Fighting PCOS Poly Cystic Ovarian Syndrome

You know what I really hate about PCOS? The facial hair. I didn’t used to have a lot of facial hair but then it started growing and bam! Now I actually have to wax or pluck or shave above my lip, my chin, jawline. I haven’t done anything about my cheeks but this is ridiculous! What kind of horrible thing is this for a woman to grow hair there? I’m blonde so it’s not as bad as someone with dark hair. But you can still tell I have very long hair on my chin. It’s horrible.

facial hair, dark hair, long hair, cheeks

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Dr. Dach has a really good page on PCOS. I didn’t know that PCOS used to be rare and now 6-10% have it. It’s sad because it’s an embarrassing medical problem and so many don’t know they have it. I didn’t know until I got a pamphlet in the mail for the former home owner. For years I battled the huge abdomen, acne all over and facial hair. I thought I just was cursed. Nope, it’s PCOS. Of course that seems like a curse.

Polycystic ovaries symptoms are:
no periods
no ovulation
Weight gain, obesity
excessive hair growth, male pattern
Insulin resistance (pre-diabetes)
Acne
Male-pattern baldness
Multiple small ovarian cysts on sonogram
darkening of the skin at the nape of the neck and under arms

I have all of those symptoms though some didn’t show up till just last year. That’s when I went to a different ob/gyn and asked again about PCOS. This doctor actually listened to me, got tests and said due to the symptoms and test results I have it and need to take Metformin. My acne is pretty much gone and the hair growth has slowed down.

male pattern baldness, excessive hair growth, insulin resistance, ovarian cysts, pre diabetes, nape of the neck, sonogram, pcos, metformin, facial hair, mail, medical problem, ovulation, ob gyn, pamphlet, abdomen, weight gain, acne, curse, obesity

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Ok so I bombed today again. Actually today is worse than yesterday.

I looked up how many Weight Watchers points at restaurants today using Dotti’s Weight Loss zone and decided to eat at Jimmy John’s. The Turkey Tom was 13.5 points and I figured there would be less points with the whole grain bread. Wrong. 15 points for a sandwich! But at the time 13.5 sounded ok, but 15 was way over the line. How crazy is that? Half my points used up on one sandwich. The really bad thing is that I was starved still! STARVED.

Actually that was the name of today. STARVED. I was weak, sleepy, starving, light headed all day. It was torture. I don’t know if it’s because my eating is cut by more than half now, or what. But I’m having a really hard time adjusting to these weight watcher points.

I blew breakfast running out the door with a frozen breakfast sandwich. 9 points. Ate apples but still starving. So ate 1/2 a Valentine’s Day cookie for 2 points. Then the Jimmy John sandwich for 15. At the pickle which had 0 points. A small cookie at the bank as again I was starved and going to gnaw my arm off. Ate a donut with frosting after work on way home as again I was so starving and light headed I didn’t think I could drive. Casey’s was a few seconds from work. It just did not go well today.

I did get groceries after I took a nap. I don’t why I’m so tired now too. Is it due to eating less? I took my points calculator slider thing to the store and figured out points for things. I have a lot of food now. And I have frozen meals for 5 points. I can eat that and several apples and still not equal 15 points! I’ll never make that mistake again.

whole grain bread, weight watcher points, weight watchers points, breakfast sandwich, weight loss zone, frozen breakfast, worse than yesterday, frosting, donut, pickle, slider, groceries, apples, hard time, nap, casey, valentine, mistake, restaurants, turkey

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I went to my first Weight Watchers meeting today. In their book it does say that scientific studies showed it to help with insulin resistance. So that’s good. That was one thing I was really worried about. I didn’t want to get there and find out that I couldn’t be low glycemic too. But I can!

There’s the core plan and flex points plan. The core plan is low glycemic, the flex plan allows you to choose. But you can still choose what to eat. So you can be low glycemic if you want, or spring to go out. I bought the extra book about dining out. I eat out a lot for lunch and dinner and I want to stick to my points.

I think people that join Weight Watchers thinking just doing the points or being at the meetings will make them lose weight, will be disappointed. You have to do the work yourself. You have to plan out your meals or at least have an idea so you don’t blow all your points early on and have none left for the rest of the day.

I tried losing weight myself. I went to a nutritionist, a dietician, tried sparkpeople.com, dietwatch.com, ediets.com. I tried diets out of books. But on the third day, or second week when you don’t want to do it, you have nothing good to eat and you’re starved, out the diet goes. No one will know except you and if you don’t care, then who cares!

So that’s why I joined Weight Watchers and am going to weekly meetings. It’s the accountability. People know. The people at work even know now. And it was very inspiring to see people get their 5 pound stars. Two people got 50 medals. One guy lost 5 more pounds to make it 132 pounds he’s lost. The leader lost 80 pounds 30 years ago and kept it off for 30 years! I’m really glad I went.

low glycemic, insulin resistance, core plan, flex plan, dietician, weight watchers, nutritionist, rest of the day, losing weight, third day, medals, diets, accountability, lunch, diet

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Ok it’s not exactly a polycystic ovary diet setback, well yeah it is. I didn’t go to the first Weight Watchers meeting because right as I was going to leave, one of our clients sent us Pizza Hut pizza for lunch as a thank you. Free food. So I stayed. Hence the reason I need Weight Watchers.

I don’t know how their plans work but I sure hope they include something for insulin resistance that goes with PCOS. Low carb with lots of fiber is what I think I need, from what I’ve been reading. South Beach Diet and Fat Flush Plan and also the Perricone Prescription would all work for PCOS. But you do those plans on your own. Hence the reason I need Weight Watchers.

It sounds like such an easy plan to just not eat things that mess up your insulin resistance. But it is. It’s really hard to change your eating when you’re eating for emotional reasons and don’t want to punish yourself by not eating your comfort food. Ugh. I really hope Weight Watchers addresses emotional eating.

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