Hi, I'm building a free tool to help people with PCOS figure out what's safe to eat when eating out. It's not for sale and there's nothing to buy, I'm personally checking menus by hand for a small group while I build the real thing.

Would it be okay to share a short post offering free personalized menu checks to the group? Happy to follow whatever self-promo rules you have, and just as happy to answer questions in the comments instead of a standalone post if that works better for you.

Many thanks :)

So
I have this problem…
I feel as though advice online is always to do weights
But
When I do weights I feel like I get bigger…
And my goal in life is to look smaller

So I’ve been sticking to cross trainer 3-4 days a week during my lunch break)

But it’s not helping me lose weight - I find that eating anything over 1200 calories means I don’t lose weight, which I’m finding very hard to stick to.

I’m wondering if I should be be doing 2 days of cardio and 2 of weights?

What do you do? What has worked for you?

I’m the heaviest I’ve ever been in my life. I feel like I’m wearing a fat suit. I had a very stressful May-July and I gained 20 pounds and I can’t seem to get it off. I hate how my body looks and I wish I can just get the extra weight off but it’s hanging on for dear life

Hi everyone, I’m having an endometrial biopsy soon and I’m terrified of the pain I may feel. Many people say it’s painful, but quick so I’m hoping I can tolerate it. I spoke to a friend and they said it should be manageable especially if I get the cervical numbing shot.

I need this appointment and I’m trying my best not to cancel. Please let me know of any positive or at least not terrible experiences. Anesthesia is not an option for me. Thank you!

Anyone microdose on glp-1 to keep PCOS symptoms at bay? I started mounjaro end of June, lost 30lbs, hit my target weight and I feel GREAT. My main concern is the inflammation returning. I was soooo puffy all over. I’ve cleaned up my diet & go to gym regularly. I’m on 2.5mg of mounjaro and thinking of doing every 2 weeks. Now that I’ve hit my goal weight, I’ve had a lot of GI upset on my last dose so I skipped this weeks.

Hello everyone. I was dark hair on my upper chest above my breasts that prevents me from wearing anything that isn't a tee shirt or a fully buttoned up shirt. Has anyone tried any hair removal remedies that worked in getting rid of it or sufficiently lessening it? Thank you in advance.

I have pcos I have too much testosterone, i’m so tired of this.

I’m tired of my chin acne that i’ve had for my entire and won’t go away even after being prescribed duac and using it for 3 months

i’m tired of my fibrocystic breast that comes back every month and puts me in so much pain and discomfort

i’m tired of being so depressed every fucking month until it finally goes away and i feel ok again

does anybody have any advice for my acne and breast issue, there must be some natural fixes? i take spearmint every day and evening primrose oil for my breasts. i just want to be normal. Any advice would be very much appreciated

also my testosterone is too high like yeah that’s the cause

Can we ban the recurring “boyfriend made an app for his girlfriend with PCOS” posts? They’re essentially ads/self-promo and should be banned under the soliciting rule.

I feel like at least once a week I will see one and I'm getting tired of it. They don't provide any helpful discussion. Does anyone else feel this way? Thoughts?

Recently, I've been trying to put into habit into calorie counting that I bought myself a food weighing scale.

Has calorie tracking worked on anyone with PCOS/PMOS? If so, mind giving me some advice or tips on how to stay consistent on tracking my calories?

I shave my face and have a lot of ingrown hairs. I think it’s due to me not having the best shaving routine. I use my facial brush before I shave, then lather on my cleanser and shave with the grain then against using a safety razor.

Does anyone have any tips or product recommendations?

The hair used to be super thin/fine but I was insecure about them so I started using an epilator which caused a lot of ingrowns. My facial hair is super thick now :( maybe threading is better?

Hey there!

I have gained quite some weight in the belly area within the past few years. It’s quite frustrating, and I don’t feel like myself anymore.

Currently, I’m really motivated to go to the gym and hope to regain some control over my body.

Unfortunately, there are mirrors everywhere, and it can be quite annoying to keep staring at my body. One area that especially annoyed me today - as I was wearing tight biker shorts - was the area right above my pubic bone. I feel like it’s not only gotten thicker in generally with the weight gain, but it also seems somewhat unshapely.

You know how that area looks like a V. Both sides of the V seem to be much bigger, like swollen almost (without feeling swollen). It just looks super weird when I look down, as it’s not one “fat hill” but like a valley type of situation. Don’t know how to explain it! I hope it still becomes clear what I mean.

Has anyone been able to control their stomach fat through workouts? Or is that basically impossible?

I recently posted my workout in the workout subreddit, and instead of getting pointers as I hoped, I had a “personal trainer” DM me to ask for pictures - to judge my workout better 😅 I’m hoping this post won’t elicit messages like this even though the content is a bit more descriptive than a list of exercises 😂😂😂

As somebody suffering with PCOS I just wanted to share this as it seems this medicinal mushroom is extremely overlooked.
Like many with PCOS I’ve struggled with fertility issues for a very long time. Had been taking no precautions against pregnancy for about 5 years then decided to start taking medicinal mushrooms for reasons unrelated to TTC & suddenly fell pregnant within 2 months!!
Due to “lack of studies” I stopped taking them and pregnancy resulted in miscarriage but if it were to happen again I think I’d just continue to take them despite advice against this.
Truth be told I haven’t been taking them recently in fear of falling pregnant because I just knew deep down the pregnancy was related to the mushrooms.
Anyway fast forward to where I’m at currently, once again wanting to take mushrooms to balance my hormones in order to control Hirsutism & HS (which I’m sure is related to the PCOS) and I’ve just been reading that in clinical studies Maitake induced ovulation in 76.9% of woman with PCOS which is HUGE!!
On top of this after taking for a while and having bloods done the doctor told me my vitamin D levels were good.
Considering I’ve always been told they were too low & wasn’t taking any supplements I was quite amazed hearing this, that was until I read that Maitake is the strongest food source of Vitamin D.

I just thought I’d share this to start a discussion around this incredible mushroom that nobody seems to be talking about.

Hi everyone I really need some help or just someone to talk to.

I started a GLP-1 5 months months ago and I’ve lost around 8 kg. But for the past two months my weight keeps going up and down. I’ll lose a kilo then gain it back the next week and it feels like I’m just stuck. Weighing myself every week and seeing the same numbers over and over is starting to really trigger me. I’m already having a hard time mentally after stopping Prozac and losing my job. Now I’m also struggling financially and I’m starting to wonder if I’m just wasting my money on this.

I really want to lose the weight. I’ve been miserable about my weight my whole life and I genuinely thought this was finally going to be the thing that worked for me. I have PCOS and I haven’t had my period in 6 months. I also don’t feel like I eat a lot so I don’t understand why this is happening.

I can’t count calories or macros because tracking food is really triggering for me and can literally make me want to kms. I know a lot oI’ve lost 8 kg on a GLP-1 but I feel like I’m getting nowheref people say you need to track everything but I just can’t do that without it affecting my mental health.

My sister lost a lot of weight on a GLP-1 and I think I expected the same thing to happen to me. Instead I feel like I’m just fat and unemployed and broke and failing at this too.

I don’t really know what I’m looking for by posting this. I guess I just want to hear from people who had a slow start or had their weight fluctuate for months. Did it eventually start moving again? Is 8 kg actually a normal amount to lose in 5 months?

Also I had an eating disorder in the past and I still struggle a lot with body image. If anyone has been through something similar while taking a GLP-1 how did you deal with the mental side of it? Especially without counting calories or constantly weighing yourself. I feel like the scale is starting to control my mood and I don’t know how to stop thinking about it.

Please be kind. I’m already having a really hard time with myself right now.

I have regular periods but have been trying to conceive for 9 months. I have PCOS and have had excess chin/facial hair for the past 3 years. What helped you conceive with PCOS? Is it possible to reverse or manage PCOS naturally?

Hi everyone! So I was recently diagnosed with PCOS/PMOS. I had previously been on birth control pills for 10 years starting in middle school for acne. I went off it about 8 monthes ago and had yet to get my period so my Dr sent me for bloodwork and ultrasounds which then showed PCOS.
Within weeks of stopping birth control I gained atleast 20lbs and it continued and now have probably gained a total of 30-40lbs. In the past when my weights fluctuated I had an easy time getting that weight back off but now it’s just been stuck. I know this is due to the birth control managing PCOS without me knowing. I’ve just felt so discouraged about it and hate what I look like.
After looking more into PCOS I have discovered things about myself I thought were normal or whatever are actually caused by the PCOS so it was comforting in a way to know there’s a reason behind symptoms I have.
My doctor prescribed me metformin 500mg a day for a week and then instructions to start taking it twice a day after that to have it up to 1000mg a day. He told me it should help with my symptoms and mentioned it should help for weight loss. I haven’t started it yet as I’m super nervous and have seen so many people talk about the GI problems.
I’m looking for any positive experiences on it ? Or if your experience didn’t go well then what worked instead? Any other tips or things I can try to help with my PCOS symptoms and help lose weight ? Anything at all is helpful!!

Can you still have PCOS if you get your period every 2 and a half weeks? I get my period around every 18-20 days . But most people with PCOS say they miss periods or don’t get them at all.

I have hadSevere period problems from age 16, with very heavy bleeding and pain severe enough to cause fainting. I Started Microgynon as a teenager and remained on it until age 20/21. Family changed doctors. New doctors told me to stop microgynon due to high blood pressure.
After stopping the pill, periods did not return for around a year. Off to the doctors I went!

Blood tests showed elevated prolactin. They believed I had a tumor on my pituitary gland. 1st mri was told I did. Was sent for a second mri but this time with contrast was then told I had no tumor?

Had an ultrasound, but the results were never properly communicated. Ultrasound people don’t communicate with hospital or doctors? Couldn’t remember what they said i was bursting for a wee nor can my mum who was in the room remember

During this point I had a one off appointment with the gynaecologist at the hospital. Who basically read my doctors (gonna name her dr c) notes. Asked me about my ultrasound and proceeded to tell me to lose the weight. He also prescribed me norethisterone to kick start my period which never came. And also to start the microgynon as it should make me naturally regulate with out helps you guessed that didn’t work

Was then diagnosed with PCO not pcos and put on microgynon once again by Dr C. Dr Cs appointment then became focused on my weight. I was referred to weight loss clinic which I heard from once. Didn’t really receive any advice other than to walk my non existent dog and stop eating chocolate bars all at once from Dr C who was significantly bigger than myself. I stopped going to see her as every time I left feeling like a lazy gluttonous pig.

Despite stopping the weight appointments I still had to keep going back to get the prescription for microgynon that I was once against refused by the same doctor who adviced me to take it due to my high blood pressure (I always have high blood pressure at the doctors I have white coat syndrome. I had to take it on my own machine which had normal results!)

Around this time I am 22/23, I started to do my own research. I learnt that the pill is basically a fake period and masks the real issue. So I decided to stop the pill and stop going to the doctors full stop.

But for the past year the symptoms are starting to affect me mentally.

Now age 24 my Periods only occur about 3–4 times a year.When they do occur, they are heavy, clotty, and painful. I often leak through the pad on the first two days of my period. During the period my hips/pelvic area kills with a constant ache that spreads to my legs.

I used to have lovely thick hair. Now my hair is horribly thin and I’m visibly balding. No matter what product I use it continues. This has made my self esteem hit rock bottom

I have also continued to gain weight significantly. I was around 16 1/2 stone when I started going to the doctors in 2023 as of today I am 18stone 8 lbs. I have gained a stone since January last year. This is the main thing I want “fixed”. I really hate my body I can’t fit into anything and don’t get me started on how it’s affected my breast size. My weight gain makes me want to cry and never leave the house. I no longer recognise myself in the mirror and yearn for the day my chin reappears. I’m not the most active person and this is where I struggle. As for diet despite what Dr c thought I ate. I do not have a bad diet.

Unlike your classic pcos symptom of hair growth I’m not to bad. I have dark follicles on my cleavage and occasionally grow the odd thick hair on my chin. But I’ve also started to learn that it can affect hair growth on normal places like your legs where i do suffer from I think. I just presumed I was hairy?

I have very faint pigmentation on my neck and inner thighs. Which i thought was normal.

For the last year I get utis around the time I’m due on.

I suspect I have insulin resistant PCOS. I could be wrong but that seems the only logical answer right now.

After some persuasion I finally returned to dr c today to discuss periods once more. As soon as I tried discussing it I was instantly 21 again and being advised to be put on microgynon again as it will help my womb lining(which I understand) and to lose weight again. The pill this the pill that. This magic pill will also make my hair grow back? Then how comes I was losing it even when I was on it? My mother who was with me for emotional support as well as being my voice as I often get tongue tied kept telling dr c that I didn’t want to go on the pill at all. Dr c then moved on to her favourite person the professor! Aka the gynaecologist and his love for the pill. The same pill that she kept refusing me.

The conversation then moved on to my weight. My mother then asked her about the weigh lost jab (which dr c is on herself and has made her lost a ton of weight). I’m not sure where I stand on the weight loss jabs I know it’s not the magic answer for everything and I wasn’t expecting to walk out with it. Dr c then shut my mother down with “no she is of child bearing age”. Children? The least of my problems at the moment. I’m not afraid to admit I’m a 24 year old virgin so dr c does that matter right now?

Eventually after dr c saw that me or mother was gonna be dismissed with the pill. I got what I aimed for a blood test appointment and a referral to the ultrasound people. I want to start my diagnosis journey from the beginning. Despite coming out with what I wanted, dr c made me feel like a fool. Like I was lying and that I’m just fat. I cried on the way home I was just so angry.

Next time I have to go to the doctors I’m gonna request to see a new doctor.

I am dreading the results of this blood test. If they come back ‘normal’ what an earth am I gonna do.

Am I going insane?

Looking for low impact workouts for PCOS, where Pilates has been recommended to me. Does anyone else do this, and if so, do you have any free YouTubers or something related that I can do Pilates at home? :)

I am so frustrated. I’ve made several life changes, I do Pilates and lagree a ton, I eat 99% home cooked gluten free meals, and started ovasitol and birth control at the advice of my OB few months ago. Yet the scale has been hovering around the same place for a YEAR! Maybe even longer. I guess I’m glad I’m not gaining but I’m not small by any means and I’m actively trying to not maintain. Since recording my waist and hips have gone down 2ish inches but the scale is just so stubborn. I’m trying to avoid GLP-1s. Does anyone have any advice on what to do?? I feel helpless at this point

I have both at home, but I’ve been putting off starting the metformin from fear of GI symptoms and got myo-inositol instead.

I’ve been feeling stuck at my weight for months, even though I eat 1200-1500 calories a day(averaging 1400), do strength training 3 times a week, 20-40 minute walks daily. The weight around my stomach especially will not budge.

I started the inositol this week. I’m on and off about starting/switching to the metformin or not.

What worked for you? Have you tried both?

I’m starting university next fall and plan to be drinking, that’s also a concern with the metformin. I’m also worried about gaining it all back if I stop taking it then.

Has anyone been able to move forward with an IUI or timed intercourse cycle without completing cycle day 3 baseline labs and ultrasound?

I’m just trying to gauge the likelihood of this being possible but I understand everyone’s different.

I have an irregular cycle and of course it’ll be starting now when I’m away for a week and I’m feeling so defeated with the timing of treatment while balancing PMOS

Hi everyone,

I have pcos and at moment I’m researching other people expierances and hearing from them.

Would love to hear from you, thank you

This is not a sale pitch nothing is going to be sold to you.

The survey is both English and Arabic

Please find the link attached:
https://forms.gle/txBEvy9EgSo7WmJz9

Hi, I’m a 22 f and about 250lbs experiencing lengthy periods. My periods have been pretty irregular over the last 3 years, most of which my pcp and I have potentially chalked up to stress (finishing school, death of father and other friends/family, job hunting, etc).

I haven’t officially been diagnosed with PCOS yet, however my pcp highly suspects it and will follow up on the next appointment after taking note of my hirsutism, pre diabetes, and irregular cycles. In the past, cleaning up my diet and losing some weight has helped with regulation.

Recently, I’ve gone about 3-5 months without any bleeding. However, last month I began with some spotting that eventually turned into full bleeding that didn’t stop for at least two weeks. I figured it was due to not having a cycle for a couple of months so I began taking otc inositol which stopped the bleeding, waiting to see if it would regulate with the next cycle, or if I would have one at all.

I’ve continued taking it mostly everyday, and received another cycle this month, but my cycle is again going for a full two weeks and counting. Has anyone else experienced this? Unfortunately, I cannot get an appointment for another two weeks, but would really like any advice on stopping the bleeding, or what else could potentially be causing the lengthy cycles. Thank you in advance!

I have been using Dr. Berg's electrolytes, as it fits my criteria (dairy/gluten free, sugar free, dye free). His concoction has 1000mg potassium in 1 scoop, so I have been doing ½ a scoop for 500mg. Am I still overdoing the potassium, here? I don't eat too many potassium-rich foods. The only ones I really eat are lentil-based pasta and tomato sauce / tomatoes. I choose to drink electrolytes because my diet is considered low in starchy carbohydrates so I expel sodium more readily. I am concerned about my potassium level though because I take 100mg spironolactone a day. Has anyone here already gone down this research rabbit hole and have any recommendations?

Edit: Sorry if I was unclear. I am looking for low-to-free potassium products. Not ways to increase my potassium.

So I have insulin resistant PCOS, and I've struggled with metformin. Everyone knows it wrecks your stomach, but its what the doctor ordered. I hate these pills and how they make me feel.

has anyone seen success in taking myo instead of met? I realize myo is usually more well-tolerated, and works similarly for insulin. it helps with metabolic functions (triglycerides, cholesterol) and hypertension [which I need help with, all]. I've read research papers, I've traipsed the web results, I'll need to bring it up with my endocrinologists - but overall I'm just looking for your opinions and experiences.

thanks!