Hi all,
I registered so I could poll the PCOS community and hopefully find some people who have encountered, and conquered, the difficulties I am facing with my PCOS.
The stats: 27 years old, 1200 kcal/day low glycemic index diet, work out 30-45 minutes of cardio 5x/wk at 75+ max HR, 2x/wk personal trainer weight lifting, 1500mg metformin daily (also on spironolactone and the pill).
Total weight lost in last calendar year: 2lbs.
No, not a joke. Yes, I keep a food and exercise journal to make sure I am not deviating. Yes, I am about to throw up my hands and give up.
I've seen specialists and they tell me - yes you have PCOS, and you are already on metformin - there is no medical reason why you should not be losing weight. My last doctors appointment, I asked if she had seen other patients that could not lose weight even on the metformin and asked what they did as their next step. She said she had and "they get used to being overweight". Time for a new doctor.
Is anyone else out there dealing with this? What have you found that works? I asked her about orlistat, sibutramine and rimonabant but I really dont think they are going to help me if I am already at a 800-1000kcal/day deficit (esp not considering the side effects).
I feel like screaming. Anyone else encountered this? Anything work for you?
Thank you all,
Jessica

Maybe you're not eating enough? Only you know your body but I know that I wouldn't lose if I was doing that much on that amount of fuel (calories).

I'd recommend getting your RMR professionally tested. That way you could see if maybe you're eating to little for your RMR or if your RMR is truly that low. If it's low (under 1000), then perhaps some testing may be in order. Have you already had tests for your thyroid/adrenals/etc?

I thought that too but I have varied my diet from about 800 kcal/day (lasted all of a week and a half before I wanted to eat the furniture) to around 1600 kcal/day. I found that 1200-1300 was where I felt comfortable.
I do get the idea of not eating enough though. I think thats how I put on a lot of my weight in high school. I thought that since I was overweight I shouldnt eat and would basically starve myself all day until I got home from school.

Getting my metabolic rate tested is a really good idea. I'll have to investigate where to get that done.
As far as other tests - everything is normal. Thyroid good. Adrenals good.

Have you had a glucose tolerance test, or is your doctor just giving you metformin "because"? Metformin's use for treating PCOS is an "off label" use, meaning that the drug hasn't actually been tested for this purpose.

I'd know what my blood sugar was before considering any treatment with metformin or other sugar-altering drugs. And if my blood sugar was normal, I wouldn't take it.

Here's a link to the 3FC PCOS forum:

http://www.3fatchicks.com/forum/pcos...ce-support-70/

You'll see there that lots of folks have problems with metformin.

Jay

Have you been eating the same food? What types of foods are you eating?

Have you been doing the same workout? Have you switched up your cardio and/or weight training? Have you looked at HIIT? Are you lifting heavy when you do weights?

How long have you been doing it?

How frustrating for you! I want to vent with you!

I don't have any practical advice to get you losing again, but I just wanted to say that giving up for sure isn't the answer. I know you don't have the body you want right now, but as you well know, give up, and the sky's the limit with weight gain! Get frustrated and give up eating healthy and exercising, and you could be 300lbs by 18 months from now! Believe me, I never thought in a million years I'd ever weigh over 300lbs, but there it is.

I know you didn't really mean that you were going to throw in the towel and start eating and laying on the couch, but in case those thoughts were floating around, I wanted to remind you that you could be a whole lot bigger in no time and THEN have to try unsuccessfully to lose weight. How bad would THAT suck.

To answer your questions:I try to eat lean meats and complex low GI carbs. I probably eat too much fruit (2-3 servings a day) but its what keeps me going. I eat protein shakes in the morning with some berries and almond milk, usually a sandwich on multigrain bread and an apple at lunch and then some sort of meat and veggie dish for dinner. I afford myself a Dove dark chocolate or a glass of red wine a few times a month.
As far as workout: I have a personal trainer I see 2x/wk so he keeps me really rotating on the workouts. I do lift actual weights - usually using the machines at around 25-30 lbs arms and much higher for legs (ex. 170 for leg press). I try to rotate my cardio around doing rowing machine, tredmill, eliptical and bike.
Ive been doing the cardio since last august and the personal trainer since last january. The dieting thing has been around 2 years though but i have fallen off the wagon once or twice and ate less restricted for 2-3 weeks. I didnt go all out and i actually didnt gain more than 1-2 lbs when I did since i was still working out 2-3x/wk at those points.

You won't give up. Know why? You don't want to see the 2 lbs you lost in the past year turn into a 20 lb gain. You're doing this for health, not vanity. Hang in there.

How old are you?
Are you going up on the heaviness of the weights at intervals?
I would second HIIT.

So you said you did cardio 5X a week for 30-45 minutes/day. And weight lifting 3X/week...so about an hour each time? Adding that all up, it would be around 5.5 to 6.25 hours of excercise a week.

There are 168 hours in a week, and if you sleep well, 56 hours a week are spent in bed. That leaves you with 112 hours. If you excercise for 6 of those hours, that leaves you with 106 hours left in the week. So what kind of activities do you do? Do you have a desk job? Do you watch a lot of TV or spend a lot of time on the computer? On paper your dedication to excercise looks great, but if you have a totally sedentary lifestyle outside of the 6ish hours a week you excercise, then maybe you need to get moving more in general?

This is just a though, because if you are doing everything you say you are, you totally have me stumped. I do know, that some unfortunate people simply don't need as many calories to live as others...

I hope you find your answer, but just remember if you give up, you'll gain...and if you ever get to your personal goal, and you don't continue to work at it every day, you'll gain it back. It never ends. I have to work just as hard today to maintain my weight loss as I did at 180. Actually sometimes it's harder.