Danielle's Journey To Her First Bikini/Figure Competition---Battling With PCOS

[addenton19817]

I'm starting my competition prep really far out (28 weeks) because I was diagnosed with PCOS this year and I have yet to discover a diet that allows me to consistently lose weight with this disorder. For anyone who suffers from PCOS or knows anything about it, you know how hard it is to lose weight with it. Basically in a nut shell the disorder has to do with your endocrine system and reproductive system being shot to hell and a common side effect being insulin resistance which makes dropping fat nearly impossible. I wasn't offered much help from my doctor other than offering to put me on the same medicine diabetics take. Considering the side effects of those meds I said no thanks, I wanna fight this thing naturally. She then told me I needed to try a low carb diet because somehow the low carb diet allows these systems to function more efficiently thus allowing me to possibly lose weight. Ofcourse, I took this advice too the extreme and tried both the Atkins Diet and Keto Diet. Lost weight quickly but ketosis does not work well with me considering I had heart palpitations the first week, hypoglycemia and nearly fainted from electrolyte imbalance. I know some people have had great results on these diets, but they werent the right diets for me. I still plan to stay low carb but I'm starting my prep at 100 grams of carbs a day instead of the dreaded 20 grams required by Atkins and Keto. I'll keep my calories and carbs up as high as I can for as long as I can especially since I'm starting my prep so far out. I plan to toy with different foods and different macros to find what works best for me. I refuse to fail and my butt WILL be in that tiny bikini prancing around on that stage by June of next year. If anyone else here suffers from PCOS or knows somethings about it that may benefit me during this prep your insight will be appreciated. Even though it pains me to post these I'm posting my Before Pics (28 weeks out).

[tumtum]

subbed


lookin good

[NaturalPursuit]

absolutely love hearing stories like this!

There are always life obstacles and by you making the decision to overcome them, you will succeed! Subbed!

[addenton19817]

4 AM workouts haven't been nearly as bad as I thought they would. I actually love getting to the gym before the crowd. I'm doing fasted resistance training and yes I KNOW the stigma against this but I wanna atleast try it and see how my body responds. I'm actually lifting heavier and have alot more energy than I did when I used to eat an hour or so before the gym. Now my dietary changes have been pretty drastic this week. I cut out all caffeine consumption (had to for heart-related reasons), cut out all artificial sweetners and switched my high fructose fruits like apples and grapes to strawberries and blueberries. This has been hard to say the least. The apples were helping to keep me sane due to my intense "sweet-tooth". I tried something new yesterday that turned out to be something I probably should have been doing months ago. I took in a Tbsp of coconut oil at breakfast in my eggs (eww gross) and noticed I felt full for a lot longer, didnt have any cravings yesterday AND dropped a pound this morning. My calories have been at 1500-1400 and carbs have been at 100g daily. I'm loving that I can keep my carbs up and still drop weight with the incorporation of more fat. I knew this was the case but hadn't actually tried it before. I found a good way to get the coconut oil in without having to gag it down. I made decaf coffee this morning and let a tbsp melt in it. It actually tastes really good. One step closer to figuring this body of mine out. Hoping I can continue progessing at this pace.

[jpfaherty]

I think the stigma against fasted cardio/lifting is simply that it isn't more beneficial. That doesn't mean it's a bad thing if it works for you, just that it's not going to miraculously shed the fat quicker, which you seem to know anyway. I personally couldn't do it because I lack energy without food but if you can then more power to ya! Do what works for you!

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[tumtum]

keep it up girl. I bet a change in scenery is really going to help your motivation in the gym

[addenton19817]

Yesterday was awesome for several reasons. Not only did I drop weight this week and keep it off even though my carb intake was significantly higher than usual.....I also got ENGAGED! Yay! Now I have this competition AND a wedding motivating me to get back in shape.
Carbs are at 100g daily and calories 1,400. I had a 1.2 lb weight loss this week.

[tumtum]

Love you girl

way to kill it.. keep it up.. one week at a time.. that's how shows are won

[dannienvogel]

I see this has been a couple years since, but I'm hoping you can still respond. I have just been diagnosed with PCOS and have had in the past tried to meal prep and train for my first bikini competition. Now that I know I have PCOS my struggles in the past make sense. I would like to know how you are doing now and how did your first competition go? Thanks
Dani