Anyone with PCOS not lose weight after surgery

[Serengirl 176]

On 10/7/2019 at 7:37 AM, Boldilocks said:

How have your cycles been since the surgery?

I jest not - I had my surgery on Feb 5th, and my period started on Feb 6th (not really fun at the time). And ever since I have had perfect 30 day cycles! I can predict exactly when it is going to come now - like a normal person! My periods are also not as heavy or painful. Bleeding lasts 3 days instead of 5+. I so enjoy not having cycles that are anywhere between 15 days and 100 days!

wow this is awesome.

[Serengirl 176]

On 6/12/2019 at 6:45 PM, Ruth9454 said:

Yes, I so hate all the presumptions about why we are the weight we are when we have PCOS. Some doctors don't even believe in it. I'm so tire of people saying it's mathematically impossible to not lose weight if you eat the right number of calories. This is such a cruel disease. I hope you are all doing well!

absolutely a calorie isn't just a calorie and if it was calories in or out then at 500 cals a day post up we'd all lose like 7lbs every single week. it doesn't work that way and so many Drs are ignorant of this fact.

[Serengirl 176]

On 9/29/2019 at 5:09 AM, Panda333 said:

This is literally my life story.

Then we are not alone and we can encourage each other... I wish you well on your journey.

[Serengirl 176]

On 10/4/2019 at 3:52 AM, Panda333 said:

No....I actually lost that during pre op from April to October. The doctor chastised me and said I didn't lose enough I thought it was an accomplishment. On October 1 weighed 284, Today is October 4 and I weigh 291. This is frustrating, I didn't update my stats because everyone says this is temporary because of all those IV liquids in me. @Serengirl I really hope I can lose this weight for real. Today is day 4.

You will! hang in there. I know it is so hard but this will work.. slowly but surely just stick to the eating plan and definitely drink all of your water... You can do this. WE can do this.

[Zahara98 18]

Hey all!

How is everyone doing?? I had my 6 month visit with the dr last week and was down 66.5 pounds. It will be 7 months since surgery on 10/18, so hopefully by then I will be at 70 lbs lost. Last I weighed I was 183.5 down from 250. I am incredibly happy with this result, but know deep in my heart, this is the ONLY way I would have ever lost any weight. If I reach 70 lbs gone in 7 months, that is an average of 10/month which is kind of the "average" people shoot for just with diet and exercise. It is crazy to know it had to be this drastic to make progress, so I feel happy with my decision.

I met with a dietician while struggling to try to lose weight before my wedding - my doctor had me on Victoza at that point (3.0ml/day - almost double what they take for diabetes) combined with a low carb shake program to try to help before my wedding, which barely helped at all. This dietician looked at me and said, "there is so much we do not understand about weight and weight loss". That was very positive for me to hear from a dietician - that she acknowledged that there is so much more to it than calories in/calories out.

Glad to hear so many of you are still doing well! Hope we can keep this thread active and check up on eachother!

[Serengirl 176]

On 10/15/2019 at 6:25 AM, Zahara98 said:

Hey all!

How is everyone doing?? I had my 6 month visit with the dr last week and was down 66.5 pounds. It will be 7 months since surgery on 10/18, so hopefully by then I will be at 70 lbs lost. Last I weighed I was 183.5 down from 250. I am incredibly happy with this result, but know deep in my heart, this is the ONLY way I would have ever lost any weight. If I reach 70 lbs gone in 7 months, that is an average of 10/month which is kind of the "average" people shoot for just with diet and exercise. It is crazy to know it had to be this drastic to make progress, so I feel happy with my decision.

I met with a dietician while struggling to try to lose weight before my wedding - my doctor had me on Victoza at that point (3.0ml/day - almost double what they take for diabetes) combined with a low carb shake program to try to help before my wedding, which barely helped at all. This dietician looked at me and said, "there is so much we do not understand about weight and weight loss". That was very positive for me to hear from a dietician - that she acknowledged that there is so much more to it than calories in/calories out.

Glad to hear so many of you are still doing well! Hope we can keep this thread active and check up on eachother!

Great Job Zahara and congrats. I know its hard because we see others who have the surgery doing the exact same eating as us and yet they lost 4-6lbs every single week, week after week and it gets discouraging. But its true without surgery none of us would lose 70 lbs in 10 months... so it is working but its a daily struggle - for me anyway- not to see others who lose what i should be losing and i am not. On average according to my watch i burn 3500ish calories in a day (including my RMR) and i eat around 600. so i am at a 2900 cal deficit a day! which means i should be losing 6 lbs a week. I am lucky if i lose 2. talk about a mindBLEEP. but this thread is so helpful a reminder that 2 lbs is still 2 pounds and in a year thats over 100lbs.. keep up the great work.

[JanJan19 205]

I'm doing okay but I'm on the struggle bus for sure. I'm a week shy of 5 months & I'm down 51 pounds. I'm grateful for those 51 pounds, but honestly I'm super frustrated. I come on here & see endless posts from people dropping 30 in a month and.... it's frustrating. People down 80 pounds in 3 months & talking about being 20 from goal and I'm like, how??? And I see all the lecturing comments from those at goal about the calories in/out etc etc and it's like try living with PCOS! My journey thus far by month has been 14.2, 10.6, 9.4, 8.8, 4.6. Month to date I'm down 4 & the scale isn't moving. I know I'll lose more than 51. I know I will eventually but it's super difficult logging onto this site & watching others drop SO much faster.

[Serengirl 176]

32 minutes ago, JanJan19 said:

I'm doing okay but I'm on the struggle bus for sure. I'm a week shy of 5 months & I'm down 51 pounds. I'm grateful for those 51 pounds, but honestly I'm super frustrated. I come on here & see endless posts from people dropping 30 in a month and.... it's frustrating. People down 80 pounds in 3 months & talking about being 20 from goal and I'm like, how??? And I see all the lecturing comments from those at goal about the calories in/out etc etc and it's like try living with PCOS! My journey thus far by month has been 14.2, 10.6, 9.4, 8.8, 4.6. Month to date I'm down 4 & the scale isn't moving. I know I'll lose more than 51. I know I will eventually but it's super difficult logging onto this site & watching others drop SO much faster.

Girl I hear ya its a mind F&ck for sure. Its fantastic to lose 51 pounds so first of all that is awesome and CONGRATS but i do understand how frustrating it is to see others get to goal and lose over 100lbs in 6 months - its like WHAT????? Its super demoralizing to eat 500-600 cals a day and track macros and drink all of your Water and still barely lose a pound a week. I wish i had words of wisdom but maybe the notion that you are not alone will help? Its NOT JUST YOU but it doesnt change the fact that the struggle is super real when youre thinking to yourself, "so i cut out 80% of my stomach,i eat 20 carbs a day (which for most people even without surgery they would lose enormous amounts of weight in ketosis alone) and yet youre calories in and out dont add up to weight loss. NOT FAIR" I for one would be happy to know ANY advice or eating tips or what have you from other peeps in our boat that found a way to get the scale to move. Maybe its to go up in thyroid meds, I have even thought of using progesterone creams bec with PCOS we are estrogen heavy... I dunno but whatever it is, I will do it. I didnt come this far only to come this far. I have tried cycleing calories... super low cal days like 300-400 to higher days around 700 (but most people lose tons of weight on 700) and i workout every single day. Ill let you know if i find the magic solution but im using this time to experiment a bit while still staying on plan. Hang in there... youre not alone but yes its okay to mourn the bum rap we got because I at times have followed the exact same diet of other posters who lose 5lbs a week and the scale will go down .8lbs and its infuriating... stay the course though. I also tell myself that perhaps the slow weight loss will mean our skin has more time to tighten and not be as flabby....try to find the small silver lining.

[JanJan19 205]

1 minute ago, Serengirl said:

Girl I hear ya its a mind F&ck for sure. Its fantastic to lose 51 pounds so first of all that is awesome and CONGRATS but i do understand how frustrating it is to see others get to goal and lose over 100lbs in 6 months - its like WHAT????? Its super demoralizing to eat 500-600 cals a day and track macros and drink all of your Water and still barely lose a pound a week. I wish i had words of wisdom but maybe the notion that you are not alone will help? Its NOT JUST YOU but it doesnt change the fact that the struggle is super real when youre thinking to yourself, "so i cut out 80% of my stomach,i eat 20 carbs a day (which for most people even without surgery they would lose enormous amounts of weight in ketosis alone) and yet youre calories in and out dont add up to weight loss. NOT FAIR" I for one would be happy to know ANY advice or eating tips or what have you from other peeps in our boat that found a way to get the scale to move. Maybe its to go up in thyroid meds, I have even thought of using progesterone creams bec with PCOS we are estrogen heavy... I dunno but whatever it is, I will do it. I didnt come this far only to come this far. I have tried cycleing calories... super low cal days like 300-400 to higher days around 700 (but most people lose tons of weight on 700) and i workout every single day. Ill let you know if i find the magic solution but im using this time to experiment a bit while still staying on plan. Hang in there... youre not alone but yes its okay to mourn the bum rap we got because I at times have followed the exact same diet of other posters who lose 5lbs a week and the scale will go down .8lbs and its infuriating... stay the course though. I also tell myself that perhaps the slow weight loss will mean our skin has more time to tighten and not be as flabby....try to find the small silver lining.

Serengirl, it DOES help actually! Knowing I'm not the only one. And I tell myself the same thing about the skin! Maybe mine will be less saggy, etc. Maybe my body has more time to recover from each pound, etc. But man is it tough. It's so much easier (for me) to stay the course when the weight is coming off. When you're eating virtually nothing & it's not coming off it's real hard not to slip into "might as well be fat" mentality.

I've not tried days of 300-400. I sort of feel like my body already thinks it's starving, but who knows. Really, no one freaking knows which is why the lecturing about calories is so aggravating. I did actually do a 500 calorie day this week with a real long nights sleep and - gained .4 two days in a row.

I mostly stick to interment fasting - trying to keep my eating to an 8 hour window. Which I do most days just because I try to prolong eating as long as possible & get as much Water in before that as possible. My doctor is fine with me having as much coffee as I want, so that's my morning routine & I feel like it does help keep hunger/eating at bay.

I'm sure it'll come off eventually. It's so hard in the midst of it to not feel like I've lost the last pound I'll ever lose. And I do feel GREAT with the 51 pounds gone. Frankly, I just want to b***h about it this week & scream a little "not fair" when I see endless posts of people hitting goal by month 6. Unreal.

[Serengirl 176]

4 hours ago, JanJan19 said:

Serengirl, it DOES help actually! Knowing I'm not the only one. And I tell myself the same thing about the skin! Maybe mine will be less saggy, etc. Maybe my body has more time to recover from each pound, etc. But man is it tough. It's so much easier (for me) to stay the course when the weight is coming off. When you're eating virtually nothing & it's not coming off it's real hard not to slip into "might as well be fat" mentality.

I've not tried days of 300-400. I sort of feel like my body already thinks it's starving, but who knows. Really, no one freaking knows which is why the lecturing about calories is so aggravating. I did actually do a 500 calorie day this week with a real long nights sleep and - gained .4 two days in a row.

I mostly stick to interment fasting - trying to keep my eating to an 8 hour window. Which I do most days just because I try to prolong eating as long as possible & get as much Water in before that as possible. My doctor is fine with me having as much coffee as I want, so that's my morning routine & I feel like it does help keep hunger/eating at bay.

I'm sure it'll come off eventually. It's so hard in the midst of it to not feel like I've lost the last pound I'll ever lose. And I do feel GREAT with the 51 pounds gone. Frankly, I just want to b***h about it this week & scream a little "not fair" when I see endless posts of people hitting goal by month 6. Unreal.

SCREAM TO THE ROOFTOPS... I sure do. I BLOWS and yes i totally get it. Its like well if its just going to come off this slow why the heck did i do this to myself because i can stay the same exact weight and and eat fries and Pasta se veal times a week and stay the exact same weight so its mind-blowing to eat 500-600 calories and stay the EXACT same weight. it slick what the cruel hell is this life....so yeah. B*thch as much as you want its better than holding it in and better than eating your feelings which won't do either if us any good. Ill let you know if any of my "experiments work" like one week getting in a gallon of Water a day.... and then one week maybe try an all day fast...? maybe that will work... Im open to suggestions and yeah it is NOT FAIR. I have even though maybe I should have gotten RNY or the bypass but this could have happened with that too and then id be REALLY PISSED. lol... To be fair i think with your loss you are still "average" in weight loss and i think there are a bunch of us like that but we dont post our losses like the people who lose 8lbs every week, ya know what I mean? But its BS when people try to say tweak your callers because how low can you go when you're averaging 500-700 to begin with.

[JanJan19 205]

15 hours ago, Serengirl said:

SCREAM TO THE ROOFTOPS... I sure do. I BLOWS and yes i totally get it. Its like well if its just going to come off this slow why the heck did i do this to myself because i can stay the same exact weight and and eat fries and Pasta se veal times a week and stay the exact same weight so its mind-blowing to eat 500-600 calories and stay the EXACT same weight. it slick what the cruel hell is this life....so yeah. B*thch as much as you want its better than holding it in and better than eating your feelings which won't do either if us any good. Ill let you know if any of my "experiments work" like one week getting in a gallon of Water a day.... and then one week maybe try an all day fast...? maybe that will work... Im open to suggestions and yeah it is NOT FAIR. I have even though maybe I should have gotten RNY or the bypass but this could have happened with that too and then id be REALLY PISSED. lol... To be fair i think with your loss you are still "average" in weight loss and i think there are a bunch of us like that but we dont post our losses like the people who lose 8lbs every week, ya know what I mean? But its BS when people try to say tweak your callers because how low can you go when you're averaging 500-700 to begin with.

YES! I used to eat whatever I wanted & maintain. And now that I'm measuring every last morsel I know damn well I must have been eating 3,000+ calories a day before. So I should be dropping like crazy on 800. FFS.

I've wondered about RNY & bypass too, but I suspect it'd have had the same results thus far. Though my biggest gripe at this point is I'm pretty sure I COULD eat way more than I am. I'm not eating this little because eating is just too hard. I'm eating this little because I'm forcing myself to. For sure having a tiny stomach makes it possible to control myself but it's really entirely on me because I could eat more, for sure.

[FluffyChix 17,409]

22 hours ago, JanJan19 said:

I'm doing okay but I'm on the struggle bus for sure. I'm a week shy of 5 months & I'm down 51 pounds. I'm grateful for those 51 pounds, but honestly I'm super frustrated. I come on here & see endless posts from people dropping 30 in a month and.... it's frustrating. People down 80 pounds in 3 months & talking about being 20 from goal and I'm like, how??? And I see all the lecturing comments from those at goal about the calories in/out etc etc and it's like try living with PCOS! My journey thus far by month has been 14.2, 10.6, 9.4, 8.8, 4.6. Month to date I'm down 4 & the scale isn't moving. I know I'll lose more than 51. I know I will eventually but it's super difficult logging onto this site & watching others drop SO much faster.

Ok, so yeah. Let's talk PCOS--a deep metabolic derangement, chickies. Let's talk being on a cancer drug that shuts down my female hormones and puts me in super deep menopause.

The reality is that there is so much unknown about weight loss. It's so frustrating losing slowly. It's hard to maintain momentum.

A calorie is NOT a calorie and although CICO has many flaws, almost EVERY weight loss professional admits (either freely or grudgingly), that unless you are in a caloric deficit, you will not lose weight.

When I was eating 400-500cals per day drinking Protein Drinks and first starting my journey at 287lbs, I was actually gaining weight. It was Fluid cuz the Protein drinks were spiking my insulin, which in turn jacked with my kidneys. When I started eating 400-650cals per day in WLM eating regular food (and by that I mean: LEAN, dense protein, LOW LOW fat, and only LOW glycemic veggies) I started losing like a normal person. And by normal, I mean about 2 lbs per week. And that was after WLS.

It can be done. But for most of us with PCOS, or on drugs that make it hard to lose weight, we have to TRULY cut calories to the 650-800 level for losing and cut carbs to the 30g or below net (from veggies and low fat dairy and eggs), and cut fat to 30-35g per day from healthy sources: tiny amounts of olive oil, avocado, some nuts and needs.

That's the fact Jack. Seriously. By doing that, I've lost about 157lbs over 3 years. It's crushingly slow. But it's off. And I'm gonna do everything in my power to keep it off. That means, maintenance for me is about 1000cals average per day, no booze, not a lot of treats/cheats, no high glycemic foods (I'm talking bout you carbs.)

Sorry you feel many of the vets and sophomores are preachy (me), but I'm telling you things you don't want to hear. Listen or not. It's pretty straight up truth.

[SabP 5]

I have PCOS, and my thyroid affects it. Or vice-versa. Anyway, I had the surgery due to Gastroperisis, Oct 3rd. And have already lost 15lbs.
I did used to have issues with losing weight, no matter how little or healthy I ate. And even gained weight. It was ridiculous.
All I can say is, talk to your Gastro doctor about your concerns. And get your T3 and T4 thyroid tested. A COMPLETE thyroid panel. I am on 2 thyroid RX, to keep it under contol. The weight gain stopped after that.

Sent from my SM-G975U1 using BariatricPal mobile app

[May Hem 143 15]

I have PCOS. It was the reason I had my surgery. I take my Vitamins as my doctor has advised, in addition I take the Neocell Beauty Infusion for my Hair loss. 6000mg of collagen and 3000mg Biotin. It’s helped a lot.
My weight loss is slow but after seven months I’m 63kgs. 138lbs. Just don’t give up!!!

[Darktowerdream 419]

Struggled most of my life with chronic illness and many medical conditions. Of these I was diagnosed with late onset congenital adrenal hyperplasia, pcos, and eventually endometriosis. My body fights against me every step of the way. I initially lost weight cutting carbs, sugar to below 20 net carbs and also cutting calories. While this did work in the first go around I couldn’t maintain as well as I wished. Despite every effort. It doesn’t help that I am unable to exercise. But at some point despite eating 800 calories, counting carbs, being strict about little to no sugar, etc. my weight skyrocketed and I sought out help but doctors didn’t want to hear it. They assumed it was my fault, my eating habits. I fought my food addiction, my sugar and carb addiction in the past and I knew this time it wasn’t even that. But they didn’t want to hear it.

Eventually I decided to fight for bariatric surgery. I wasn’t sure it would happen but it did. And while I feel like I will never be able to eat normal calories and by normal I mean even 800 calories. I. Grateful for the tool, I do the best I can to keep carbs and sugar down, and mainly I track my weight daily, and what I eat, calories and Protein so I get at least 50 some days 60 grams of protein. I feel like too much and it just turns to glucose and pcos is glucose intolerance. My calories are 300-400 a day. Averaging in the middle. Some days less than others. My weight has gone down slowly but surely. But it still scares me. Especially with my chronic illness getting worse. And now I had surgery to remove my last ovary and remove what endometriosis the doctor could find and ended up with another chronic condition diagnosis in the process.

Not all calories are the same. I think some part of me is worried I won’t continue to lose with regular foods. Seeing as how I was eating healthy and gaining before. But for now I just get the protein I need and take it one day at a time.

Edited October 20, 2019 by Darktowerdream