I really need some guidance and although I was always against "diet plans" I have come to terms with the fact that I really need help, at least in the beginning. I have PCOS and IR. I was diagnosed in 1999 and basically ignored what I was supposed to do. Now I have gained even more weight. I was put on Metformin in 1999 500 mg twice daily then my endo uped it to 2000mg twice daily now he wants to raise it again. For the past month I have been walking at least 2 miles a day 5 days a week when I can muster it I walk 3 I do the 3 miles in about 1 hour and 15 minutes. (I hope this is good) I am hoping someone can help me choose a diet I am thinking about the South Beach Diet. Is that a good choice for me? Any help will be greatly appreciated.

I have heard a lot of women have had great success with South Beach Diet. There are so many diets out there that it becomes overwhelming. When I decided to loose weight and take control of my life I decided I would not go on any particular diet, I decided I would eat the best way for my situation. So I did a lot of research and everything I found said that women with PCOS should eat low carb. So I am doing my own version and I tweek it as I go and make adjustments to how my body responds. I have tried so many diets in the past and always failed because it is hard to follow a plan that has you cooking things that you are not use to. The first thing I look at in a diet is their menu, when the menu looks complicated or foods that are not conenient I just don't even give it a try. So I came up with my plan and made sure it was low carb. This is what I am eating and doing and so far have lost 20lbs.

Breakfast- Atkins protein shake or boiled egg with 3 slices of bacon.
Lunch- Piece of baked chicken with a piece of cheese and side salad or Chicken salad with Ranch Dressing or any other form of meat and cheese with side salad.
Dinner- Baked Chicken, Salmon, Pork Chops or Carne Asada with Side of veggies and side salad.

I drink nothing but water, a lot of water all day. Somedays for a snack I eat low carb yogurt, cottage cheese, or a low carb fruit.
I take 500 mg of Metformin 2X/day, Alli with every meal, Multivitamins, folic acid, calcium w/magnisium and pottasium at night.
I go work out at the gym 7 days/week and do cardio for 45 min and 20 min of weight training.

Hope this helps just try what works best for you.

I'm also on metformin for insulin resistance. My doctor recommended a low carb diet (but not going "too low" because of the metformin). I highly recommend the book The Low Carb Bible by Elizabeth Ward (there are other books with the same title, so make sure you've got Ward's book).

I checked it out from the library, but intend to buy it from amazon.com at some point (although my wish list at amazon is a mile long).

Anyway, Ward's book gives alot of information on low carb diets, and outlines and compares many of the popular low and reduced carb diets - Atkins, Carbohydrate Addicts, Neanderthin, Protein Power, Schwarzbein Principle, South Beach, Sugar Busters, Suzanne Somers, and the Zone.

I think South Beach is a good place to start, it worked well for me at first, but I found that I tend to overeat even "good carbs" so I have to monitor and control carbs a little more strictily than South Beach recommends.

A really good site that I really enjoy is

caloriesperhour.com

There you can find out what your BMR is and figure out a plan that would work for you. For example:

My BMR is 2500 meaning that if I don't eat over 2500 calories a day I won't gain weight but lets say I eat 2000 calories a day so I have a deficientcy of 500 calories a day so in a weeks time I will have lost 1 pound.

The website explains everything very well and also gives you some really good 'tips' if you will to healthy eating.

Also.. I truly think that the healthiest thing you could do for yourself is drink water...its very important and really helps in weightloss. If your not used to drinking water now try this: when you get up the morning drink one glass and when you go to bed drink one more...that is 2 more cups a day than you were drinking before which is huge...it takes some time remembering to do it if you are not used to it but it does get easier over time.

Good luck and I hope this helps!

You might want to take a look at Sugar Busters too. It's been around a long time, but is solidly constructed for both diabetics and pre-diabetics. Lots of information here on the Sugar Busters forum.

I'm not big on cutting out carbs or breads completely because I have too much trouble getting in enough calories otherwise. I focus on calories and aim to eat less than 40% of my calories from carbs everyday. I'm following Jillian Michaels book "Winning by Losing". I love it. I never drop below 1200/day and usually aim for around 1400 with one higher calorie day throughout the week (based on my active metabolic rate + exercise expenditure). When I do eat any form of carbohydrate I always pair it with protein. For the most part the breads I eat are sprouted grains and I pretty much don't touch anything that's been refined or processed so the glycemic index is low.

I've done South Beach. I've done a version of Atkins a naturopath suggested. I've done Weight Watchers (before I knew I had PCOS)... and I've also done some serious calorie restriction (ie < 700/day). There are good ideas in some of these diets but I really do believe you have to count calories (and watch your carbs). The weight loss is slow the way I'm going now but it's something that I feel like I can do forever which is why I like it. I also workout a fair bit too (using the exercises from the same book). I circuit train for an hour 4 times/week and I run 3 miles twice a week and then do about an hour (~6 miles) once a week. I also take two rest days.

I am going to check out all of these books. I ordered the SBD books already so I will start there and see what I think. I have always loved water and drink lots of it so that won't be a problem for me. About two months ago I gave up cokes I used to drink one 12 oz coke a day. I also gave up candy and chips it was way easier then I thought it would be. I walk 2 to 3 miles 5 days a week and so far I have lost 15lbs without much effort. I hope the pounds shed when I really get serious after I read the books. I have cut out all bread but Natures Own whole wheat. Does anyone know of a better bread?

I also wanted to see if anyone of you have eaten the South Beach Living high protein cereal bars. What is your opinion of them? Would I be better off eating something else for snacks?

I'm not sure what's in Nature's Own but I try and only eat breads containing sprouted grains. It usually says the bread contains it right on the front of the package. I've been eating Stonemill brand. I also know some people love Ezekiel bread and some people hate it. I've never tried it myself. The idea is to look for breads that have the least amount of processing because they take longer to digest and you can avoid an insulin spike.