Reducing calories, working out AND gaining weight???

I've been vegan for maybe 20 years now, and my bloodwork always comes back essentially perfect.

But, I did have PCOS my whole life. It was never a problem for me, and I had just the main symptom (inovulatory dysfunction).

Years went by where I was happy, helthy, active, and was always 97lbs no matter what I ate or did. I put on about 20lbs in my 30s, but it looked better on me, so I was fine with that, and didn't really worry about why.

In my early 40s, I suddenly began gaining weight. I cut calories and began exercisng like mad, yet I gained weight.

It was actually my failure that led to my success. I knew I was eating a strict diet and exercising enough to lose weight, so I knew something else must be up. When I searched online for terms like dieting and exercising like crazy but gaining weight, the most common results were PCOS wonen with the same problem. Additional research explained the link between PCOS and insulin resistance, plus a natural way to positively improve that. Literally, from the day I started taking a natural insulin sensitizer, I began losing weight. I went five years unable to lose even a pound, and two months only gaining weight with diet and exercise. It was undeniable that insulin was the issue, and the insulin sensitizer was the "solution". My weight loss graph is a steady, downward line from the day I started taking it.

That is what happened to me. You are probably not insulin resistant. But I can totally relate to your story. I went 2 months eating hardly anything and exercising a lot, every day, and gained 6lbs.

Now that my body's response to food (i.e, the amount of insulin I produce) is more normal, diet & exercise are doing their thing. I've been averaging 2.5lbs lost/week for two months or so, now. As complicated as the whole process was, with months of despair and accusations I was lying about my diet or exercise level, and weeks of research, I feel vindicated now, learning it was actually as simple as PCOS-related insulin resstance, which turned out to be pretty easy to deal with.

The only advice I can give is to stick with it until you figure out exactly what works for you. Try different things. Try cutting-out more simple carb's. Try upping your protein. Try eating more calories, over more frequent meals. Try more cardio. Try, try, try... If I had given up after 2 months, I wouldn't know what I know now, and I wouldn't be where I am now.

You can't do programs like p90x and eat 1500 calories. The minimum for those programs is 1800 as you burn a ton of calories. You gain weight due to water retention as your muscle are requiring more to repair but since it's not getting enough food, it's holding to the water and calories for protection.


lesson: Eat more! Start around 1800 calories.

Try upping your calories, with work your bmr must be above 1500 cals? Also eat back you exercise calories and see how you go. Sounds counterintuitive but seems to work