In our previous article, we detailed everything about the menstrual cycle and PCOS. The next in this series is
“weight gain – the common symptom of PCOS”
Weight gain is one the most common problem every female with PCOS has to face. Losing weight becomes a constant battle which may cause frustration and depression. It is hard but not impossible to shed some weight.
What causes weight gain in PCOS?
- High level of hormone Androgen – This causes weight gain and body hair growth too. It is a male hormone and
it triggers weight gain more in the abdominal region.
- High insulin levels – Insulin is also a hormone. It helps in converting sugar and starches from food to energy. But due to PCOS, body faces difficulty in utilizing the produced insulin which increases its level in the body. High insulin level causes increase in production of androgen, eventually ending up with a gain in weight.
What are the risk factors due to weight gain?
Gaining weight regardless of its cause is harmful to our health. Females with PCOS are more prone to weight gain which increasing the following risk –
- Infertility
- Heart diseases.
- High cholesterol
- High blood pressure
- Sleeping disorder especially breathing problem while sleeping.
What should we do to lose weight?
Rather than getting frustrated or depressed, we should motivate ourselves to begin a healthy lifestyle to shed some weight. Research says losing up to 10% of weight will enhance your treatment and with the onset of normal periods. It will also increase insulin sensitivity which will help to lower androgen hormone release.
To lose weight following things could be done
- Consulting your gynecologist for medication of PCOS. This will be hormonal medication therapy which will help to lower abnormal hormonal levels.
Image Source – Internet - Getting your weight and BMI checked. (BMI is body mass index; it is ratio of your height to your weight). By this, you will know how much extra kilos of weight you have.
- Consult a dietician. A dietician will help you with a diet chart. It will comprise of how much calories you need. What food to be taken and what to be avoided keeping carbohydrates proteins and fats in the chart.
- In case you don’t want to consult a dietician you can start with –
- Have low sugar diet.
- Include vegetables and fruits with high fiber in your meals.
- Take small meals 4-6 times rather than 2-3 heavy meals.
- Exercise at least 30 mins a day or you can do Zumba/dance/aerobics if you feel exercises are boring.
- Have proper sleep.
- Meditation- this will keep you calm and focused.
- Have green tea or lemon juice early morning.
- say completely NO to junk and soft drinks.
- Avoid packaged food.
Will losing the weight cure PCOS?
No, it won’t cure PCOS. But definitely its help enhancing the treatment.
What as a society, we could do to help the females with PCOS?
All we could do is educating a female with all the details of PCOS. It is common and is curable. With all the knowledge of PCOS, any girl could easily understand the line of treatment that could be done.
Frustration and depression are also very common due to PCOS. We would be discussing this in our next article.
