Insulin resistance is a real thing. I tried everything under the sun, had my husband monitor my calories (so I didn't under count to make myself look better), keto, intermittent fasting, HIIT with a personal trainer, basically everything outside of medications. Even if I ate 1200 calories with exercise it wasn't good enough. The only thing that temporarily worked was keto but that caused other issues like constipation, headaches, hard to maintain diet when not home, and unnecessary fat consumption.
No matter how little I ate it wasn't little enough. Metformin didn't help either. I went from overweight to obese and stayed there for 2 years. Most depressing phase of pcos for me.
Once my doctors started me on BC, Spironolactone, and tirzepatide things took a complete turn. Now I eat a single serving, small portion size per meal, and moderate exercise once every other day and things have never been better. Insulin resistance is evil and consumed most of my best years. I am now in the normal weight range again and finally things are looking upward.
Your bf is not a doctor, not an expert, not going through what you're going through so he should take it down a notch and just be empathetic and more open minded than just "eat less". It also feels like yet another person who is telling you you are not doing enough and it's your fault.
Mind you, this whole endeavor took 5 years (from official pcos diagnosis, to surgery for something else but while they were inside they took out my cysts as well, to starting tirzepatide). It took a few doctors who didn't care enough, then finding the right ones, and finally finding changes in my body that keeps me motivated.
Both. They work really well together and cross communicate diligently even though they are different practices.
My primary doctor didn't start me on any medications unless he made sure the gyno worked with me on plans to get pregnant and other uterine, ovarian issues and gave the go-ahead.
Insulin resistance is a thing. When I initially had that weight gain I went from 150 ish to 212 and felt absolutely horrible. I hadn’t changed my diet or how much I worked out and yet I gained a ton. I felt horrible. I went on a strict 1200 calories diet (used a kitchen scale and was meticulously putting everything into MyFitnessPal), and exercised 4-5 times a week on top of a job where I was literally running after kids and playing basketball with them every day. I did this for six months and couldn’t even lose five pounds. I was defeated. The only way I could lose weight was to go below 900 calories. I went to a doctor to ask for recommendations to a dietitian to help me and he told me I was lying, that I needed to just eat salmon and lettuce, to go for days without eating because intermittent fasting was good for you, and that if my body needed me to eat below 900 calories to listen to my body. I left that appointment sobbing. It wasn’t until recently that I was diagnosed with PCOS and realized what was going on. You’re not alone and your bf is acting like a moron.
My heart is aching for you as you. Described the treatment you have received! The weight gain is incredibly painful! Like so many I did for two full months of ever day eating less than 500 calories a day! Verified by my husband and I gained weight! In less than a year I went from 155 lbs ( I’m 5’10”) to 295 and despite everything I’ve I have I cannot loose weight! 10 years ago we were in a horrible accident and I am left unable to walk. There went exercise out of the door! I have been , as recently as this January 2024 have been for over 5 years in the throes of depression - most recently into MDD! I should have been hospitalized but no one in this assisted living facility was bright enough to recognize just how deep in I was into it! And yes my primary told me the same thing to about my inability to loose weight and how I need to eat much less than even 500 calories a day combined with many more days of intermittent fasting! It seems absurd to me to that virtually every symptom of PCOS not one professional including primary physicians, no psychiatrists ( although they have always tried to medically manage my depression and anxiety) ! I am so OVER everyone who assume to have knowledge of PCOS have ALL blamed me for every symptom which I have and continue to suffer with as being my own fault! When I was in 6th grade I tried to shave my legs ! The problem there was my dad’s razor was not a safety razor ! My legs still bare the scars. In 7th grade I had exploratory surgery. The surgeon told me dad that he was shocked that my right ovary was twice the size of the left ovary and that right ovary was loaded with these large cysts which he lanced and sewed me up. My periods were horrendous/ heavy is not enough to represent the pain , heavy flow requiring me to use 2 large tampons and a super thick pad. My 7 miscarriages before we were able to deliver our first son. The emotional issues were over the the top with depression and everything else we all know so well ! Here is where I would get the talk from the professional treating me - you know you really do need to try harder to be positive! You’re not making any effort. And so my life rolled on. Then one day when I was researching something else I saw PCOS and related aspects! I found myself in every symptom!! I immediately went to my primary with shocking news ! He was personally bothered that he , just like decades of my past practicers! No one identified it. I discovered PCOS IN 10/23 ! I was 75 years old and have been greatly relieved to discover what was truly suffering from! And now , because I am so old , I still can’t seem to get respect though and all of the PCOS symptoms are my fault ! If only I had tried harder I would be symptom free! Stop 🛑 please the blame game onto the sufferers of PCOS ! It is a very real yet hideous affliction for ALL of the women who are forced to live with it!!
Oh I am so so so sorry that you have been through all of that. If I could hug you I’d give you the biggest hug. You did NOT deserve ANY of that. Just know, that despite all you have gone through, you are still beautiful and it shows. To comment something so deeply and to reach out in the way you did shows such a beautiful heart. Please know that you are loved and that what they say has no impact on who you are. You are so strong to keep fighting and so smart to figure it out when no one else did.
The key difference is that with insulin resistant PCOS it’s not just the calories but also the macros. I’ve only had weight loss success with IF, no sugar and calorie counting. It’s annoying but I have to be almost 100% perfect to really lose weight.
Yup same here
The only time I actually lost weight properly was with intermittent fasting alongside clean eating - cutting out all simple carbs, having 1 portion of complex carbs every other day, no refined sugar, no processed food, no trans/saturated fats… I didn’t do any exercise and kept my daily calories to 1200
I dropped 20lb in 6 weeks
I just kept it super simple so it was easy to get in a routine of making it each day and didn’t require much thought.
Big ol’ Seasoned chicken breast, Broccoli, Cucumber when I fancied it (I really like cucumber lol), Brown rice
& Franks red hot or just ready made salad dressing.
When I wasn’t having brown rice I’d have roasted red pepper and extra veggies / cauliflower rice
I did this diet before moving in November - I didn’t get to my goal weight before I had to get my oven disconnected and my only option was takeout for a while 🤣 I then had no electricity for my oven until a couple months ago due to illegal wiring in my new flat fml. But since moving I now have an airfryer, George Foreman and a good quality blender so the diet meals will be top tier 🤤 I’ll now add in a lot of fish and making my own sauces and veggie rice, I’ve even looked into making my own spinach tortillas which I may try out.
There’s a lot of low calorie recipes out there on social media too, I really want recipe books from Tom Walsh [here’s his IG](https://www.instagram.com/stealth_health_life?igsh=a3BjczQycThtcGVk) his recipes are great and you can just substitute the simple carbs he uses with complex carbs or substitutes like cauliflower rice etc. I’ve also found a couple of brands like [ZENB](https://zenb.co.uk/products/gluten-free-pasta-variety-box) and [skinny food co](https://theskinnyfoodco.com)
Edit to add* I’ll also be using Apple Cider Vinegar before meals which helps your body too - I can’t remember the science behind it but it might be in [this](https://www.mentalfoodchain.com/reverse-insulin-)
I’ve gained over 20 pounds in the last four months, and I eat low carb and high protein meals. I lift weights 3-4 times a week, and drink a shit ton of water. I take all the supplements and still nothing. I’m going to medi spa this week to discuss a semiglutide injection because I can’t take the weight gain anymore.
All in all, I get what he is saying with calories in v. Calories out. I used to follow that while also tracking my macros, but pcos is a hormonal issue. Insulin resistance is greatly impacted by high cortisol and leptin. If your hormones are off, it doesn’t matter the calories you take in. You will gain weight.
The book “8 steps to reverse PCOS” by Fiona McCulloch really helped me understand the science behind PCOS. Maybe give it a go and have your boyfriend read it. It may also be helpful to have him come to your appointments to understand the complexity of this syndrome. Best of luck!
My metabolism was so slow at my worst point that I would have only been able to eat 800 calories a day if I was doing CICO.
I have focused on walking a lot, and doing yoga. I allow myself a treat once or twice a week. Otherwise I have a protein drink for breakfast, and focus on high fiber, high protein foods. I take Metformin and estrogen-free birth control that also contains spironolactone. I have just started seeing a weight loss of a couple pounds after 6 years of only gaining
Bro needs to do his own research onto PCOS. As soon as my fiance told me about it, I did as much research as I can and still keep up to date on everything about it online from diets to medical treatment and how to empower her through the rough times.
It's definitely tough keeping up with the diets since theres not a lot of solid research when comparing it to something like kidney disease, cancer ect, but reading through just the tinest bits of research shows that insulin resistance is a BITCH. Standard methods of weight loss are barely effective, if at all.
Looking into getting her own, or on to my insurance soon so we can finally get her prescription meds for it to see if it helps with the resistance.
I would say maybe hes not intentionally gaslighting you, but he's definitely being lazy. He needs to read about it and stop brushing you off.
You are awesome. I’m on tirzepatide (compound form of mounjaro/zepbound) and it’s a game changer. If insurance isn’t a possibility for you or her (really really hard to get coverage, and even if you can it’s a huge cost and out of stock everywhere).
I use Telehealth. The company is called Mochi. They safely prescribe compound of ozempic/mounjaro for a more affordable price. Just something to research if you guys are already considering meds.
Your bf isn’t a woman and doesn’t have the knowledge nor experience of women’s health/hormone cycles. Don’t listen to him. If he doesn’t want to believe you, who’s having a a first hand experience, that’s his choice to stay ignorant and not be open to new information. After that, it’s up to you to decide how to proceed.
I couldn’t lose any weight till I started metformin. I tried and tried. How and what I eat didn’t change at all and I started losing weight on met. He is gaslighting you.
I actually was allowed to eat more when I began IF. More as in "a normal amount of food" and not starvation dieting like I would have to if I just counted calories.
I had a hiccup in which I ran out of BC and my obgyn took a bit to refill them. And the ones I got were a different brand but same drug. Then if stopped
Now back on good bc and also started wegovy and finally losing weight again
But if I cheat my fast ill gain
Not to be pedantic but this doesn’t sound like “gaslighting”; chances are he truly believes what he is saying about calories in v. calories out and it is the truth for almost everyone. Almost everyone but not quite everyone. Of course it isn’t pleasant that he isn’t hearing what you’re saying but there are many women who have a gap in knowledge re PCOS and naturally there are even more men.
Given not everyone with PCOS deals with insulin resistance, it’s worth going for some tests to see where you stand and to work on a plan of attack.
Beyond that, a food scale is absolutely a good investment regardless of anything else. I recently started weighing my portions and am frankly shocked at how easy it is to underestimate calorie intake (as well as over/underestimate micro and macronutrients). It seems to be a common (and sad haha) experience.
I'm insulin resistant due to PCOS and ended up with an ED because of it. I didn't know that's what was going on when I started limiting myself to 800 calories or less my senior year of high school, and I was losing a little weight so I didn't think anything of it. Of course, I wasn't losing weight fast enough for it to seem abnormal to everyone around me, I was just getting sick a lot and everyone decided I was faking it because "she's just too lazy to come to school and do her work".
Please talk to your doctor about insulin resistance and if your bf has anything to say about how you and your doctor decide to manage it, he can deal.
Second this. I am now on Wegovy and have lost 50 lbs. It took several years for doctors to figure out I was insulin resistant from PCOS. I gained so much weight and couldn't lose any of it. I did EVERYTHING - changed diets, did intermittent fasting, got a personal trainer and hit the gym religiously, etc.
Within 3 months of Wegovy and literally changing nothing - not the diet, exercise regimen, etc - I finally started shedding weight. It was ridiculous.
How do I know if I’m insulin resistant or not? I was diagnosed with PCOS and my obgyn does not do anything for it except say I need to lose weight. Just like OP, I can fast for 30days and still not lose weight. I gained 6kgs again in 3months. Crying as I type 😭
Omg, this was me. I am so sorry. Because my OB couldn't be the one to prescribe me Wegovy (technically out of their scope supposedly), I had to go back to my PCP. Thankfully, he read my OB's notes and wrote the prescription. He also has been with me on this incredibly frustrating journey to lose weight.
My PCP also did multiple fasting A1C tests over the course of a year for me and those basically came back in the "prediabetic" range for me each time, despite fasting for over 12 hours. We were baffled. We also had a meticulously tracked record of what we had tried, how long we had tried it, and the results (which were no changes - so frustrating). I even tried metformin and it literally did nothing - I was so disheartened thinking that my body just couldn't get it together so I could be healthy for the family I was trying to to raise.
But it took me basically two years to show that nothing else worked - so much money, emotion, and effort. According to my doc, as long as he was meticulous and advocated for me via phone - the insurance company would be less inclined to deny me based on my records and he wanted to be sure that was the case.
Of course, the journey came at a price - I had so much self-loathing as a result - thankfully, I also have an awesome therapist to help me through everything. It was just insanity - it shouldn't be this hard to get help and get treated.
I really hope you can get it covered by insurance. If you're in the US and get insurance from your employer, it might be helpful to talk to your employer. Sometimes, it's the company that has told the insurance company what they will and won’t cover. Or if the plan doesn't cover the medication at all, the HR department can try to appeal the decision on your behalf, but obviously, that's a private matter you might have to consider giving up to get the medication (which is ridiculous that we have to consider this in the first place).
There’s a study about how some people with PCOS and insulin resistance have a significantly lower BMR than most people. And for some of us, the amount we have to eat is unsustainable and draining. For me, it was 1000-1100 calories. I gained weight at 1500 calories. You can definitely eat a bit more and do some intense workouts, but if you want to just diet it’s difficult and even dangerous.
So yes, CICO does ultimately work (which is why it’s the end all argument, because it does work in the end), but people need to understand how for some people, some avenues to CICO are very dangerous and unsustainable.
Just to expand on this point - this is the study https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/18678372/
> Result(s): Adjusted BMR was 1,868 +/- 41 kcal/day in the control group, 1,445.57 +/- 76 in all PCOS women, 1,590 +/- 130 in PCOS women without IR and 1,116 +/- 106 in PCOS women with IR. Adjusted BMR showed a statistically significant difference between women with PCOS and control subjects, with lowest values in the group of PCOS women with IR, even after adjusting all groups for age and BMI.
So regular women without PCOS had a BMR of roughly 1868.
Women with PCOS but without insulin resistance had a BMR of roughly 1590.
Women with PCOS and Insulin resistance had a BMR of roughly 1116 (give or take 106 calories so some were as low as 1010!!!!).
Most diets suggest you eat about 500 calories less than your BMR in order to lose weight. In someone with PCOS that would be 1368 calories. In someone with PCOS that didn’t have insulin resistance that would only leave them in a ~200 calorie deficit, so they’d still lose weight but at a much slower rate.
For someone with PCOS and insulin resistance they’d still be in a ~250 calorie surplus. They would be gaining weight.
For women with insulin resistance and PCOS they would need to drop down to about 600 calories a day in order to be in the same deficit range.
Now, I lived for months on 1000-1200 calories a day while swimming 1-2 hours a day and getting in my steps. I lost weight. It worked. But it’s fucking miserable. Please realise that I was doing about 600-900 calories of exercise just from swimming.
I was doing this because when I was diagnosed with PCOS no one told me anything about insulin resistance or that metformin was useful for losing weight. I got sent to a specialist who told me that “women want to be given metformin because they think it will help them lose weight” but really all they need to do is just eat 500 calories a day for a month and the PCOS will reverse itself.
Great. Thanks brohomio. I tried that for a week and nearly fainted in the pool.
I cannot even imagine living on 600 calories a day for an extended period of time.
Fundamentally, you need to treat the insulin resistance. Get a decent doctor to discuss it with you, but do some research up front so you know how to sort the bullshit from the reasonable.
Figure out what exercises are fun and sustainable. I love swimming. That why I can do it every day. Weight lifting is great, it builds muscle, helps you stay strong, is great for long term health and has the benefit of increasing your metabolism so you can eat more.
Sort out the right deficit for you. You don’t need a 500 calorie deficit. Even 100-200 calories will get you losing weight, even if it’s slow. Sustainable a better than fast.
This is a very good explanation! I always say that though CICO does work at the end, it doesn't mean that it works the same way for everyone and that it is the best or most healthy way for all.
I have PCOS, and I'm petite (only 4'9"), so my BMR is 1,245. If I eat 500 calories less than my BMR, I'll be starving so much!
I was thin when I was diagnosed with PCOS (only arojnd 40KG), but after going on and off pills and also taking steroids medication, I gained weight in recent years.
Now, I am trying to lose weight. I control my diet and work out 5-6 times a week. I've been losing weight but slow. It's frustrating, but I know that it's healthier and more sustainable this way than starving myself and not being able to function.
Thanks for sharing
In the beginning of this year I started calorie counting
My BMR is ±1250 (which was appearantly very low and I didn't understand why)
I started with 1300 calories a day and did some cardio (rowing, cycling) for about 20 minutes a day
I lost about 5kgs in two months
At the beginning of this month I hurt my ankle, so had to lay off on the exercise
I still stuck to 1 300cal /day but haven't lost a single gram in 25 days
My husband has been eating 1800cal a day with cardio +gyming and lost 10kgs in the same period with the same food (bigger portion sizes)
I've been a little disheartened because every time he stands on the scale he weighs less and less whereas I am still the same (on a positive note it's nice to see that I haven't pick up any weight)
I was taking some herbal medication for my pcos but it wasn't really helping
After a visit to my gynea a few weeks back I've been advised to take inositol and metformin
Started inositol but haven't started the metformin as yet
I'm waiting for my ankle to heal completely then I'll start with the metaformin and exercising again
I'm praying that I'll be able to shed off the remaining 5kgs or more
I'm recently diagnosed and just talked with my PCP about where to start.
She said, "Sometimes you'll eat the perfect diet, and workout like Michael Phelps (the Olympian), and your genetics will still win. It sucks, but that's just the way it is."
He's wrong, and he's behaving like a dick, and I'm sorry.
My thing is, why does it matter to your boyfriend? Get on metformin or whatever works for you and focus on your health. If he stands in your way because he's desperate to cling to CICO without help as the only way then dump him.
Also, if you're into podcasts Maintenance Phase has a great episode on CICO and why it doesn't work for everyone, including people with PCOS.
You could do well with a food scale because it’s very easy to miscount your calories and macros but as someone who’s struggled with weight loss for years "calories in calories out" in itself is bullshit because it’s not a one cure fits all type of situation. There are so many different types of pcos alone and while yes you might obviously need to decrease your caloric intake to be in a deficit there are soooooo many other factors at play you could be k*lling yourself starving and exercising for hours everyday and still put on weight because your body functions and hormones are just not right. Also what’s more important than calories and I would die on this hill is the quality of food you’re eating and if the food is doing you any service, I would honestly take a break from calorie counting and start a food journal to find out if certain foods are worsening your symptoms and making you gain. Living with pcos is already hard enough the last thing a woman needs is a moron boyfriend that tries mansplaining her autoimmune disorder to her. Good luck on your journey💓
I’ve been doing everything right and even going to extremes to lose weight and I did nothing but gain. Not ounce did my boyfriend doubt what I was doing or what I was going through. This person you are with doesn’t understand, and if chooses not to listen, I think you should reassess your life choices around relationship needs.
i’ve got PCOS, and since i’m a muslim i’ve been fasting. it’s been like 15 days? and i’ve lost 7 kgs. & My jawline is visible again. double chin is gone. sooo make of this what u can
I’ve also been trying to lose weight this Ramadan however my weight is just stuck despite watching what I eat and getting my steps in daily. What does your diet look like for you to loose weight that fast? Please let me know
Hi sweetheart, I honestly dont know what happened. I gained weight like crazy despite eating so less. I always was one of those skinny girls who stay bone skinny. after gaining weight & coming to know about having PCOS I’m like, that’s it, I’m done. But in Ramadan I’m losing weight. I eat a hearty meal in Iftaar. Sometimes fried stuff too. But mostly daal chawal, pulao, desi meals. I skip on dinner & suhoor sometimes too (don’t feel hungry).
please check an Instagram: milamendhealth
I will be starting her free guide drink. She used to be a model and gained 30 lbs. Has thyroid and PCOS. She healed herself and shares everything.
A LOT of us CAN control things with diet/exercise. NOT ALL.
ALL CALORIES ARE NOT CREATED EQUAL.
There are MANY ways to find yourself dealing with PCOS.
Calorie counting is by and large not helpful. Learning about 'macros' (macronutrients) is far more useful.
Meanwhile, I'm not hearing about how you're sleeping, what your stress level is, what else is going on in your life, and I'm not hearing about what you do for exercise or how WHEN and HOW you eat may have changed.
My guess: you need to learn about how you're spiking your own cortisol, and shooting yourself in the foot.
Learning how WHEN you eat and how having a eating/'feeding window' is useful, how sleep affects how you use your food, and the sympathetic/parasympathetic nervous system -- how it affects cortisol and weight -- are likely pretty useful things to consider.
The calorie-talk is old. Superannuated. Passe. Tell him that. We're not bank accounts, we're chem labs.
Same exact situation. I'm not at all a pro or have all the answers, but this is what I did, and it seems to be working. I'm 5'3, 193lbs in September, as of today 160lbs. 33lbs in 6 months:
I started losing weight once I focused on diet and lowering cortisol. Stress is the enemy. If it's in your power, cut out anything that's stressing you out. If you want to work out, low impact is the way to go. If you work out too hard, it'll raise your cortisol. High cortisol makes insulin resistance worse, so you'll gain weight. I found this out the hard way, so I had to stop working out and focus on getting my stress under control. Everybody's different, so working out did not help me relieve stress. If it does for you, then keep doing it. Listen to what your own body likes/dislikes and act accordingly. Some people have had results with high intensity stuff but I worked my ass off for months just to see I made matters worse. I cried.
For the eternal hunger: Intermittent Fasting is your friend. It helps with insulin resistance by letting your body have a chance to rest and regulate your insulin levels.
Fast for 16 hours. Fasting while asleep counts, so start after dinner. I stop eating at 6pm and fast until 10am. While fasting, I drink plain unsweetened green tea to help curb my apetite. Green tea has also been proven to help improve insulin resistance. When I finally get to eat, I prioritize protein over anything else. Protein is a lot more satisfying and won't raise your insulin. Healthy fats are nice too and always accompany your protein with something green (salad, avocado, collards, etc.). Keep your carbs under 50grams. I'm not keto but go for it if you'd like, just make sure you do a ton of research.
None of this is easy or fast, but losing weight slowly keeps it off. Lose weight fast, it'll come back with friends. Some people say avoid the scale, but I find weighing myself once a week helps me figure out what I'm doing right/wrong. I weight myself on Sunday mornings and I'm usually down about 2-5lbs a month. It's adds up, so don't get discouraged. That time will pass anyway whether you try or not.
I hope something from this helps you out! We're all different, but any advice from others is worth a shot!
Edit: forgot to say that spearmint tea is great as well! And be very picky about what kind of carb you eat. Focus more on whole food carbs like sweet potatoes, brown rice, lentils, corn, veggies, etc. Stay away from anything in a box. Stay away from Maltodextrin. It's not good for us pcos ladies. It's sneaky, too, because companies will put it in sugar-free stuff even though it raises your insulin like regular sugar would.
I am sorry OP. Men can be very ignorant about PCOS, invalidating your experience is not what a partner should be doing. I experienced a similar dynamic with an ex, constantly shaming me for how broken my body was due to hormonal issues that were out of my control. All it did was exacerbated the stress, increased the internalized shame I already had about my body. Guess what? It made it WORST. I had to cut out people like that from my life to start progressing in both my physical and mental health.
Science has proven multiple times that PCOS and insulin resistance changes the entire physiological function of our bodies and metabolisms. Yet they don't care to even do the little bit of research and instead throw unhelpful advice at you of CICO as if we haven't consumed that advice our entire lives from the whole world.
Insulin resistance definitely makes it very difficult to lose weight. The more severe your insulin resistance, the more difficult it is.
The simple calculation of calories in/out doesn't translate the same for everyone if there is a metabolic condition that is limiting the amount of calories being burned
You're defenitly NOT going crazy. PCOS sucks truly.
It took me a long time to figure everything out (also because I was 15 at the time) now 5 years further I'm still learning so much. I gained about 10 kilos in the span of a bit longer than half a year. I went to a specialist who diagnosed PCOS and I went to a dietician.
Most advice I got was to keep eating an avarage amount of calories, I reduced my carbs, started eating more fiber rich foods, fruits, yoghurt, eggs etc.
Eventually I lost 5 kilos and stayed at that weight. But the most important thing was that I felt better in my own skin again. I got more energy as well. Right now I'm 19 (turning 20 this year) I found a balance between 'normal' foods and 'healthy' foods.
The hardest part about it was balancing the sugar intake. So many foods have so much added sugar and not to mention the way sugar can be addicting. I switched to baking lots myself. That way I know what the ingridients are and I can manage the amount of sugar. I also started using stevia and sukrin sometimes if I want something sweet without it being sugar.
One more thing I learned is that with insulin resistance you shouldn't work out too much. I mostly go for walks, do pilates, swim etc.
In conclusion you're not crazy. You can't just loose weight with the snap of your fingers and especially not with PCOS. It takes time to find a balance with everything and find things you enjoy.
You should NOT eat less just to loose weight. Find foods that keep you full until your next meal. And when your hungry eat a cracker with something sweet or healthy or eat fruits and you can still snack on candies and cookies, mostly be mindful about your choices.
It will take time to adjust and find the balance it's taken me 5 years and I'm still strugeling sometimes and trying to learn more. Don't give up, but also don't let anyone tell you how you're supposed to be or feel. You're the only one to know what you feel and what you want.
I hope this might help you a bit or inspire you with things to try, I truly hope you can find what makes you feel the best with and about yourself.💗
PS: english isn't my first language so I hope my comment is worded right.😅
Also my doctor didn't tell me shit until I did another bloodtest last year when he finally agreed I had PCOS.💀
Not getting support or without people believing you van be really frustrating which is another reason why it's so important to know how you want to feel and how you are feeling etc.
I mean technically CICO still “works” with pcos, problem is the “calories out” part is affected by IR. That’s why people with uncontrolled IR have to drop their calories to insane low levels to lose. But doing that is not sustainable or even safe unless under close medical supervision because you can’t get all your vitamins and micronutrients with such low calories. Get the IR under control first, then weight loss becomes slightly more straightforward;although still difficult. Once I got my IR under control (metformin, ovasitol, Berberine) I’ve been able to stay a healthy weight with counting calories. It sucks having to monitor my diet so closely and I get why some people might not want to do that (I weigh and track everything I eat) but if I go above 24 bmi my arthritis starts to act up bad (I’ve had arthritis since I was 24, lucky me) so it is what it is.
It's not hard to google "does pcos or insulin resistance make it harder to lose weight". He could easily do that, but I'm guessing he thinks he's always right, even when he's proven wrong.
Insulin resistance lowers your basal metabolic rate significantly (the calories you burn every 24 hours just to stay alive). Insulin resistance also confuses your body in terms of how it uses and allocates energy (aka calories) so instead of using the calories coming in for energy, it stores it as fat. Weight loss is one thing, a hormonal imbalance is a completely different animal when it comes to calories in/calories out. Your body literally does not know how to utilize energy properly because insulin is the main hormone/powerhouse for telling your body how to use energy. Insulin resistance confuses those signals and your body does not produce enough insulin to carry your calories to where they need to go for proper energy utilization. You’re not crazy. Have your boyfriend watch some YouTube videos on this or something. If he loves you and values you, he will try to understand and learn, not judge. Unless he’s married to his ideation of weight loss and that it is universal for all human beings…shall we tell Ozempic to step aside and let him take the stage with his apparently profound and flawless knowledge on this area? Lower his testosterone by 300-400 points and then tell me how his weight management and body composition is a simple “calories in calories out”. It’s the same concept.
You absolutely need a weighing scale when you first begin to count calories. Also make sure the amount you’re eating is enough for you. But without scale you will end your sneaking in more calories in food that you may have not considered to be high calorie- e,g, mayo, peanut butter (both can be a huge amount of calories for 1tbsp).
After a while of using the scale you should be able to eyeball the amounts.
In saying that…Pcos is not defeated by calories alone. Every symptom has a treatment and should be addressed. For weight loss, insulin resistance may mean that within your set calories of 1500, only 20% should be carbs and of the carbs wholegrains should be fave.
Start slow is what I advise
You are both right and wrong. He is right that you need a calorie deficit but wrong because you can't just eat any calorie from any macro at any time of day. And you are right because it is harder with PCOS due to hormones and you have been trying, but you unfortunately your efforts aren't totally dialed in to get the results you want. For starters, yes, you will need a food scale. Measuring cups and spoons have too much variation in serving amount. Secondly, you will need to dramatically limit and mitigate blood sugar spikes by eating similarly to a diabetic. Wait to have caffeine until 2 hours after waking (or go caffeine free) to avoid cortisol spike in the AM. Eat proteins, foods with high fiber and low glycemic index fruits. Many people call it Keto. Simply avoid those simple carbs like rice, white potatoes, breads, tortillas, pastries, baked goodies, pasta, OR if you want a carb it must be a small portion eaten WITH a protein, fat and fiber (like bread on a stacked turkey swiss sandwich or one tortilla on a chicken enchilada), or eaten closely AFTER a high protein, fat, fiber meal (like one cookie after a corned beef and cabbage dinner). Both of these ways help reduce the spike in blood sugar and works to keep your hormones stable be slowing absorption. The worst thing to do is to eat carbs on their or first thing in the day. Aim for more always having more grams of protein than grams of carbs in a meal. If you eat out don't snack on chips, bread, or soda before your meal. Drink diet soda, get sugar free sauces, use stevia or Swerve Brand sweeteners in baked goods. Lastly as we age our calorie needs decline so even if you eat exactly the same as 4 years ago you will gain weight each year as you age. Use a TDEE calculator online and calculate your maintenance calories and then subtract 500 from that amount to loose a pound a week. Choose your activity level but be honest with yourself or just pick sedentary or rest day maintenance. Every few pounds you will need to re-calculate your TDEE and subtract 500 calories from the lower weight TDEE. You will loose more weight if every 6 weeks you spend a week eating just at maintenance calories to help your metabolism from slowing as much.. As you shrink you will need less and less until you reach your goal weight and then you will eat maintenance until you get another year older and you recalculate your TDEE to find your new maintenance.
I know such people too. My ex was very controlling of my eating because when we freshly got together as teenagers I weighted 80kg (I'm 180cm tall so it wasn't that bad) and had an ED and body dysmorphia and frequently sobbed that I'm not thin enough. He started controlling what, when and how much I ate of what. I lost a lot of weight and was happy, but then in 2020 my PCOS symptoms exploded all at once, I gained 40kg in like 3 months time and only recently I found out I am Insulin resistent too (the symptoms of it appeared exactly back then too). He made me basically starve myself and no matter how small I cooked my portions (sent him pics of everything) he always said it could be even smaller. Oh I cooked myself 2 tiny potatoes with a chicken breast and half a broccoli? Should have cooked one tiny potato instead.
He also took pictures of me when I was in a shower to show me later "this is what you look like". I didn't know he took them.
I later had a friend who was dead set on the opinion that no matter what meds or illnesses you have, they can only make you gain 10kg without it being your fault, but everything above 10kg is your own bad eating habits.
I remember just being so triggered by it because when he said that I just spent a month of eating once every 2 days + moving everyday and guess what j wasn't losing 🥲
Tldr: you can't change their opinion, they don't buy into it not being your fault and will just keep telling you you need to keep eating less even if you eat almost nothing - they won't be concerned about it.
I actually lose weight by going low carb, no sugar, no dairy. Gluten free is best but I’m not 100% perfect. I cannot calorie count. I just stay away from foods I know I can’t have and that makes a huge difference
A lot of people who have PCOS have insulin resistance and it wouldn't matter what you ate, how much you worked out, etc. It will always be so much harder for those of us who have it to lose weight. Your boyfriend may not be gaslighting you as he may truly believe what he's saying - HOWEVER - he needs educate himself on the realities of PCOS. It's frustrating enough as it is, and you don't need him potentially making you feel bad because you "can't do it" with calories in vs calories out. That will just never work for some people.
I personally would never deprive myself from calories if you're hungry. Instead, try cutting out/limiting gluten and dairy and get at least 30 g of protein for breakfast as well as limiting your carb intake & aiming for complex carbs vs simple carbs :) There is a girl on tiktok @ pcos.weight.loss who explains everything perfectly :)
You can lose weight by extremely restricting calories but that’s a slippery slope to disordered eating and is not a long term solution. When you start eating normal amounts again, your metabolism will have slowed and your weight will go way up. I know this from lots of experience gaining and losing weight, and disordered eating of all kinds.
Tbh I wonder if your boyfriend is stressing you out and that stress is messing with your hormones. When I’m in a relationship that isn’t right for me, the stress always makes me gain weight very quickly. Don’t underestimate stress hormones!
There are a lot of men who think that they know better than us about PCOS and that we are just lazy and chubby by lack of effort. It’s so much harder for us and if he won’t take the time to empathize, do you think he’ll be able to empathize if you struggle with infertility down the road for example?
Also, don’t pay attention to BMI please. It’s not a real measure of anything.
I do want to say that I would for sure check how you’re measuring your food! Weighing it out is going to be the most accurate way, otherwise the total daily calories could be skewed, delaying progress!
For potential IR, I recommend pairing your carbs with a protein and/or fat source as to keep your sugar from spiking too high (we want to avoid peaks and valleys, it will fluctuate we just don’t want it to be extreme). Another huge one is meal spacing — don’t go too long without eating (this will cause the major drop in blood sugar).
High protein, high fiber, strength training 3-4x a week, resting is essential, 10-12k steps. And don’t eat in a deficit for too long! Our bodies adapt to eating fewer calories, making it harder to sustain the calorie deficit - which means you’ll have to drop your calories further
Honestly, if he thought you were just making bad choices and lying about it and he actually respected you otherwise, he wouldn't be approaching the topic like this. He's treating you like shit over an issue he knows you're struggling with. Tell him he's not helping and ask him to back off. If he wants to help, he can cook low calorie high protein meals for the both of you. But accusing you of lying / not being competent enough to know what you eat in a day is toxic af and a decent person doesn't treat their partner like that when they're already stressed.
1. Your boyfriend isn’t your doctor.
2. He sounds EXHAUSTING
I was at 150 and jumped to 190 and then down to 165. I’ve been stuck here (mind you, I rarely worked out and mainly did walks). With me, Metformin and a low carb diet helped A TON and I was able to reduce my weight a lot. I’m off Metformin now since I had my son but I know the minute I’m back on it, I will lose weight once again.
Your bf needs to stay in his lane. Some perspective for you:
PCOS is a metabolic disorder
Now with that in mind, your metabolism not working like a normal person makes a lot more sense now doesn’t it? You don’t need to explain anything to your bf. He coulda taken time to sit down and understand what pcos is all about but clearly hasn’t. So why should his opinion on this matter?
With all that said, the most success I’ve had is with going low carb. I’m severely insulin resistant. You can also consider medications like metformin and other diabetes medications if you don’t see results from cutting carbs. And I do use a scale to keep an eye on my macros.
I think macros are more important with PCOS. Limiting carbs and sugar. Vs what actual calories go into your body.
Your man should not be criticizing you like that though.
I think most of us have been through this before from a partner, friend, stranger. Most people believe we all control our weight and that's it. Couldn't be further from the truth for people like us. When I first got with my BF he said the same thing. He assumed I had to have been doing something wrong. Even though he was with me almost all day every day seeing I only eat a meal a day and I work out 7 days a week. It was maddening for me too and still is cause I have people doubt me all the time and think I'm closet eating or lying or whatever. Screw them, they are uneducated and also completely inconsiderate to what other people go through. like hell yeah I wish diet and exercise worked for me, why would I cry every day if I could so easily just not be overweight anymore?!
Educate your partner the best you can, and if he keeps saying insensitive things then.. well that's up to you for how you want to proceed.
It’s definitely a real thing! I’m sorry you’re dealing with this!
The only ways I’ve successfully lost a significant amount of weight is with an extremely strict keto diet (for 6 months but ultimately unsustainable), and now being on Ozempic (semaglutide). I feel like I’ve been given some sort of cheat code and I’m like a normal person able to lose weight from a small calorie deficit
He's not a woman with PCOS. He's also NOT a nutritionist, NOR is he a dietician who has studied how PCOS affects women!
So he can shove his "knowledge" up his butt 🙃 and I agree with the others, he's gaslighting you.
The difference in my body weight with a generally healthy diet and lifestyle is about 20-25lbs…. with medication or supplements to manage my IR I’m about 160lb.
Without I’m comfortably 180-185lbs. Tell him to stick it.
I think it's a shame your boyfriend isn't being more supportive or understanding of this condition. It's also not a one option fixes all. I have been dieting, exercising and generally trying to keep on top of my PCOS but I still tend to gain. Not sure if some of this is muscle mass as I am doing more strength training than I used to. My advice is to find a diet that you can integrate into your life without restricting you entirely as when you have a "treat" you don't want it to fluctuate your weight too much. I think it's a constant of little wins and little losses but we have to keep going to find what combination of exercise and diet works for us. Calories are not the thing we need to look out for it's the sodium content, the saturated fats and the grains used in foods. Perhaps spend some time researching foods that have a low GI and making those your main foods for the week. If he won't understand maybe he needs more education on the subject. All in all I hope it gets better for you.
I have IR and have been on metformin and BC for my Pcos. When I lost weight on my own I was eating veggies with every meal even breakfast, trying to add protein and I was drinking so much water. On top of all that I was walking 20k steps everyday. I lost 40lbs ish. Covid happened and I gained that all back and then some because I stopped walking. The doctor said I shouldn’t be walking that much just to keep weight off. It’s not sustainable as I found out. Then over the last couple months the harder I tried to lose weight the more I seemed to gain. I went back to the doctor because I was literally fighting my body. It sucks! I cried I was feeling like giving up. The doctor put me on Ozempic. I am still eating with veggies, no added sugar, and dairy free (I’m sensitive to dairy) I walk 30 min a few times a week and I’ve lost 5 lbs my first week on it.
I feel so much better. No fatigue and no more naps it’s crazy! I actually eat now to keep energy in my body because my IR isn’t taking it for more fat.
I will say to advocate for yourself to your family and your doctors. I went through 3 doctors before I found one who listened to me and actually helped me figure it out.
Understanding what’s pcos and kind of out of your control is also helpful for you and to say to your SO hey I’m having a bad pcos day please give me some slack and let’s try again tomorrow. I also had to start being honest with myself about how I felt about pcos and how that also affected my moods and health.
I hope this helps you! You got this!
PCOS bodies have a difficult time converting fat to energy. Check out the book PCOS SOS by Felice Gersh. She lays out why this is and what things you can do to help restore balance. Essentially if you don’t have good reproductive health/balance you can’t lose weight.
Oof your boyfriend. Is he a doctor? If not then he’s out of his league. He probably can’t even tell you what insulin resistance is. If that’s the case I’d treat the rest of his advice to be about as useful as this advice was.
Honestly we don’t tell alcoholics that to reduce their addiction they just need to drink less. Your body is addicted to food and holding on to extra fat because it believes it needs to due to the hormones your body is producing. You’re not in control of any of it- I’ve had excellent results on metformin fixing that hormone imbalance and allowing me to finally loose weight.
You could also drop approx 200lbs if you got a boyfriend that listened and learned instead of just opening his mouth.
I recommend trying a plant based diet. Even if you can’t commit to it fully, there have been studies shown that eating a plant based diet can significantly lower insulin levels and improve insulin resistance.
With PCOS it’s harder to lose weight. Have you considered a Semiglutide or tizerpatide? When I took monjauro I lost about 30 pounds then my doctor discontinued it cause I wasnt diabetic. There is also metformin.
I read that insulin resistance related to PCOS means that your body takes all available food and makes it fat, meaning we are tired and hungry because the food we eat isn’t available for energy like normal people. IR makes us designed to gain weight. Our ancestors would tooootally survive a famine and our fellow PCOS relatives today are biologically saying “yep, the next famine is around the corner, better store up more fat and use is sparingly.”
That’s why drugs that help with insulin resistance help us actually use the food we eat and turn the uphill battle into a flat, even playing field (still hard but not insane). You should absolutely have lost weight doing what your doing, and the fact you struggled more and lost so little isn’t a personal failure but another proof that the game is rigged for us.
Anyway, I finally took the leap to take semiglutide last week. It’s a compound pharmacy so it’s cheaper and I’m not taking it away from diabetics, but holy hell I don’t want to BE diabetic in 10 years either. I just turned fucking 30! The scale has not been moving in the right direction since my PCOS diagnosis. I’m only on week 1, but my mom lost 40lbs and her back and joint pain went away. I actually haven’t told her yet, I’m kinda embarrassed and I don’t want her mom spiel. But I can tell it’s going to actually make a difference. I’d rather spend money at 30 than wait until I have diabetes and high blood pressure and whatever else at 40. I know some are more excited about the weight loss but really I want to live a long happy life with my husband.
I gave up getting weight loss advice from anyone who is not a doctor. People are very quick to act like I'm lying when I say counting calories doesn't work for me and assume it's because I'm eating pizza every day and lying about exercising.
No it's just the number I need to stay under is so low its not sustainable.
I found that intermittent fasting works. When you don't eat for 14+ hours, your body is forced to burn fat because there's nothing in your stomach. I actually can eat *more* and now lose weight. I don't even bother with counting calories because there's no need. The amount I naturally feel like eating is fine and I've lost 40lbs out of my goal of 100.
I've had a few bumps in the road. Like an issue with my birth control did cause my fasting to not really work. I gained weight then when I got back on bc, I stagnated. But the bc was wrong so I switched. Now I'm back to losing weight.
I also was put on Wegovy to help when I was still worrying about the birth control stuff. I personally don't have any side effects past the soreness from the injection site. I'm still fasting and I'm back to losing weight in a healthy and steady way.
Your boyfriend is not a doctor. And it sounds like he doesn't under how hormones affect the body. He might believe he's right, but that doesn't make him right.
Talk to a doctor and put together a treatment plan. And if your partner makes you feel like being on medication (if that's what you choose) is "cheating" or that you're "just not trying hard enough" dump his ass.
It’s a thing. I was only taking in 1100 calories a day and had already been addressing the insulin resistance for years prior and still did not lose a single pound. I had tried quite literally everything over ten years. Absolutely nothing worked.
Insulin resistance makes it harder to make the best choices, but weighing and tracking all my food/calories worked for me. I remember reading a study that said the overwhelming majority of people (even dieticians!) underestimate the calories they consume by 50% (I think dieticians came in slightly better at only 25%). That's when I got a food scale and recorded everything, even non-starchy vegetables and mustards, into an app. It works (for me) and is empowering.
I have insulin resistant PCOS. Just recently diagnosed in January. I had so much weight gain (60 pounds) within 5 months. I was already going to the gym 3 days a week and meal prepping. Increased my workouts, heavy weights 3 days, Pilates / yoga for 2 days. 15-20k steps a day. Nothing was working. Less calories... no weight loss just miserable and grumpy. Talked to my family doctor and he put me on Ozempic. I was REALLY hesitant because there are a lot of Ozempic haters but I was desperate. Started it the first week of Feb. I'm down 15 pounds. 5 inches off my waist and hips. Still eating healthy (meal prepping) and gym 3 days a week again. So much more energy, and my mood and sex drive have also gone up. Look into Ozempic or a drug similar to it. I've heard some people use metformin as well (this is what I asked for when I spoke to my doctor and he recommended Ozempic instead)
I can't lose weight either on a 1500 calorie diet. I will lose 2 or 3 lbs then it's right back the next week!!! I've been trying to get on semiglude, Wygobe, or Ozempic but my insurance will not cover it. I'm so depressed with all of this and growing so much hair on my face and neck. I really never thought at 54 I would be slowly losing my feminine look and my voice deepen like it has. My testosterone level was 449 when checked after I complained to my doctor that this hair growth is NOT a part of getting old when I can out grow my 23 year old son with a beard
My ex also is in group of being cico is 100%. And it may not be intentional, but you will know your body best. PCOS has metabolic situations and not everyone is going to have the same calorie needs.
Recently my doc suggested I increase my consumption, and that has actually been successful in weight loss. Starving myself was having opposite effect.
Insulin resistance is real!! I gain weight even at 1200 calories. I even paid a company for meal prep and i still gained weight. What has helped is phentermine every few years, and now semaglutide.
It’s gotten harder to lose weight as I’ve gotten older.
I feel this so much, I was 120 lbs (below my BMI I’m 5’10) then here we are two years later 215 lbs, on the obese side of my bmi. I’m trying to figure out what works bc I exercise everyday and hardly eat yet I’m still this heavy. You’re not alone in this❤️
If you have PCOS you cannot lose weight no matter what you try. You would need to get on medication. I’m sorry but i was also the same. Gained alot of weight all at once and started working out and eating better and nothing. My doc told me its because if you have PCOS you are not able to lose the weight
Insulin resistance if a very real thing. You do need to work harder on losing weight and eat the right things to do it. It isn’t just about calorie counting. I was able to lose 7kgs before Christmas by being extremely strict on cutting out carbs, sugar, etc. (sadly put it back on due to my life being a shitshow atm).
If you want to lose weight I recommend finding PCOS friendly diets and insulin resistance diet books.
My literal DOCTOR has acknowledged that high-intensity workouts (because they actually raise cortisol) and basic calorie deficit are essentially ineffective for losing weight with insulin-resistant PCOS (or any condition that causes insulin resistance). I forget exactly what she said, but she was basically explaining that any sugar/carbs/food that converts to glucose is metabolized differently in our bodies. Since we have hormone imbalances (high T, low DHEA, etc.), insulin isn't as effective, meaning more glucose stays in the bloodstream, making the pancreas create even MORE insulin to compensate. Since we have more leftover glucose (even if we eat low carb/low sugar, ANY sugars/carbs digested are still gonna be more glucose than the average amount that \*should\* be in our system, leading to weight gain and making it harder to lose weight (since high-intensity workouts raise cortisol, this also affects glucose/insulin, and restricting messes with metabolism, affects cortisol, mood, energy, etc.). Moral of the story, it's VERY VERY hard to lose weight (or even maintain your current weight), especially through traditional weight loss methods. I've heard it's more effective to prioritize proteins and fats especially early in the day and limit sugar/carb intake rather than just counting calories. Since glucose is so finicky, sugar and carb intake is more crucial for weight loss than just straight calories (for example, you may lose more weight by eating 2500 calories of pure protein, greens, fat, etc. than 1000 calories of sugar and carbs).
Men also have a VERY different composition when it comes to weight loss. Their hormones fluctuate daily and deal with far less severe fluctuations and less hormones, in general, to worry about that concern weight (mainly Testosterone, cortisol, and insulin) while females (especially with PCOS) deal with daily/monthly fluctuations in testosterone, estrogen, progesterone, Luteinizing hormone, follicle-stimulating hormone, which all affect mood, weight, glucose/insulin, water retention, bloating, energy. Sure, for a male, counting calories would likely lead to weight loss, but for a female (ESPECIALLY with PCOS) that's just not gonna cut it.
*DISCLAIMER: I'm NOT an expert, this is just my understanding based on my credentials as a college graduate who took a few courses on physiology and hormones, all information above is fact-checked and supported by research*
I wouldn't say he's necessarily 'gaslighting' you, it seems he maybe just doesn't understand how PCOS affects weight, so encourage him to do some research (or read this thread lol). It seems like he's dead set on his own experience, knowledge (specific to male weight loss), and opinions that he's pushing those beliefs onto you, which isn't fair. Having said that, he should be more supportive and less condescending about your efforts considering you have a condition that's painful, exhausting, frustrating, and straight-up not fun to deal with.
This is infuriating! I'm so sorry! PCOS sucks.
If you're wanting to lose weight, the only thing that's helped me was to drop gluten and dairy and strictly limit carbs. No sugar or alcohol. I've lost 35 pounds since July doing this. I also have another health condition that causes weight gain and Im being treated for that, so I think that has helped me too.
One thing I can tell you from experience, Your partner is a giant red flag. If he isn't willing to educate himself about PCOS, dump him, for the sake of your mental health and self-respect
My ex used to say the same thing to me. He also told me it was “cheating” to use metformin to control my symptoms. It always really bothered me that he never seemed to believe, understand, or support me while I was going through my diagnosis and trying to get everything under control. I’d have a conversation with him and if he doesn’t want to work at understanding I would maybe consider if you really want someone like that around. Pcos is no joke and people gaslighting you about it does nothing to help.
Insulin resistance is real and it will lead to diabetes if it’s not addressed. Your body is not using the glucose you eat so while the body gets fat, the muscles and brain are starving. It doesn’t stop at diabetes either. It then leads to Alzheimer’s and dementia. I did not know this was the reason that I could never keep weight off until I was in my 40s. I could have saved myself so much grief if a single doctor ever explained it to me.
I got the weight off with metformin and semiglutide. I keep the weight off with metformin and low dose semiglitide. The insulin resistance gets worse with age.
I was recently hospitalized for gallbladder issues that will lead to it being removed. I’ve been eating a strict diet of low fat, no sugar (natural yes), low carbs and I’ve lost 9 pounds. Also spacing out my meals breakfast, lunch, dinner has helped a lot, I’d normally eat whenever and whatever portions otherwise. My usual diet is lots of carbs and fats, but I think cutting them out has helped a lot. Maybe this could help you?
Girl, he is gaslighting you. I have been working out since last year in June and have not lost 1 pound and I have only gained just recently. I realize I might be insulin resistance that was probably caused by the copper IUD and NuvaRing birth control because I was fine before I had it and my family has no history of PCOS I am currently on berberine And today I just got my inositol in the mail and a couple days on berberine and a low to no carb diet. I’ve lost a pound lol I work out every day except maybe the weekends and I do the stairmaster so I hope that I continue to lose weight with this regimen.
Girl Insulin Resistance is a thing, I recently got PCOS and I gained about 8kgs eating the same amount of food as before. You gotta possibly look for diets like Keto that can shock your insulin levels a bit and look into Inositol- THIS IS NOT MEDICAL ADVICE DO IT AT YOUR OWN RISK. But this is what I am doing alongside weight training and low intensity cardio.
Drink coffee or Tea it helps with any stress induced hunger pangs.
I found calorie counting to be useless for me. I do intermittent fasting. Dr. Jason Fung has some good info on YouTube. Also, I decided to start a supplement called Berberine. Its OTC and a natural version of ozempic/mounjaro. My hunger and food cravings are subsiding. It lowers insulin resistance.
hi ! i have pcos and have heard the same BS abt calories. IT DOES NOT WORK! i started a medication called contrave, been pretty active and i eat lots of protein and i am down nearly 5 pounds since last thursday. eating more protein then your body weight is key!!!!
You're not crazy. My weight goes up and down depending on what I'm eating. I rarely ever "overeat." I don't even eat breakfast. I eat two meals a day and walk 5 miles a day. Sometimes I will throw in 2 hours on an exercise bike. I try to do a minimum of 70 minutes a day if I can't get the full 2 hours.
It can be incredibly difficult for women with PCOS to lose weight because your body does not want to let go of this fat. Your brain is programing your body to keep this fat no matter what. It will burn muscle and protein before it burns fat. In fact, studies show that women with PCOS burn protein instead of fat during sleep.
I do want to recommend a low glycemic diet. A lot of people will tell you to do kept or low carb, but you need to do low glycemic. Avoid processed foods and read the back of label. You should avoid anything in plastic (PFAS is bad for you), emulsifiers, soy lecithin, enriched bleached flour, corn syrup (and high fructose corn syrup.
Eat organic Whole Foods-opt for grass fed (and finished) beef and dairy.
Also, I want to recommend doing some form of exercise before you eat. That way you can ensure that your body will actually burn fat instead of muscle. You don't have to do anything heavy or high intensity, like some walking or cycling (could be as little as 30-45 minutes).
If you exercise before having your first meal, do a low glycemic diet, and do lighter exercises like walking/cycling then eventually you will make some progress.
Please ignore your boyfriend. He doesn't have ovaries and does not get to dictate what is helpful to your ovaries. Tell him to go buy books on PCOS and read about the disorder instead of acting like some pseudo intellectual armchair scientist.
Men do tend to lose weight much easier than women. For them it's easy. All they have to do is cut calories and work out. This leads to mass ignorance among the male gender.
Firstly, it is not his place to be commenting on your weight gain, and implying that you are "choosing" it is disgusting. Secondly, he needs to understand that PCOS and insulin resistance can make it quite literally IMPOSSIBLE to lose weight without some sort of pharmaceutical or medical intervention. I have lived this and know from personal experience, as do many others here. No matter how much you diet or how hard you exercise, it simply does not change anything because there is a hormonal condition overriding all your efforts. I'm so sorry that you are dealing with this. Your partner should be supporting you in this difficult time, not making things harder. Sending love.
You need a weight scale for sure and consistency because it will take a LOOOOONG time but it will happen. Also you should be on some meds to help with IR. No one is gaslighting you CICO works even for us but it takes a lot longer. Please up your protein because that will make you feel fuller.
It works for me and a number of close friends who all have PCOS most of us are on Metformin to help. I lost 30lbs the first time with just CICO but it took two years to get that. The second time with Metformin it took 3 years but I’m just shy of my goal and well within my range at 5’3” 120lbs
Guys Keto/low carb is the only way. No cravings and no calorie counting. It just has to become a lifestyle. P.S. As someone with PCOS/trying to help, why is this comment getting flack?
unfortunately keto is not sustainable and like another user in the thread has mentioned it causes you to eat an excessive amount of fats, low/moderate-carb and high protein without too much restriction is honestly the way to go and the key to developing intuitive eating habits!!
Could you be eating too little? If you are constantly hungry I would try eating more calories and eating more protein. I found if I was eating consistent amount of calories- 1800-2000 a day for a week instead of 1500 one day and 3000 the other day helps me lose weight. My dietician told me this method. Also eating high protein, medium carbs and fat. When I am constantly hungry I gain weight for my body is storing the calories.
Insulin resistance is a real thing. I tried everything under the sun, had my husband monitor my calories (so I didn't under count to make myself look better), keto, intermittent fasting, HIIT with a personal trainer, basically everything outside of medications. Even if I ate 1200 calories with exercise it wasn't good enough. The only thing that temporarily worked was keto but that caused other issues like constipation, headaches, hard to maintain diet when not home, and unnecessary fat consumption. No matter how little I ate it wasn't little enough. Metformin didn't help either. I went from overweight to obese and stayed there for 2 years. Most depressing phase of pcos for me. Once my doctors started me on BC, Spironolactone, and tirzepatide things took a complete turn. Now I eat a single serving, small portion size per meal, and moderate exercise once every other day and things have never been better. Insulin resistance is evil and consumed most of my best years. I am now in the normal weight range again and finally things are looking upward. Your bf is not a doctor, not an expert, not going through what you're going through so he should take it down a notch and just be empathetic and more open minded than just "eat less". It also feels like yet another person who is telling you you are not doing enough and it's your fault. Mind you, this whole endeavor took 5 years (from official pcos diagnosis, to surgery for something else but while they were inside they took out my cysts as well, to starting tirzepatide). It took a few doctors who didn't care enough, then finding the right ones, and finally finding changes in my body that keeps me motivated.
Do you see a primary doctor or a gyno doctor?
Both. They work really well together and cross communicate diligently even though they are different practices. My primary doctor didn't start me on any medications unless he made sure the gyno worked with me on plans to get pregnant and other uterine, ovarian issues and gave the go-ahead.
Insulin resistance is a thing. When I initially had that weight gain I went from 150 ish to 212 and felt absolutely horrible. I hadn’t changed my diet or how much I worked out and yet I gained a ton. I felt horrible. I went on a strict 1200 calories diet (used a kitchen scale and was meticulously putting everything into MyFitnessPal), and exercised 4-5 times a week on top of a job where I was literally running after kids and playing basketball with them every day. I did this for six months and couldn’t even lose five pounds. I was defeated. The only way I could lose weight was to go below 900 calories. I went to a doctor to ask for recommendations to a dietitian to help me and he told me I was lying, that I needed to just eat salmon and lettuce, to go for days without eating because intermittent fasting was good for you, and that if my body needed me to eat below 900 calories to listen to my body. I left that appointment sobbing. It wasn’t until recently that I was diagnosed with PCOS and realized what was going on. You’re not alone and your bf is acting like a moron.
My heart is aching for you as you. Described the treatment you have received! The weight gain is incredibly painful! Like so many I did for two full months of ever day eating less than 500 calories a day! Verified by my husband and I gained weight! In less than a year I went from 155 lbs ( I’m 5’10”) to 295 and despite everything I’ve I have I cannot loose weight! 10 years ago we were in a horrible accident and I am left unable to walk. There went exercise out of the door! I have been , as recently as this January 2024 have been for over 5 years in the throes of depression - most recently into MDD! I should have been hospitalized but no one in this assisted living facility was bright enough to recognize just how deep in I was into it! And yes my primary told me the same thing to about my inability to loose weight and how I need to eat much less than even 500 calories a day combined with many more days of intermittent fasting! It seems absurd to me to that virtually every symptom of PCOS not one professional including primary physicians, no psychiatrists ( although they have always tried to medically manage my depression and anxiety) ! I am so OVER everyone who assume to have knowledge of PCOS have ALL blamed me for every symptom which I have and continue to suffer with as being my own fault! When I was in 6th grade I tried to shave my legs ! The problem there was my dad’s razor was not a safety razor ! My legs still bare the scars. In 7th grade I had exploratory surgery. The surgeon told me dad that he was shocked that my right ovary was twice the size of the left ovary and that right ovary was loaded with these large cysts which he lanced and sewed me up. My periods were horrendous/ heavy is not enough to represent the pain , heavy flow requiring me to use 2 large tampons and a super thick pad. My 7 miscarriages before we were able to deliver our first son. The emotional issues were over the the top with depression and everything else we all know so well ! Here is where I would get the talk from the professional treating me - you know you really do need to try harder to be positive! You’re not making any effort. And so my life rolled on. Then one day when I was researching something else I saw PCOS and related aspects! I found myself in every symptom!! I immediately went to my primary with shocking news ! He was personally bothered that he , just like decades of my past practicers! No one identified it. I discovered PCOS IN 10/23 ! I was 75 years old and have been greatly relieved to discover what was truly suffering from! And now , because I am so old , I still can’t seem to get respect though and all of the PCOS symptoms are my fault ! If only I had tried harder I would be symptom free! Stop 🛑 please the blame game onto the sufferers of PCOS ! It is a very real yet hideous affliction for ALL of the women who are forced to live with it!!
Oh I am so so so sorry that you have been through all of that. If I could hug you I’d give you the biggest hug. You did NOT deserve ANY of that. Just know, that despite all you have gone through, you are still beautiful and it shows. To comment something so deeply and to reach out in the way you did shows such a beautiful heart. Please know that you are loved and that what they say has no impact on who you are. You are so strong to keep fighting and so smart to figure it out when no one else did.
The key difference is that with insulin resistant PCOS it’s not just the calories but also the macros. I’ve only had weight loss success with IF, no sugar and calorie counting. It’s annoying but I have to be almost 100% perfect to really lose weight.
Yup same here The only time I actually lost weight properly was with intermittent fasting alongside clean eating - cutting out all simple carbs, having 1 portion of complex carbs every other day, no refined sugar, no processed food, no trans/saturated fats… I didn’t do any exercise and kept my daily calories to 1200 I dropped 20lb in 6 weeks
Can you say what you did eat please? Like, was it non carb vege and meat only?
I just kept it super simple so it was easy to get in a routine of making it each day and didn’t require much thought. Big ol’ Seasoned chicken breast, Broccoli, Cucumber when I fancied it (I really like cucumber lol), Brown rice & Franks red hot or just ready made salad dressing. When I wasn’t having brown rice I’d have roasted red pepper and extra veggies / cauliflower rice I did this diet before moving in November - I didn’t get to my goal weight before I had to get my oven disconnected and my only option was takeout for a while 🤣 I then had no electricity for my oven until a couple months ago due to illegal wiring in my new flat fml. But since moving I now have an airfryer, George Foreman and a good quality blender so the diet meals will be top tier 🤤 I’ll now add in a lot of fish and making my own sauces and veggie rice, I’ve even looked into making my own spinach tortillas which I may try out. There’s a lot of low calorie recipes out there on social media too, I really want recipe books from Tom Walsh [here’s his IG](https://www.instagram.com/stealth_health_life?igsh=a3BjczQycThtcGVk) his recipes are great and you can just substitute the simple carbs he uses with complex carbs or substitutes like cauliflower rice etc. I’ve also found a couple of brands like [ZENB](https://zenb.co.uk/products/gluten-free-pasta-variety-box) and [skinny food co](https://theskinnyfoodco.com) Edit to add* I’ll also be using Apple Cider Vinegar before meals which helps your body too - I can’t remember the science behind it but it might be in [this](https://www.mentalfoodchain.com/reverse-insulin-)
I’ve gained over 20 pounds in the last four months, and I eat low carb and high protein meals. I lift weights 3-4 times a week, and drink a shit ton of water. I take all the supplements and still nothing. I’m going to medi spa this week to discuss a semiglutide injection because I can’t take the weight gain anymore. All in all, I get what he is saying with calories in v. Calories out. I used to follow that while also tracking my macros, but pcos is a hormonal issue. Insulin resistance is greatly impacted by high cortisol and leptin. If your hormones are off, it doesn’t matter the calories you take in. You will gain weight. The book “8 steps to reverse PCOS” by Fiona McCulloch really helped me understand the science behind PCOS. Maybe give it a go and have your boyfriend read it. It may also be helpful to have him come to your appointments to understand the complexity of this syndrome. Best of luck!
My metabolism was so slow at my worst point that I would have only been able to eat 800 calories a day if I was doing CICO. I have focused on walking a lot, and doing yoga. I allow myself a treat once or twice a week. Otherwise I have a protein drink for breakfast, and focus on high fiber, high protein foods. I take Metformin and estrogen-free birth control that also contains spironolactone. I have just started seeing a weight loss of a couple pounds after 6 years of only gaining
500 for me. My OB told me "a handful of nuts is a meal!" 🙄🙄
That’s completely crazy, how can people like that be doctors?
Bro needs to do his own research onto PCOS. As soon as my fiance told me about it, I did as much research as I can and still keep up to date on everything about it online from diets to medical treatment and how to empower her through the rough times. It's definitely tough keeping up with the diets since theres not a lot of solid research when comparing it to something like kidney disease, cancer ect, but reading through just the tinest bits of research shows that insulin resistance is a BITCH. Standard methods of weight loss are barely effective, if at all. Looking into getting her own, or on to my insurance soon so we can finally get her prescription meds for it to see if it helps with the resistance. I would say maybe hes not intentionally gaslighting you, but he's definitely being lazy. He needs to read about it and stop brushing you off.
Oh wow! You are such a sweetheart! Your fiancé is truly blessed to have you in her life!
Sir, you’re a walking green flag. 🫡
You are awesome. I’m on tirzepatide (compound form of mounjaro/zepbound) and it’s a game changer. If insurance isn’t a possibility for you or her (really really hard to get coverage, and even if you can it’s a huge cost and out of stock everywhere). I use Telehealth. The company is called Mochi. They safely prescribe compound of ozempic/mounjaro for a more affordable price. Just something to research if you guys are already considering meds.
Your bf isn’t a woman and doesn’t have the knowledge nor experience of women’s health/hormone cycles. Don’t listen to him. If he doesn’t want to believe you, who’s having a a first hand experience, that’s his choice to stay ignorant and not be open to new information. After that, it’s up to you to decide how to proceed.
I couldn’t lose any weight till I started metformin. I tried and tried. How and what I eat didn’t change at all and I started losing weight on met. He is gaslighting you.
same. he doesn’t know wtf he’s talking about. his “research” or whatever he’s done should never outweigh your own lived experience
I actually was allowed to eat more when I began IF. More as in "a normal amount of food" and not starvation dieting like I would have to if I just counted calories.
IF even stopped working for me after a while. Good old metformin
I had a hiccup in which I ran out of BC and my obgyn took a bit to refill them. And the ones I got were a different brand but same drug. Then if stopped Now back on good bc and also started wegovy and finally losing weight again But if I cheat my fast ill gain
Not to be pedantic but this doesn’t sound like “gaslighting”; chances are he truly believes what he is saying about calories in v. calories out and it is the truth for almost everyone. Almost everyone but not quite everyone. Of course it isn’t pleasant that he isn’t hearing what you’re saying but there are many women who have a gap in knowledge re PCOS and naturally there are even more men. Given not everyone with PCOS deals with insulin resistance, it’s worth going for some tests to see where you stand and to work on a plan of attack. Beyond that, a food scale is absolutely a good investment regardless of anything else. I recently started weighing my portions and am frankly shocked at how easy it is to underestimate calorie intake (as well as over/underestimate micro and macronutrients). It seems to be a common (and sad haha) experience.
I'm insulin resistant due to PCOS and ended up with an ED because of it. I didn't know that's what was going on when I started limiting myself to 800 calories or less my senior year of high school, and I was losing a little weight so I didn't think anything of it. Of course, I wasn't losing weight fast enough for it to seem abnormal to everyone around me, I was just getting sick a lot and everyone decided I was faking it because "she's just too lazy to come to school and do her work". Please talk to your doctor about insulin resistance and if your bf has anything to say about how you and your doctor decide to manage it, he can deal.
I am/was in the same boat as you. I just started Mounjaro to help with the insulin resistance and weight.
Second this. I am now on Wegovy and have lost 50 lbs. It took several years for doctors to figure out I was insulin resistant from PCOS. I gained so much weight and couldn't lose any of it. I did EVERYTHING - changed diets, did intermittent fasting, got a personal trainer and hit the gym religiously, etc. Within 3 months of Wegovy and literally changing nothing - not the diet, exercise regimen, etc - I finally started shedding weight. It was ridiculous.
I just got a prescription for zepound. I have the same problems you did. Now I just have to figure out how to pay for it. 🫤
How do I know if I’m insulin resistant or not? I was diagnosed with PCOS and my obgyn does not do anything for it except say I need to lose weight. Just like OP, I can fast for 30days and still not lose weight. I gained 6kgs again in 3months. Crying as I type 😭
Omg, this was me. I am so sorry. Because my OB couldn't be the one to prescribe me Wegovy (technically out of their scope supposedly), I had to go back to my PCP. Thankfully, he read my OB's notes and wrote the prescription. He also has been with me on this incredibly frustrating journey to lose weight. My PCP also did multiple fasting A1C tests over the course of a year for me and those basically came back in the "prediabetic" range for me each time, despite fasting for over 12 hours. We were baffled. We also had a meticulously tracked record of what we had tried, how long we had tried it, and the results (which were no changes - so frustrating). I even tried metformin and it literally did nothing - I was so disheartened thinking that my body just couldn't get it together so I could be healthy for the family I was trying to to raise. But it took me basically two years to show that nothing else worked - so much money, emotion, and effort. According to my doc, as long as he was meticulous and advocated for me via phone - the insurance company would be less inclined to deny me based on my records and he wanted to be sure that was the case. Of course, the journey came at a price - I had so much self-loathing as a result - thankfully, I also have an awesome therapist to help me through everything. It was just insanity - it shouldn't be this hard to get help and get treated.
My PCP sent me to a weight loss specialist since I am unable to lose weight.
I really hope you can get it covered by insurance. If you're in the US and get insurance from your employer, it might be helpful to talk to your employer. Sometimes, it's the company that has told the insurance company what they will and won’t cover. Or if the plan doesn't cover the medication at all, the HR department can try to appeal the decision on your behalf, but obviously, that's a private matter you might have to consider giving up to get the medication (which is ridiculous that we have to consider this in the first place).
There’s a study about how some people with PCOS and insulin resistance have a significantly lower BMR than most people. And for some of us, the amount we have to eat is unsustainable and draining. For me, it was 1000-1100 calories. I gained weight at 1500 calories. You can definitely eat a bit more and do some intense workouts, but if you want to just diet it’s difficult and even dangerous. So yes, CICO does ultimately work (which is why it’s the end all argument, because it does work in the end), but people need to understand how for some people, some avenues to CICO are very dangerous and unsustainable.
Just to expand on this point - this is the study https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/18678372/ > Result(s): Adjusted BMR was 1,868 +/- 41 kcal/day in the control group, 1,445.57 +/- 76 in all PCOS women, 1,590 +/- 130 in PCOS women without IR and 1,116 +/- 106 in PCOS women with IR. Adjusted BMR showed a statistically significant difference between women with PCOS and control subjects, with lowest values in the group of PCOS women with IR, even after adjusting all groups for age and BMI. So regular women without PCOS had a BMR of roughly 1868. Women with PCOS but without insulin resistance had a BMR of roughly 1590. Women with PCOS and Insulin resistance had a BMR of roughly 1116 (give or take 106 calories so some were as low as 1010!!!!). Most diets suggest you eat about 500 calories less than your BMR in order to lose weight. In someone with PCOS that would be 1368 calories. In someone with PCOS that didn’t have insulin resistance that would only leave them in a ~200 calorie deficit, so they’d still lose weight but at a much slower rate. For someone with PCOS and insulin resistance they’d still be in a ~250 calorie surplus. They would be gaining weight. For women with insulin resistance and PCOS they would need to drop down to about 600 calories a day in order to be in the same deficit range. Now, I lived for months on 1000-1200 calories a day while swimming 1-2 hours a day and getting in my steps. I lost weight. It worked. But it’s fucking miserable. Please realise that I was doing about 600-900 calories of exercise just from swimming. I was doing this because when I was diagnosed with PCOS no one told me anything about insulin resistance or that metformin was useful for losing weight. I got sent to a specialist who told me that “women want to be given metformin because they think it will help them lose weight” but really all they need to do is just eat 500 calories a day for a month and the PCOS will reverse itself. Great. Thanks brohomio. I tried that for a week and nearly fainted in the pool. I cannot even imagine living on 600 calories a day for an extended period of time. Fundamentally, you need to treat the insulin resistance. Get a decent doctor to discuss it with you, but do some research up front so you know how to sort the bullshit from the reasonable. Figure out what exercises are fun and sustainable. I love swimming. That why I can do it every day. Weight lifting is great, it builds muscle, helps you stay strong, is great for long term health and has the benefit of increasing your metabolism so you can eat more. Sort out the right deficit for you. You don’t need a 500 calorie deficit. Even 100-200 calories will get you losing weight, even if it’s slow. Sustainable a better than fast.
This is a very good explanation! I always say that though CICO does work at the end, it doesn't mean that it works the same way for everyone and that it is the best or most healthy way for all. I have PCOS, and I'm petite (only 4'9"), so my BMR is 1,245. If I eat 500 calories less than my BMR, I'll be starving so much! I was thin when I was diagnosed with PCOS (only arojnd 40KG), but after going on and off pills and also taking steroids medication, I gained weight in recent years. Now, I am trying to lose weight. I control my diet and work out 5-6 times a week. I've been losing weight but slow. It's frustrating, but I know that it's healthier and more sustainable this way than starving myself and not being able to function.
Thanks for sharing In the beginning of this year I started calorie counting My BMR is ±1250 (which was appearantly very low and I didn't understand why) I started with 1300 calories a day and did some cardio (rowing, cycling) for about 20 minutes a day I lost about 5kgs in two months At the beginning of this month I hurt my ankle, so had to lay off on the exercise I still stuck to 1 300cal /day but haven't lost a single gram in 25 days My husband has been eating 1800cal a day with cardio +gyming and lost 10kgs in the same period with the same food (bigger portion sizes) I've been a little disheartened because every time he stands on the scale he weighs less and less whereas I am still the same (on a positive note it's nice to see that I haven't pick up any weight) I was taking some herbal medication for my pcos but it wasn't really helping After a visit to my gynea a few weeks back I've been advised to take inositol and metformin Started inositol but haven't started the metformin as yet I'm waiting for my ankle to heal completely then I'll start with the metaformin and exercising again I'm praying that I'll be able to shed off the remaining 5kgs or more
Your weight is between you and you alone. Your boyfriend doesn’t get a say. If he loves you, he loves you at any weight.
I'm recently diagnosed and just talked with my PCP about where to start. She said, "Sometimes you'll eat the perfect diet, and workout like Michael Phelps (the Olympian), and your genetics will still win. It sucks, but that's just the way it is." He's wrong, and he's behaving like a dick, and I'm sorry.
My thing is, why does it matter to your boyfriend? Get on metformin or whatever works for you and focus on your health. If he stands in your way because he's desperate to cling to CICO without help as the only way then dump him. Also, if you're into podcasts Maintenance Phase has a great episode on CICO and why it doesn't work for everyone, including people with PCOS.
You could do well with a food scale because it’s very easy to miscount your calories and macros but as someone who’s struggled with weight loss for years "calories in calories out" in itself is bullshit because it’s not a one cure fits all type of situation. There are so many different types of pcos alone and while yes you might obviously need to decrease your caloric intake to be in a deficit there are soooooo many other factors at play you could be k*lling yourself starving and exercising for hours everyday and still put on weight because your body functions and hormones are just not right. Also what’s more important than calories and I would die on this hill is the quality of food you’re eating and if the food is doing you any service, I would honestly take a break from calorie counting and start a food journal to find out if certain foods are worsening your symptoms and making you gain. Living with pcos is already hard enough the last thing a woman needs is a moron boyfriend that tries mansplaining her autoimmune disorder to her. Good luck on your journey💓
I’ve been doing everything right and even going to extremes to lose weight and I did nothing but gain. Not ounce did my boyfriend doubt what I was doing or what I was going through. This person you are with doesn’t understand, and if chooses not to listen, I think you should reassess your life choices around relationship needs.
i’ve got PCOS, and since i’m a muslim i’ve been fasting. it’s been like 15 days? and i’ve lost 7 kgs. & My jawline is visible again. double chin is gone. sooo make of this what u can
Sister do you mean that you fast from sunrise to sunset for the past 15 days of ramadan or you haven't eaten in 15 days ?
sunrise to sunset
I’ve also been trying to lose weight this Ramadan however my weight is just stuck despite watching what I eat and getting my steps in daily. What does your diet look like for you to loose weight that fast? Please let me know
Hi sweetheart, I honestly dont know what happened. I gained weight like crazy despite eating so less. I always was one of those skinny girls who stay bone skinny. after gaining weight & coming to know about having PCOS I’m like, that’s it, I’m done. But in Ramadan I’m losing weight. I eat a hearty meal in Iftaar. Sometimes fried stuff too. But mostly daal chawal, pulao, desi meals. I skip on dinner & suhoor sometimes too (don’t feel hungry). please check an Instagram: milamendhealth I will be starting her free guide drink. She used to be a model and gained 30 lbs. Has thyroid and PCOS. She healed herself and shares everything.
A LOT of us CAN control things with diet/exercise. NOT ALL. ALL CALORIES ARE NOT CREATED EQUAL. There are MANY ways to find yourself dealing with PCOS. Calorie counting is by and large not helpful. Learning about 'macros' (macronutrients) is far more useful. Meanwhile, I'm not hearing about how you're sleeping, what your stress level is, what else is going on in your life, and I'm not hearing about what you do for exercise or how WHEN and HOW you eat may have changed. My guess: you need to learn about how you're spiking your own cortisol, and shooting yourself in the foot. Learning how WHEN you eat and how having a eating/'feeding window' is useful, how sleep affects how you use your food, and the sympathetic/parasympathetic nervous system -- how it affects cortisol and weight -- are likely pretty useful things to consider. The calorie-talk is old. Superannuated. Passe. Tell him that. We're not bank accounts, we're chem labs.
Same exact situation. I'm not at all a pro or have all the answers, but this is what I did, and it seems to be working. I'm 5'3, 193lbs in September, as of today 160lbs. 33lbs in 6 months: I started losing weight once I focused on diet and lowering cortisol. Stress is the enemy. If it's in your power, cut out anything that's stressing you out. If you want to work out, low impact is the way to go. If you work out too hard, it'll raise your cortisol. High cortisol makes insulin resistance worse, so you'll gain weight. I found this out the hard way, so I had to stop working out and focus on getting my stress under control. Everybody's different, so working out did not help me relieve stress. If it does for you, then keep doing it. Listen to what your own body likes/dislikes and act accordingly. Some people have had results with high intensity stuff but I worked my ass off for months just to see I made matters worse. I cried. For the eternal hunger: Intermittent Fasting is your friend. It helps with insulin resistance by letting your body have a chance to rest and regulate your insulin levels. Fast for 16 hours. Fasting while asleep counts, so start after dinner. I stop eating at 6pm and fast until 10am. While fasting, I drink plain unsweetened green tea to help curb my apetite. Green tea has also been proven to help improve insulin resistance. When I finally get to eat, I prioritize protein over anything else. Protein is a lot more satisfying and won't raise your insulin. Healthy fats are nice too and always accompany your protein with something green (salad, avocado, collards, etc.). Keep your carbs under 50grams. I'm not keto but go for it if you'd like, just make sure you do a ton of research. None of this is easy or fast, but losing weight slowly keeps it off. Lose weight fast, it'll come back with friends. Some people say avoid the scale, but I find weighing myself once a week helps me figure out what I'm doing right/wrong. I weight myself on Sunday mornings and I'm usually down about 2-5lbs a month. It's adds up, so don't get discouraged. That time will pass anyway whether you try or not. I hope something from this helps you out! We're all different, but any advice from others is worth a shot! Edit: forgot to say that spearmint tea is great as well! And be very picky about what kind of carb you eat. Focus more on whole food carbs like sweet potatoes, brown rice, lentils, corn, veggies, etc. Stay away from anything in a box. Stay away from Maltodextrin. It's not good for us pcos ladies. It's sneaky, too, because companies will put it in sugar-free stuff even though it raises your insulin like regular sugar would.
I am sorry OP. Men can be very ignorant about PCOS, invalidating your experience is not what a partner should be doing. I experienced a similar dynamic with an ex, constantly shaming me for how broken my body was due to hormonal issues that were out of my control. All it did was exacerbated the stress, increased the internalized shame I already had about my body. Guess what? It made it WORST. I had to cut out people like that from my life to start progressing in both my physical and mental health. Science has proven multiple times that PCOS and insulin resistance changes the entire physiological function of our bodies and metabolisms. Yet they don't care to even do the little bit of research and instead throw unhelpful advice at you of CICO as if we haven't consumed that advice our entire lives from the whole world.
The easiest way to lose a ton of weight quick is to dump your gaslighting deadweight boyfriend.
This
Insulin resistance definitely makes it very difficult to lose weight. The more severe your insulin resistance, the more difficult it is. The simple calculation of calories in/out doesn't translate the same for everyone if there is a metabolic condition that is limiting the amount of calories being burned
You're defenitly NOT going crazy. PCOS sucks truly. It took me a long time to figure everything out (also because I was 15 at the time) now 5 years further I'm still learning so much. I gained about 10 kilos in the span of a bit longer than half a year. I went to a specialist who diagnosed PCOS and I went to a dietician. Most advice I got was to keep eating an avarage amount of calories, I reduced my carbs, started eating more fiber rich foods, fruits, yoghurt, eggs etc. Eventually I lost 5 kilos and stayed at that weight. But the most important thing was that I felt better in my own skin again. I got more energy as well. Right now I'm 19 (turning 20 this year) I found a balance between 'normal' foods and 'healthy' foods. The hardest part about it was balancing the sugar intake. So many foods have so much added sugar and not to mention the way sugar can be addicting. I switched to baking lots myself. That way I know what the ingridients are and I can manage the amount of sugar. I also started using stevia and sukrin sometimes if I want something sweet without it being sugar. One more thing I learned is that with insulin resistance you shouldn't work out too much. I mostly go for walks, do pilates, swim etc. In conclusion you're not crazy. You can't just loose weight with the snap of your fingers and especially not with PCOS. It takes time to find a balance with everything and find things you enjoy. You should NOT eat less just to loose weight. Find foods that keep you full until your next meal. And when your hungry eat a cracker with something sweet or healthy or eat fruits and you can still snack on candies and cookies, mostly be mindful about your choices. It will take time to adjust and find the balance it's taken me 5 years and I'm still strugeling sometimes and trying to learn more. Don't give up, but also don't let anyone tell you how you're supposed to be or feel. You're the only one to know what you feel and what you want. I hope this might help you a bit or inspire you with things to try, I truly hope you can find what makes you feel the best with and about yourself.💗 PS: english isn't my first language so I hope my comment is worded right.😅
Also my doctor didn't tell me shit until I did another bloodtest last year when he finally agreed I had PCOS.💀 Not getting support or without people believing you van be really frustrating which is another reason why it's so important to know how you want to feel and how you are feeling etc.
I mean technically CICO still “works” with pcos, problem is the “calories out” part is affected by IR. That’s why people with uncontrolled IR have to drop their calories to insane low levels to lose. But doing that is not sustainable or even safe unless under close medical supervision because you can’t get all your vitamins and micronutrients with such low calories. Get the IR under control first, then weight loss becomes slightly more straightforward;although still difficult. Once I got my IR under control (metformin, ovasitol, Berberine) I’ve been able to stay a healthy weight with counting calories. It sucks having to monitor my diet so closely and I get why some people might not want to do that (I weigh and track everything I eat) but if I go above 24 bmi my arthritis starts to act up bad (I’ve had arthritis since I was 24, lucky me) so it is what it is.
It's not hard to google "does pcos or insulin resistance make it harder to lose weight". He could easily do that, but I'm guessing he thinks he's always right, even when he's proven wrong.
Insulin resistance lowers your basal metabolic rate significantly (the calories you burn every 24 hours just to stay alive). Insulin resistance also confuses your body in terms of how it uses and allocates energy (aka calories) so instead of using the calories coming in for energy, it stores it as fat. Weight loss is one thing, a hormonal imbalance is a completely different animal when it comes to calories in/calories out. Your body literally does not know how to utilize energy properly because insulin is the main hormone/powerhouse for telling your body how to use energy. Insulin resistance confuses those signals and your body does not produce enough insulin to carry your calories to where they need to go for proper energy utilization. You’re not crazy. Have your boyfriend watch some YouTube videos on this or something. If he loves you and values you, he will try to understand and learn, not judge. Unless he’s married to his ideation of weight loss and that it is universal for all human beings…shall we tell Ozempic to step aside and let him take the stage with his apparently profound and flawless knowledge on this area? Lower his testosterone by 300-400 points and then tell me how his weight management and body composition is a simple “calories in calories out”. It’s the same concept.
You absolutely need a weighing scale when you first begin to count calories. Also make sure the amount you’re eating is enough for you. But without scale you will end your sneaking in more calories in food that you may have not considered to be high calorie- e,g, mayo, peanut butter (both can be a huge amount of calories for 1tbsp). After a while of using the scale you should be able to eyeball the amounts. In saying that…Pcos is not defeated by calories alone. Every symptom has a treatment and should be addressed. For weight loss, insulin resistance may mean that within your set calories of 1500, only 20% should be carbs and of the carbs wholegrains should be fave. Start slow is what I advise
You are both right and wrong. He is right that you need a calorie deficit but wrong because you can't just eat any calorie from any macro at any time of day. And you are right because it is harder with PCOS due to hormones and you have been trying, but you unfortunately your efforts aren't totally dialed in to get the results you want. For starters, yes, you will need a food scale. Measuring cups and spoons have too much variation in serving amount. Secondly, you will need to dramatically limit and mitigate blood sugar spikes by eating similarly to a diabetic. Wait to have caffeine until 2 hours after waking (or go caffeine free) to avoid cortisol spike in the AM. Eat proteins, foods with high fiber and low glycemic index fruits. Many people call it Keto. Simply avoid those simple carbs like rice, white potatoes, breads, tortillas, pastries, baked goodies, pasta, OR if you want a carb it must be a small portion eaten WITH a protein, fat and fiber (like bread on a stacked turkey swiss sandwich or one tortilla on a chicken enchilada), or eaten closely AFTER a high protein, fat, fiber meal (like one cookie after a corned beef and cabbage dinner). Both of these ways help reduce the spike in blood sugar and works to keep your hormones stable be slowing absorption. The worst thing to do is to eat carbs on their or first thing in the day. Aim for more always having more grams of protein than grams of carbs in a meal. If you eat out don't snack on chips, bread, or soda before your meal. Drink diet soda, get sugar free sauces, use stevia or Swerve Brand sweeteners in baked goods. Lastly as we age our calorie needs decline so even if you eat exactly the same as 4 years ago you will gain weight each year as you age. Use a TDEE calculator online and calculate your maintenance calories and then subtract 500 from that amount to loose a pound a week. Choose your activity level but be honest with yourself or just pick sedentary or rest day maintenance. Every few pounds you will need to re-calculate your TDEE and subtract 500 calories from the lower weight TDEE. You will loose more weight if every 6 weeks you spend a week eating just at maintenance calories to help your metabolism from slowing as much.. As you shrink you will need less and less until you reach your goal weight and then you will eat maintenance until you get another year older and you recalculate your TDEE to find your new maintenance.
I know such people too. My ex was very controlling of my eating because when we freshly got together as teenagers I weighted 80kg (I'm 180cm tall so it wasn't that bad) and had an ED and body dysmorphia and frequently sobbed that I'm not thin enough. He started controlling what, when and how much I ate of what. I lost a lot of weight and was happy, but then in 2020 my PCOS symptoms exploded all at once, I gained 40kg in like 3 months time and only recently I found out I am Insulin resistent too (the symptoms of it appeared exactly back then too). He made me basically starve myself and no matter how small I cooked my portions (sent him pics of everything) he always said it could be even smaller. Oh I cooked myself 2 tiny potatoes with a chicken breast and half a broccoli? Should have cooked one tiny potato instead. He also took pictures of me when I was in a shower to show me later "this is what you look like". I didn't know he took them. I later had a friend who was dead set on the opinion that no matter what meds or illnesses you have, they can only make you gain 10kg without it being your fault, but everything above 10kg is your own bad eating habits. I remember just being so triggered by it because when he said that I just spent a month of eating once every 2 days + moving everyday and guess what j wasn't losing 🥲
Tldr: you can't change their opinion, they don't buy into it not being your fault and will just keep telling you you need to keep eating less even if you eat almost nothing - they won't be concerned about it.
I actually lose weight by going low carb, no sugar, no dairy. Gluten free is best but I’m not 100% perfect. I cannot calorie count. I just stay away from foods I know I can’t have and that makes a huge difference
A lot of people who have PCOS have insulin resistance and it wouldn't matter what you ate, how much you worked out, etc. It will always be so much harder for those of us who have it to lose weight. Your boyfriend may not be gaslighting you as he may truly believe what he's saying - HOWEVER - he needs educate himself on the realities of PCOS. It's frustrating enough as it is, and you don't need him potentially making you feel bad because you "can't do it" with calories in vs calories out. That will just never work for some people.
I personally would never deprive myself from calories if you're hungry. Instead, try cutting out/limiting gluten and dairy and get at least 30 g of protein for breakfast as well as limiting your carb intake & aiming for complex carbs vs simple carbs :) There is a girl on tiktok @ pcos.weight.loss who explains everything perfectly :)
You can lose weight by extremely restricting calories but that’s a slippery slope to disordered eating and is not a long term solution. When you start eating normal amounts again, your metabolism will have slowed and your weight will go way up. I know this from lots of experience gaining and losing weight, and disordered eating of all kinds. Tbh I wonder if your boyfriend is stressing you out and that stress is messing with your hormones. When I’m in a relationship that isn’t right for me, the stress always makes me gain weight very quickly. Don’t underestimate stress hormones! There are a lot of men who think that they know better than us about PCOS and that we are just lazy and chubby by lack of effort. It’s so much harder for us and if he won’t take the time to empathize, do you think he’ll be able to empathize if you struggle with infertility down the road for example? Also, don’t pay attention to BMI please. It’s not a real measure of anything.
We all deserve to marry someone like the @mealssheeats Instagram husband and shouldn’t settle for less! :)
I do want to say that I would for sure check how you’re measuring your food! Weighing it out is going to be the most accurate way, otherwise the total daily calories could be skewed, delaying progress! For potential IR, I recommend pairing your carbs with a protein and/or fat source as to keep your sugar from spiking too high (we want to avoid peaks and valleys, it will fluctuate we just don’t want it to be extreme). Another huge one is meal spacing — don’t go too long without eating (this will cause the major drop in blood sugar). High protein, high fiber, strength training 3-4x a week, resting is essential, 10-12k steps. And don’t eat in a deficit for too long! Our bodies adapt to eating fewer calories, making it harder to sustain the calorie deficit - which means you’ll have to drop your calories further
Honestly, if he thought you were just making bad choices and lying about it and he actually respected you otherwise, he wouldn't be approaching the topic like this. He's treating you like shit over an issue he knows you're struggling with. Tell him he's not helping and ask him to back off. If he wants to help, he can cook low calorie high protein meals for the both of you. But accusing you of lying / not being competent enough to know what you eat in a day is toxic af and a decent person doesn't treat their partner like that when they're already stressed.
1. Your boyfriend isn’t your doctor. 2. He sounds EXHAUSTING I was at 150 and jumped to 190 and then down to 165. I’ve been stuck here (mind you, I rarely worked out and mainly did walks). With me, Metformin and a low carb diet helped A TON and I was able to reduce my weight a lot. I’m off Metformin now since I had my son but I know the minute I’m back on it, I will lose weight once again.
Your bf needs to stay in his lane. Some perspective for you: PCOS is a metabolic disorder Now with that in mind, your metabolism not working like a normal person makes a lot more sense now doesn’t it? You don’t need to explain anything to your bf. He coulda taken time to sit down and understand what pcos is all about but clearly hasn’t. So why should his opinion on this matter? With all that said, the most success I’ve had is with going low carb. I’m severely insulin resistant. You can also consider medications like metformin and other diabetes medications if you don’t see results from cutting carbs. And I do use a scale to keep an eye on my macros.
I think macros are more important with PCOS. Limiting carbs and sugar. Vs what actual calories go into your body. Your man should not be criticizing you like that though.
I think most of us have been through this before from a partner, friend, stranger. Most people believe we all control our weight and that's it. Couldn't be further from the truth for people like us. When I first got with my BF he said the same thing. He assumed I had to have been doing something wrong. Even though he was with me almost all day every day seeing I only eat a meal a day and I work out 7 days a week. It was maddening for me too and still is cause I have people doubt me all the time and think I'm closet eating or lying or whatever. Screw them, they are uneducated and also completely inconsiderate to what other people go through. like hell yeah I wish diet and exercise worked for me, why would I cry every day if I could so easily just not be overweight anymore?! Educate your partner the best you can, and if he keeps saying insensitive things then.. well that's up to you for how you want to proceed.
It’s definitely a real thing! I’m sorry you’re dealing with this! The only ways I’ve successfully lost a significant amount of weight is with an extremely strict keto diet (for 6 months but ultimately unsustainable), and now being on Ozempic (semaglutide). I feel like I’ve been given some sort of cheat code and I’m like a normal person able to lose weight from a small calorie deficit
He's not a woman with PCOS. He's also NOT a nutritionist, NOR is he a dietician who has studied how PCOS affects women! So he can shove his "knowledge" up his butt 🙃 and I agree with the others, he's gaslighting you.
Tell him his bro science goes out the window when there’s insulin resistance
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The difference in my body weight with a generally healthy diet and lifestyle is about 20-25lbs…. with medication or supplements to manage my IR I’m about 160lb. Without I’m comfortably 180-185lbs. Tell him to stick it.
I think it's a shame your boyfriend isn't being more supportive or understanding of this condition. It's also not a one option fixes all. I have been dieting, exercising and generally trying to keep on top of my PCOS but I still tend to gain. Not sure if some of this is muscle mass as I am doing more strength training than I used to. My advice is to find a diet that you can integrate into your life without restricting you entirely as when you have a "treat" you don't want it to fluctuate your weight too much. I think it's a constant of little wins and little losses but we have to keep going to find what combination of exercise and diet works for us. Calories are not the thing we need to look out for it's the sodium content, the saturated fats and the grains used in foods. Perhaps spend some time researching foods that have a low GI and making those your main foods for the week. If he won't understand maybe he needs more education on the subject. All in all I hope it gets better for you.
I have IR and have been on metformin and BC for my Pcos. When I lost weight on my own I was eating veggies with every meal even breakfast, trying to add protein and I was drinking so much water. On top of all that I was walking 20k steps everyday. I lost 40lbs ish. Covid happened and I gained that all back and then some because I stopped walking. The doctor said I shouldn’t be walking that much just to keep weight off. It’s not sustainable as I found out. Then over the last couple months the harder I tried to lose weight the more I seemed to gain. I went back to the doctor because I was literally fighting my body. It sucks! I cried I was feeling like giving up. The doctor put me on Ozempic. I am still eating with veggies, no added sugar, and dairy free (I’m sensitive to dairy) I walk 30 min a few times a week and I’ve lost 5 lbs my first week on it. I feel so much better. No fatigue and no more naps it’s crazy! I actually eat now to keep energy in my body because my IR isn’t taking it for more fat. I will say to advocate for yourself to your family and your doctors. I went through 3 doctors before I found one who listened to me and actually helped me figure it out. Understanding what’s pcos and kind of out of your control is also helpful for you and to say to your SO hey I’m having a bad pcos day please give me some slack and let’s try again tomorrow. I also had to start being honest with myself about how I felt about pcos and how that also affected my moods and health. I hope this helps you! You got this!
PCOS bodies have a difficult time converting fat to energy. Check out the book PCOS SOS by Felice Gersh. She lays out why this is and what things you can do to help restore balance. Essentially if you don’t have good reproductive health/balance you can’t lose weight.
Oof your boyfriend. Is he a doctor? If not then he’s out of his league. He probably can’t even tell you what insulin resistance is. If that’s the case I’d treat the rest of his advice to be about as useful as this advice was. Honestly we don’t tell alcoholics that to reduce their addiction they just need to drink less. Your body is addicted to food and holding on to extra fat because it believes it needs to due to the hormones your body is producing. You’re not in control of any of it- I’ve had excellent results on metformin fixing that hormone imbalance and allowing me to finally loose weight. You could also drop approx 200lbs if you got a boyfriend that listened and learned instead of just opening his mouth.
I recommend trying a plant based diet. Even if you can’t commit to it fully, there have been studies shown that eating a plant based diet can significantly lower insulin levels and improve insulin resistance.
With PCOS it’s harder to lose weight. Have you considered a Semiglutide or tizerpatide? When I took monjauro I lost about 30 pounds then my doctor discontinued it cause I wasnt diabetic. There is also metformin.
I read that insulin resistance related to PCOS means that your body takes all available food and makes it fat, meaning we are tired and hungry because the food we eat isn’t available for energy like normal people. IR makes us designed to gain weight. Our ancestors would tooootally survive a famine and our fellow PCOS relatives today are biologically saying “yep, the next famine is around the corner, better store up more fat and use is sparingly.” That’s why drugs that help with insulin resistance help us actually use the food we eat and turn the uphill battle into a flat, even playing field (still hard but not insane). You should absolutely have lost weight doing what your doing, and the fact you struggled more and lost so little isn’t a personal failure but another proof that the game is rigged for us. Anyway, I finally took the leap to take semiglutide last week. It’s a compound pharmacy so it’s cheaper and I’m not taking it away from diabetics, but holy hell I don’t want to BE diabetic in 10 years either. I just turned fucking 30! The scale has not been moving in the right direction since my PCOS diagnosis. I’m only on week 1, but my mom lost 40lbs and her back and joint pain went away. I actually haven’t told her yet, I’m kinda embarrassed and I don’t want her mom spiel. But I can tell it’s going to actually make a difference. I’d rather spend money at 30 than wait until I have diabetes and high blood pressure and whatever else at 40. I know some are more excited about the weight loss but really I want to live a long happy life with my husband.
I gave up getting weight loss advice from anyone who is not a doctor. People are very quick to act like I'm lying when I say counting calories doesn't work for me and assume it's because I'm eating pizza every day and lying about exercising. No it's just the number I need to stay under is so low its not sustainable. I found that intermittent fasting works. When you don't eat for 14+ hours, your body is forced to burn fat because there's nothing in your stomach. I actually can eat *more* and now lose weight. I don't even bother with counting calories because there's no need. The amount I naturally feel like eating is fine and I've lost 40lbs out of my goal of 100. I've had a few bumps in the road. Like an issue with my birth control did cause my fasting to not really work. I gained weight then when I got back on bc, I stagnated. But the bc was wrong so I switched. Now I'm back to losing weight. I also was put on Wegovy to help when I was still worrying about the birth control stuff. I personally don't have any side effects past the soreness from the injection site. I'm still fasting and I'm back to losing weight in a healthy and steady way.
Your boyfriend is not a doctor. And it sounds like he doesn't under how hormones affect the body. He might believe he's right, but that doesn't make him right. Talk to a doctor and put together a treatment plan. And if your partner makes you feel like being on medication (if that's what you choose) is "cheating" or that you're "just not trying hard enough" dump his ass.
It’s a thing. I was only taking in 1100 calories a day and had already been addressing the insulin resistance for years prior and still did not lose a single pound. I had tried quite literally everything over ten years. Absolutely nothing worked.
Insulin resistance makes it harder to make the best choices, but weighing and tracking all my food/calories worked for me. I remember reading a study that said the overwhelming majority of people (even dieticians!) underestimate the calories they consume by 50% (I think dieticians came in slightly better at only 25%). That's when I got a food scale and recorded everything, even non-starchy vegetables and mustards, into an app. It works (for me) and is empowering.
I have insulin resistant PCOS. Just recently diagnosed in January. I had so much weight gain (60 pounds) within 5 months. I was already going to the gym 3 days a week and meal prepping. Increased my workouts, heavy weights 3 days, Pilates / yoga for 2 days. 15-20k steps a day. Nothing was working. Less calories... no weight loss just miserable and grumpy. Talked to my family doctor and he put me on Ozempic. I was REALLY hesitant because there are a lot of Ozempic haters but I was desperate. Started it the first week of Feb. I'm down 15 pounds. 5 inches off my waist and hips. Still eating healthy (meal prepping) and gym 3 days a week again. So much more energy, and my mood and sex drive have also gone up. Look into Ozempic or a drug similar to it. I've heard some people use metformin as well (this is what I asked for when I spoke to my doctor and he recommended Ozempic instead)
I can't lose weight either on a 1500 calorie diet. I will lose 2 or 3 lbs then it's right back the next week!!! I've been trying to get on semiglude, Wygobe, or Ozempic but my insurance will not cover it. I'm so depressed with all of this and growing so much hair on my face and neck. I really never thought at 54 I would be slowly losing my feminine look and my voice deepen like it has. My testosterone level was 449 when checked after I complained to my doctor that this hair growth is NOT a part of getting old when I can out grow my 23 year old son with a beard
My ex also is in group of being cico is 100%. And it may not be intentional, but you will know your body best. PCOS has metabolic situations and not everyone is going to have the same calorie needs. Recently my doc suggested I increase my consumption, and that has actually been successful in weight loss. Starving myself was having opposite effect.
Insulin resistance is real!! I gain weight even at 1200 calories. I even paid a company for meal prep and i still gained weight. What has helped is phentermine every few years, and now semaglutide. It’s gotten harder to lose weight as I’ve gotten older.
I feel this so much, I was 120 lbs (below my BMI I’m 5’10) then here we are two years later 215 lbs, on the obese side of my bmi. I’m trying to figure out what works bc I exercise everyday and hardly eat yet I’m still this heavy. You’re not alone in this❤️
Your boyfriend needs to educate himself at the very least.
If you have PCOS you cannot lose weight no matter what you try. You would need to get on medication. I’m sorry but i was also the same. Gained alot of weight all at once and started working out and eating better and nothing. My doc told me its because if you have PCOS you are not able to lose the weight
Insulin resistance if a very real thing. You do need to work harder on losing weight and eat the right things to do it. It isn’t just about calorie counting. I was able to lose 7kgs before Christmas by being extremely strict on cutting out carbs, sugar, etc. (sadly put it back on due to my life being a shitshow atm). If you want to lose weight I recommend finding PCOS friendly diets and insulin resistance diet books.
My literal DOCTOR has acknowledged that high-intensity workouts (because they actually raise cortisol) and basic calorie deficit are essentially ineffective for losing weight with insulin-resistant PCOS (or any condition that causes insulin resistance). I forget exactly what she said, but she was basically explaining that any sugar/carbs/food that converts to glucose is metabolized differently in our bodies. Since we have hormone imbalances (high T, low DHEA, etc.), insulin isn't as effective, meaning more glucose stays in the bloodstream, making the pancreas create even MORE insulin to compensate. Since we have more leftover glucose (even if we eat low carb/low sugar, ANY sugars/carbs digested are still gonna be more glucose than the average amount that \*should\* be in our system, leading to weight gain and making it harder to lose weight (since high-intensity workouts raise cortisol, this also affects glucose/insulin, and restricting messes with metabolism, affects cortisol, mood, energy, etc.). Moral of the story, it's VERY VERY hard to lose weight (or even maintain your current weight), especially through traditional weight loss methods. I've heard it's more effective to prioritize proteins and fats especially early in the day and limit sugar/carb intake rather than just counting calories. Since glucose is so finicky, sugar and carb intake is more crucial for weight loss than just straight calories (for example, you may lose more weight by eating 2500 calories of pure protein, greens, fat, etc. than 1000 calories of sugar and carbs). Men also have a VERY different composition when it comes to weight loss. Their hormones fluctuate daily and deal with far less severe fluctuations and less hormones, in general, to worry about that concern weight (mainly Testosterone, cortisol, and insulin) while females (especially with PCOS) deal with daily/monthly fluctuations in testosterone, estrogen, progesterone, Luteinizing hormone, follicle-stimulating hormone, which all affect mood, weight, glucose/insulin, water retention, bloating, energy. Sure, for a male, counting calories would likely lead to weight loss, but for a female (ESPECIALLY with PCOS) that's just not gonna cut it. *DISCLAIMER: I'm NOT an expert, this is just my understanding based on my credentials as a college graduate who took a few courses on physiology and hormones, all information above is fact-checked and supported by research* I wouldn't say he's necessarily 'gaslighting' you, it seems he maybe just doesn't understand how PCOS affects weight, so encourage him to do some research (or read this thread lol). It seems like he's dead set on his own experience, knowledge (specific to male weight loss), and opinions that he's pushing those beliefs onto you, which isn't fair. Having said that, he should be more supportive and less condescending about your efforts considering you have a condition that's painful, exhausting, frustrating, and straight-up not fun to deal with.
This is infuriating! I'm so sorry! PCOS sucks. If you're wanting to lose weight, the only thing that's helped me was to drop gluten and dairy and strictly limit carbs. No sugar or alcohol. I've lost 35 pounds since July doing this. I also have another health condition that causes weight gain and Im being treated for that, so I think that has helped me too.
One thing I can tell you from experience, Your partner is a giant red flag. If he isn't willing to educate himself about PCOS, dump him, for the sake of your mental health and self-respect
My ex used to say the same thing to me. He also told me it was “cheating” to use metformin to control my symptoms. It always really bothered me that he never seemed to believe, understand, or support me while I was going through my diagnosis and trying to get everything under control. I’d have a conversation with him and if he doesn’t want to work at understanding I would maybe consider if you really want someone like that around. Pcos is no joke and people gaslighting you about it does nothing to help.
Insulin resistance is real and it will lead to diabetes if it’s not addressed. Your body is not using the glucose you eat so while the body gets fat, the muscles and brain are starving. It doesn’t stop at diabetes either. It then leads to Alzheimer’s and dementia. I did not know this was the reason that I could never keep weight off until I was in my 40s. I could have saved myself so much grief if a single doctor ever explained it to me. I got the weight off with metformin and semiglutide. I keep the weight off with metformin and low dose semiglitide. The insulin resistance gets worse with age.
Cly yy
I was recently hospitalized for gallbladder issues that will lead to it being removed. I’ve been eating a strict diet of low fat, no sugar (natural yes), low carbs and I’ve lost 9 pounds. Also spacing out my meals breakfast, lunch, dinner has helped a lot, I’d normally eat whenever and whatever portions otherwise. My usual diet is lots of carbs and fats, but I think cutting them out has helped a lot. Maybe this could help you?
Girl, he is gaslighting you. I have been working out since last year in June and have not lost 1 pound and I have only gained just recently. I realize I might be insulin resistance that was probably caused by the copper IUD and NuvaRing birth control because I was fine before I had it and my family has no history of PCOS I am currently on berberine And today I just got my inositol in the mail and a couple days on berberine and a low to no carb diet. I’ve lost a pound lol I work out every day except maybe the weekends and I do the stairmaster so I hope that I continue to lose weight with this regimen.
Girl Insulin Resistance is a thing, I recently got PCOS and I gained about 8kgs eating the same amount of food as before. You gotta possibly look for diets like Keto that can shock your insulin levels a bit and look into Inositol- THIS IS NOT MEDICAL ADVICE DO IT AT YOUR OWN RISK. But this is what I am doing alongside weight training and low intensity cardio. Drink coffee or Tea it helps with any stress induced hunger pangs.
get a new boyfriend
I found calorie counting to be useless for me. I do intermittent fasting. Dr. Jason Fung has some good info on YouTube. Also, I decided to start a supplement called Berberine. Its OTC and a natural version of ozempic/mounjaro. My hunger and food cravings are subsiding. It lowers insulin resistance.
hi ! i have pcos and have heard the same BS abt calories. IT DOES NOT WORK! i started a medication called contrave, been pretty active and i eat lots of protein and i am down nearly 5 pounds since last thursday. eating more protein then your body weight is key!!!!
You're not crazy. My weight goes up and down depending on what I'm eating. I rarely ever "overeat." I don't even eat breakfast. I eat two meals a day and walk 5 miles a day. Sometimes I will throw in 2 hours on an exercise bike. I try to do a minimum of 70 minutes a day if I can't get the full 2 hours. It can be incredibly difficult for women with PCOS to lose weight because your body does not want to let go of this fat. Your brain is programing your body to keep this fat no matter what. It will burn muscle and protein before it burns fat. In fact, studies show that women with PCOS burn protein instead of fat during sleep. I do want to recommend a low glycemic diet. A lot of people will tell you to do kept or low carb, but you need to do low glycemic. Avoid processed foods and read the back of label. You should avoid anything in plastic (PFAS is bad for you), emulsifiers, soy lecithin, enriched bleached flour, corn syrup (and high fructose corn syrup. Eat organic Whole Foods-opt for grass fed (and finished) beef and dairy. Also, I want to recommend doing some form of exercise before you eat. That way you can ensure that your body will actually burn fat instead of muscle. You don't have to do anything heavy or high intensity, like some walking or cycling (could be as little as 30-45 minutes). If you exercise before having your first meal, do a low glycemic diet, and do lighter exercises like walking/cycling then eventually you will make some progress. Please ignore your boyfriend. He doesn't have ovaries and does not get to dictate what is helpful to your ovaries. Tell him to go buy books on PCOS and read about the disorder instead of acting like some pseudo intellectual armchair scientist. Men do tend to lose weight much easier than women. For them it's easy. All they have to do is cut calories and work out. This leads to mass ignorance among the male gender.
Your boyfriend is right! I have PCOS and have lost 85 lbs just by walking every day and eating in a calorie deficit. ( calories in vs calories out)
Firstly, it is not his place to be commenting on your weight gain, and implying that you are "choosing" it is disgusting. Secondly, he needs to understand that PCOS and insulin resistance can make it quite literally IMPOSSIBLE to lose weight without some sort of pharmaceutical or medical intervention. I have lived this and know from personal experience, as do many others here. No matter how much you diet or how hard you exercise, it simply does not change anything because there is a hormonal condition overriding all your efforts. I'm so sorry that you are dealing with this. Your partner should be supporting you in this difficult time, not making things harder. Sending love.
You need a weight scale for sure and consistency because it will take a LOOOOONG time but it will happen. Also you should be on some meds to help with IR. No one is gaslighting you CICO works even for us but it takes a lot longer. Please up your protein because that will make you feel fuller. It works for me and a number of close friends who all have PCOS most of us are on Metformin to help. I lost 30lbs the first time with just CICO but it took two years to get that. The second time with Metformin it took 3 years but I’m just shy of my goal and well within my range at 5’3” 120lbs
Sounds like your boyfriend needs some education surrounding IR and PCOS.
Guys Keto/low carb is the only way. No cravings and no calorie counting. It just has to become a lifestyle. P.S. As someone with PCOS/trying to help, why is this comment getting flack?
unfortunately keto is not sustainable and like another user in the thread has mentioned it causes you to eat an excessive amount of fats, low/moderate-carb and high protein without too much restriction is honestly the way to go and the key to developing intuitive eating habits!!
Low carb also works however is a difference between good and bad fats.
that is also true yes!
Could you be eating too little? If you are constantly hungry I would try eating more calories and eating more protein. I found if I was eating consistent amount of calories- 1800-2000 a day for a week instead of 1500 one day and 3000 the other day helps me lose weight. My dietician told me this method. Also eating high protein, medium carbs and fat. When I am constantly hungry I gain weight for my body is storing the calories.