Caloric intake page

[Jmitchell]

Good evening!

I am fairly new to Paleo or primal life style. I have PCOS and while I was doing some research I found some women that had a lot of success with Paleo! I am currently trying to get pregnant, struggling with infertility. I feel great on Paleo and I am loosing weight.

I have a couple questions and was hoping that some women can chime in. My first question is about food amounts. I am having a hard time eating over 1200 calories. I just don't feel hungry enough. Is this ok? Especially where I have PCOS and insulin resistance? I tracked a few days to try to see what I was getting and basically I eat about a thousand calories. I only eat about 50 grams of carbs. So I barely ever eat fruit maybe a half cup of berries for a treat once in a while and it is with coconut milk. On the days I don't eat berries I just don't break 1200 calories. I don't want to go into starvation mode but I'm never hungry.

My other question is about intermittent fasting. It is ok for a woman with PCOS? Are there woman on here who have PCOS or insulin resistance that tried intermittent fasting? What were the results?

[Ayla2010]

Well most of us here find eating the higher fats, keeps us satisfied for much longer, so of course eat less.
What are your fat sources?
Starvation mode is a CW thing, when you are actually starving and not eating.

Not sure on PCOS and fasting, but fasting I feel great.
But I would not attempt to try until fully fat adapted, or you will probably get hungry and not feel great.
I tried it last year, but was not ready and it made me binge.
I am up to nearly 40 hours of a half fast (bulletproof coffee and bone broth only) and I still feel good. Hopefully someone will PCOS will answer this for you soon.

[Ayla2010]

Oh how long have you been doing it?
Do you have much to lose?

The advice ive seen given on here, is follow the PB book to the letter for 6 months before trying to tweak things.
Good luck!

[Moe]

I've experimented with IF and found if very successful - as long as I'm not taking Metformin. IF and Metformin don't mix well for me. I experience diabetic-esque "lows" complete with wooziness and fainting. If your GP is as incompetent as mine they'll tell you it's impossible and that Metformin doesn't cause low blood sugar, they lie.

It makes sense that something which helps to increase insulin sensitivity would be good for us, I still IF regularly (about once or twice a week, usually weekends) but I simply don't take Metformin on the days I intend to fast.

It's possible to eat very well on 1000 - 1200 "Primal" calories. I usually don't count calories but after the recent potato experiment I did for a few days and fell in the 1000 - 1500 range. I suspect that for people with our condition we might have to be more careful with what we eat? I'm no expert but if you're listening to your body, you're not hungry, losing weight and feeling good ... it seems like it should be fine.

[sbhikes]

If you are overweight your body can make up any calorie deficit with body fat. I also ate very little at first on this diet. After a while it does wear off. You get hungry. Your body won't let go of any more fat. You'll eat more and you'll have to find a calorie leve to keep from gaining weight. And if you need to keep losing, you'll have to employ calorie restriction somehow to keep losing.

[Jmitchell]

I have a lot of weight to loose. I've only been Paleo for a little over a week. I lost ten lbs the first week. I have more than fifty pounds to loose. I've eaten avocado, coconut oil, lots of fish, eggs, a little olive oil and a lots of meat. I've tried to make sure I have plenty of fats in my diet. I'm eating anywhere between 50-70 percent of my intake of food as fat. I'm not taking metformin right now. And I used to take it and I was doing the south beach diet and I had low blood sugar as well. My doctor told me it was impossible and to eat more nuts. I told her... You can only eat so many nuts in one day!! I was shaky and I almost passed out I drank grape juice and took my blood sugar level and it was 84 AFTER drinking the juice. Stupid doctors! I don't go to her anymore because she was ridiculous.

Ok! I will stick to what I am doing. I think I will wait to do IF but I do want to try it at some point.

[Ayla2010]

That is a pretty good ratio of fat
id keep at what you are doing for a while longer before you change anything. 10 lbs in the first week is incredible.

[Jmitchell]

Thanks! I was pretty happy with it.

[Primal123]

Fasting is not recommended if you are trying to get pregnant. I read something by Dr. Mercola that said basically fasting may be at the expense of our fertility.

[manoseao]

The advice ive seen given on here, is follow the PB book to the letter for 6 months before trying to tweak things.