PCOS diet & exercise?

Question
Hi Tom,

I have PCOS and find it difficult to lose weight and maintain it. I have tried many diets, one that worked well for me was a low-carb diet. As a professional dancer I have always been pretty active and am not overweight but would like to really drop some excess kg's and look really fit and toned. Over the past months I have really raised the bar with my exercise - I do cardio HIIT 2-3 times a week and HIIT compound weight training 3-4 times a week followed by 20-30mins steady cardio. I usually give myself one day rest a week. Even though being committed to this kind of exercise, I think my diet may be holding me back from reaching my goal.

My current body stats are:
Height: 1.65m
Weight: 61.5kg
Body fat: 26.2%
LBM: 45.38kg

I would really like to drop down to around 15-17% Body fat and weight around 56/57kg

I keep a food diary and currently I have my macronutrients as follows:
Daily calories: 1500
Carbs: 56g (i usually am more around the 20-25g mark per day)
Fat: 92g
Protein: 113g

I eat mostly salmon, chicken, eggs, green vegetables, almond milk, steak, cheese and use Stevia as a sweetener, flaxseed for fiber and coconut oil for cooking.

My question is, is this diet suitable for my condition and exercise to get to the body I want?? Also I am interested to know what I should be eating for a pre-workout and post-workout meal and how much. Would they be the same or different for cardio/weight training? Do I need both a pre and post workout meal?

Currently I am only taking a post-workout Whey protein shake.

Any help or diet plan you could give me would be brilliant!

I apologise for the very long and descriptive question but I figure the more information I give you the more accurate answer you can give me.

I appreciate your time!!

Kind Regards,

Erin

Answer
Hi Erin,

Thanks for your great question and all the detail!

First of all, I don't believe in counting calories or carbs/fat/protein in general, especially when it comes to losing weight. They key to losing weight naturally and for the long-term is to eat whole foods rather than processed foods.

Two twins could eat 2000 calories a day - one eating whole, unprocessed foods and the other eating processed foods. Even with the exact same number of calories, fat, protein and carbs, the one eating whole foods would stay lean whereas the other would gain weight. Why is this?

When you eat processed foods (like potato chips, packaged foods, cakes, pastries, crackers, white bread, white flour, white sugar, etc.) it causes inflammation in the body. Over time this inflammation becomes chronic and disrupts the body's hormonal balance, causing the metabolism to slow down and that's how most people gain weight now. Researchers commonly call this phenomenon metabolic obesity - and it's what's causing over 70% of Americans to be overweight or obese.

So the key, for me, isn't about counting calories - it's about making sure your calories count. Meaning, if you're going to eat food, it should be nutrient-dense whole foods - like fruits, vegetables, berries, whole grains, legumes (beans), nuts and seeds.

If you eat meat, that's okay but it shouldn't be your main staple (ie, not at every meal). I highly recommend avoiding dairy because it is loaded with hormones (both natural hormones from pregnant cows and added man-made hormones to stimulate milk production). These hormones disrupt your body's natural hormonal balance, again, causing inflammation and weight gain.

I hope that helps give you an overview of how eating a natural, unprocessed diet can help you lose weight by balancing your hormones and avoiding metabolic obesity. I go into a lot more details about what to eat and meal plans and such in the newsletter and you can get access to it for free at: www.AuthenticHealthCoach.com

I would write it all here for you but there's just not enough space!

I hope that helps!

Let me know if you have any more questions about it.

Wishing you wellness,
Tom

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