The old thread is here

Let's do the April roundup!

• How are you?
• How's the PCOS?
• What are you working on now?
• How successful were you for past month?

A.

How are you?

Reasonably well. I continue to improve with the crazy perimenopause stuff.

I'm sleeping through the night, the hot flashes/night sweats are under control. I'm even surprised to be feeling more peppy -- I think it is from better quality sleep.

How's the PCOS?

Labs show the elevated testosterone climbing down. Still high though. My last endoc appoint was ok.


What are you working on now?

Now that the sleep/hot flash thing seems to be resolving I am back on the weight problem.

I just took a walk and feel pretty good about it. I know for me the biggest issue is exercise and just doing it.

How successful were you for past month?

Holding the PCOS fort down, while taking a side trip in peri-menopause land?

I came to realize I need to post here and be present more. I am tired of feeling invisible. This stuff is HARD sometimes, and in my regular life people don't see that. My spouse does, but not really. He'll never have PCOS. YKWIM?

He's supportive and sympathetic, but that 30 min gentle walk today was a BIG DEAL to me. I usually don't have the spoons.

A.

How are you?

I think I'm okay. I'm still in a slump and trying to reevaluate things for myself.

How's the PCOS?

It's okay. I had blood drawn last week and this week I go in for my results. I suspect that I will be great in some areas (like Vitamin D) but bad in others (A1C).

I've had some pretty stressful 3 months recently, with a lot going on in my life -- some renovations, some friend-drama, and work stuff.

Because my life has been in a bit of an upheaval, I know I haven't been eating or following much of a diet.

I still say I am paleo, but I should stop. I'm not eating Paleo! I need to get back on track and start losing the 8 lbs I've gained back.

What are you working on now?

Working on getting back on track. Eating within my calorie limits. Going back to Paleo.

I recently noticed my brittle nails and I get that when I eat too much wheat. Yes, I'm eating wheat again and I need to stop. I get hypothyroid when I eat wheat.

I also have some of the signs of my blood sugar being out of whack too, so I need to stop eating sugar as well.

How successful were you for past month?

Okay. I'm sliding back, so I need to stop the slid and get back. There's really no real good reason for sliding back, except that it's easy to eat crap. Everyone around me is eating crap. Even my healthier friends are eating like crap.

I need (and they too!) get back on board and go back to my old, Paleo, style of eating. It worked for me.

Now... I just need to get back to the mindset.

How are you?

I'm doing ok, have a lot of doctor appointments that keep me on my toes.

How's the PCOS?

It could be better. I just got put on provera to try to stop the heavy period bleeding. My period hasn't stopped yet and its been over a month and two weeks. I'm very ready for it to stop. I have a feeling as soon as I stop taking this provera pill it will trigger another heavy flow because my body will think "it's period time again!" I am not looking forward to this.


What are you working on now?

I'm working on losing weight. I go to the gym 3 times a week and cycle for 30 minutes on the stationary bike. I try to eat salads when I can stand them and stay under 1500 calories every day. It's hard but its worth it when I get on the scale and see those numbers go down.


How successful were you for past month?

I lost 15 pounds this past month so pretty successful. I got bronchitis so I wasn't cycling at the gym or it would've been more. I'm hoping to get back to it next week and kick some butt. Hopefully mom will come with me and get in the habit of working out. She wants to be successful at losing weight too. I got her to try a mcdonalds salad today and she said it wasn't bad so she's on her way.

That's great, Elyssa -- 15 lbs! Congratulations.

How are you?
I am doing great. I feel really happy on the path that Im going. Maybe its the hormone levels going down or maybe I'm liking the new me I see in the mirror since I've managed to loose 30 pounds in the span of 2 months, but I'm a much happier person and not stressed like I used to me.

How's the PCOS?
At the end of last month I got my period after a long time! Maybe ten months or so. It was perfectly normal. No extra cramps. It didn't end early or too late (lasted for 6 days).

What are you working on now?
I'm trying to loose another 14 pounds. Still keeping my carb intake low. It's become much easier and I'm not always hungry. College and finals has been keeping me busy so I haven't been able to exercise as much as I hoped I could.

How successful were you for past month?
Quite successful. My last post was 16 days ago and since then I've lost 7 pounds. I wish I had the time to work out like I had last month. Like I mentioned, my period returned. Hopefully it continues to do so. Not getting my hopes up though.

That's great, StayingAmbitious! Amazing progress! Congratulations.

Rana: Hope your labs show good numbers!

Elyssa: Hope the proverb helps with the cycles -- that sounds rough. Glad the diet/fitness progress last month returned you cycle even if a bit wonky. Hang in there!

StayingAmbitious: Glad to hear your cycle is also back! Keep up the good work!

My Check In:

Well, so far so good. 30 min workouts 3x a week for the last two weeks. More importantly -- it's STICKING. I'm trying to make a habit here.

Hot flashes driving me cray today - on period watch. Hopefully it shows up this weekend and then all my hot flash wacky chills out again.

Oy.

Galagirl

Hi All...

So, I did get my results, but I didn't come back here to post about it.

The numbers were not good. Not bad, but compared to where I was in July of last year, they were not good at all.

So, in conclusion, I have to buckle (and I have already) down and do what I have to do, which is what I know I did in the past.

Already, my meals have gotten back to much more low carb and I even have the BF on board at least when we're together.

I'm also changing up my exercise routine and I never thought I would say that, because I loved my spinning and pilates and genuinely thought I was doing a great thing for my body. Turns out that I need to balance that out with other activity, so I am dancing and doing yoga too. And the idea is to change my routine. I'm adding more general walking and stuff in my day to day and I am going to work with a meal delivery service to help out on the nights that I can't cook for myself (or rather, on the weekends when I don't cook batches of food to eat during the week).

Yeah, a little bit of a wake up call.

Hi All!

I'm late to the party answering these, but thought that I would chime in with my answers.

How are you?
I'm doing alright!
How's the PCOS?
PCOS is for sure not good at the moment. In the past year, I've fallen off the wagon with my diet and exercise program and it really shows. My periods are more irregular than ever, and I feel all my PCOS symptoms.
What are you working on now?
Right now, I'm just working on getting back on track with a diet and exercise program.
How successful were you for past month?
I was not very successful at all. I've got to do better for May!

Rana -- sorry to hear about the numbers but glad to hear you are taking prompt response!

workinghardatlosing -- You can do this! What small steps are you thinking about in May

MY CHECK IN

I got my period today! Ending a 54 day cycle.

It was killer bloat and migraines but when I woke up this morning without sore boobs and a whooshing 6 lbs of bloat off me + a lot of bathroom trips to pee, I knew it would be soon. And this afternoon -- tada! I think the vital is helping but I was bad about the inositol. Will try this cycle to be more on top of the supplements.

Combating the brain fog stuff is better so I ought to be able to keep up with my pills.

Astrophe

Hello! I haven't been diagnosed with PCOS, but a friend has, so I have a question about it - if you ladies would know the answer. I searched and searched the internet and nothing useful came up. Here it goes:

PCOS can make you overweight because of the hormones, right? But does it mean that the hormones make you hungrier / make you crave carbs OR the body stores more of the "normal intake" that you have?

So my question is, does a girl with PCOS have to eat less calories to lose weight than a same girl with heathy ovaries?

So, it depends on what type of PCOS you have.

If you have Insulin Resistance (IR) you actually have what some people also call "metabolic syndrome" or pre-diabetes. That means that you're body isn't creating enough insulin for your body to manage the carbohydrates you're eating, so the body, to protect itself, will turn it into fat (it's easier than turning it into muscle) and it doesn't know to get rid of it through other body processes.

I believe -- from my body and my research -- that the IR causes the hormone problems that I have. So, when my IR is not normal (and I am eating too many carbohydrates and my body is just surviving) it will throw my hormones out of whack, and I will see higher levels of testosterone. But in addition to that, I'm finding out now that when I eat certain types of food, like wheat and dairy, my body will "inflame" and cause my DSHEA to go up, which is another androgen.

Anyway -- back to calories.

I find that if I eat low-carb, I can eat more calories. If I eat higher-carb, I have to eat less calories to lose.

But I know this is the case for me. I think other people might have a different result if they don't have IR.