Insulin Resistance And Pcos

shelley324

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Hiya everyone i have just joined this evening. I have Pcos and i am insulin resistant, could this be stopping me losing weight. I am training at the gym and burning thousands of calories each week, my diet is healthy but i have remained the same weight since september 2017. Has anyone else had this problem and how did you resolve it. i am only on high blood pressure medication at the minute nothing else. Thank you and any advice greatly appreciated
 

Juicyj

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Hi and welcome @shelley324 :)

I can’t see any information in your profile, are you on insulin injections ?
 

shelley324

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Hi and welcome @shelley324 :)

I can’t see any information in your profile, are you on insulin injections ?
hiya thank you for the welcome, i have literally just signed up and i am finding my feet, i am not on insulin or anything. hope to see the doctor this week for blood test because something is not right
 

Juicyj

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Hi @shelley324 thanks for the update, it really could be anything, so a blood test is a good starting point, at least then you can rule out hormones, thyroid and any deficiencies - otherwise anything else could be speculation, hopefully this will pin point the cause though :)
 

Debtryketo

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I was the same for 30 years, no weight loss with pcos even with exercise and hardly eating anything. I changed to a lchf diet, so far I've lost 29lbs over 6 months, I couldn't lose a thing before.
 
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Hotpepper20000

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I have PCOS and Insulin resistance. For years I exercised like mad and my weight didn’t budge.
I even did HITT for 9 months and only lost 2 pounds.
So when I discovered LCHF and metformin, it changed my life.
My AIC went from 11 to 5.9 in six months and I lost 50 pounds with very little exercise.
Im not hungry all the time any more. I have so much energy and most of my PCOS symptoms have disappeared or decreased. More the 20 years of feeling fat and tired I feel like a different person.
I still bike, swim and walk, but not with the goal of losing weight but because I enjoy it and makes me feel strong.
The key is to get BG undercontrol with what you eat and the weight loss will follow.
 
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shelley324

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thank you i will wait and see what the doctor says. i was diagnosed many years ago with pcos and insulin resistance i was on metformin for 6 months 9 years ago but my Gp took me off it. I appreciate your replies . will let you know how i get on was just hoping someone had similar issues. I
 

shelley324

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I was the same for 30 years, no weight loss with pcos even with exercise and hardly eating anything. I changed to a lchf diet, so far I've lost 29lbs over 6 months, I couldn't lose a thing before.
well done you, thank you for that. what is 1chf ?
 

shelley324

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I have PCOS and Insulin resistance. For years I exercise like mad and my weight didn’t budge.
I even did HITT for 9 months and only lost 2 pounds.
So when I discovered LCHF and metformin, it changed my life.
My AIC went from 11 to 5.9 in six months and I lost 50 with very little exercise.
Im not hungry all the time any more. I have so much energy and most of my PCOS symptoms have disappeared or decreased. More the 20 years of feeling fat and tired I feel like a different person.
I still bike, swim and walk, but not with the goal of losing weight but because I enjoy it and makes me feel strong.
The key is to get BG undercontrol with what you eat and the weight loss will follow.
I am so happy for you that is wonderful for you and gives me hope. what does LCHF stand for please
 

shelley324

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thank you everyone i have lots of great information to take to the GP with me now, greatly appreciated : o )
 
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Antje77

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Tagging @daisy1 for you, who'll post a bunch of useful information. Am I correct in thinking insulin resistance is the same as (pre-)diabetes/type2 or am I missing something?
 

Brunneria

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Hi and welcome @shelley324

PCOS and insulin resistance go hand in hand, and if you have a google you should be able to find quite a lotof information about how people with PCOS respond well to a low carb diet.

Probably worth pointing out that no diet is a guarantee of weightloss, but I prefer to look at it a different way :)
Carb intake raises insulin resistance, and insulin resistance makes it very easy to gain weight and difficult to lose weight. So reducing carbs should lower insulin resistance which will increase the chance of weight loss.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1334192/
Weight loss for PCOSers is usually much harder to come by than for people with normal hormones, so please don’t feel a failure for not losing weight after all your hard work and exercise. It is still possible, just more difficult. :)
 

Crocodile

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@shelley324
Exercise is wonderful but has only a modicum of effect on weight loss. Mostly it will be down to what and how much you put in your cake hole. The pcos and fringe insulin response adds another dimension. Might be handy if you post up what a typical daily food intake looks like. Sometimes we're accepting of what has been told is a healthy diet. But healthy for whom. What weight and height are you ?
Good luck,
Glenn
 

daisy1

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@shelley324

Hello Shelley and welcome to the Forum :) Here is the Basic Information we give to new members and I hope you will find it interesting and useful. Ask as many questions as you want and someone will help.

BASIC INFORMATION FOR NEW MEMBERS

Diabetes is the general term to describe people who have blood that is sweeter than normal. A number of different types of diabetes exist.

A diagnosis of diabetes tends to be a big shock for most of us. It’s far from the end of the world though and on this forum you'll find well over 235,000 people who are demonstrating this.

On the forum we have found that with the number of new people being diagnosed with diabetes each day, sometimes the NHS is not being able to give all the advice it would perhaps like to deliver - particularly with regards to people with type 2 diabetes.

The role of carbohydrate

Carbohydrates are a factor in diabetes because they ultimately break down into sugar (glucose) within our blood. We then need enough insulin to either convert the blood sugar into energy for our body, or to store the blood sugar as body fat.

If the amount of carbohydrate we take in is more than our body’s own (or injected) insulin can cope with, then our blood sugar will rise.

The bad news

Research indicates that raised blood sugar levels over a period of years can lead to organ damage, commonly referred to as diabetic complications.

The good news

People on the forum here have shown that there is plenty of opportunity to keep blood sugar levels from going too high. It’s a daily task but it’s within our reach and it’s well worth the effort.

Controlling your carbs

The info below is primarily aimed at people with type 2 diabetes, however, it may also be of benefit for other types of diabetes as well.

There are two approaches to controlling your carbs:
  • Reduce your carbohydrate intake
  • Choose ‘better’ carbohydrates
Reduce your carbohydrates

A large number of people on this forum have chosen to reduce the amount of carbohydrates they eat as they have found this to be an effective way of improving (lowering) their blood sugar levels.

The carbohydrates which tend to have the most pronounced effect on blood sugar levels tend to be starchy carbohydrates such as rice, pasta, bread, potatoes and similar root vegetables, flour based products (pastry, cakes, biscuits, battered food etc) and certain fruits.

Choosing better carbohydrates

The low glycaemic index diet is often favoured by healthcare professionals but some people with diabetes find that low GI does not help their blood sugar enough and may wish to cut out these foods altogether.

Read more on carbohydrates and diabetes.

Over 145,000 people have taken part in the Low Carb Program - a 10 week structured education course that is helping people lose weight and reduce medication dependency by explaining the science behind carbs, insulin and GI.

Eating what works for you

Different people respond differently to different types of food. What works for one person may not work so well for another. The best way to see which foods are working for you is to test your blood sugar with a glucose meter.

To be able to see what effect a particular type of food or meal has on your blood sugar is to do a test before the meal and then test after the meal. A test 2 hours after the meal gives a good idea of how your body has reacted to the meal.

The blood sugar ranges recommended by NICE are as follows:

Blood glucose ranges for type 2 diabetes
  • Before meals: 4 to 7 mmol/l
  • 2 hours after meals: under 8.5 mmol/l
Blood glucose ranges for type 1 diabetes (adults)
  • Before meals: 4 to 7 mmol/l
  • 2 hours after meals: under 9 mmol/l
Blood glucose ranges for type 1 diabetes (children)
  • Before meals: 4 to 8 mmol/l
  • 2 hours after meals: under 10 mmol/l
However, those that are able to, may wish to keep blood sugar levels below the NICE after meal targets.

Access to blood glucose test strips

The NICE guidelines suggest that people newly diagnosed with type 2 diabetes should be offered:
  • structured education to every person and/or their carer at and around the time of diagnosis, with annual reinforcement and review
  • self-monitoring of plasma glucose to a person newly diagnosed with type 2 diabetes only as an integral part of his or her self-management education

Therefore both structured education and self-monitoring of blood glucose should be offered to people with type 2 diabetes. Read more on getting access to blood glucose testing supplies.

You may also be interested to read questions to ask at a diabetic clinic.

Note: This post has been edited from Sue/Ken's post to include up to date information.
Take part in Diabetes.co.uk digital education programs and improve your understanding. Most of these are free.

  • Low Carb Program - it's made front-page news of the New Scientist and The Times. Developed with 20,000 people with type 2 diabetes; 96% of people who take part recommend it... find out why

  • Hypo Program - improve your understanding of hypos. There's a version for people with diabetes, parents/guardians of children with type 1, children with type 1 diabetes, teachers and HCPs.
 

AloeSvea

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Type of diabetes
Type 2
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I will be very interested @shelley324, to hear what your GP says about the role of food and 'too much insulin therefore insulin resistance' in your PCOS. My guess is - nothing! But I hope things have changed, I would hope they have in the decades since I was diagnosed with PCOS, back in the day. That day, btw, perfectly coincided with a huge increase in the consumption of refined carbs and processed food in the world. And in me. (Who me - bitter? never!;):).)
 
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Hi shelley324,
I suffered with endometriosis from the age of 25 til menopause hit and also had high blood pressure that started at the same time as the endo. It is only recently that I have come to the realisation that both these conditions were caused by insulin resistance and that the insulin resistance was caused by my change of lifestyle to consuming massive amounts of carbs in my early 20s. I lost and gained weight on low fat diets over the years but even when I was very slim I still had the hbp and endo. I now realise it was because I was still insulin resistant despite being slim. The changing point for me was when I discovered the high fat low carb diet. Ok, it was too late as far as the endo is concerned as I was well into menopause by then and had been through multiple surgeries, losing an ovary in the process but the reason I went on the low carb diet was to lose weight. It was only when my blood pressure normalised that I started doing more research and started to realise that the endo and hbp were caused by insulin resistance and that the low carb diet had made me more insulin sensitive. I would urge you to start eating low carb high fat and progress on to keto which is a more extreme version of low carb. Look on youtube at Dr Eric Berg's channel. He has so much information in bite sized pieces. Once you start researching keto you will find LOTS of info out there. Good luck in your journey towards renewed health!