Issues And Solutions for PCOS Weight Loss

Weight loss is a burning question almost for everyone nowadays. While it is an everlasting fight for the health and beautiful body for women with Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome. Today we will help you to identify the reasons why it is so challenging to lose weight for women with PCOS and give you several tips on how to do it efficiently.

3 Reasons for Troubles with PCOS Weight Loss

There are certain hormonal reasons causing losing weight for women with PCOS much more challenging.

1. The first reason is connected to insulin.

This hormone lowers the level of glucose in the blood redistributing glucose from the blood stream to the cells. Further, the cells use glucose for their own needs. In case there is more glucose received from sugar in the body, insulin participates in keeping it as fat. Moreover, there are Beta cells, secreting insulin cells, which identify sugar in the blood and they cause production of insulin in bigger volume than the body needs. As a result, more fat is stored and this is the first problem for ladies with PCOS. The second problem for many women suffering from PCOS is resistance to insulin when their bodies require more insulin to process sugar than normal. Consequently, the body stores more fat and produces testosterone in addition.

2. Intensive hunger

Your sensation of being full and hungry is also controlled by hormones including leptin, ghrelin and cholecystokinin. According to recent researches, women with PCOS have disorder with those hormones and they do not feel satiated when they have eaten enough. As a result, they feel constant hunger.

3. Slow metabolic processes

In fact, women with PCOS require less calories than women without this syndrome (on average, 1445 calories a day in comparison to 1868). And ladies with insulin resistance have to consume even less calories. But the issue is that the PCOS slows down metabolic processes and does not allow to burn the calories fast.

How to Lose Weight with PCOS?

However, despite all the troubles, the PCOS weight loss is highly important for the patients with this syndrome, and we have prepared the recommendation list on how to do it more efficiently and healthier for you. We suggest a comprehensive approach involving your diet, physical training, sleeping routine and your attitude to stressful factors. Women with PCOS benefit from resistance (strength) training targeted at reduction of abdominal fat, body weight workouts, cardiovascular exercises and weight lifting. Your goal is to burn the fat that you do not need and increase your metabolic rate. In brief, your ideal workout program should be composed of training with weight and some cardio. And simple walking can be a great start if you do not practice any sport at all right now. Sleep is another key factor in building revitalizing lifestyle. You will be surprised, but it also influences weight loss and insulin resistance. Probably, if it is one of the most pleasant ways to take care of yourself, consider the following tips and make the best of these:

•  Make a priority of going to sleep early before 10.30 p.m. and waking up before 7.00 a.m.;
• Sleep during 8 hours per night;
• Keep you room dark, fresh and cool;
• Make sure that your mattress and pillows are firm enough and comfortable for you;
• Avoid any gadgets with bright screen 30-60 minutes before you go to bed;
• Do not eat anything heavy 3 hours before your bed time.

In addition, insulin level is directly increased by cortisol which is generated when you are in a stressful situation. That is why efficient managing of stress in your life is another way to help yourself to lose weight. Many women say that they employ such helpful methods like yoga, reading, meditation, aroma therapy, relaxing music, mindful trainings, floating and meditation and visit a trusted psychologist.

Diet for PCOS Weight Loss

Physical training and other methods to lose weight will be efficient provided that you have a truly healthy diet. On the one hand, it is quite easy to figure out what to eat and what to avoid in your case. Basically, there are two groups of products: products that reduce inflammation processes and insulin (legumes, fruits, nuts, vegetables) and foods that increase the level of insulin (processed foods, breads, desserts, junk food, any product with added sugar). Moreover, the second group of harmful products causes binge eating what is also an issue for women with PCOS. Considering your eating habits, you should think about the diet you can follow for the whole life, not for a short-term period. You should stick to low fat menu with prevailing vegetarian dishes (or totally vegetarian diet). In addition to this feature, your daily eating plan should be low carb so that you receive not more than 30% of your calories from carbs. If you have more carbs than 30% now, substitute them with appropriate protein to be satiated and have enough energy for burning fat. Another helpful trick for any types of weight loss cases including PCOS patience is to drink water instead of any drinks you are used to like sodas, packaged juices or coffee. It will reduce a lot of calories and help you to keep your body perfectly hydrated.