Hello everyone,
How are you all doing? I hope and wish all of you are safe and healthy in these difficult times. Today, it’s a different post that I am sharing here – how to lose weight with PCOS. This article is about my journey into how I lost 20 pounds (10 kilograms) in 8 months.
Now before I start, I would like to mention that, I am not sharing any crash diets or simple/overnight remedies to lose weight – I want to share a realistic approach to losing weight with PCOS.
We see lot of articles on Google these days about how someone lost 10 kilograms in few days or weeks. However, I believe, losing weight is a continuous process and cannot/should not be done using some quick and sudden changes to our body and life.
“losing weight is about being healthy, happy and content with what you eat, how you feel and what you are!” 😊
WEIGHT LOSS CHALLENGES WITH PCOS/PCOD
A lot of you are aware that I am a pre-diabetic with PCOD/PCOS. I am dealing with PCOD since I was 15 years of age. Also, I have been a pre-diabetic over the last 5 years. Losing weight in itself is a challenge, and, it’s even more complicated with PCOD.
With PCOS/PCOD-
- it feels like you are gaining more weight than losing.
- for every 2 kgs you lose, your body has a tendency to gain 3 kgs.
To start with, my weight loss journey began when I hit 78kgs in March,2020. I was 15 kgs over my ideal BMI and for the first time in my life entered the ‘obese’ category. All my favorite dresses were too tight, and, I was not feeling good about myself. Every time I wanted to eat something that’s slightly high in sugar or carb, I started feeling guilty for not doing what am supposed to do – lose weight!!
I was unhappy both physically and emotionally, but, I wanted to feel happy again. I wanted not to feel guilty for every small unhealthy morsel I ate. Most importantly, I wanted to try, as I strongly and truly believe that everything is possible with a determined heart and mind!
My strategy to losing weight is simple – healthy eating, portion control practice, regular exercise and being happy. Only these 4 tips was enough for me to lose weight. I will talk about these 4 independently below.
EAT HEALTHY
We all know, to lose weight, one has to make healthy food choices. We cut down carbs, avoid unhealthy fats and limit sugars. This is of course right, but, for how long can we practice this on a daily basis? Especially with PCOD, when you know it takes a while to see any positive results, how long can we diligently limit food???? I think only a few weeks.
Once we realize that we aren’t losing weight, we get discouraged and start believing that all our effort is useless, and, we start to indulge and get depressed. This, makes it WORSE!
WHAT DID I DO?
- added a lot of complex carbs – oats, barley, brown rice
- replaced noodles with durum wheat spaghetti
- complemented white rice with lots of protein and fiber-rich side dishes (rice with double the amount of dal and vegetables)
- used egg whites and avoided yolks
- added lot of fiber for breakfast
- for evening snack, used low gluten ingredients like chickpeas, ragi – healthy chaat, wraps, chikki
- ate chips in moderation (by checking the packet labels to know how much I was eating)
- made idli, dosa batter with whole grain urad dal – pottu minappapu (switched from 1:2 ratio of dal:rice to 1:1- changes the texture a bit, but it’s ok!)
- ate sugars once in a while but made sure I went for a walk after that or exercised the next day
- switched to healthy fats – avocado, olives, nuts
- added sandwiches to meal times with lots of fillings
- replaced high carb meals with vegetable stuffed recipes – eg stuffed chili peppers or capsicum
- drank lots of water everyday ( you can google – how much water to drink daily for your weight)
These are some of the things I followed to tweak my eating habits on a daily basis. As this was more practical for me to follow, I was happy end of the day for being able to eat what I want. As it was easy for me to follow them, I could practice them for a long time.
PRACTICE PORTION CONTROL
I would say, this is the easiest of all 4 to start losing weight. Also, this gives you better results than exercise! A month after you start limiting your portions, you will shed 1-1.5 kgs! This is wonderful, isn’t it? 
Portion control is very basic – EAT WHAT YOU NEED, NOT WHAT YOU WANT!.
You eat till your hunger is satisfied, then STOP! Do not eat more than what you need. This way, you eat enough calories and at the same time you do not exceed your calories. The best part here is you can eat everything that you want to eat, but in moderation! Start practising this today, I would love to see your comments after a month
WHAT IT DOES?
- helps you in the long run
- limits your daily calories
- you can eat several small meals through the day
- you can eat unhealthy stuff once in a while (in moderation)
- helps maintain weight long-term
- your cravings go down
When I started this, initially, I felt I was hungry all the time. After about 2 weeks, my body got used to the quantity I was eating and since I added a lot of fiber along with eating small meals every 2-3 hours, I was feeling full for a long time. Eventually, my cravings for excess food fell down drastically and now, I do not feel like eating just for the fun of it. So, it helps in a multitude of ways!
EXERCISE
This is something that’s always heard about, read about and written about. Yes, exercise is unavoidable. It not only helps you to lose weight but also helps maintain it!. The latter is as important as the former.
Lot of articles stress only on the losing weight part, but, I stress more on the maintenance part of weight!!!!!!! Losing weight is useless if you cannot maintain it. A lot of us are very determined during the weight loss phase, but, once we reach our weight goals, we stop everything else! After 6 months, our weight has gone up the scale again
That’s the reason I stress that practical approach to losing weight is very important.
WHAT IT DOES?
- you lose weight
- maintains your weight
- you stay healthy
- helps with PCOD
- deals with insulin resistance
- helps with pre diabetes and diabetes
- regulates your menstrual cycle
Exercise might feel daunting. You do not have to exercise vigorously or hit the gym for hours together. Well, it’s good if you love doing that. But, it’s ok if you do not want to. Walking is good enough to lose weight.
HOW TO MAKE EXERCISE A PART OF YOUR ROUTINE?
- Start with walking 15 minutes a day, YES! you read it right!!!!
- After 1-2 weeks, increase it to 30-45 minutes (I prefer walking on an empty stomach)
- If possible, try to walk another 30 minutes shortly after dinner
For PCOD and diabetics/pre-diabetics, I suggest them to walk after dinner too. I am doing this since the last 5 years and has really helped me in keeping my fasting sugars down. Both me and my husband go for a brisk walk after dinner. We enjoy having conversations during that time and along with weight loss, we love that couple time that we spend together
Aim for 30-60 minutes of walking atleast 5 days a week. This, along with portion control should be enough for you to start seeing results!
BE HAPPY
This is underrated in today’s time and age. Happiness actually keeps you healthy.
WHAT IT DOES?
- keeps you positive
- motivated and,
- helps you realize your goals.
I am no saint and I am not happy all the time. But, I understand the importance of happiness. I think all of us should try to be happy with whatever we are, what we do and what we have! It does help you in the long run!
WEIGHT NOT GOING DOWN?
Also, in your weight loss journey, you hit dead-ends/standstills twice or thrice. That is when your weight doesn’t go down after a certain point. That is when you have to push yourself a little more. For me, 73 and 70 kgs were 2 such points. Both times, I increased my walking times another 15 minutes. That was enough for me!
Its important to understand that what works for one may not work for another. You need to figure out things and ways that work best for you. This way, you not only lose weight but can also maintain it for a long time.
These are the things I have been following from March, 2020 and as of Dec, 2020, I lost exactly 10 kgs. At present, I weigh 68 kgs, have 3 more kgs to lose before I hit the ‘ideal’ BMI. As mentioned before, maintaining weight is equally important. This is something I am trying to work on this time ️
I hope you gain some knowledge and hope some of these things work for you too. Please share your experiences with me on PK’s Kitchen Equations, Instagram and Facebook. You can leave your comments on the page by clicking here.
I want to hear your stories and would love to share them on my blog posts. Wish you good luck with your weight loss journey! I will see you again in another post. Have a lovely day you all️️
Love,
PK
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Disclaimer – Please do not consider this article as any medical/health advice. I am not giving any professional methods to lose weight, I suggest people to use their own discretion when dealing with what works for them and what doesn’t.
