PCOS/Insulin Resistance SupportSupport for us with any of the following: Insulin Resistance, Syndrome X, Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome, or other endocrine disorders.
Hi Everyone, I come here for advice in desperation..... I've now been on a 4 week Plaeteu and I don't know what to do about it.... I'm so aggravated I seriously am ready to cry!! As I have been working my butt off...
** TTC Since 06/2007 (3 rounds of Clomid, 2 IUI's all BFN)
** PCOS & IR Official Diagnosis 11/2008 - Metofrmin XR 2000mg
** Subclinical Hypothyrodism Diagnosis 12/2010 - T3 & T4 came back good, but my TSH came back at 5.1, went on 50mcg of Synthroid and retsted in 02/2011 and my TSH came back at 2.9, started 62mcg of Synthroid and I go back for testing on 04/14/2011 to see if that came down more.
** Started really getting serious about healthy living on 02/2010, I lost 21lbs from 02/2010-04/2010.. I then hired a trainer to focus on strength training - I lost only an additional 10lbs from 04/10-06/10... 07/10- gained 9lbs, 08/10-09/10 lost those 9lbs again... Stopped seeing my trainer in November of 2010 and through Christmas gained 15lbs back!! ...
** February of 2011 started the journey again... I've lost 2.2lbs in a month... and have now been at the same weight for 4 weeks... (how aggravating)
My daily regime:
** Food
I use my fitness pal dot com to track my foods ... My base calories are 1440 at which will increase based on the exercise I am doing... (you can check out my diary here: my fitness pal dot com / food / diary/ itsbigjoesgal )
I eat mostly whole grain foods, such as wheat pasta, sweet potato's, Arnold Wheat Thin buns etc ... this is in moderation
My carbs are usually somewhere around 125-150 Net carbs, except on the days where I eat a lot of fruit.. I recently learned that I need to cut back on the amount I eat... So I started tracking sugar as well..
We eat mostly chicken & turkey... once, at the most twice per week we will have red meat ... we usually try to buy lean red meat, and I buy 95% lean Ground Beef.
I count EVERYTHING that goes into my mouth
** Exercise:
I workout 6-7 days a week, I workout 6 times a month with a trainer, I do 2 days a week strength training and 1 day a week doing a strength training class (called Body Works Plus Abs)
Days i strength train I do minimum 30 minutes of cardio, weather this be swimming laps, treadmill, or elliptical
This is what my typical week is:
Monday - Spinning (or sometimes Yoga) 60 minutes
Tuesday - Training or Strength Training + 30 minute cardio
Wednesday - Body Works with Abs class
Thursday Spinning 60 minutes
Friday Training + Cardio
Saturday - Aqua Aerbics
Sunday I like to tke off, but if I"m bored I swim laps at the gym
I'm very frustrated and and aggravated that the scale is not moving... and although I realize it's not all about the scale... there has to be something I can do to lose this weight....
I have an appt with a Nutritionist but the earliest appt was April 26th...
Last edited by losingElly; 04-01-2011 at 11:10 AM.
Your calories are certainly in line, and I can't believe all the exercising you're doing - good for you! I would only suggest getting more lean protein (can be fish, tofu, beans - lots of fiber) and less carbs, although you're eating the good kind of carbs. Since you're so active, maybe you're gaining muscle and don't see a loss on the scale, but your body certainly needs protein with all the strength training.
It could be the way that you wrote your post, but it sounds like you're still eating too many carbs (even if they are the "good" kind).
If that's not the case, the fact that you were diagnosed with hypothyroidism and you're just now getting the Synthroid in place to see if it helps might also be what's causing your stall.
Are you taking any other supplements (or just the medication you listed above)?
Have you been testing to see how your IR is going now that you've been on Metformin?
Last, but not least, how's your water intake? We need lots of water to metabolize our fat (or so I've heard) and I find when I don't drink enough, the scale doesn't go down.
Oh, and how is your fat intake? How is your vitamin D levels?
also you said you count everything that goes into your mouth, but how do you count it? do you call it 1 apple = 100 cals, or do you weigh it on a digital scale-- which menas the apple could freally be 120 cals.... my point is, are you eyeblling, using portion control techniques, estmiating, using cups and tablespoons, or are you weighin with a digital scale? you could be underestimating your calories by alot using any method other than weighing.... its very eye opening...... and hey, we ALL tend to think we eat less than we do, so please dont take offfense.
Anyway, if you hit a stall, the Very First place you need to look is at tightening the reigns on diet
Instead on concentrating on weight, how about other ways of seeing progress:
Do you clothes fit better?
With all your exercise, are you able to walk and do things without being out of breath?
Do you feel stronger?
When I'm losing, I start out with taking my measurements-every where I can wrap the tape measure around I measure and record. That way when I hit a stall on the scales I usually still see at least the fat is changing.
WEb: I get lots of protein, my protein numbers are 90+ and well beyond my recommended intake.
Rana: My thyroid is just above normal at this point, and the medication I am taking should be making it work as normal, so I'm not sure that is the problem, but I will definatly ask my doctor. No other supplements, just a multivitamin. Yes I just got my Glucose checked as well was just checked for diabetes, my Glucose I believe is 49 almost double the normal so I am still IR, but I am not diabetic.. I've increased my water intake the last week (as I thought this might be a problem) and i've drank 8-12 cups a day (8oz cups)
MK: I wish it was this simple, but I weigh everything, I slice my apple and weight them... or I weigh my banan (even measure), if I eat something I weight or measure it, and then input into my diary.
Sarah - I wish I did, but I just don't... I feel like I am losing but week after week the scale is the same.. And my clothes just fit to me like they always do.. I have not taken my measurements since the beginning of February.
Part of it might just have to be that you have to change the calories that you're eating.
For the longest time, I stuck to 1600-1800 calories because that's what everyone told me I should be eating. My endoc told me that my calories had to be 1200 or less if I wanted to see any significant weight loss. I thought he was scary.
So, I did something else, I just lowered my calories a little bit. It was slow going. So, I change the quality of the calories. Now, I'm eating on average 1600 calories, but my carb/fat/protein ratios are a lot different.
That's shown me steady weight loss, but it's been slow. I was never the type to lose 2 lbs per week. I don't think any of us with IR will ever be, unless we severely restrict.
In terms of water, you may be getting too little (yes, even if you're drinking 12 8 oz glasses). You're exercising a lot and you are probably sweating a lot and not replenishing enough.
The other thing to take into consideration is not to count "net" carbs. I've found that net carbs don't really mean anything to my body, mostly because of the IR.
Can you post your breakfast/lunch/dinners?
I know you gave us an idea, but do you have the details?
There may be stuff there that we can take a look at.
Rana: I do not take BCP, I take Prometrium to induce AF, as I do not think that BCP is the answer to PCOS. Hormonal medication... I just got done taking 14 days of Prometrium ... Last friday was my last dose and am awaiting AF... and before you say "Oh it must be the TOM" this is not my case... I do not generally go up in weight and down in weight before/after TOM... I generally stay the same and maintain weight loss even during TOM.
My calories range from 1300-1800 ... my goal on mfp is 1440, sometimes I am under, and sometimes I am over that goal... when I am over it's because I exercised and ate a bit more.. Generally I am around the 1600 range if I average it out.
I have discussed the water thing with my trainer, and she said as long as I am getting 8 glasses of water my body would not be dehydrated... as 20% of water comes from the food we eat, and another good amounts come from other liquids.. generally there are no other liquids for me except I drink maybe 1 diet pepsi a day...
I generally switch my foods every week or so... Here is what my menu looked like this week:
Breakfast: 3 egg whites, 2 strips of Turkey Bacon, 32oz of water
Snack: 1 cup of grapes, 1oz of Nut Mix 16oz of water
Lunch: 2 slices of Pumpernickel bread, 4.5oz of light turkey breast, 1tbl of light miracle whip, 1 slice of low fat cheese 12oz can of diet pepsi which I usually baby for the rest of the day
snack: 1 oz of nut mix 16oz of water
today for lunch I had steamed vegetables and steamed chicken.
Dinner varys, so here is a couple of dinners I had this week, I live with 5 other adults so 2 nights a week we have to cook what they make, this week it was Monday & Thursday
Monday - tacos - 3oz 85% lean ground beef, 2 tortilla shells, 1/4cup of fat free cheese, 2cups of Salad
Tuesday - Turkey Hotdogs (2) with 1 Arnold Wheat Thin Bun, 2 cups of salad
Wednesday - 6oz steak (trimmed) 1 small sweet potato, 2 cups of salad
Thursday (this was a killer) - 2 Smoked Sausage, 2cups of salad, 3oz of Chicken breast
Just wanted to mention that all of these days I was WELL under my calorie range for the day.
Last edited by losingElly; 04-01-2011 at 02:12 PM.
Maybe try a Whole30 paleo diet? Cut out all sugars, grains, beans, dairy, see what might be contributing to your problems? maybe you have a food allergy? http://whole9life.com/category/whole-30/
uscarchie - thanks, i checked it out, but that would be extremely hard for me considering I live with 5 other people... it's a weird situation.. but the temptation would always be there... and I am on the go a lot.. but if I can't figure anything out, then this would be my last resort...
I don't think its a food allergy, as these are foods I have eaten all my life.Even when I was able to drop 30lbs.
LosingElly, I don't think hormonal birth control is the answer either. I don't take it and in fact, it prevents me from losing weight "easily". It's still slow for me, but I think it's faster than when I was taking BCP.
However, some people have been successful on BCP, everyone's body and PCOS is different. If you were on it, I might tell you that the issue you are having is the same one I was having. However, if you're not on it, it could also be that you might need it.
You don't need to change anything now, but you might consider it for the future. It depends on how long you want to tweak everything else before you consider that an option.
The second thing that I noticed about your food options is that you *do* have a lot of processed foods and very not a whole lot of vegetables. What do your salads normally consist of? What kind of dressing do you use?
For better or worse, PCOS is not about the calories only. I really believe it's about the quality of the food. I know it's hard to eat with other folks, especially if you're sharing foods, but you may want to ask them to try it out for a week and see if it helps any.
I didn't think changing the ratio of carbs/fats/proteins would make any difference in my weight loss but I told myself I would do it for 1 week. I tried it and I lost a 1.5 lbs that week, which is amazing for my usual rate of loss.
You may want to try to experiment with different things. Eliminate any breads/corn/potatos from your diet and see if that helps. Or add those back in, but eliminate dairy.
I can't eat bread.... as in a sandwich... because any large amounts of bread like that will 1) bloat my stomach and 2) stall my weight loss. I can have bread as a "special" occasion treat and I usually do it when I'm going to exercise a lot.
I also stopped drinking Diet Coke (omg, I used to drink so much) because after a while, it stalled my weight loss too. You may want to get rid of the diet pepsi for a couple of weeks to see if it makes any difference (and any other food with aspartame/Splenda/nutrisweet in it).
Beyond Aggravated ....
