PCOS and weight gain.

[Suntp1]

hi there,

I am looking for any advice on losing weight with PCOS. A little background, I have been a healthy and consistent weight my whole life however toward the end of 2019, my period completely disappeared and I started gain weight rapidly - despite no change in life style or diet. After a trip to the docs and repeat bloods and a scan it was confirmed I had PCOS.

Since this time I have gained 4 stone and if I am honest I am pretty miserable but feel like I am banging my head off a wall with it. At the end of last summer I started running 3 days a week, get my 10k steps in and then starting. This year I see a PT once a week as well as 2-3 gym sessions on my own and I eat in a calorie deficit. All this effort has accomplished is a stall in the weight gain but no reduction. I am overweight and looking for any tips that have helped anyone in similar position. For example dietary restrictions and supplements. Also has anyone had any results with ozempic? Will try anything at this point.

Thanks I’m advance

[Jenny_F]

I have battled with my weight for years and I have found that strength training helps with weight loss rather than excessive cardio. I also found that not skipping meals and eating little and often helps me. The other thing is rather than looking at calories look at the quality of what you are eating. I have always felt alot better if I get my five a day, have wholefoods and avoid junk and have a bit more protein. I have been a vegetarian for years so doing things like keto or low carbing isnt practical but swapping out starchy carbs or lowerinf them (bread, rice, pasta) for wholewheat options or things like quinoa also helps. Avoid any fads and just eat a well balanced eat the rainbow diet.

[Hidden]

hi Suntp1 , I know how difficult it is with weight gain, I really struggled at uni with yet and all the years after. I have tried every treatment and medication under the sun for PCOS. What worked for me might not work for you, but I will add here in case it is helpful. So I really got in shape when I was prescribed Inositol by my Gynaecologist, his reasoning was that all medications were not good on the long run, so he wanted to ease me into a more natural supplement. In addition to this, I really upped on plant on plant proteins (chickpeas and lentils) with plenty of vegetables and fruits. Somehow animal proteins were making me bloated and heavy. Fish was good too in my diet. In terms of exercise, I have tried cardio but it didn’t make any difference. Pilates was great, think the resistance aspect worked for me. Also, I tried to reduce stress by having deep tissue massage every month, which has helped tone my body with Pilates. with all the above I was in a good body shape and my period was regular.

Unfortunately I say ‘I wa’s, because I had torsion last year and lost one of my ovaries, so have gained weight back again and trying to shift it with going back to all the above (which has been a bit tricky with recent diagnosis of hyperthyroidism, which explains why I have been eating a lot)