[amywah]

I read somewhere that with PCOS you need 60-90 minutes hardcore cardio 6 days a week with PCOS to lose weight.

1:Have you found this to be true?

2: What do you do as your cardio?

[Rana]

Originally Posted by amywah

I read somewhere that with PCOS you need 60-90 minutes hardcore cardio 6 days a week with PCOS to lose weight.

1:Have you found this to be true?

2: What do you do as your cardio?

Question 1:
I agree. The reasoning for it is that cardio helps you balance your blood sugar and a lot of women with PCOS have insulin resistance as well.

How is this case? In simple terms, when you have insulin resistance, it means that your pancreas is not producing the right amount of insulin to send to your bloodstream to handle the glucose that's hanging out there (and the glucose is there because you've been eating food).

Exercise (cardio) helps you burn off the glucose so that you can help your insulin.

The whole body/exercise/insulin/glucose link is much more complicated than this, but that's it in a nutshell.

There are other side effects of exercise that help women with PCOS too -- depression and other mood stuff can be helped by exercise.

Question 2:

I do spinning 2 times a week now and I ride my bicycle two times a week. I do Pilates (strength training) 2 times a week.

When I ride my bicycle, we are riding 20 miles or 50 miles and that is usually 1 hour and 15 minutes (20 miles) or 3 hours and half (50 miles) of cardio.

I feel great when I do this much exercise. I don't do it to lose weight, because my weight loss is only affected by what I EAT, not how much I exercise.

[Dashing Diva]

1. I am going to have to disagree on this one for me personally, any movement will help you lose weight. You don't have to commit to a crazy workout schedule to lose the weight. I do not loose any weight if I bump up my cardio to 6 days a week at 60 minutes. I tried going hard core on cardio and I gained weight for 3 months straight I had my fat % measured and the result was I was not losing fat. After I read Katie Humphries book I understood because our bodies have excess testosterone for me all the exercise kept increasing those level so I was just building muscle and really getting bulky. I would get so frustrated because I'm working really hard and gaining.

2: I jog/walk I do it every other day. I also go dancing, do aerobics, or do the just dance wii video (more for fun). I do about 1.5-2 miles at a time usually, takes me about 30-40 minutes. I then do some abs, lifting for my arms (just free hand weights), and leg exercises. I find with the every other day having the rest day is extremely helpful, it also makes it more manageable for me to stay dedicated. Thus far I've been doing this about 3 months and have found I've lost 12 inches off my body and 5 lbs, while it may not seem like 5 lbs is a big deal, for me its a huge deal as I was stuck cycling 171-175 forever.

[LaurenBelle]

Honestly, I think if you look at that recommendation and think about how many hours of work that is to squeeze into an already busy life you will panic and give up, especially if you are currently sedentary.
Any movement is better than no movement. Right now I swim once a week and hit the treadmill once a week. Thats enough for me at the moment, but I will be increasing it in the coming months as I start training to hike the Inca Trail. Weight loss operates on an 80/20 rule anyway, what you eat affects the majority of your scale figure.

[twindaze]

I agree, that's not necessary to lose weight, and might not even work as the PP said. For one, you will burn out, for two, you might very well develop injuries by overdoing it like that, and 3, it's extremely time-consuming. There are other ways to keep blood sugar balanced, moderate low carb for one combined with reasonable exercise. And if you do want to work out frequently (I was walking 4 miles 5 days per week last summer) you have to work your way up to it. When I got back to walking after surgery I could not do 4 miles, I would get way too worn out. After a month or so though I could do it. I'm assuming that it would take someone who's not been working out in recent memory longer.

[knoxie]

1. Not true for me personally, no. At the moment I do very little exercise and any I do is just walking from A to B and such. I have no doubt exercise helps weight loss and general health, but so far I've been able to lose weight without too much of it. I regulate my blood sugar by following a plan aimed at PCOS ladies and it works well for me.

2. I did used to do cardio at the gym maybe 12 months ago and it was mainly treadmill/bike/elliptical. When I'm a little smaller I hope to go back to a gym because I quite liked going, but my weight loss isn't exercise dependent (at the moment at least!).