LE PCOS - not losing weight

[Jen26]

How do you feel about waiting??

My gut instinct is for you to wait. I don't usually do this but I feel you may be fairly insulin resistant and may need more time for that to correct (in terms of lower blood sugar and testosterone) and I'd rather see you take a month now rather than risk jeopardizing your sway outcome.

Don't get worked up about the list, just eat what you want (from the good carbs I mean). That list is more for the people who just can't stick in the limits.

One off-diet meal a week is fine.

I can wait if need be 🤷🏻*♀️ When would be a good time to try? After couple pounds lost or what am I looking for exactly?

Is there anything else I should do in interim to help understand what my issues are? Blood test to check hormones and insulin resistance markers?

I’ve had a lot of bloodwork in past and saw lots of different types of drs and naturopaths etc to figure out what’s wrong with my cycles but no one ever saw anything to really point to pcos!? Or to figure out why the cycles are longer. And I got pregnant very easily when I wanted to with my two boys, so no one ended up caring too much lol. Anywho, I should get some Annual bloodwork done, so if there’s anything you think would help to know for sure, I will ask for it!

Should I add fiber? Haven’t been doing that ? Any specific kind you recommend?

Thank you!!

[Jen26]

How do you feel about waiting??

My gut instinct is for you to wait. I don't usually do this but I feel you may be fairly insulin resistant and may need more time for that to correct (in terms of lower blood sugar and testosterone) and I'd rather see you take a month now rather than risk jeopardizing your sway outcome.

Don't get worked up about the list, just eat what you want (from the good carbs I mean). That list is more for the people who just can't stick in the limits.

One off-diet meal a week is fine.

I don’t know if my last post came through but basically I said I can wait if need be... but I’m wondering what would be a good sign that it’s a good time to try? Losing a few pounds? I feel like I’d read before On here that it’s not actually about the weight loss but just about staying within limits and being LE...is that different for me Bc you’re suspecting the high IR?

What blood tests can I run to help figure out what’s going on with me? I’ve done many many in the past and everything was basically normal. But I’m due for some blood work anyway.

Should I get on any supplements? Fiber?

Thanks!

[atomic sagebrush]

Yes, the rules are different because of the potential IR situation. I don't want you to go ahead if your blood sugar is high and your estrogen/testosterone are up. That would be counter to our purposes of getting you a girl, since we suspect it's those things that sway. So in this case, the issue isn't the weight loss but what the weight loss is telling us, if that makes sense.

I don't think you need any blood tests necessarily. You can ask for a diabetes screen but the blood tests really aren't that informative. We'll see what happens with the change in diet.

I want to see what happens when we change the diet before starting any supplements.

[Jen26]

Ok so I've had quite a few "off" days from the diet...but regardless I really just feel myself getting fatter on this diet :0
even though i'm usually at the very least staying at the 1200 calories......

I also had a blood test done and everything was normal BUT my testosterone was high for the first time at 49 (range was 0-48) and also my leptin was 24.5 which also seemed to be pretty out of range. My DHEA also was 688 when the max is 701, which seems functionally out of range. Now I'm all of the sudden panicking like I won't be able to ever even start to try with all these wacko levels!

Yes, the rules are different because of the potential IR situation. I don't want you to go ahead if your blood sugar is high and your estrogen/testosterone are up. That would be counter to our purposes of getting you a girl, since we suspect it's those things that sway. So in this case, the issue isn't the weight loss but what the weight loss is telling us, if that makes sense.

I don't think you need any blood tests necessarily. You can ask for a diabetes screen but the blood tests really aren't that informative. We'll see what happens with the change in diet.

I want to see what happens when we change the diet before starting any supplements.

[atomic sagebrush]

I need more information about what you're actually eating. Calories, protein, fat, and the types of foods. I would also like to know what you mean when you say "off" days on the diet. If you're eating 1200 cals of carbs with insulin resistance then that's not going to work, so I want to know what you're considering as off days.

We would simply start upping protein and fat in 5 g increments till carbs were cut enough so you started losing weight. It is very unusual (as in, I can think of only one other person, and she had messed up her metabolism doing juice fasts for a long time off and on) for a person not to lose weight on 1200 cals a day with 65-70 g protein and fat so I'd start with 65 g. But I hesitate to go this route without more info about what your diet is actually looking like.

Are you weighing yourself or is this a perception?
And can you characterize how often the "off" days are and what they entail?

[Jen26]

I need more information about what you're actually eating. Calories, protein, fat, and the types of foods. I would also like to know what you mean when you say "off" days on the diet. If you're eating 1200 cals of carbs with insulin resistance then that's not going to work, so I want to know what you're considering as off days.

We would simply start upping protein and fat in 5 g increments till carbs were cut enough so you started losing weight. It is very unusual (as in, I can think of only one other person, and she had messed up her metabolism doing juice fasts for a long time off and on) for a person not to lose weight on 1200 cals a day with 65-70 g protein and fat so I'd start with 65 g. But I hesitate to go this route without more info about what your diet is actually looking like.

Are you weighing yourself or is this a perception?
And can you characterize how often the "off" days are and what they entail?

Yes i am weighing myself.

So, i took two weeks to follow and hit my macros very strictly and my weight has not moved, I'm actually now stuck at 129.8 from 128.

This is what I eat generally:
breakfast: 6oz sheepsmilk yogurt, 1/2c berries, coconut water, 2 tbsp PB, 1 slice whole wheat bread (~500 cals )
lunch: 3oz protein (tuna, mostly chicken)/ 1 egg/ salad/ 1 tbsp salad dressing/ 1/2 "good fat" bar/ 1 small bag skinny pop (~400)
dinner: protein/veggies salad/ 1-2 oz cheese

i have been hitting 65-70 protein & fat, and my carbs are at 95g with calories around 1200. I am so confused as to what is going wrong here!

[atomic sagebrush]

Sorry, I am all but certain I've already asked you this somewhere but I have to make sure that you aren't counting protein and fat in fruit and veg, and nothing in low carb veg. I do not at all think that's the issue, and in fact I think your diet looks great but just because I have to ask that question again and again, since several times it really WAS the problem!

It may be that you're just plateaued. I'm going to go back and reread the first page because I have a couple suggestions that may help. But I strongly think your diet looks fantastic, I wouldn't change anything diet wise because we need you to be able to get pregnant at the end of this!

[atomic sagebrush]

Ok I'm back.

I may have missed it in my quick skim of the previous page, but are you exercising?? If not, that's the first change to make. Even if it is moderate exercise, add it in. The benefits to you for blood sugar control and weight loss completely outweigh any potential downside to your sway from building muscle.

I also want to see you add in 1/4 teaspoon (yes, this is a small amount) Ceylon cinnamon (do not use cassia cinnamon) from AF-O and then reduce to 1/8 teaspoon in the luteal phase O-AF (that is an even smaller amount, just a pinch really, but cinnamon is very strong) At BFP gradually wean back to dietary amounts only. and ONLY if you aren't on any other medications or have health issues that might be negatively affected by the cinnamon.

Additionally, let's have you take 1000 mg myoinositol from AF-O and 500 or 1000 every other day from O-AF. At BFP gradually wean off by spacing doses further and further out till down to one per week, then you can drop it.

The myoinositol will take the place of the fiber, no need to add that in

[Jen26]

Ok I'm back.

I may have missed it in my quick skim of the previous page, but are you exercising?? If not, that's the first change to make. Even if it is moderate exercise, add it in. The benefits to you for blood sugar control and weight loss completely outweigh any potential downside to your sway from building muscle.

I also want to see you add in 1/4 teaspoon (yes, this is a small amount) Ceylon cinnamon (do not use cassia cinnamon) from AF-O and then reduce to 1/8 teaspoon in the luteal phase O-AF (that is an even smaller amount, just a pinch really, but cinnamon is very strong) At BFP gradually wean back to dietary amounts only. and ONLY if you aren't on any other medications or have health issues that might be negatively affected by the cinnamon.

Additionally, let's have you take 1000 mg myoinositol from AF-O and 500 or 1000 every other day from O-AF. At BFP gradually wean off by spacing doses further and further out till down to one per week, then you can drop it.

The myoinositol will take the place of the fiber, no need to add that in

Thanks for the info!! Yes, I am exercising. I do one hour of walking or in home stationary stair stepper a day. And correct, I am NOT counting the protein/fats from fruits/veggies.

I know I can lose the weight if I go Keto, but we don't want that right? FYI when I'm keto i do NOT go over 75g protein, and i have 100g fat, and 30g NET carbs. When I was keto i got down to 120 lbs- But when i stopped being keto, I gained the weight and have not been able to lose it!

Also, you had once suggested going to 75g protein, if 65-70 don't work...should I do that now and if so, is that 75g for protein AND fat?

[Jen26]

Sorry last thing - can the cinnamon and myoinositol be added mid cycle...like if i'm already CD10 ? thanks!!