Stop Thinking of a New Healthy Lifestyle as a Diet

Are you struggling to stick to your diet?

You’re not alone. Research shows that when someone publicly shares their goals, they have around a 65% chance of success. However, having a specific accountability partner boosts that chance to 95%!

A great place to share your goals is with us! Follow us on the ‘gram and tag us in a story declaring your new goal or you can hop in The Cysterhood and share with women just like you.

You feel like you want your body and metabolism to just work, right? But trying to lose weight with PCOS can be incredibly frustrating with conventional tactics. Trust me, I’ve dedicated over 10 years to my own research and become a Registered Dietitian to find the method that has now worked for thousands of women, including myself.

With PCOS Weight Loss, not only is there the pressure of wanting to look and feel good but there are the long-term health implications of PCOS to think about. Of course, we all want to be able to eat without gaining weight immediately, bloating or making our PCOS-related symptoms worse.

Add to that the fact that most doctors just tell us to ‘lose weight’… it’s no wonder we are left feeling demotivated, confused, and fatigued.

5 Ways to Shift Your Mindset to Healthy Eating

Losing weight and keeping it off starts with your mindset.

There are plenty of tools and mindset tweaks we can make to ensure we’re able to lose weight and keep it off. Here are a few…

Stop thinking of a new healthy lifestyle as a ‘diet’

Diets make us feel like we’re doing one thing and one thing only… restricting calories! That’s the last thing we need to do with PCOS. We need to be nourishing our hormones with foods that promote balance, stable blood sugar, and anti-inflammatory components.

If we’re cutting calories, it’s so easy to fall ‘off the wagon’ or feel like we’ve failed. The strict parameters and heavy focus on the scale are not a long-term mindset for PCOS Weight Loss. What we’re looking for is a lifestyle change. That’s when the focus shifts towards how we feel. You ask yourself, can I do this forever? Do I feel good?

For example, let’s say you tried going gluten and dairy free. If you find that this has led to weight loss and a decrease in acne, bloating, fatigue and low mood…it’s a lot easier to stick to long-term! The focus shifts from what you’re missing out on, to what you’re doing to maintain balance and feel good.

Think long term

Diets are often used as a ‘hit it and quit it’ fix before a vacation or special event. But for those with PCOS, that type of fluctuation is not good for our body. PCOS is a lifelong condition, so we must find something that works for us long-term.

For example, we teach (inside our app, The Cysterhood) how going gluten and dairy-free could improve PCOS symptoms… but we don’t expect you to do it overnight! Instead, we set small, manageable goals and support you month-to-month to move closer towards them. Whether that’s trying a new recipe or switching to a new plant-based milk, we’re here to help you see if this lifestyle is right for you and show you how you can stick with it for a lifetime. 

Here’s more on how to eat a balanced diet for PCOS.

Don’t wait for cravings to arise

Diets are plagued by cravings because you could be quite suddenly depriving yourself of something you love, or are used to having, and that can often lead to binge eating. If this is something you struggle with, consider working with a dietitian one-on-one before diving into the gluten and dairy free lifestyle.

Cravings are more prevalent for PCOS women because of insulin resistance. It takes a bit of time, but your lifestyle changes can kick cravings to the curb for good and ensure your body and mind are supported to deal with them before they strike!

For example, you may have heard a high-carb diet isn’t recommended for PCOS. But cutting out all carbs overnight? That can lead to some monster cravings! In The Cysterhood, we recommend easing into discovering your unique carb tolerance. And if you need support in the process, which most of us do, try a supplement like Ovasitol to ease those cravings whilst supporting your reproductive health.

Measure success beyond the scale.

When you start eating healthy, it’s really easy to only be paying attention to the numbers on the scale. Weight loss may be your primary goal, but I’d challenge you to think outside that objective. Instead, consider what PCOS symptoms you want to reverse: energy levels, mood, cycle regularity, skin health, fertility—this list goes on! Things I looked at instead of the scale were inches around my body, how my clothes were fitting, and the changes in my energy throughout the day.

Jot all those things down and map improvements in all those symptoms. Can you also keep track of your weight? Sure, but seeing the big picture of your progress will remind you that healthy eating isn’t just about going down a pant size. It’s about healing!

Get accountability and support

A lifestyle change is a much bigger transformation than a simple ‘diet’ can offer. It requires support and accountability to stick to it, overcome self-limiting beliefs, and see results. When it comes to PCOS, you’ll want to be surrounded by women who understand our unique struggle.

That’s why we’ve created The Cysterhood, the largest community of PCOS women learning to reverse their symptoms and lose weight.

Not only do you get access to tons of gluten and dairy free recipes, but you’ll also be welcomed in our private group with thousands of incredible women who are going through the same changes you are (plus you get to chat with me there)!

If you’re ready to feel good for good, then let us welcome you in!