an introduction and some questions, kind of long

debdebdebby13 · 07-07-2008, 02:34 AM

Hi all, my name is Debby. I've been on this board mostly lurking for a couple of months.

I really need to get serious about losing weight. I'll start off by saying that I want to weight/be the size I was when I got married. I would be very happy and satisfied with that, although its still technically "obese" by the BMI chart. I was a comfortable size 14 and about 185lbs at that point and I had absolutely no trouble doing anything I wanted to do. Its funny how unhappy I was with myself then, seeing as how now I look back and dream about being that size again.

I got married and got PG by surprise after only six months of marriage, completely unplanned. I know I had PCOS undiagnosed then because I had missed a lot of periods throughout my college years before I got married.

I gave birth to my DD and within about a month I was within 15lbs of my prepreg. weight...but as soon as I stopped nursing, the weight came on like crazy. I think my PG kicked my PCOS into high gear but it didn't rear its ugly face much until I stopped nursing.

I now weigh about 243, and I'm a size 18-20. I think honestly I carry my weight well, and while I definitely look fat, I don't think I look like I weigh as much as I do. When I've revealed my weight to a few close friends they've been completely shocked. I still don't have trouble doing what I want to do though. Its strange to me that my weight can be such a detriment to me when I feel great most of the time and I easily have the stamina to keep up with my incredibly active 2 year old. I can walk all day if need be and climbing flights of stairs is no big deal.

My RE wants me down to 170 or so, to bump me under the "obese" category just into overweight, but I don't really see that being possible. I was a varsity tennis player in high school and was exercising on average 2 hours a day 5-6 days a week, plus I was a teenager and the lightest I ever was was 160 then.

My goal is to get down to my wedding weight, or at the very least get under the 200 lb mark.

I've started walking on the treadmill 30 minutes 4-5 times a week and trying to drink more water.

I was wondering if anyone had any tried and truth methods of appetite control. I'm not on Met, my RE didn't prescribe it so I think my IR is still there. She didn't think Met was necessary since my gluc tolerance test was at a very normal level, though my fasting insulin level was slightly elevated at 105. I think Met probably is necessary but I dread going back because I didn't really care for her (trying to press bariatric surgery on me, and she just wouldn't let it go when I said no.)

So any advice you have would be greatly appreciated and any remedies etc would be nice too!

Maddy · 07-08-2008, 03:15 PM

Hello and welcome to "coming out" and no longer lurking!

You have made some comments many of us have made in the past!

Can I also say I was in the same position - my PCOS raised its head after giving birth to my son and I've been "managing" it ever since. Prior to that although I had symptoms of IR I had no weight problems at all.

The thing that works for my appetite is carb reduction. I hate to say that because it's hard work, lol, but it's true. For me. When I eat too many carbs it's like a switch goes off in my brain and I just want to open the fridge and pile it in. Pasta particularly is a trigger for me.

You could try keeping a food diary and noting the foods you eat and your hunger on a scale of 1-10. This will probably show you what foods are your trigger foods; what helps and also highlight certain times of the month or stressful periods etc. which seem to stimulate your appetite.

Knowing why things happen can go a long way to developing strategies to deal with it.

I have also tried appetite suppressants (herbal ones) but they did nothing for me. Reducing my carbs helps a lot though.

Edited to add - if you can, try having more meals throughout the day - eating 6 times a day by eating smaller meals or adding in some snacks can help with blood sugar levels which can help with hunger.

MindyKaye2 · 07-08-2008, 04:02 PM

Thank you for this post. I am new too and this sounds exactly like me! So nice to know I'm truly not as alone as I've felt over the past several years.
I am excited to start using the low carb approach and get my life back on track.

LaTejanaFria · 07-08-2008, 07:21 PM

debdebdebby,

First, welcome! You can do this, and you can get to the weight you want, even the weight the doctor suggests.

Second, if I were you, I'd listen to my intuition about this doctor and find a new one. You obviously are not willing to use the surgery option, so this doctor isn't for you. You can do this without the surgery because you've already decided this is what you want to do. Find someone else who will work with the parameters that are good for you.

Quote:

I was a varsity tennis player in high school and was exercising on average 2 hours a day 5-6 days a week, plus I was a teenager and the lightest I ever was was 160 then.

My goal is to get down to my wedding weight, or at the very least get under the 200 lb mark.

I've started walking on the treadmill 30 minutes 4-5 times a week and trying to drink more water.

Even though in the past you say that lowest weight you were able to achieve was 160, that might be because the PCOS wouldn't let you lose any more than this. The key will probably be a low gi or low carb or IR eating plan. There are several threads on each of these in the Diet and Exercise sections. Since you believe that you have IR, you might as well eat according to this to work with your body.

I've recently read Oz and Roizen's YOU: On a Diet and I think this is the single most important thing I've read to help me understand the food choices that will be best for me to lose weight. Before I would go on South Beach, ATkins, etc. that had various rules for eating without understanding why they worked or didn't work. Now I have a better understanding of the food choices that are good for me that will help me "work smarter, not harder," in the words of Oz and Roizen.

Quote:

I was wondering if anyone had any tried and truth methods of appetite control.

Believe it or not, eating according to a low gi/carb or IR eating plan will help with cravings and appetite control. Because you're maintaining a steady blood sugar level, you're avoiding the crave/eat/crash cycle that is generally responsible for the sugar cravings that so many with PCOS complain about. To be honest, I didn't even realize how much I craved sugar until I went on a low gi eating plan (for me this meant no sugar or artificial sweeteners). I'll be honest: the first few days (and for some week) is difficult, but if you can get over this hump, you'll be golden. My naturopath recommended taking Chromium Picolinate to get through the sugar cravings.

You're already on the right track (walking on the treadmill), so keep up the good work!