Who's working out, and details, please??

Laura32 · 02-13-2008, 01:52 AM

OK, Ladies, so I read an article that said that getting regular exercise was really helpful to straightening out ovulatory problems. I hate to hear this, since I HATE to work out, and have always been extremely grateful to be naturally skinny. So, I wondered who here is working out, how often and what kind of exercise are you getting, and did you always work out, or have you started to help out the PCOS and is it helping? Thanks!

wantsababy07 · 02-13-2008, 09:17 AM

Laura- I have worked out for almost 4 years which is way before I found out I had PCOS (dx 11/06). I think if you are already skinny a little exercise could help but too much could be harmful. Right now I have kind of quit working out. I basically only do once a week. I do 30 minutes of cardio and 30 minutes of weights. I love to work out and I am the type of person that it is all or nothing. I know if I worked out the way I wanted to it would probably be too intense. My dr. told me to quit working out while I'm doing fertility stuff.

Bottom line... I don't think working out is bad and if you never have I would maybe start by walking. I think my dr. thinks I must be skinny and have PCOS b/c I'm a hard core exersiser, which is not true.

explora · 02-13-2008, 11:05 AM

Laura,

I exercise almost daily. It makes a huge difference in regulating my cycle. Over the holidays I slacked off big time (and ate a lot of refined sugar "treats")and I could really tell the difference in my cycle. I walk 45 to 60 min. and do either a session of pilates or core strengthening. When I don't do these things with regularity my cycles start to become farther apart and my symptoms like acne, moodiness and cramping return. I have always been thin or smaller than average and the exercise is not about weight, that is hard for people to understand. I truly feel better when I am fit and in shape.

Physiologically speaking I saw a short video a few years ago . It was titled "Fit or Fat" by Covert Bailey , I believe it aired on PBS. What was interesting was that it explained the physiology behind exercise, eating and weight in an understandable way. I recomend it to anyone who is worried about diet, exercise or weightloss.

Good luck!

Laura

mnstrpc · 02-13-2008, 11:55 AM

This is interesting to think about. Right now I'm almost 33 weeks pregnant, so the only "working out" I'm doing (and have done throughout the pregnancy) is to walk about 1.5 miles, sometimes 2 miles, 5 days a week.

I was dx with PCOS in June of last year. I guess I'm naturally on the thinner side, but for sure once I got over 30 I needed to work out to keep muscle tone and just look better in clothes -- and feel better too. But I don't think that for me exercise made any difference in my cycles. I'd been working out very regularly for about 2 years when dx -- running 4-5 days a week and doing strength training 3 days per week, and my cycles were 45-63 days apart unmedicated.

I DO have periods on my own (unmedicated); they're just far apart. I'm not sure how many cycles are actually ovulatory. I was on Clomid, Synthroid, and Met to get pregnant (and had trigger shot and IUI). Other than long cycles, I don't have any other obvious external symptoms of PCOS -- just the out of whack hormones and cystic ovaries.

I know that exercise, keeping a healthy weight, and lowering carb intake can help regulate symptoms for cysters who are more overweight to start, but I kind of wonder whether it makes that much difference for cysters who are thin to start and not insulin resistant? It's a good question.

sheepiegirl · 02-13-2008, 01:29 PM

Well, like mnstrpc, I am pg so most of my working out at the moment consists of walks most days of the week and I've just started some prenatal yoga.

But, back in real life, I'm a pretty regular exerciser. I'm also naturally smaller than not, but it takes a little work to keep me as small as I want to be (it seems my body naturally likes to be about 5 pounds heavier than I like to be!).

Anyways, so I eat a pretty healthy diet--mostly whole grains, lean meats and fish, I don't eat red meat or pork products and have issues with dairy, so my dairy intake is on the smaller side. I LOVE veggies, so I eat a ton of salads and other veggies in general. So all in all a pretty healthy diet that works well for me. I don't believe it's low GI or anything like that, but since I've never expressed any sign of being IR, I don't necessarily feel like strictly following one of those diets would help me.

In real like I worked out about 5 days a week, give or take, and did treadmill and elliptical and a lot of CORE classes, like yoga-pilates combos that work your core muscle groups.

I don't think that, for me, exercise or diet has an impact on my cycles or regulating my hormones. I've gone through periods of less activity and more activity, paying more attention to what I eat and less, and nothing seems to change with me.

TrishainAZ · 02-13-2008, 11:35 PM

I try to walk everyday. Although thats been a bit of a challenge these days.

ihasaflavor · 03-14-2008, 04:59 PM

I like to do exercise that I enjoy. I do cardio kickboxing classes 2x a week and about 30 minutes of running/cardio 1-2 times a week. I am trying to work more on weight training so I can throw stronger punches and kicks

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