugar and insulin are still high). 500mg (which is what one tab typically is) may not be enough for you. I know I don't respond until 2000mg, so you may need your dose increased.
4. You're not losing weight. Well, Metformin is not a weight loss pill, sorry. Weight loss is only a side effect, because it reduces insulin resistance, which is a common cause of issues losing weight. Remove that barrier, and things flow again. This doesn't always happen, though, because not everyone struggles to lose weight only because of insulin resistance.

Wow first thread I saw about PCOS with real helpful information by real woman for woman with PCOS, thank you! :-)