Okay, so I hate excercise and get very frustrated by dieting (I won't bore you with the long list of things I've tried)... yet I finally managed to come up with a plan that I find "liveable" and seems to be working.

Criteria:
* Low in carbs.
* Minimal amount of effort involved with meal prep. This has long been a stumbling block for me. Can't eat out because there's carbs in bloody everything. And I spend about 14 waking hours working everyday. I'm lucky if I get to cook one meal, let alone prepare 3.
* No "counting" - Whether points, carbs, fat grams, etc. Again, this is a lack-of-time issue for me. There's inevitably a recipe or meal out where you can't even begin to figure out what the "count" is without a lot of time-consuming calculation.
* Liveable form of exercise. People have long asked me "What do you like to do?" And I've never come up with an answer for that Gyms were too boring, or I felt too intimidated with my fat @ss working out in the middle of a bunch of skinny-minis. Other forms of exercise (e.g. walking/running) were also too boring or were lacking in some other way (i.e. no way to build upper body strength with walking).

What I came up with:
1. Meal replacement shakes that are low in carbs for 2 meals. Have the canned version by Carb Solutions for a "grab and go" breakfast and lunch. When home, I mix up Jarrow Formulas Glycemic Balance shake (powder) with skim milk - it has more nutrients and I get less hungry on it than the Carb Solutions version.
2. Eat a "sensible" dinner, again, trying to minimize carbs, but I don't beat myself up if I have them.
3. Joined Curves fitness center for women. You spend less than a minute on each machine or "running pad" in between them and can get a full workout in 30 minutes. Since it's varied, there isn't time to get bored. And the women there are all shapes and sizes and seem more like "real people" to me than those I see at traditional gyms. There are quite a few women at the Curves I go to who have lost over 100 lbs. One even lost 300.

The important result: I'm finally seeing my weight go down instead of up for the first time in 3 years!

Thought I should mention... I am not taking any PCOS-related drugs, but am managing my balance with supplements instead. I go to a holistic doctor to manage this.

Congrats on the loss! I'm also doing my own thing. I could never go low-carb so I'm doing my own modified version of ww points. I workout to tapes and machines that I own. Its okay, losing an average of 1lbs per week.
I think us PCOS-ers have to experiment with food and drugs until we find whats works out best. No one-diet fits all works for us.

I totally agree with you. I could lose weight counting calories in my early 20's but once I hit the late 20's it didn't work anymore...I kept trying but nothing seemed to work long term. I discovered the Vitaline PCOS Diet 4 years ago, pretty low carb but doable and I lost weight easily but it's a British food based diet, can't always get everything they list in the USA without a haul to the Brit store. Nor could I afford to carry on with the online thing so I thought...hang on a sec! I can work out my own 'good' carb plan. I cannot live without bread, but fortunately I hate regular sliced white bread here (totally different to British white bread). Now I would buy Italian or French bread as I liked that, so I switched to the wheat kind and I love Weightwatchers wheat bread, not sweet at all, perfect for me.

As long as I don't eat sugar I feel great and lose weight. I didn't eat much to begin with so I don't eat less, I eat better! I know I couldn't follow the strictness of Atkins or South Beach altho I get ideas from them. I allow myself no sugar treats and they keep me OP. I love the availability of low carb substitutes now, I can live like this - forever!

I just wish someone would invent a low carb potato (don't like sweet potatoes) so that I could have more than the odd one!

My weight loss is slow but sure. Best way to go. If I have a couple of treat days, by that I mean I ate potato or something 'bad' I don't gain weight, I might not lose any that week, but hey, better than gaining!

I do take meds, I take metformin, but it has been a wonder drug to me. I've been on it and off it again, so I know it works with helping me lose weight as long as I eat right. I tried taking it and not changing my diet, nothing, I tried changing my diet and not taking it, nothing. This is my combo to a healthier me.

Well done PretzelLogic for finding out what works for you! Like Jigglybits said, no one diet works for all of us, life should be about being individual so why shouldn't healthier eating be too!

Keep up the good work!

Sarah

Congratulations. That is what is important is finding what works for you. Keep up the good work.