Slimming world and PCOS

[HironsBirons]

Hi,

I’ve recently been diagnosed with pcos as I’ve been trying to get pregnant and failing. I’ve been advised to lose some weight to help with symptoms, and to receive treatment from the fertility clinic. Has anyone here successfully lost weight with sw with pcos? I tried the diet years ago and absolutely hated it, however I used to have great success with weight watchers, but since they’ve changed the plan it’s no more. I’d be interested to hear your experiences.
Thanks smile

I can't speak about PCOS in particular, but it's important to know that SW consultants don't have any medical training and don't know the first thing about adapting your diet for medical conditions. I have Crohn's disease and the woman just couldn't understand why I can't just eat raw fruit and vegetables all day long. I ended up going to see a dietician who actually knows about dealing with more complicated situations.

I have PCOS too and it did not work at all for me, in fact, I put weight on. Weight watchers didn't either. The ones that have worked for me are the low GI, 5:2 and keto.

I would avoid WW and SW.

I have PCOS and the best thing that has helped me to ovulate more frequently has been avoiding gluten, dairy, sugar, and caffeine. I also limit alcohol but I'm not a big drinker anyway.

Since I started removing these from my diet, my cycles have been so much better. I used to have epic cycles (100+ days). My cycles now range from anywhere from 28 days to 40 days but never more than 40. I have also been pregnant three times in the past 3.5 years but sadly lost all three. Previously I was struggling to get pregnant at all because of my epic cycles.

Also, the last time I had my ovaries scanned, they said my ovaries looked really good and barely any sign of PCOS. I'm convinced my diet has done that.

Also I take inositol + folate which is also supposed to be a really big help for PCOS. I take the Zita West one. Just half a teaspoon in the morning in water, then another half a teaspoon in the evening.

You may also find that an app/device like Ovusense will help you. It was developed for women with PCOS and takes your core temp. I've learnt a lot about my cycles since using it. It's quite expensive but worth it! I actually got pregnant on the first cycle of using it - maybe a fluke as I've not been pregnant since but it is pretty accurate in estimating my ovulation window. More so than Fertility Friend and other basal body temp apps.

Best of luck!

Also, as BarbedBloom says, low GI is brilliant for PCOS. It is the only thing that works for me.

The main thing behind SW is lots of fresh veg and fruit with low fat protein, limited dairy (milk, cheese etc). Its actually a decent way of eating in general.

Consultants aren't medically trained if you have special dietary requirements so consult your GP practice for dietary advice. When I needed help with low potassium I got better help from online kidney groups than the hospitals dietician. I did speak to the SW consultant how referred the query to SW and got some advice from their staff. As it was I stopped going for a while until my issues sorted out and I was able to eat normally.

I have pcos and I'm following slimming world. You can read into the detail if you want but the best thing you can do to help pcos is lose weight, simple. That's the goal.

Therefore, following SlimmingWorld can help that if you follow the plan, lots of fruit/veg/meat and fish with some treats along the way. Pcos come with enough annoying things I have to battle like my daily hair removal and acne so following slimming world mean I know I'm losing weight but don't have to count calories or eat certain foods like low gi etc, it's one less thing to worry about and good for my busy life because I know I can grab salads/ baked potatoes, eggs etc etc