# Big Jelly Belly and PCOS



## Shamrock63 (Jan 24, 2005)

I was diagnosed with PCO officially last year.  Since then I have put on even more weight on my tummy.  It now looks like  am about 13 months pregnant  

Just wondering if anyone knows if jelly belly is associated with PCOS and if it is, will watching what I eat help to lose the pounds, or will I be wasting my time as its a hormonal condition?  My stomach starts under my boobs and makes me look like a 14 pints a night man!! 

I can't get clothes to fit me any more as I buy size 18 to fit over my belly and I'm only 152cms tall which means they hang off me.  Help!

Sham63


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## MrsR (Mar 1, 2005)

Hi Sham   You are not on your own on that matter  I am the same height as you and my tummy is the main problem. 90% of the clothes I don't wear, I used to be size 6 and am between 12-14. 
One thing you might find interesting is that us PCOS girls shouldn't eat any potatoes, pasta, sugar , bread nly rye bread or soda bread is good for us. I used to pig on the above and felt bloated most of the time. Now I don't eat them, I am on GI diet and feel so much better. Just eat plenty of fruits, vegetables. Also I found that preparing slice of lemon each night with hot water, cover it then drink it as soon as you get up next morning, it's a real detox treat for our bodies  

HTH and please don't get frustrated over it as it's not worth it   I am sure you will get some more replies soon


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## Juli (Sep 4, 2004)

I think our hormones determine us to be more pear shaped and put more weight on around the bum and tum area. I have always had a little pornchy bit on my tum, which i have never lost no matter how many sit ups i do! I have found that eating those nasty carbs does bloat me and make the tum bigger, but i recently went for a massage and was told to start body brushing and drinking the lemon squeezed in to water. I have found this has worked quite well for, i've joined a gym to ask for help and get a bit of support to help me loose a bit of weight (i also find it's a nice haven where no one talks about tx issues or babies or children or sport.. which are most of the issues discussed by people in my life!!)
The fitness trainers down there are really good (and some very fit .. phwoooarrrrr..(sorry dh)), but i have read that you can get similar fitness advice from online clubs which are free to join, you typoe in your details and tell them what you're aiming to do.. ie loose weight from your belly and they design a programme for you to use (think its dailydiettracker). This may be worth a try.. Have you ever tried exercise on that part of your body? how did you get on? 

Julie
(p.s. have also been told that some people with pcos benefit from colon cleansing! one lady lost 3 lbs in one session, because her hormones had made her bowels so sluggish.. not sure if this is an ideal way to try and loose weight though!!)


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## Guest (Apr 1, 2005)

Hi Sham

Snap!  My belly could be seen between my boobs.  I was wearing a size 26/28 as nothing else would fit around my tummy.  Since been put on the metformin though I have lost weight and now wear a size 22 (which is starting to fall off me  .  I know I should stick to a GI diet but I do find it hard as I love my carbs  .  My belly does still start from just under my boobs but is no were near as prominant.  

Love Charlotte


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## No1 rainbow princess (Aug 12, 2004)

Im sure there is a definate connection with big bellies and pcos. i think i read that woman with pcos tend to store weight more on there bellies.   

I went to see a nutritionist recently as my weight is soaring, ive gone from a size 6 to (a very tight fitting) 14, in a year and a half. 

I find it so depressing.  

Definatly doing a low gi diet is good, also there is a diet book especially for woman with pcos, its by collette Harris.
Ive recently swapped my pastas for alternative type pastas (buckwheat is good!) and trying to cut out wheat. (bummer)

If i have understood it correctly, then foods that make our blood levels rise rapidly are no good for us as our bodys store it due to the pcos, so slow release foods are best. 

Ive been eating organic too as i got told this may help.

Have u seen the food doctors diet? i have recently bought the dvd and book. i think this diet would work for us, same principle. 

I will let u know how i get on with it, i will be a size 10 by the end of the week!   

Good luck


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## Mrs Nikki (Nov 13, 2004)

Yeah my weight (specifically around my belly) has piled on since diagnosis   and I could aways eat and put a bit of weight on a loose it quick sharpe - not like that since this stuff though - plus starts from under my boobs like you guys have said, not like a chubby tum from eating tons.

Summer feel like I'm following you


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## No1 rainbow princess (Aug 12, 2004)

What i cant understand is that we seem to have piled it on AFTER diagnosis    so y wasnt it like it before? its not like i got told i had pcos and then decided id have a excuse to get fat!!! i cant work it out. maybe the pills to help pcos actually make u fat? but then some people loose weight on metformin-not me.  

oh well where theres a will theres a way!  or rather when theres a expensive size 6 dress in your wardrobe then theres a way!  

We will loose our jelly bellys if we try hard enough.
Good luck


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## Mrs Nikki (Nov 13, 2004)

I am on no medication (yet!) so must assume it is the hormones   as never used to be like this!


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## No1 rainbow princess (Aug 12, 2004)

so what makes the hormones just decide to make us put on weight? does getting poly cystic ovaries happen quite quickly? i thought we might be born with it (dont know why i thought that though) 

I was skinny with no periods for ages, over 2year so i must of had pcos then. then i get diagnosed and weight comes on.  im searching for a link but l should leave that to the doctors else i will confuse my self!    

All these ifs and buts eh?!!    have we chatted on the pcos and pid topic?  
love from the skinny on the inside girl  
xXx


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## Mrs Nikki (Nov 13, 2004)

I was skinny with no periods Summer but if I am honest with you I was anorexic and bulimic (another past part of my life), and I have seen reports that rapidly putting weight on can cause PCO so maybe thats my reason, then again going from anorexic to normal has been the reason for everything if I went by all medical reports!

I do not believe PCO/PCOS is something you are born with - I could be wrong though as not a doctor - as over the years had lots of internal scans and scans of this that and every way due to past eating disorder and no cysts ever where shown until the one day I went and BAM there was a string of pearls on one side and a single cyst on the other (by then had long been out of the eating disorders)!

Hormones are very strange things and can cause a lot more that we seem to think.  

An example I can give of exactly what hormones can do for weight gain is that when I was younger I was put on hormone tablets to slow my growth rate down and they caused a lot of weight to be gained in a very short period of time!

Damn cysts eh!

PS: Just want to add have not sufferred with eating disorders for a long time now but did so for 15 years and so can talk about it quite calmly now with a full knowledge.


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## No1 rainbow princess (Aug 12, 2004)

Wow, it seems we have more in common then i first thought.  
I never realised this could of been the cause of my pcos  
I am in total shock that it could be related.

My drs first thought my lack of af was due to my low weight and i was told to put weight on and refered to see a nutritionist.
I became worried about myself and decided to put on a little weight, but as i reached the weight i was comfortable with, it started to pile on! and i wasnt eating huge amounts either. By then my dr had diagnosed pcos as i went private for further tests once i reached a normal weight. so we are similar there.
So basically,u think girls with eating disorders can cause long term fertility damage? 
Actually i read somewhere that alot of girls with pcos suffer with some kind of eating disorder. but i thought its cos they had pcos and weight gain so deprived themselfs.
Does all that make sense  sorry for rambling. x

Anyway, thanx for being honest.


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## Mrs Nikki (Nov 13, 2004)

I do think a combination of things may have caused my PCO and my eating disorders have definatly been a contributing factor, even though it was some time ago.  With my eating disorders being so bad a few times I really do not see how they could not have had a lasting effect on my body - I have got away with a lot of long term side effects that other people I know who are ex-sufferers have.

I do think that that eating disorders, the associated weight gain, PID, age, a huge amount of stress in my life over 10 years and circumstances must have something to do with my PCO. 

I have read so many times that PCO/PCOS are just one of those things that can occur in child bearing age women but why doesn't everyone have it then!


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## Kittikat (Nov 9, 2004)

Hi everyone, hope you're all okay!

Just thought I'd offer my views on the old jelly belly!!

I have a terrible problem with my tummy - I honestly look 8 months pregnant (if only I was!) but, whilst I was diagnosed with PCOS about 5 years ago, it was only when I was having tests before IVF last year that I was diagnosed with Insulin Resistence, which is a common condition with PCOS sufferers.  And carrying weight around your middle is a classic symptom of Insulin Resistence.  I'm on Metformin now and, although the weight isn't exactly dropping off me as I'd hoped it would, it is coming off slowly.

It may be worth your while asking for a glucose tolerance test (although my GP doesn't offer the test, it cost around £80 at my fertility clinic).

Just another stone and a bit to go and then I can go back for my next IVF...

Kittikat
xx


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## Mrs Nikki (Nov 13, 2004)

Summer all day on and off I've been doing net research on PCOS and eating disorders and there is a lot of stuff out there about it and a poss connection - god I wish we could have a grant to fund some of this type of research into PCOS - us ladies on here would get to the bottom of it - sod the professors and consultants.

Also to follow on from what Kittikat has said this site below has a bit on PCOS and Insulin Resistance:-
http://www.rscbayarea.com/articles/pcos.html


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## Suzie (Jan 22, 2004)

hi

just wanted to echo what was said about pcos and insulin resistance, i have both and also have weight around my middle as well as everywhere else  basically our body produces too much insulin which we then have excess of which then converts into a source of solids ie fat and we end up storing it instead of getting rid of it, sorry this is the only way i know how to describe it , please correct anything i have got wrong as have what i call pcos brain !!  most of the time

love
suzie aka olive xx


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