The FastDay Forum

I'm wondering whether this diet will work with Polycystic Ovary Syndrome. I've found a few references to it on the site but nothing that addresses this particularly. Sorry if I've missed anything. Lots of diets haven't worked for me, which I've put down to the insulin problems with PCOS, so I'm hoping this one will.

if you put pcos into the search box top left you'll find some soul mates here.

Assuming that you're on the pill, soon the hormonal mayhem of your body will stop and you will see good results. It takes patience, but you will be rewarded!

I tried to look at that thread but nothing happened. My 5:2 buddy has pcos and after 4 weeks has lost only 1LB so she does'nt think this is for her.

Ah, thanks PhilT. I'd only tried Polycystic so far and it hadn't come up with much. Silly me.

TML13, I'm not on the pill. Does that make any difference? I haven't been on the pill for about 15 years since I started trying to have kids and discovered that PCOS is a very effective contraceptive anyway. ;-/

Thanks Bee. I guess I won't know unless I give it a go but your answer is kind of what I was expecting to hear.

I'm pretty happy about starting this either way because it sounds like it'll be good for me in lots of ways even if I don't really lose weight. In spite of my weight I've always been really healthy and I want to stay that way now I'm in my forties!!

If you're not on the pill how do you deal with the polycystic ovaries?
IME (and knowledge) the pill is the only thing that gets rid off the cysts. That's how mine went away. And then I lost the weight that I gained and couldn't lose because of the hormonal chaos that the cysts brought. (That's how I discovered that I had a problem, it seems that most of my health problems arrive with extra weight, sigh...)

Weirdly enough, with all the medical people working on me when I was trying to get pregnant, no one ever suggested that so I didn't know about it. I still have all the weight. They said the only way of getting rid of the problem was, rather ironically, having a baby. Equally ironically they wouldn't let me try IVF because I was overweight. ;-( Oh well, maybe they know more about it now. This was 10 to 15 years ago.

In Greece, if you have this problem you take the pill. I'm on the pill for 10 years now and the cysts never came back (and I lost the weight as soon as I started the pill).
If you you want to have a baby, they put you on the pill for 6 months and then you will probably clean up so you quit the pill and start trying.
To my knowledge, it is dangerous to have a baby with cysts in your ovaries. In fact, it is dangerous to live with them. 50% of the cysts tend to grow till they burst, imagine if that happens!!!
Anyway, I don't want to play doctor and perhaps there are different approaches in other countries...

I have PCOS and so far I have been losing approx 1.5 kg a month. I am not on the pill or any other hormonal treatment. My cycle has become more regular at 25-26 days (used to be 13-29 days). Although it is still early days I am happy with my progress so far.

When I started fasting 6 Feb I told myself that I would give it at least 6 months to see if it worked. Still a way to go, however I am happy with the improvements so far.

Even if I lose only 1.5 kg a month in six months I will have lost 9 kgs. I don't have a problem with slow weight loss providing it is sustainable.

I've got PCOS and I'm about to start. I assume it will help because of the relation of PCOS and insulin and what the 5:2 does for insulin levels (among other things.)

As far as the B.C. pill if you're not on it, it's okay. It just kind of keeps stuff as is, but it doesn't improve stuff much (I've been on and off- I was diagnosed with PCOS 11 years ago.) It does regulate periods, by such an artificial means I didn't find it helped any other symptoms for myself. That said, if it works for you, by all means.

I'm actually having bad symptoms lately and went and got a blood test done... but I've also lost weight recently due to my recent move to India (better diet- I'm from the US) and it's encouraged me to live healthier. I was concentrating on portion control and sort of by accident was restricting (to 1000 calories) and was feeling better. Then my mom told me about this and I've checked it out and I think it's something I could do, in combination with treatment for PCOS (I'm going back to the dr next week after my blood tests/ ultrasound results are in to discuss more treatment, but she's already mentioned metformin... which I tried before and had side effects, but she's going to try me on a lower dosage.)

Anyway, I'm another "cyster" out there, and I'm about to start this 5:2 with you..

And as for the girl who only lost 1lb in a month, I admit that while that sounds bad remember the PCOS hormones resist weight loss, so any loss at all might end up being worth it... though I hope I get better results than that.

So, just to make sure I understand, you girls have cysts in your ovaries and you do nothing about them???

You actually don't have to even have any cysts on your ovaries to be dx with PCOS, crazy though that sounds.
Here in NZ the formal diagnositc criteria requires 2 out of 3 of the following symptoms
a) clincial and/ or biochemical evidence of raised androgens (ie raised male hormones)
b) Oligo- / ammenorrhoea, <9 menses per year or dysfunctional uterine bleeding.
c) Typical changes on ultrasound (12 or more follicles in at least one ovary)

I personally have been diagnosed with PCOS and I don't have cyst and I know have other women who have not even had scan to confirm if they have cysts.
As for the pill, it does have risks too, stroke etc and it is creating an artificial cycle which imo is not such a great thing

Yes but if you actually have cysts it's rather dangerous. My friend nearly died because a cyst exploded in her ovary. It was horrible, it was such a close call...
Anyway, I don't know if I have a syndrome but I had cysts and if I quit the pill they come back again so I wouldn't risk it. Not to mention that all this hormonal chaos is bad for women who wish to have children one day (I don't but if I did I would want my hormones and ovaries to be healthy).

I have never heard of anyone's cysts from polycystic exploding. If this was the case I would imagine that it would be absolutely neccessary for all women dx with pcos to have scan's however this is not the case

Maybe your friend had an ovarian cyst, which is different from PCOS

The danger from PCOS comes from the increased risk of diabeties and cardiovascular risk

In Greece, the endovaginal ultrasound is a part of the yearly gynaecological check up so we all get scanned for cysts etc.
My friend had polycystic ovaries. Not sure if it's the same with PCOS but wikipedia says it is. She was unlucky because she had no cysts when she had her annual ultrasound but she got them and they grew really fast. When the big one blew up, the rest of them were the size of tangerines.
To be honest, until then I was questioning my doctor's firmness on the pill but after that I wouldn't dream of stopping it...
I also have a close friend who had polysystic ovaries for many years (she wouldn't go to the doctor, long story) and I've seen how much she suffered to get rid off them when she wanted to have a baby and couldn't. Not to mention the extra weight, bad skin etc.
Both stories convinced me that I should not take this lightly, nor to consider to quit the pill. That's just me of course, everybody else is entitled to decide for their own health!