Winter = weight gain?

The winter effect has set in and I found myself craving for carbohydrates.

Hot chocolates, crisps, chips, gosh. 

NO suprise that I put on two big Kg! It takes so much to lose, and yet only 10 days to pile on.

The Facebook monster: babies

Any kids yet?

No, not yet. I don't have any kids.

Why not?

haha.. I find it a big commitment

No, they are cute. Once you have kids of your own, you will not find them troublesome at all. You should really have some. You have been married for many years rite?

Oh, yes. I am one of the earliest to get married in class?

yeah! But now most of us have 1-2 kids alreay.

I know, it is obvious from my facebook "friends" page. All are photos of super lovely babies. I cant keep track of all the names and ages, and what they did last week.

So, when are you going to have one?

Don't know??? When I have one I will have one?

Dont wait too long! You know, we are at that age already! not many years left.

Yes, I know. No worries, I can always adopt.

wont be the same. Will not have your lovely genes. you are smart and nice haha.. pretty too.

Oh, thank you! YOu have not seen me for ages.. some of that may have changed.

haha. you have not uploaded photos on your profile.

haha.. won't want to disappoint you.

Am I alone in this? I am sure millions of childless couple face this. Damn. 

Can we ban people from uploading photos of their kids? Afterall, you must use your real name. So use your real photos (uhhuhh, not sure about this... my photos? ewww..)

Amazon £5 purchase for free delivery! Time to get those books!

There is good news almost as good as a sale! Amazon.co.uk is offering FREE delivery!

It is time to get those stuff which are really good to have, but we had been putting off as we are waiting to accumulate up to £15. I do that, dont you? I feel guilty if I cannot find enough thing to buy to top up to £15 and end up paying the charges.

Now that it is free delivery for every £5, no more difficult decisions!

Here are some stuff worth buying!

PCOS - specific and GI diet books! True, it is really dreadful to have these around to remind us of teh constant uphill battle. However, it is due to this constant reminders that I finally able to finally shed 4 kg! Yes, 4 kg! That is a big achievement for me!



And to get a really good work out this winter, what is better than yoga? I used to be put off with the idea of doing yoga because of my old injuries, and also because I was 87 kg! However, now I am hooked! I think a short session a day - sometimes just 5 minutes of stretch keep me focused on my weight loss programme. When there is some flab preventing you from doing the asanas (poses), it is a good reminder to LOSE IT! And I dont mind another yoga mat, so that i can stretch even in the living room!

winter - how to keep the weight off?

Here comes winter.

as the day light hours become shorter and teh cold provide a perfect excuse not to go out and move our bum, how are we going to lose weight?

The chill in the past few days sent me craving for curries, hot chocholate at bed time and lost of gravy laden food. Aww!!!

Instead of leafy salads, we now see parsnips, butternut, and nuts in teh "vege" aisle. All these are yes, they are vege. But no, they have higher calories!

i am thinking of changing my plate to a smaller one and joining the gym at work. Need to keep the  pounds off!

How a PCOS patient like me lost 3 kg

It is 3 kg. Not a lot, but not a little too.

Going by the rule of thumb that a 5% weight loss would have made a difference, I done 2/3 of the initial weight loss target.

Here is what I think I did right to loose the weight:

• Walk at least 3 km a day. On certain days, when the weather is good and I get off work early, I would aim to "walk till tired". Instead of getting on the bus or train, I try to aim to walk to the "next stop".. and the "next".. and the "next".  That means on some days, I walk about 3 km on my way back.
• Soup it! I try to have soup for lunch, especially on those days which I know I could have an early dinner. A perfect weight lose day would be soup for lunch, walk as much as I could on the way home, eat dinner early, do yoga, and go to bed early!

What I did wrong!

• Had light lunch and then at biscuits at "tea time" And when I had to go home late, I sometimes finished 5-6 biscuits before going home!!! That makes it about 540 calories just on biscuits! BAD!!!
• giving in to "hunger" - those hunger generated by my NSAIDS for my pains. Those are really trying times! 

Lost more weight!

Ladies and gentlemen, 

I am please to announce that I am now a featherweight 84 kg! Ahem! I finally hit the elusive 84 kg on the scale. 

84 kg !!

It must be the period. I must have lost almost 1 kg of blood and tissue because of it. 

When this weight loss plan started in February, I hoped to be 84 kg in 3 months. Ie, I hoped to be 84 kg by the beginning of June. Now I am 84 kg at the beginning of October. It took 4 more months than I had expected! That makes it 3 kg in 7 months!!! Sigh.. and now that winter is here..

Winter = weigh gain for most women. When it is cold outside, what is more comforting and cosy than hiding in the duvet with a cup of hot chocolate? A a glass of hot chocolate or milk seemed to be the perfect way to keep warm? No!!!

I got to keep losing weight! At least I have to maintain it during autumn/winter! 

A period!

I had my period last week.

Big deal? Yeah, it is when it come once in a blue moon. It is when I had been spotting for over two bloody (literally!) months, and I was seriously thinking of a proper check up. It is a big deal when the last one was more than 6 months ago. 

And it chose a great time to come - while I was back packing. I had given up "expecting" it and only had panty liners with me It was really heavy, and I was worried about running out of pads. Sigh. What perfect timing!

Babies.......

Feeling broody.


Is it my hormones??

Baby..



Baby


Baby.

I noticed it is always at the back of my mind in the past 24 hours. Is it A Brangelina twin thing, or a Bristol effect?

Or is it because my colleague is waiting to be induced this weekend?

All babies are precious...

No matter who the mum is, baby is precious.

It does not matter whether the mum is a teenage mum, or a woman old enough to be a grandma, a baby is a precious thing.

I just hate to see little Trigg get paraded around, used as a shield to hide his mum/aunt/sister's ?? bulging tummy, being relegated to be cared by mum/sister/aunt? I hate the fact that if she is really pregnant now, Bristol's baby is already the most famous five month old. Who knows what Brangelina's latest twins are called when we are busy with Trigg?

Leave Trigg alone!

If there is something I would like to question, it is what is going through Sarah Pallin's mind ? What is she thinking?

Sigh.. while many women are trying all means to have a baby, many others are is despair for having a baby. The world isnt't a fair place? Or is it a fair place?

when are you going to have a baby?

Are you planning to have a baby anytime soon??

{the "you are not young anymore" look}

Go away. Have as many as you want, and stay away from me.

Who are the celebrities with PCOS? Part 2

Don't tell me you came here because you were finding information on celebrities with PCOS.


Since starting this blog, I took the occasional peep at the counter and never failed to find people coming here because they were looking for information about celebrities with PCOS. Celebrities rumoured to have PCOs include:

• Victoria Beckham 
• Jules Oliver 
• Susan Boyle

and a few others. Yes, Victoria Beckam aka Posh Spice, the lighter than feather mum of a few kids.


I guess it is normal. I did that too. Googling for celebs with PCOS. I guess I did not want to feel alone, and hopelessly fat and ugly. If celebs have PCOS, hmm, I might see a Cyster who is thin, and perhaps even very "productive"?


To confess, I dont only look out for celebs. Sometimes I look at photos and think.. "hmm.. I think she has it. I do that on trains too.


I do that in the office, of course! I can tell which of my colleagues definitely has PCOS.
How?


1) skin - dead give away - pimples and tiny "hairs"
2) what they eat & how much they exercise vs what they weight
3) that 4 o'clock dash "to make tea/coffee" 0r "grab a cookie"
4) where the weight piles on, despite the diet, and the gym. If you notice that they pile on weight around the middle once they "slack" for 1-2 weeks...


Anyway. I have found an "idol" now. My colleague who never fails to "go for a walk" during lunch, eat only salads/sushi for lunch, goes to gym after work "a couple of times a week". She has a body to die for, and good skin. She is MY MOTIVATION. A look at her and I stop myself from grabbing that biscuit at 4pm!


October2011
p/s: This colleague indeed has PCOS, and she now has a 4 month old lovely baby girl after a long try.

My pants getting loose?

After a couple of days in the country side, hiking, and climbing some hills, I noticed that I had some extra space in my pants.

Woo hooo!!!! Worth the extra pimples and worsening skin.

I was so happy, that I did not even dare to weigh myself. Hahaa. What if the weighing scale says "no change", or worse still "going up?"

Anyway, the joy was short lived. After a lunch of curry (I am bad!!!), I was so bloated, that my waistband of my usually loose and frilly skirt cut my protruding belly into two. Urgh. Sigh....
I made sure I suck my tummy IN all the way back in the train. I have been mistaken to be pregnant for at least 3 times in the past month??

Another 1/2 kg loss?

I seemed to have lost another 1/2 kg or so. My weight fluctuates between 84 and 85kg these days. Slow progress.

My period still have not arrived. There were only some spotting.

I shaved again. Sigh.

The pores on my face have enlarged. More spots on my face.

I used to dislike Victoria Beckham. I can't stand her, I don't know why. But now, I look at her with pity sometimes. Those spots on her face. It seems like PCOS is not a problem that money could totally solve?

I did the unthinkable....

I know I have to lose weight .. and lose it fast. I did the unthinkable thing last week.. for the first time in my life:

I shaved.

I had this imaginary conversation with myself, after i took the cut:

I shaved.

Well big deal.

.... not legs.

Yeah, some women have hairy hands, and of course the arm pit.

No, not that...

Urrrhhh.. private areas?

No, it is "public".

Public?

MY FACE.

Have you ever shaved...there? (Question directed at females, males need not reply.)

Off all the shavings which I have done in my life. That was the most difficult cut. That was me waving a white flag, giving up "pulling", "plucking", whatever you call it.

Another two weeks of weight loss

Nope.. no progress, i am afraid. In fact, the weight is up. Grrrrr...

That means, I have to cut down further my calorie intake. At this moment, I am averaging about 1500-2000kcal, and walk an average of 4 miles per day, on top of about 1/2 hour of yoga and my rowing machine work.

That basically means a lot more work to do. I have to increase it to 5 miles now. Luckily it is summer and if the weather is good, it is not too difficult. 1 mile to work, 1 mile to walk home (short route), 2 miles (longer route), and now this is the important part:

how to increase my lunch time walk from 1 mile to 2?
1) walk faster
2) take longer lunch!

And I have to make sure i lose weight because:
1) a sweet man offered me his seat (thinking I was pregnant)
2) i want nice cheap clothes!
3) those designers dont do size XXXL sizes anyway
4) Being fat put me at risk of having venous insufficiency, ie poor blood flow in my legs. That inturn expose me to varicose veins.
5) I have never worn a bikini and I wanna wear one.

with these 5 vain reasons.. I might have stronger will power!

Maintaing the 2kg weight loss

I have been consistently 85 kg, since a few weeks ago. Hope that it STAYS! I have had a lot of "bouncing" back problems since my weight loss efforts started in February. From the day I started my weigh loss efforts, to now, it is more than 3 months. I have lost taa daaa....

2 kg.

Nono, that does not sound like a lot at all. In fact, weight loss was more obvious at first, when I made myself sticking to a more stringent diet, of no more than 1500 kcal per day. Sure, I did lose weight fast, but it also bounced back quickly.

Now, I am conscious about how much I eat everyday, but still ate what I wanted. Whenever, possible, I eat those low GI food. Konyaku noodles come to my rescue as carb substitute whenever I ate too much. I will find about more about Konyaku noodles and write it here.

Failure or success?

Months after kicking off my diet, my current weight is 85 kg.

Frankly, I saw no difference in the way I look, or feel for that matter. 1 month through my diet, I actually had a scanty period without taking anything to induce it. Unfortunately, I had found counting the calories really depressing, and took a break from it when I got busy with work. Even when I still to high GI food, the dip in sugar late morning and late afternoon was just too difficult to manage.

Now, I allow myself the occasional biscuit at work. I also have a pack of Weetabix mini to keep me going. I have forced myself to walk a lot. At least 2 miles a day, 5 x per week. Light lunch, or light dinner. I ate what I wanted, but tried to keep it to mostly vege and soups. Rising food prices is a good reason to eat less.

I am glad I wrote about it. At least, I know I have lost 2kg. Small step, but it is still a step!!

Now, how does Victoria Beckham stay stick thin? Come on Mrs Beckham, tell us!! Does she eat? Does she drink anything other than expensive bottled water?

Bounced back

At first.. it went down to 86kg... lost 1 kg.

Then it stayed on 86 kg for a few days...

and a few days later, it bounced back to 87 kg!!! All despite maintaining about 1600kcal per day. See I am a superefficient calorie conservator.. what else could I call myself. All these despite the walking...

It all happened when i stopped going to gym, and relied on walking.

Sigh.. and feeling discouraged, i had some chocolates these two days, and some biscuits too. Naughty!


Sigh.. sigh..sigh.. My only consolation is my pants seemed to be not so tight. That is > 3 weeks of reallky hard work!


Tomorrow, I got to be good again. I must lose weight!

i am bad........

I had fish and chips!

Bad!
Bad!
Bad!

But then again, i have been craving for it since Christmas... sigh.

Oh no! Weight bounced back

Oh No!

I weighed myself again and noticed that it is back to 87 kg! Ouch! Must be the over indulgence over teh weekend where i ate 2000+ calories each day. See, my body is such a good preserving machine. Sigh. Must have recognised that calories have been coming in low and rebelled!

I started off very good today. Breakfast was a tiny 250 calorie. Small bowl of oatmeal +coffee. Lunch- I behaved again. Making sure I did not finish all on the plate. However, I was STARVING when I left- stole 1/2 butter cookie at the pantry (the only thing available!). There goes 50+ calorie! When I reached home, I grabbed that pack of brazil nuts.

That was my undoing.

BRAZIL NUTs! Very "healthy" food I know. However, 1 nut = 33 calories.
With great pain, I managed to stop after 12 nuts. great feat huh? that is 396 calories. Equivalent to a full hour of high energy exercise-which I cannot do. That is almost 2 hours of moderate walking for me.

So brazil nuts + 1/2 piece of butter cookie = about 450 calories. That is about 1/3 of my daily allowance. About one meal!

So, I could not hit my 1500 calories again today. I will end up with another 2000kcal day. That will keep my fat self.. FAT.

So, I resolved to carry 2 apples with me tomorrow. I apple is about 55 calories. Two apples will be 110 calories. I will also check out the supermarket for a 100 kcal snack. I got to stop this late afternoon hunger pangs from spoiling my diet.

My PCOS weight loss plan: Week 1- Lost 1 kg.

I found that I have lost 1 kg since last Saturday! I weight 86 kg today!

My progress report:
23rd Feb(Saturday): 87 kg
29th Feb(Friday): 86 kg

And I think these are the factors which helped me to lose weight:

Food:
breakfast: cereal + milk/yogurt + coffee
Lunch: cereal+ milk/yogurt + coffee OR soupy noodles/pasta with vege + egg
Dinner: usual amount. Try to stay away from processed food.

Exercise:
Average 1 hour of moderate activity per day
Include burst of activities whenever possible. Eg, 10 side lifts on each legs during toilet breaks.

Sleep:
I am really tired. I sleep a lot more than usual. Perhaps and hour or two more. I know I am more tired because of my dieting and exercise.

Plan: WRITE down!

1. What I ATE, and estimated calories:I allocate

my self 10500 calories per week (1500kcal/day). It is amazing how scary this can be. One day, I overate my favourite cookies, and I could quickly see how much calories are left on average per day!

I don't worry about things where I am not sure of the calories eg vege, fruits etc. I just roughly estimate those based on info from internet. Instead, I focused on those things with come info on the label. These are the high calorie stuff.

2. What I DO-activities on a weekly chart.

It is immediately obvious when I did not do "anything" on a day, and have to catch up the following day.

3. BLOG- by blogging my progress.

Eg the weight loss of 1kg today, I feel like I have to report somewhere. I don't think anyone reads my blog, but if there is someone out there, I hope they leave comments and encouragements! Losing weight after I had PCOS had been extremely difficult. I hope that I succeed this time, and my experience will be useful to others.

I have been setting WEEKLY targets, and not daily ones. I find that I am less easily discouraged with weekly ones. There is always time to catch up (if I do less than targeted amount of exercise), or repent (if I ATE too much), before the next assessment date. Since we day starts and ends on a Sunday, my Saturday could be a repent and catch up day, and I could rest on Sunday after a potentially tiring Saturday.

On the other hand, if I do well, my Satturday will be a reward day. :)

GI Diet to tackle PCOS: The plan

I have done further reading up over the past few days about losing weight. Losing weight is very very difficult (gaining weight is easy!) but I have to start somewhere. I am getting extremely worried that as my weight problem escalates, my symptoms increased too!

Here is my plan:
Adhere to GI diet principles + Moderate exercises

Sounds, easy. I have tried it many times, but had failed.

Perhaps I did not "log" my efforts?

This time I will set a 3 month target.
Starting weight: 87kg
Weight after 3 months: 84 kg.

This may be very very modest weight loss, but any weight stabilisation is very helpful. I have reached a scary stage that even while reducing the amount I eat, my weight increases steadily. If circumstances where I have to reduce physical activities or increase my intake (like the special offers on cookies this week!), my weight could increase 2-3 kg per week. No kidding.

So, here is a rough breakdown of my plan:

There are a few ways to do a calculation

One simple way which I have been taught:

1. Targeted calorie intake (if depending mainly on dieting)= targeted weight x30. In my case this will be 1500kcal per day.
   
2. Based on REE formula=9.99 wt (kg) +6.25 ht (cm =4.92 age+166 x (sex)(1=male, 0=female)-161. BAsed on this formula, my REE is 1366kcal. My TEE will be 1.5XREE=2049kcal. These are the amount of calorie intake I need to sustain my fat self.

The other method is just use my body weightx30=2610.I have been told that use body weight x30 (x 35 if moderately active) is an over estimation of calorie needs, and increase in kcal is not directly proportional to increase of weight, and perhaps the ideal weight would be more useful, and could be used to estimate the numebr of calories to target it. Bsed on these calculations, if i take in >2000kcal but remain pretty sedentry, i get to keep my fat self. So, I have to create a deficit!! The usual recommeded deficit is about 500kcal a day, resulting in 3500kcal per week. That should result in about 500g of weight loss per week. Since I am notorious in losing weight, I will be happy to lose 1 kg per month, instead of 2 kg per month.

To create these deficits, I have rely on dieting, ie stick to taking in 1500 kcal per day. I will do some physical activities. I will target moderate exercises per week for 1 hour (each burns about 300 kcal).

I do not wish to factor in that I may lose more with exercises, as these have not been shown to be significantly influencing weight loss. instead, it is more useful in preserving muscles, and helping maintaining weight loss in the long run.

1500kcal per day. I will start counting!

And I will include the main principles of GI diet. So far, i really believe that the GI diet is the best way to go. For women with PCOS, insulin intolerance is a main problem, and tackling soaring sugar levels and dips is probably the key. I have experienced to many times the dip in energy, followed crazy cravings.

Ref:
Endocrinology and Metabolism By Philip Felig, Lawrence A Frohman

What is the best way to lose weight for a woman with PCOS?

Losing weight is tough work if you have PCOS.

What is the best weight to lose some pounds.

Of all the diets, only the GI diet seems sensible to me. However, it is not that easy to follow if you eat out often.

I will set reviewing diets for PCOS as my 2008 goal, and aim to read and review some diet books.

Who are the celebrities with PCOS?

I was taking a quick glance at the site stats and was suprised that people actually reached this blog through "Googling"! Guess what is the most frequent search phrase? "Celebrities with PCOS", and hit this page " The PCOS experience-celebrity vs non celebrity?", where I listed some of the celebrities rumoured to have PCOS (e.g: Posh Spice, Jules Oliver and the one-time Hear'Say star Kym Marsh) 

What were you thinking when you Googled for "celebrities with PCOS"? What were you trying to find out?

• Do celebrities actually have PCOS? Can the beautiful (mostly) and skinny (mostly) people out there have PCOS too?
• Who are the ones with PCOS? Are they "fat" like us? Are they skinny?
• Are they fertile? Do they have kids?

I suppose we want to know that the condition exist. Celebrities get it too? I suppose we want to be reassured that it is somehow possible to lose weight, no matter "how difficult", since Victoria Beckham is so slim? I suppose we want to find out about the diet? And since the gossip columns are so effective at divulging personal secrets, we might also find out whether they had IVF? Whether they too, get miscarriages?


And how does knowing Posh Spice have PCOS help us?


I am still trying to figure out . Still trying. It is a mixed feeling. I could not helped thinking "poor woman" when the media focused on her zits. Ahh, Posh gets bad acne, even when she has access to the best skin care? How about her crazy dieting? I do wonder sometimes, id having PCOS contributed to her obsession about weight? Lose weight, and you will have less symptoms and be fertile again? Lose weight? Lose weight? Perhaps like us, she is still thinking "let me lose 5% of my body weight, and let those zits disappear". Or " gosh, I am already symptomatic. If I gain a bit of weight, will it be worse?"


I know I know. We wish someone to speak up and yell, hey, I have PCOS! But how do you be brave and stop being selfish and yell "Hey I have PCOS"? I have read in some boards where people wish these celebs would speak up. If even ordinary folks like us feel being put under the "spot light" by others, imagine what it is like for a celebrity? It will take a brave woman to admit it. Like fibromyalgia (syndrome), restless leg syndrome , the medics are still unsure about the existence of the "disease", and that is why they call it a "syndrome". Until we get that "syndrome" removed, it will just be another syndrome? A pseudo condition. perhaps a condition created for pharma companies to sell some drugs to some fat, hairy and lazy women.


29April2009

Answers to your questions: (??)
Yes, celebrities also have PCOS
They do have kids: Victoria Beckham
They can be slim, but may adhere to some crazy diets:  VB's rumoured diets


Other posts about celebrities & PCOS

• Is that how Victoria Beckham stays thin?
• The PCOS experience-celebrity vs non celebrity

What does it mean to have PCOS?

If you have PCOS, you might have some or all of the following signs and symptoms

* Acne which persisted into adulthood
*Irregular or absent menses
* Infertility-difficulty conceiving, or repeated miscarriages
* Obesity, especially weight around the abdomen (apple shape)/rapid weight gain or inability to lose weight
* Excessive body or facial hair (hirsutism)-upper lips, near the "side burns", knuckles, tummy, etc
* Sugar cravings, dips of energy level/dizziness a few hours after a meal with carbohydrate stuff (Insulin resistance and possibly diabetes)
* Thinning of hair, the male pattern sort
* Velvety, hyperpigmented skin folds (acanthosis nigricans) usually behind the neck or at armpits/groin areas
* Appearance of tiny skin tags around neck and arm pits
*Diabetes

To me, I can summarise the impact of these symptoms very simply. They affect
1) How I look- if you look at the list, there is nothing which makes you feel more attractive. Anything which is related to appearance contributed to me looking more manly and uglier. Thin hair, hairy face makes you feel more like HIM. Being apple shaped means any weight put on makes one look terrible in clothes. Clothes simply don't fit well if you look permanently pregnant.
2) My chance of having a baby-unassisted: While my body refuses to slim down, my chance of having a baby is getting slimmer day by day. And if I do get pregnant, I am at a higher chance of miscarriage.
3) Increased chance of metabolic and cardiovascular problems- PCOS is essentially an endocrinologic problem related to insulin resistance. This increases my risk of diabetes and cardiovascular problems.
4) People may judge me:Yes, people may judge me based on how I look (fat= poor discipline?, acne= poor hygiene??). Employers may also judge me: fat = lazy, ill disciplined. PCOS? Uhh,, will she need time off when she wants to try for a baby?

Any woman with severe enough PCOS could tell you that PCOS would have impacted her in one way or another, and the impact was perhaps severe enough to cause loss of confidence or even relationship breakdown. While I listened to a talk on radio about over prescribing, I can't help but find that unfortunately, for women with PCOS, there is nothing out there which helps to control the problems as a whole. [28/12/11: Things have improved quite a lot in the 4 years since I last posted this, but it is still not easy to get prescriptions!]. Women may have to take multiple products which all only address the symptoms on the surface. When a fat ugly woman walk into a clinic and needs help, chances are she will be told to eat less and exercise more, since weight loss is supposed to help control the condition. [I speak from first hand experience, trying to get metformin or Xenical to help me shed some pounds]

It is time that PCOS is treated as a real condition, not just a cluster of symptoms affecting fat ugly and lazy women.