Easy to lose weight without metformin?

[B17_Fan]

I have IR and pcos, and was prescribed metformin to help with weight loss.
My question is, is it easy to lose weight by just going low carb and not taking metformin?
Just wondered if it's something I could do without medication?

 

[Resurgam]

I lost some weight on Metformin as I felt so ill but I have always found it easy to lose weight eating low carb foods, and I always feel so well.

 

[Bluetit1802]

I have never taken Metformin, nor any other diabetes medication. I lost 33% of my body weight in the first 10 months by eating low carb. So yes, it is quite possible, but I don't suffer with PCOS which may make a difference.

 

[Hotpepper20000]

For me the combination of metformin and low carb changed my life. I still have some symptoms of PCOS. But they are much less.
I have stopped losing weight after a almost 60 pounds loss. I still have another 50 or so to go. But I am very happy where I am. I now weigh less then I did in my late 20s. Most importantly feel fantastic and my last A1C was 5.9 I think that’s 40 or 42 how you measure it in the UK.
The choice is yours. You can try it with out and if you feel like you need help you can always take it.

 

[B17_Fan]

Thanks all. I guess all I can do is try without metformin and see how it goes. I mean, if you're eating low carb, then surely your insulin resistance should lessen, because your not getting the sharp rise and fall with your sugar levels, and your body will produce less insulin, meaning it won't store the energy as fat anymore. That's my theory anyway. I know metformin makes the cells less insulin resistant, but can that not be done with diet alone?

 

[bulkbiker]

Gave up metformin after 3 weeks of toilet hell. Ultra low carb then lost me 8 stone (almost).

 

[ringi]

Most people find that the side effects from metformin stop after one or two weeks provided they take the metformin with food and slowly increase the dose. Personly I happy to take the little help metformin gives me, a low carb diet gives me more help, but why choose when I can have both.

However, if I got the side effects of metformin and they affected the quality of my life for more then a week or two, I would have stopped the metformin. Also, remember that some people get on better with the slow release version, so if you get the side effect don't give up without talking to your GP first.

Some people can lose weight by just going low carb, other people have to do very low carb, yet other people have to control the amount of their food as well as the type of food. People who start with "very low carb", then slowly increase the carbs to find what their body can cope with, seem to do better than people who remove a few carbs as they are forced to from their diet.

Some people find that stopping all sugar and not eating anything that tastes sweet is required before they can control how much they eat.

 

[Hotpepper20000]

PCOS does make women very insulin resistant. I know doctors do perscribe metformin here in Canada to women with PCOS and with out a type 2 diagnosis. It is a frustrating condition and has some very horrible side effects.
A part from how it makes you feel it does physically affect how a woman looks,
with acne and hair loss on the head, increased facial hair, and weight around the waist.
Which does not help with the increased chances of depression
I know metformin combined with low carb has helped me with most of these symptoms.

 

[Resurgam]

My waist decreased by 12 inches in the first months of this year - all my clothes from back then went in the bin.
Although not everyone who suffers with PCOS will see such swift results, there have been several women on the Low Carb forum on Facebook who had fertility problems and were hoping that eventually they would become pregnant in a year or so, or when they had lost lots of weight - then in a few months they were bewailing the effects of the diet, only to discover they were pregnant.
My sister came to visit just as I discovered I was pregnant with my second child, and moaned terribly about the food I served up. They had been wanting a second child for some years - mine was born at the beginning of November and hers at the end of January - I kidded her about it being infectious.

 

[willieandersen]

I was totally unable to lose any weight on met or gluc. I have been successful losing on Avandia, and without side effects, I got from the other stuff. ANy weight gain from Avandia is water weight and brief.