A new year, a new resolution

[Amy_Wan]

Hello everyone. I'm Amy, new to this group. I am living with Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS) for the past 12 years, and more often overweight than not, no thanks to it. In the spirit of a new year and a new job, I hope to drop a dress size by March, in time for my birthday.

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Hi Amy,

I have just bought the" 8 week blood sugar diet book" by Dr Claire Bailey, wife of Michael Mosley. In the intro Claire Bailey quotes someone who has followed this regime and says her PCOS has improved (as well as losing weight )since she adopted it. Might be helpful to you. 😊

[MrNiceGuy]

Hello Amy and welcome to the forum.

Despite suffering from such a frustrating and debilitating condition, you can rest assured all is certainly not lost, since the forum provides help, advice, support and encouragement in abundance.

As you’ve no doubt guessed by my user name, I don’t suffer from PCOS. However, I’m married to a wonderful woman who does and, much like you, she’s struggled with the symptoms for much of her adult life, not least the struggle to lose weight.

Consequently, in the early years, I witnessed her tears of frustration over the fact that nothing appeared to work.

Although I’d always been interested in the subject, her diagnosis a few years back was the catalyst for encouraging me to research nutrition in closer detail than perhaps I’d done in the past, thus, allowing me to gain a greater understanding of the kind of foods that are beneficial to those suffering from PCOS.

In doing so, I quickly discovered that the increased presence of sugar in the diet not only increased the secretion of insulin, the increased insulin secretion encouraged the production of androgens (testosterone), further exacerbating the symptoms from which she suffered.

The years of increased insulin secretion had led to the development of insulin resistance and the subsequent prescription of Orlistat and Metformin, both of which you may be familiar with.

While I consider Orlistat to be an awful drug, I do understand why Metformin is prescribed, since it can help to regulate production of hormones, not least that of insulin and androgens. However, if levels of sugar within the blood remain high (through consumption of refined carbohydrates), Metformin won’t work as its intended.

Consequently, perhaps more than most, the elimination of simple/refined sugars is imperative to your chances of over-coming the struggle to lose (and then maintain) weight with such a condition.

Sadly, it is most likely to be a condition from which you’ll suffer for the remainder of your life (the same goes for my wife), but that doesn’t mean its symptoms cannot be controlled.

When she chooses to apply herself, my wife does lose weight, through the consumption of foods that are high in fibre (complex carbohydrates) and low in saturated fat, in addition to undertaking regular exercise and keeping protein intake relatively high.

As such, when considering carbohydrates, aim to avoid the consumption of cakes, sweets and pastries, in addition to white varieties of bread, pasta, rice and potatoes. Instead, seek to include quinoa, oats, lentils and beans (kidney/pinto, etc), while also opting for non-starchy vegetables, such as broccoli, peppers, lettuce and cauliflower, alongside fruit, such as apples, grapes, cherries and plums.

It’d be worth consulting the Glycemic Index, so that you have a greater idea of the kind of foods that are low upon the GI scale, opting to consume foods with a GI rating of 60 or higher on an occasional basis, since a low GI diet is far more beneficial to your cause.

Fat can and should still be eaten. Ensure that it’s obtained from fish, avocados, nuts and seeds, in addition to healthy oils such as olive and sunflower, for example, while aiming to limit consumption of saturated animal fat (fatty cuts of meat).

Although, it’s considered a MCT, coconut oil is still a saturated fat, so it should be consumed in moderation; you’ll no doubt gain more from applying it to your hair, skin and nails as opposed to consuming it.

As for protein, provided that it’s obtained from lean meat, fish, eggs and whey powder, it’s difficult to go wrong. Just ensure that it constitutes 30-35% of total calorie intake, ensuring that muscle existing mass is maintained as weight is lost.

Diet aside, the most important thing you can do is to gain an appreciation of your numbers, allowing weight to be lost.

As such, upon being aware of how many calories are required to satisfy both BMR (basal metabolic rate) and TDEE (total daily energy expenditure), the daily deficit introduced from TDEE ensures that the body repeatedly expends calories stored in fat, so long as the deficit introduced doesn’t exceed the difference between the two.

If you’ve not already done so, take a look at the NHS 12 Week Plan, since it benefits from a BMI calculator, allowing minimum and maximum allowances to be calculated, based upon current measurements (age/weight/height) and level of activity. Alternatively, if you’d like formulas to calculate both, let me know and I’ll happily provide them (don’t worry they’re not complicated).

Concerning exercise, it’s important to choose an activity that you enjoy, whether it be swimming, running or attending the gym, for example. However, by simply increasing level of activity on a more regular and frequent basis, insulin sensitivity will begin to improve, as the uptake of physical activity will utilise glycogen stored within the muscles.

By regularly utilising the stored glycogen, the complex carbohydrate consumed in the hours afterwards will be used to replenish, as opposed being stored as fat.

As levels of fitness improve, allowing exercise to be executed with increased vigour, there’ll be a far greater uptake of glucose and fat. The more intense exercise becomes, the longer insulin sensitivity levels will remain raised.

Although it’s always been around (largely in the form of Tabata), if you wondered why HIIT has become so popular in recent years, in addition to transforming the bodies of those who undertake it, now you know why.

Despite your despondency and frustration, rest assured, there is certainly hope, Amy.

[IndigoBlue61 in reply to MrNiceGuy]

Excellent response MrNiceGuy ☺

There is nothing to add to that Amy_Wan but just to say welcome to the forum and please ask if you have any questions ☺

Best wishes

Anna