This might be a silly question, but I keep thinking about it and I'm curious. I've been told and I'm sure many of the rest of you have that if you're obese and have PCOS that one of the things you can do to relieve your symptoms is to lose weight. I'm sure that's true in many circumstances.... but what I was wondering is that since there are thin cysters out there, is it possible for someone who has PCOS and is obese to lose weight to say a normal BMI, reducing their visceral fat and all that (basically do all the right things when it comes to wieght) but not see a decrease in her symptoms? Has anyone experienced anything like that?
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...is it possible for someone who has PCOS and is obese to lose weight to say a normal BMI, reducing their visceral fat and all that (basically do all the right things when it comes to wieght) but not see a decrease in her symptoms?
It would be VERY rare for someone to truly 'do the right things' (ie consistently eat a calorie controlled, healthy diet, and exercise 300+ minutes per week), and not see any improvement in health.
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YES!!!!! I am I shining example of this!!! I am 5'10.5" and weighed 136-140 for many years...till I was 23 or so. I was a world class athlete, missed the US Olympic Team by one spot (came in third). I would say some symptoms were MUCH worse....facial hair and acne mainly. And NO, I never took, nor was given any kind of supplements or steroids. I was 9-10% body fat most of my career. I had no eating disorder....ate what I wanted and never gained weight because I spent at least 20 hours in the pool a week and about 8 hours doing dry land training. My periods were still VERY irregular. Supposedly, with me, they may have found one of these "rare" cases. No wonder very little of this makes any sense to me!
Supposedly, with me, they may have found one of these "rare" cases. No wonder very little of this makes any sense to me!
What you're describing is not what the OP is asking.
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I was 9-10% body fat most of my career.
Just as an fyi:
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According to an article from Medscape.com, the American Dietetic Association recommends that men have 15-18% body fat and women have 20-25% body fat. Healthy male athletes might be as low as 5-12% body fat, and healthy female athletes could be as low as 10-20%.
There are different standards for 'athletes' vs 'non-atheletes', and their bodies respond differently. (random study on PCOS & Athletes>> PCOS may aid athletes )
The original question is asking about non-athletes, with excess bodyfat who change their body composition to one that is healthy, and what (if any) change that will bring about.
[quote=KatCarney;1889943906]What you're describing is not what the OP is asking.
I was actually responding to your "rare" instance blurb. And yes, I actually thought I responded appropriately to the post even though I am an athlete. It would be nice to see an article that gave a reason as to why athletes are different other than they have higher testosterone. Why do they have the increased levels and why aren't all PCOSers great athletes?
Yeah, I'm sure 9-10% body fat wasn't all that healthy. It really wasn't something I ever concerned myself with since it was almost impossible to eat the appropriate amount of calories training the hours I did.
You can see why there may be some confusion on my part from reading the athlete article. It doesn't address why this is happening to athletes. As I started getting into the normal body fat % range I still had the same issues. Throughout the ranges of weight I've been, there has been very little difference in symptoms. Some have gotten better, others worse. Since I've experienced PCOS at every weight range it is easy to see why I am confused about info on the internet. Now I take Metformin and it's seemed to help quite a bit. It's the only thing that has lowered the symptoms enough to where I have very little problems. Even though I may be a little on the overweight side now, the Metformin has helped regulate my cycles and decreased many of the outward effects of PCOS.
I realize this is your website and everything, but there is still a small population that isn't being addressed like the others. I'm sure there are more articles about this, but either they are difficult to understand or I don't have time to read them.
The extra hair growth wont stop ie you wont stop getting the extra hair where it began to grow ie chin or extra on legs, arms or whereever but the hairs themselves may thin and be slower to grow.
Unfortuantely male pattern thinning usually continues once its started but again when you are less insulin resistant because you are healthery, lighter, perhaps low GI ing and on metformin - the growth may slow but not stop.
I am in the same position - lost lots of weight due to metformin and low GI carb diet but still have the hair problem just grows slower... my hair still falls our more than normal and getting thinnner but perhaps the processs is slowing... but I know it wont stop. Its like with men - once something is triggered it continues
NOTE: this only happens if you have the hairloss gene - combined with high insulin there fore high free testosterine. If your hair is falling out for other reasons it could well stop but the reason hair falls out in PCOS is usually because
1) they have the hairloss gene
2) Their hormone levels ie higher free testosterone caused by high insulin triggers th hair loss gene to start thinning the hair (its the SAME process that happens to men0
Women with PCOS who never lsoe hair simply don't have the hairloss gene so will never lose hair for this reason -same with men - there are men in their 60s and 70s with full heads of hair. they Have the same levels or testostrone as balding men but the hairloss gene is not there. So there Testosterone doesn't trigger hairloss to happen
My dad and mum seem to be like that. The are in mid 60s with FULL heads of thick hair.
Thanks for the replies. My question wasn't really directed at athletes or non-athletes just women with PCOS in general. I can see where what I'm asking about would be rare, but I was just wondering if it was possible. My thinking is that the whole weight thing is sorta like the chicken and the egg... someone who has PCOS and is obese might have worse symptoms because of their weight or they might not. I was wondering how much of the weight increasing symptoms is causation and how much is correlation. Of course I'm not advocating that anyone not try to get to a healthy weight because their symptoms might not get better. It's more of an observation that women with PCOS come in many shapes and sizes, so maybe weight isn't everything.
Katt_ -- I really appreciate your insights as an athlete. It's given me a lot to think about. I agree that there's not nearly enough investigation into how disorders like PCOS affect athletes. I've never been at the level of an elite athlete but I'm a fencer and I have in the past trained quite heavily. I found that PCOS hinders rather than helps me.
I know my original question asked about someone who is obese going to a healthy weight range and not seeing an improvement in symptoms. I would also be interested about the opposite, someone with PCOS who was healthy weight range and then became obese and hasn't seen an increase in symptoms. And again I understand that this would be rare, it's just curiousity on my part.
__________________ No PCOS diagnosis yet...
Feel free to ask me about hyperprolactinemia though, just had my prolactinoma removed through brain surgery. Happier and healthier already... To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.
kat_ - Could it have been related to how and what you were eating? I've never been at your caliber of athletics or at your training volume but I know when I trained for a ran a marathon in '01, my periods didn't improve at all (actually, they completely disappeared) despite a lot of physical activity and a 30lb weight loss. I always chalk it up to still having a diet high in refined carbs and low in nutrients. It wasn't until I had everything lined up (diet+exercise+sleep) that everything normalized. Might be an idea to play around with tweaking your nutrition. Glad to hear that met is working for you and you're seeing your health improve!
To the OP - Results may vary but, as Kat said, most people see their health improve when they get everything going.
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My question wasn't really directed at athletes or non-athletes just women with PCOS in general.
Most women with pcos aren't athletes (or obese, I'm assuming). It's an important distinction to make, since athletes have different physical responses from non-athletes. Not necessarily because of 'weight' but because the bodies of athletes function differently because of their training.
When you read (good) research studies on exercise and diet, the researchers will typically make the distinction as to whether or not the study participants are previously sedentary or athletes (or somewhere in between). The conditioning of the participants makes a difference.
The conditioning of women with pcos, also makes a difference. Women with pcos shouldn't simply be encouraged to 'lose weight'. They should be encouraged to improve their physical condition overall.
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Originally Posted by Mishee
... so maybe weight isn't everything.
It's not.
Lifestyle habits matter more than weight. (generally speaking)
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not sure but i hope losing weight work... i want to get laser hair removal done, and i dont want to do it until i have the pcos under control
Nad, if you do both at the same time, you might be ok. (ie start laser treatments as the same time you're changing your diet and exercise habits).
Most laser patients have to have 4-8 visits that are 6 weeks apart. In that amount of time, you can do a lot to bring your labs into normal ranges...again even BEFORE weight loss begins.
I can't stress enough: the positive impact from lifestyle changes frequently begin before any significant weight loss happens.
The scale isn't really one of the best 'guides' to use for measuring improvements in health.
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Thanks for the replies. My question wasn't really directed at athletes or non-athletes just women with PCOS in general. I can see where what I'm asking about would be rare, but I was just wondering if it was possible. My thinking is that the whole weight thing is sorta like the chicken and the egg... someone who has PCOS and is obese might have worse symptoms because of their weight or they might not. I was wondering how much of the weight increasing symptoms is causation and how much is correlation. Of course I'm not advocating that anyone not try to get to a healthy weight because their symptoms might not get better. It's more of an observation that women with PCOS come in many shapes and sizes, so maybe weight isn't everything.
Katt_ -- I really appreciate your insights as an athlete. It's given me a lot to think about. I agree that there's not nearly enough investigation into how disorders like PCOS affect athletes. I've never been at the level of an elite athlete but I'm a fencer and I have in the past trained quite heavily. I found that PCOS hinders rather than helps me.
I know my original question asked about someone who is obese going to a healthy weight range and not seeing an improvement in symptoms. I would also be interested about the opposite, someone with PCOS who was healthy weight range and then became obese and hasn't seen an increase in symptoms. And again I understand that this would be rare, it's just curiousity on my part.
Well, I might be a good example. I have been extremely hairy with an inconsistent cycle since hs. At that time I was 140 lbs and 5'5'' at the top of the weight range. I have blown up to 220 lbs and now am about 195 lbs. My facial hair has always been a factor no matter what weight. Hopefully, that can give you some insight. BTW, my facial is not genetic by anymeans.
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I know my original question asked about someone who is obese going to a healthy weight range and not seeing an improvement in symptoms. I would also be interested about the opposite, someone with PCOS who was healthy weight range and then became obese and hasn't seen an increase in symptoms. And again I understand that this would be rare, it's just curiousity on my part.
Keep in mind that 'weight' shouldn't be a primary indicator of 'health'.
Body composition and level of fitness should also be considered.
There are plenty of thin people who are quite 'unhealthy' because their body composition is awful. In fact, they might even have quite a bit of visceral fat (which is the dangerous belly fat). Because visceral fat is packed around the organs, some people 'appear' thin, but they're actually 'over fat'. To make matters worse, they have too little lean mass.
IMO, it's a mistake to only focus on 'weight'. The picture should include everything. The health and body of a 'fit and lean' 150 pound woman (non-athlete) is VERY different from a 'sedentary and over fat' 150 pound woman. (The the lean woman will also be several sizes smaller than the over fat woman - despite the fact that they weigh the same.)
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Hey, SoulCysters! Need to eat more veggies, but can't find recipes??
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Fat to healthy but still PCOS? 
-- I really appreciate your insights as an athlete. It's given me a lot to think about. I agree that there's not nearly enough investigation into how disorders like PCOS affect athletes. I've never been at the level of an elite athlete but I'm a fencer and I have in the past trained quite heavily. I found that PCOS hinders rather than helps me. 
