Please Help - Is this Normal Weight Loss Struggles or PCOS Sabotaging??

smarrell
smarrell Posts: 32 Member
I've tried to seriously loss weight three times in my life. In my mid 30s and last year, I watched what I ate from a total calorie perspective and I walked every day. And every morning I would weigh myself, I would see a little drop. I was very successful with my loss in my 30s and kept the weight off for two years. Then life happened, and two kids later, the weight was slowly back. Last year same thing. Worked at it, saw a little drop every morning. But I got sick and the kids got sick and I just stopped walking, stopped tracking and of course, the weight came back.

This time around, I'm working harder than I ever have before. I started July 2. I'm keeping my calories between 1050 and 1200. I'm hitting 10K steps every day. I'm at the gym walking fast, with little sprints, 6 days a week. I started swimming. I'm weighing all the food I eat. I haven't had a soda since June! And some days the scale goes down, some days it stays the same, and some days it goes up. Overall, since July 2, I've lost 14.4 lbs. But I feel like I'm working harder than that. The stupid complete your entry button keeps saying that if every day were like today, I'd be much thinner than I'm getting.

So is this normal weight loss and I was just lucky the first two times, or is this PCOS?! I take 1000 mg Metformin twice a day. My endo recently added spiro (50 mg twice day for hair loss). I'm on BCP. I had some heart health blood work done in June, right before I started which showed my fasting glucose was 81. My Triglycerides though were 247.

Replies

  • HayleyAnne012911
    HayleyAnne012911 Posts: 79 Member
    First and foremost, I suggest for your mental health, to not weigh yourself daily. It just discourages you. I try to go bi-weekly on the scale so I get excited to see where I am. As for the amount you lost, I'm not sure how much you weigh but 14.4 pounds in a little over a month is great! And it's healthy! I am also on metformin and jardiance for my diabetes. I recently was able to lower my a1c in 4 months from a 10.5% to 6.4%. and my Trigs are high as well at 307, but they say my thyroid is fine so I'm just going with the flow. My dr is giving me phentermine for appetite control...have you ever tried that?
  • smarrell
    smarrell Posts: 32 Member
    Thanks. My husband says the same about daily weighing but in the past, it's kept me so motivated. I had the perfect day last week. FitBit said I took 17.8K steps, covered 8.5 miles, 83 active minutes, 26 flight of steps and burned 2722 calories. MFP said I ate 1063 calories. I woke up 1.2 lbs heavier.

    I haven't tried phentermine. I'm actually doing pretty good with the calories I'm eating. I get a little craving here and there but I'm usually able to distract myself out of it.
  • stacicali
    stacicali Posts: 137 Member
    First of all, congrats on all your hard work. You are really working your tail off! My 2 cents is to ask your dr for a fasting insulin blood test. From what I've read, if your insulin is higher than 5, you are fighting an uphill battle against your body from storing any extra calories (esp carbs and sugar) as fat. Google ways to lower insulin if that's what's going on. Your calories sound low to me, but I'm pretty chicken about going below 1300 for fear of slowing the metabolism. Have you tried intermittent fasting? Sounds scary, but the method where you stop eating around 6 or 7 at night, sleep, then have nothing but water and/or a black coffee until lunch at noon is surprisingly easy. I did that twice last week for the first time and lost 3 lbs on vacation! Talk to your dr about it first though. Some women may experience hormonal and sleep upset if done too frequently. Like we need more hormonal problems
  • stacicali
    stacicali Posts: 137 Member
    Oh - and have you tried the supplement Myo-inositol?
  • smarrell
    smarrell Posts: 32 Member
    stacicali wrote: »
    Oh - and have you tried the supplement Myo-inositol?

    Thanks so much for your reply. I'll ask about the fasting insulin. I haven't tried myo-inositol but I'll check it out!
  • KnitOrMiss
    KnitOrMiss Posts: 10,103 Member
    Make sure you're doing well on water. Met and Spiro together amplified my dehydration majorly. I agree with @staciali - the insulin is likely at play some. My insulin levels have gotten high several times, but they don't affect my glucose enough to raise any flags, so don't listen to that argument.

    Also, get the real thyroid tests done. As @HayleyAnne012911 said, her tests didn't come back showing issues, but you can have major problems for around 15 years before the problems show up on "standard" tests, because most doctors don't have the specialty education to diagnose this properly... With trigs like that, I'd say unless you have a super rare genetic thing going on, or eat starch carbs and sugary stuff often, you very likely have an underlying thyroid issue at play.

    My IR (insulin resistance) and hypothyroidism combined with the PCOS make me a little crazy trying to do anything healthy, but I refuse to quit fighting.

    Congrats on all your great progress so far (FABULOUS!!!), and I hope you find more answers...
  • smarrell
    smarrell Posts: 32 Member
    KnitOrMiss wrote: »
    Make sure you're doing well on water. Met and Spiro together amplified my dehydration majorly. I agree with @staciali - the insulin is likely at play some. My insulin levels have gotten high several times, but they don't affect my glucose enough to raise any flags, so don't listen to that argument.

    Also, get the real thyroid tests done. As @HayleyAnne012911 said, her tests didn't come back showing issues, but you can have major problems for around 15 years before the problems show up on "standard" tests, because most doctors don't have the specialty education to diagnose this properly... With trigs like that, I'd say unless you have a super rare genetic thing going on, or eat starch carbs and sugary stuff often, you very likely have an underlying thyroid issue at play.

    My IR (insulin resistance) and hypothyroidism combined with the PCOS make me a little crazy trying to do anything healthy, but I refuse to quit fighting.

    Congrats on all your great progress so far (FABULOUS!!!), and I hope you find more answers...

    Thank you! For replying and the compliment. I'm trying to be nice to myself but it's hard. I haven't been drinking as much as I should so I'll work on that. And I'm going to ask my doctor for the fasting insulin test. I don't see my endo until October but hoping I can get blood work prior to the appt. What do you mean by real thyroid tests?

    Thanks again!
  • KnitOrMiss
    KnitOrMiss Posts: 10,103 Member
    @smarrell - Standard thyroid tests are TSH only, or TSH and Total T4 and/or T3 numbers. Without getting the Reverse number for T3, it's hard to get a good picture. THIS SITE has kind of a summary of the type of tests you should look at getting to get a good true snapshot of your thyroid health (some of the co-factor minerals aren't as important until you determine whether or not you have an issue), but personally, I recommend tests based on this "sub-page" within that site:

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    I don't worry as much about the saliva tests unless further testing is indicated, as those can be more expensive, etc.

    On the pic that is green, in my opinion, for initial screening/testing, I personally recommend tests: 1 to 5 (5 being optional the first time around, but to me it suggests low stomach acid if low in that), and 7 to 9. Those are the ones I focus on having run at each appointment while I work to manage my numbers. The antibodies tests are particularly important, as are the reverse numbers, because they can show problems, even with the TSH appears normal. Additionally, that range is extensive and covers everything from birth to death. I've found through my doctor that at 40 years old, my TSH should be UNDER 2 (not allowable up to the nearly 4 "acceptable" on my lab's listed ranges - that's generally for young, growing kids). Someone else told me that "most" folks report feeling best at around a 1.5 number...

    The reverse T3 numbers, when compared to the total and free numbers, and the T4 numbers can show you whether you're effectively converting from T4 to T3, which is what our bodies do... The antibodies can show problems long before the results show in the TSH number...as well that the T3/T4 comparison numbers... Hope this helps!
  • smarrell
    smarrell Posts: 32 Member
    Thanks KnitorMiss. Your advice has been tremendously helpful!!
  • KnitOrMiss
    KnitOrMiss Posts: 10,103 Member
    You're welcome. I just really want to pass on all the great info I've learned. I'm just finally getting my thyroid leveled out, and really, it's been a decade or more since I started having symptoms... If I can save a single person 5 hours of thyroid hell, I am so going to do it!
  • smarrell
    smarrell Posts: 32 Member
    KnitOrMiss wrote: »
    You're welcome. I just really want to pass on all the great info I've learned. I'm just finally getting my thyroid leveled out, and really, it's been a decade or more since I started having symptoms... If I can save a single person 5 hours of thyroid hell, I am so going to do it!

    And my endo basically said we can check your TSH if you want but the other tests aren't necessary. There's a very well known PCOS endo in my area but his next appt for new patients is in January. I'm hoping my PCP will at least check my insulin. I'm so frustrated.
  • KnitOrMiss
    KnitOrMiss Posts: 10,103 Member
    I would honestly fire that endo and get another one. Period. It is not worth it if a doctor puts down your concerns as unnecessary. "we can check your TSH." Um, yeah, this should be a standard test each 6-12 months for anyone struggling. And telling you your fasting insulin doesn't need to be tested??? When you are already on Metformin????? *sigh*
  • smarrell
    smarrell Posts: 32 Member
    I'm beyond frustrated. I have an appointment with my PCP next week. I took the January appointment with the fancy endo. I just don't want to sit around and wait until then to do something. Scale hasn't moved in days and I'm working so hard. I don't know what else to do. Errr.
  • KnitOrMiss
    KnitOrMiss Posts: 10,103 Member
    Other than water weight, the scale reflects what you did 2 weeks ago, not yesterday. Getting healthier is a lesson in patience queued up to test even the saintly!!

    Okay, so rereading - make sure you're getting decent sodium with all that water. With all the extra exercise and activity, you're likely to need extra electrolytes: including sodium and water, etc. Additionally, any time you work a muscle, it will hold in water until it repairs/builds. So daily weighing will be hard without consistent activity and all that.

    That being said, inositol is HUGE with leveling out hormones. Especially after children (huge adrenal stresses on the body) and as we age, hormones get all kind of wacky. Generally, this doesn't have any interactions unless you're using medication to stop cycles (implant like Nexplanon or whatever - or continuous BCP)...it'll try to fix that. Normal cycles are okay, it sees that as normal, even with BCP.

    Magnesium is super important. It's used in about 900 body functions, and our soil and foods are so depleted.

    Minimizing carbs - specifically sugars and grains - can help dramatically in thyroid support as well as normal PCOS nonsense.

    Increasing fats (while lowering carbs) - is huge to support hormonal health.

    Be sure you are getting enough protein to support all that activity.

    Nearly everyone needs to supplement D3/K2 (other cofactors can help, but aren't super critical at first), B12/B Complex with Folate, etc. D3 is generally best taken in a combo with D3/K2/Magnesium/Potassium/Boron... B12 needs to be taken with B-Complex, or you can be stripped of the other B's. Iodine can be supplemented slowly and carefully (many folks are deficient, many are sensitive or allergic to certain forms, and if you have auto-immune thyroid issues - like Hashimoto's - which you'd probably know by now due to crazy symptoms, excess iodine can make it worse, but if you start slow and monitor, you can probably try it). Iodine taken with my thyroid meds has helped a lot. Low stomach acid can prevent you converting T4 to T3, which needs to happen... Low stomach acid is also a key component in not absorbing iron well. Selenium and such are other thyroid support supps, but that can get complicated.

    Intermittent workouts (intensity followed by easy effort) and such like that are really good for PCOS, as is heavy lifting. Intermittent fasting is great, too. Even delaying a meal by an hour can have huge advantages. The less time insulin is active in our systems, the more "fat burning" time we have - but don't push it too far, not eating when truly hungry stresses out our bodies and adrenals....

    I think those are the best "light" suggestions I have that don't really interfere much with anything else...
  • smarrell
    smarrell Posts: 32 Member
    Thanks KnitorMiss! I'm looking at all the supplements and I talked to my doctor. She suggested Mediloss which is a low carb, high protein plan. I'm going to meet with them end of next week. I also got recommendations for new endos. Of course, new patient appts are in November!! I'm going to keep calling though and hope for a cancellation.
  • KnitOrMiss
    KnitOrMiss Posts: 10,103 Member
    High protein (in general) is not a good idea. (Medical science remains "scared" of fat, despite multiple dietary plans PROVING it is safe, healthy, and productive when utilized properly.

    High protein is very hard on your kidneys - and you will not be satiated. That is why if you are going low carb, you need to go high fat with moderate protein. If you have insulin resistance, excess protein can create further issues. Only carbs or fat can be used for energy. Protein is used for building muscles. So if you don't have carbs, and you don't have fats, you will destroy what is left of your hormones (they require fats for proper function), and you will always be hungry, and it will be hard to stay on plan.

    That being said, I don't know anything about this plan specifically. Perhaps @Dragonwolf can provide some better and more scientific information.

    Also, most endocrinologists have a "cancellation wait list." I'd ask to be put on that list instead of having to call back once a week or something. And that is both understandable and frustrating to be put off until November! Remember, most should offer a 5 minute consultation so you can ask general questions about their knowledge and preferences to see if you will be a good fit, prior to wasting your time and theirs on an appointment that may prove frustrating...

    Best of luck!
  • smarrell
    smarrell Posts: 32 Member
    Thanks! I think I misspoke. I think it's a ketogenic plan. I did ask about a cancellation list but they said to just keep calling. My PCP, who I really like, highly recommended her so I'm hopeful this will be a good fit.
  • KnitOrMiss
    KnitOrMiss Posts: 10,103 Member
    Best of luck. If it is a ketogenic plan, meaning low carb, high fat, moderate protein, you should be good finding your way there, as long as the plans are flexible once you start to find your groove. I think we've linked a couple groups many of us are in for similar plans...

    http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/group/1143-keto

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

    These are two of my personal favorites. The first one is only ketogenic diets - and is less active. The second is any kind of active carb restriction from slow carb like South Beach to full on ketogenic and "carnivore" plans... And finding a doctor of any type is fabulous... Congrats on that!
  • KnitOrMiss
    KnitOrMiss Posts: 10,103 Member
    This kind of scares me a bit: http://www.dietspotlight.com/medi-weightloss-clinics-review/

    But this gives great feedback: https://mymediweightlossrecipesandtips.wordpress.com/2009/08/06/first-week-on-medi-weight-loss-program/

    That all being said, if it is ketogenic, it can be done without this specific program, but if you need a program to make it easier for you to follow and stick with, and this is in your budget, I hope it works! Looking forward to updates. :)
  • smarrell
    smarrell Posts: 32 Member
    I had read both of those! Fortunately it's covered by my insurance (which for some reason gives me good feels) and we've actually hit our out of pocket max for the year due to some other fun stuff. So, I think it'll be a good starting place. I'll let you know how it goes. I've got some vacation time next week so I'm starting next Friday. Here's to a productive September for all of us!
  • KnitOrMiss
    KnitOrMiss Posts: 10,103 Member
    Hear hear!!! Sounds like the perfect storm. Hope it's AMAZING for you.