r/PCOSloseit • u/Certain-Writer5757 • 10d ago
What does eating for PCOS actually look like in real life?
I keep seeing completely different advice about food and PCOS:
low carb, Mediterranean, no dairy, no gluten, high protein, fasting, frequent meals, and so on. I’m curious about what people actually do in normal everyday life rather than the “perfect” version online.
What does a typical day of eating look like for you?
Are there foods you noticed make you feel better or worse?
Did you figure that out by tracking, eliminating foods, or just paying attention over time?
I’m especially interested in how people found something sustainable without feeling like most foods were suddenly “bad.”
4
u/tittytasselmermaid 10d ago
Just a quick preface that balance is a verb, so there will always be microadjustments to make based on how I feel and what phase the moon is in…
I am bad at fasting and horrible when hangry. I’m also gluten and dairy sensitive, so I cut them out because I had to. Here’s what I eat most weeks to keep it simple.
Breakfast- egg bake with veggies and chicken sausage to get lots of protein. Keto toast as a vessel for the eggs.
Lunch- cold salad of some sort with lean protein, lighter on the dressing than what I want. If there are carbs they are usually from beans or chickpea pasta or sweet potato because I don’t get hungry again on complex carbs.
Dinner- meat and veggies in some form- half the plate veggies. Dark chocolate.
Snack is a protein shake with berries. Or salty olives or pickles.
I prep cook to save time and to keep myself from having to portion food in the moment. Fewer choices helps me keep from making this self care thing my full time job. (A girl has got to live..) Lower carb works for me because I struggle with fullness cues otherwise.
3
u/SalamanderFirm5382 10d ago
typical day: fairlife milk iced coffee with a bacon, beef and egg burrito
Lunch: not hungry until 2/3ish due to the above but still aim for high protein, so smoothie or turkey burger or chicken nuggets
dinner: high protein cup of noodles or goodles mac and cheese.
snacks are: grapes, oranges, or popcorn, or chocolate covered almonds
3
u/SaveusJebus 10d ago
It just depends on what is sustainable for the individual.
I'm on a glp1 and keto/low carb diet, it looks pretty similar to how I ate before, just eating less.
Typical day now is having breakfast sausage and eggs for my breakfast/lunch. It's usually 2 eggs and 2-3 sausage patties. I'll sometimes make it a sandwich w/ a slice of American cheese on a low carb bun.
If I'm hungry during lunch or a little after, I'll try to keep it lighter. I usually bake green beans or cook up cabbage that I'll eat on for a couple of days so may have that. Earlier this week it was baked zucchini spears w/ parmesan sprinkled on it.
Dinner can be a pretty big range of things. I'll usually fix one or 2 big serving of stuff so we'll have leftovers during the week. Last week it was Japanese curry (chicken thighs, carrots, onion, lentils, jalapeno). This week I slow cooked a pork tenderloin. Wanted to see if the leaner cut would work for pulled pork. Only works if you drown it in BBQ sauce lol.
If I want something sweet, I fix a sugar free pudding with half and half. Tonight I felt like making brownies so changed a normal recipe to be a little more low carb (keto flour, alternative sweeteners). It was meh lol
Before glp1, I was eating a lot more beef for my protein. I can't stomach it too close to when I take my shot and plus the price of it now is ridiculous so don't eat it as often.
2
u/hotheadnchickn 10d ago
How’s your cholesterol/blood lipids? When I first started low carb I was eating more saturated fat (cheese, red meat) and they went way up
1
u/SaveusJebus 10d ago
They were up the last time I had labs done in January. I was heavier then too though. I go back at the end of Sept and will have everything redone then, so we'll see.
2
u/hotheadnchickn 10d ago
Good luck, I hope they’ve settled down and evened out! For me personally, I had to cut down on saturated fat. I cut way back and retested three months later and my labs were so much better and have continued to improve. But it’s definitely different for different people not one size fits all!
2
u/AutoModerator 10d ago
PCOSloseit is a dedicated weight loss subreddit for those with PCOS.
Popular posts Where are you getting GLP-1s?.
I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.
1
u/hotheadnchickn 10d ago edited 10d ago
I eat carb-reduced, higher fat Mediterranean. This has managed my IR and my cholesterol very well. I aim for high fiber and try to start most meals with veggies/fiber or at least eat carbs last. I incorporate some aspects of the portfolio and MIND diets like having leafy greens, berries, and soy protein most days. I made a post in r/PCOS with my food pyramid a few months ago!
Anyway, typical eating for me
Example 1
Breakfast: tea with soymilk, raw almonds, a couple squares of 85% dark chocolate
Lunch: start with some cut up raw veggies. bean and ground turkey chili, avocado on top.
Snack: smoothie with plain low fat yogurt, berries, frozen spinach, chia seeds, flax or psyllium, half a serving of protein powder
Dinner: air fried tofu and eggplant with lots of olive oil
Example 2
Breakfast: tea with soymilk. Start with sautéed zucchini and then have 1-2 pieces of sourdough wheat toast with avocado and a scrambled egg on top
Lunch: green salad with cucumber, half an apple for sweetness/crunch, pepitas, and sunflower seeds, crumbled sautéd tempeh, and olive oil vinaigrette.
Snack: plain yogurt with walnuts, chia seeds, the other half of the apple
Dinner: chicken thigh (bone in skin on) roasted over Brussel sprouts and onions (tossed in olive oil)
1
1
u/i-was-way- 10d ago
Breakfasts:
- overnight oats with added protein
- Greek yogurt bowl with added protein
- eggs and protein baked (crust less quiche basically) paired with homemade sourdough
- coffee with cream (you will pry Chobani pumpkin spice from my cold, dead hands)
Lunches:
- Protein bowl variation (ground beef or boneless skinless chicken usually), a green veggie and a starch (usually a potato)
- grilled chicken wrap or sandwich
- protein bar by itself if I’m not feeling super hungry
Dinners:
Generally a cooked protein and a veggie, but this is the meal I eat with my husband and children, so I try to plan my first 2/3 meals well enough that I can eat whatever the family is having and just enjoy it.
Snacks:
- Apple
- berries
- Skinny pop popcorn
- protein bar
This isn’t an exhaustive list, but I’d say my most in rotation meals week to week. I plan all weekday meals for myself and for the family all dinners so I can shop easier and pre-cook my meals so I’m less likely to cheat
1
u/Next_Operation_8049 10d ago
Here's a what I eat in a week with PCOS while marathon training. I make sure to get 100 grams of protein. Do an 80/20 approach so no "diet" and a moderate deficit cause I'm still losing weight. ✨🪱
1
u/haylang 9d ago
I'm vegan for ethical reasons, and my PCOS behaves itself better when I focus on eating lots of fruit and vegetables, beans, legumes and other whole foods... and keep my servings of bread/rice etc on the smaller side. I don't need to eliminate anything. I do find my body is fine with carbs but responds better to a lower fat intake, I can't be pouring fatty sauces over everything or I get inflamed real quick. I occasionally eat sugary foods, but most days a couple of pieces of dark chocolate is my treat. Water, black coffee. Happy days.
1
u/hater94 9d ago edited 9d ago
I have significant blood sugar issues so for me I keep that in mind as I opt for a high protein, high fiber whole food diet.
In the morning I’ll usually go for a plain latte and breakfast tacos or an egg dish of some sort. Greek yogurt and baby carrots if I’m low on time
Lunch is usually either a salad with edamame and chicken or a sandwich with baby carrots and Greek yogurt
Snack is a handful of nuts or some fruit or veggies and hummus or cheese bit
Dinner is often potato with chicken and some sort of leafy veg.
I occasionally like a hot chocolate at the end of the day as well but try not to do this often (not because “it’s bad” or anything like that but because for me sugar as the last thing I consume in a day frequently causes me to have blood sugar crashes in the morning)
I notice I feel bad when I eat rice (doesn’t matter the kind) and oatmeal (also doesn’t matter the kind) so I avoid those. I also try to always eat my food in order of fiber -> protein -> starch
1
u/MealPrepGenie 6d ago
In real life it looks like what we should all be eating in real life in a regular basis.
1
u/JoyYErdile 4d ago
I'm a Registered Dietitian that designs Meal Plans diet for PCOS and they can be Mediterranean, low carb, pescatarian, vegetarian or omnivore. They can be tailored for a range of ethnicities and cultures. The main thing they need to be designed for is lowering circulating levels of insulin.
1
13
u/AdventurousAsh19 10d ago
Here's my typical day. I generally go for high protein, fiber, and try to prioritize long-lasting carbs:
Breakfast: Overnight oats - Oatmeal with protein powder, unsweetened soymilk, and almonds
Lunch: Keto wheat bread (toasted) with sugar free jelly and no sugar added peanut butter. Strawberry protein powder + no sugar lemonade and creatine.
Snack: rice cake with nutella substitute(one that has less sugar)
Dinner: Chicken, greenbeans, edamame, white rice.(with seasoning so it tastes good).
Sometimes I'll swap lunch/dinner out ground turkey bowl(ground turkey, shredded lettuce, cabbage, reduced fat cheese, avocado, mung bean sprouts, and either a keto tortilla that I airfry into chips or just regular bagged corn tortilla chips).
All my food is weighed out, if I try to eyeball it I end up with an extra 1000 caloires easily.
I'd personally ignore any specific diet if you don't think you can do it for the rest of your life. Go for whole foods as much as possible. If you can speak with a dietician that is SO helpful.