[dixied]

My wonderful doctor thinks I have PCOS. (I'd come to that conclusion on my own years ago, but I had a male doctor then, who thought PCOS was whooey, and if I just ran a marathon like he did, I'd lose weight. Meanwhile, I'm like "dude, my ovaries are falling out, I'd have to run while holding them in, what part of I'm in Pain! did you not get?)

Onto my question...I realize PCOS can interfere with/or slow down weight loss, but how about endurance or strength gains? For example I've started running intervals, the Couch to 5K program, can I expect it to take me longer to make the same progress as someone without PCOS? Does anyone here with PCOS weight train on a regular basis? Does it seem to help or hinder the weight/mass loss?

[nelie]

I've weight trained from my highest weight and actually it may even help with gains or maybe it was just me. You won't gain mass but you will gain strength if you weight train properly.

Also I just started running and I've noticed a vast improvement on a regular basis.

[dixied]

Thanks! I didn't even think about gaining mass, I was just worried that I wouldn't see any progress anywhere. If I can run further or lift for longer, I think I can live with whatever the scale says.

[hopefully]

I've both trained and run competitively - found that I'm very good on the endurance/strength training side of things. I do not think PCOS has interfered at all with any of that.

[mandalinn82]

My PCOS meant I built muscle faster, I think. I got some boost from the extra DHEA in my system. I think it makes a -positive- difference fitness wise.