[minnie94]

Hi all!
I don't know exactly what kind of help I'm looking for but I was poking around the net for some PCOS diet support and found this so here I am!

I was diagnosed with PCOS last winter, so not quite a "new" diagnosis but recently enough that I haven't been able to deal with it properly. Im 21, and I was diagnosed through a personal decision to stop using birth control in hopes of losing weight, but instead I gained weight and facial hair, and lost my period all together. A few doctors trips, a metformin prescription, and a new pack of birth control later, here I am.

To add on to this in January I went from attending a community college near home and eating home-cooked food daily, to transferring to a university and eating on-campus, which is essentially fast food for 3 meals a day unless you go out of your way to find the healthy options. I was very stressed out with my dorm room situation and had never properly lived away from home before, so I binged constantly. However through this I did work out at least once a week, usually twice. The workouts continued through the summer break and i went back to eating home cooked foods, but I didn't lose (or gain) any weight the way i had hoped.
Now this semester, starting August, I have been living off campus with a roommate. We regularly eat home cooked meals of chicken breast or salmon and veggies, but we also enjoy eating out a few times a week. I've completely stopped working out and I can feel it in my back and shoulders when I work. I'm a graphic design student so I spend long hours hunched over a drawing board or in front of a computer, and regularly doing basic weights and shoulder presses kept shoulder pain, back pain and carpal tunnel at bay.

However its been much harder to find motivation. My friends are not fitness type people and the campus gym is a 20 minute walk away. When I mention working out to my friends they say "oh yeah i should do that..." but never seem to actually want to. I find it hard to do things alone without support.
I also find it very discouraging when I try diet after diet and never seem to lose more than a few pounds. Meanwhile, my friends are all very thin and eat terribly, campus food and fast food every day. I'm currently 195lb, 5'10. At my thinnest I was 158, and while I would like to be that weight again, I'm ok with just getting back down to around 170.

The diets I've tried are basic calorie counting (This worked the best. I lost 10lb on this), a modified ZONE diet, abs diet, carb cutting, etc etc. I know I'm pretty young to be diagnosed with this, as apparently many women only find out after they try to conceive. So I'm really hoping I can get this on track early in my life. but i guess its hard to stick to things like diets and meal plans when every day is completely different. I love college but routine is hard! I'm still trying to figure out what kind of hairstyle i want to commit to, much less my lifestyle!

Sorry if this was long and all over the place.

[Rana]

Welcome. It is HARD. And it's unfair that others don't deal with the same things dieting, but I think that it's a question of looking at this like a real disease -- something you have to take care of like someone who has Type 1 Diabetes or was born blind or whatever.

It's a good thing you were diagnosed early and honestly, the best thing to do is change your diet and even if it takes 5 years to lose the weight, just stick with it and make it a lifestyle change.

[astrophe]

Hang in there. Remember college is not forever. And perhaps not gaining MORE is the goal during college rather than to actively lose?

If the gym is 20 min away walking, walk! Do weights, then walk back. Count that as part of the work out. Then make new friends with people who are ALREADY at the gym or post a flier looking for a gym buddy. Shop at the right store, so to speak. Rather than from your existing friends if they don't groove on the gym thing.

Motivation is not found. It is made. But even then? It's not required. Discipline is.

Most people still get up and go to work even if they don't feel like it and aren't motivated or enthused. They do it for the paycheck.

It's the same with being a chronic patient. You might not feel like getting up to clock your time "working" your management, but you do it any way. The paycheck is managing your condition, fending off weight gain, type II diabetes, heart disease and all the other things PCOS people are at higher risk for. Keeping symptoms under control, so you can enjoy a good quality of life in daily living. Protecting your fertility for later on if you do want kids. More.

I actually envy you that you are so young and whipping PCOS management into shape now -- so much more info available online than when I was that age!

Fortunate too in that you know your dx before kids -- because that would be another something taking up time and making the learning curve and ability to execute that much harder. Right now it's just you to tend to.

Maybe one small "doable" would be to examine nutrition pages on your fav restaurant pages and write down all the things that are safe for you to eat so it is a no brainer when you eat out?

A.

[Wannabehealthy]

Astrophe, I loved your response and have copies it and saved it with some other encouraging posts I have. I hope you don't mind!

Minnie94 seems to be gone, but if you're reading, I recommend going to the gym without your friends. You will make new friends at the gym, people who have the same intentions in mind as you do.

[astrophe]

Sure -- glad it helps you. I have to remind my own self sometimes!

A.