"Eat less, exercise more" doesn't work for PCOS

Often clients come to me after having tried every single diet trying to manage their PCOS. Keto, intermittent fasting, counting calories, plant-based, gluten-free, dairy-free...I could go on. They've worked so hard and to "do all the things," but nothing works and they're left frustrated, confused, and with a damaged relationship to food. This cycle of losing and gaining the same 10 pounds, holding out hope that "this will be the thing!" and feeling disappointed when it isn't, causes so much suffering.

Having PCOS can be overwhelming and miserable. It's understandable that we'd be desperate to feel better and willing to try anything that might work. The internet is full of diets that are a shimmery mirage of empty promises of losing weight and feeling better.

But the conventional "eat less, exercise more" advice for weight loss just flat out doesn't work for PCOS physiology. Weight gain is a symptom, not the cause, of PCOS, and and when the underlying hormonal and metabolic imbalances of PCOS are addressed, weight tends to fall at the right weight for your body and genetics.

Many doctors recommend losing weight as the first line treatment approach for PCOS, but this is putting the cart before the horse. They don't give any additional advice for HOW to do so, beyond "eating less and exercising more," and this causes a lot of suffering when diets don't work and people with PCOS feel like they've failed and are more lost and confused than when they started.

This is when a gentle nutrition approach can be a huge breath of fresh air. Gentle nutrition is a principle centered on listening to your body and nourishing it with foods that feel good and support our PCOS, without diets. Gentle nutrition lives where satisfaction, joy, and practicality intersect with the scientific knowledge of the way food impacts our PCOS. It's nutrition as self-care, not self-control.

In my practice I work with the principle of gentle nutrition. We look at your labs, your unique physiology and the way PCOS presents for you, and your life, and we hone in on targeted simple changes that will give you the most bang for your buck. Without dieting and restriction. And even though I'm a Dietitian with a Master's in Nutrition, I'm the first to admit that food and supplements will only take you so far, so we also address movement, stress, sleep, and how to navigate challenges with body image that often come with PCOS. If you've had it up to here sorting through fragmented information about how to manage PCOS on social media and google and want a clear treatment plan that will work for YOUR body, my two-month individual PCOS program might be a good fit for you.