Thread: insulin resistance?

Ideally for someone your height, you should be between 125-155 pounds. Have you always struggled with your weight? Being overweight (or underweight) can significantly affect your menstrual cycle.

Birth control pills are not the answer. You are correct in that. Put your foot down with your doctor and tell him/her no. Some doctors might say the pill will help you become regular. But when you're on the pill you have a "pill period", not even a normal period. Your body does not ovulate while on the pill, so the pill is telling your body to do the opposite of what is natural for it to do.

At this point with the problems you have been having with your period, your weight, your insulin resistance, the absolute best thing you could do for yourself is to get all your hormone levels checked, including your thyroid, and then get yourself on a daily fitness routine combined with a diet of fruits, vegetables, and if you must eat meat, eat lean meats only. Refined sugars need to be totally eliminated from your diet.

I have a feeling that the root of your problems is the weight. Work on getting the weight off in a healthy way and I think you'll see huge changes in your blood sugar, your menstrual cycle, your energy etc.

Beautiful Disaster, you are most definitely correct. :/
I've always, ALWAYS struggled with my weight. The entire thing just baffles me sometimes. Last night I was pretty upset when I posted, and I have a clearer head right now, probably because I just quit it with the birth control and didn't take it. I dont feel as crappy and moody today. I've read on another site that the metformin combined with dieting will definitely help 100% with the weight. My biggest goal right now is probably around 150 or 160, give or take, but if I can get to 200...I guess I'll feel like I just won a war.

My biggest goal right now is probably around 150 or 160, give or take, but if I can get to 200...I guess I'll feel like I just won a war.

Girl, you are young, you CAN do this. I have faith in you. And nows the time in your life to get it under control, because it won't get any easier with age. But start out with a clean slate. Get all your levels checked so you know where you stand. Then you can go into the weight loss challenge with ambition and a clear head.

I would highly recommend seeing if your parents will help you get a trainer. Someone who can help you, one on one with your exercise and diet. On another note, you will find ALOT of great info here on exercise, healthy eating, etc.

Also, consider reading the book "Women, Food & God". This has been a lifechanging book for many women (both young and old) who struggle with weight.

I think you will find that there is no magic diet, there is no magic pill. Exercise is absolutely crucial to not only losing weight, but maintaining a healthy weight and a healthy body. Exercise combined with healthy eating (not starving yourself) will get you results. YOU CAN DO IT!!!

Lauren,

I weighed really close to that when I was your age. I was frustrated, angry and didn't know what to do. I felt like I didn't eat that much, I didn't have a lot of help at home, and it was just very aggravating, but let me tell you worked for me....

1) move around as much as you can. If you can take a walk, even if 15 minutes a day on the days you're not doing something, you'll notice improvement.

2) Start doing some basic weight training. Get some light weights if you can (or even cans of veggies) and start doing bicep curls. Do pushups, squats, do as many as you can. You can find easy workout routines online for free and I promise you, the muscle building will help!

3) get a journal, piece of paper, notebook, whatever you have around and write down everything you eat. When I started doing this, I realized I was eating more than I thought. Write down sodas, milk, juice, fruits, condiments, everything. You can use the Livestrong Daily Plate (if you search for that, the website should come up). This will allow you to enter that online to see how many calories you are eating. You need to try to keep it to between 1500-1600 and I bet you'll notice a HUGE improvement. If that seems drastic, cut down by 200 calories a week. Maybe get to 2100 the first week, then 1900 the next week, etc.

4) Drink 8 8 oz glasses of water every day! Be sure to drink extra when you work out. It helps keep you full, hydrated, and in good working order.

5) Lastly, don't be hard on yourself or at least not too hard. You need to strive to do well, but if you eat something bad one meal, shake it off and watch the rest of the day. You can't work out one day, try to pick another day or do extra the next day. You are only human. I am living proof that it is possible! You CAN lose the weight. Set small goals in 10 lb increments. When you hit a goal, reward yourself (but not with food ). Go buy some new songs you wanted for your iPod or a new book or a new accessory. It's about celebrating the little victories.

Please let us know how you are doing! YOU can do this. I promise you. It might take you a while to lose it all but you can get there. Good luck!

thankyou for the support, guys (:
i actually went back to my ob/gyn and she put me on metformin and told me to continue my birth control for the rest of the month to see how it goes, and if i don't want to start a new packet i don't have to. i've also started on the Insulin Resistance Diet... a lot of makes sense to me, so i'll be trying that on top of the metformin and a walk every day. the way she explained it was that with the metformin, the weight loss will be encouraged and pushed when doubled with this diet, because if i get my body's insulin and sugar levels under control, it will be using energy correctly and i will lose the first fraction of weight without having to do much working out. she said maybe 10 - 15% of my body weight can come off just by dieting at first (maybe 30 pounds), but after that i'll have reduced some of the PCOS symptoms and i can begin dieting and exercising like a normal human being (: thats when i can REALLY break a sweat! but for now, i'll stick to walking for 30 - 60 minutes a day.
i really like the diet so far, though. it's not difficult or imposing like some other diets seem.

That is great news!!!!! Sounds very encouraging. Stick with it girl, stay on your plan, stay on a routine and you'll get results. Stay away from the sugar no matter what. Resist the urges. THe less sugar you eat, the less you'll want. Set your goal to get to that healthy sugar level and then you can really starting hitting the physical side of things hard and watch the pounds melt off!!! Keep it up!!! And definitely keep us posted.

thanks! (:
I was actually thinking about making a post about that sugar part...
on the way to my mom's to visit tonight, i got reaaaaaaaally hungry in the car (around 5 pm) and i got kinda jittery. when we got to her house i ate some stuffed peppers and a half a slice of ham (i have no idea why, it just sounded tasty) and some milk... anyway, then we went to a dr's appointment and when i came back i was having really intense carb cravings! i'm about halfway through my insulin resistance diet book but it hasn't exactly said what to do when you start craving carbs... it's such a weird feeling. it's not hunger at all, it's just a craving for anything to do with chocolate, dessert, bread...am i supposed to just resist and ignore it or what?