Approximately five million women and teen girls in the United States have a hormonal disorder known as polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS). Despite its name, you can have PCOS without a single cyst on your ovaries. In fact, symptoms and signs vary from woman to woman. You may or may not have:
One of the most common effects of PCOS, however, is the way that this hormonal condition affects your weight. Most women with PCOS are overweight or struggle to maintain their weight.
As part of our women’s health services, our medical experts — Kelly Burrows, APRN FNP-C, and Lee Ann Garza, FNP — encourage you to learn as much as possible about your PCOS — especially during September’s PCOS Awareness Month. At Enrich Family Practice, we offer weight loss and stabilization services at our office in Odessa, Texas, to help you manage PCOS.
Why is weight control so important when you have PCOS? Here’s how your hormones and weight affect each other and how you can make that work to your advantage.
As mentioned, PCOS is a hormonal disorder. When you have PCOS, you have higher-than-normal levels of the androgenic hormone testosterone. However, PCOS also affects your other hormones, including insulin.
Your body uses insulin to transport dietary sugars from the bloodstream into your cells, where they’re converted to energy. But if you have PCOS, your body becomes insulin-resistant — it doesn’t respond to the hormone anymore. Up to 75% of women with PCOS are insulin resistant.
To try to move the excess glucose (i.e., sugar) out of your bloodstream, your body produces more and more insulin. In the meantime, the glucose builds up in your blood vessels, putting you at risk for diabetes.
Excess insulin levels also trigger your body to produce more androgens, creating a vicious cycle. Even more T in your body causes you to gain weight in a pattern that’s more typical of males, leading to large areas of fat around the abdomen. Abdominal fat raises your risk for heart disease.
Just as PCOS increases your risk for weight gain and its complications, gaining that weight can make your PCOS worse. Weight gain is associated with systemic inflammation — a condition in which your body is in a chronic immune response. Chronic inflammation can lead to:
In addition, excess fat causes your body to produce more insulin. Insulin spikes then lead to – you guessed it – more weight gain.
If the ongoing cycle of weight gain and PCOS makes your head spin, we can help break the circle and restore your health. Losing just 10% of your body weight can bring your hormones back in balance, alleviating symptoms such as irregular periods.
Of course, it’s not easy to lose weight, particularly on your own. Most diets don’t work because they’re not sustainable and rely on intangibles such as “willpower” to help you shed pounds (at least in the short term).
Instead, we recommend permanently shifting the way you eat and the way you live to rebalance your hormones and stabilize your weight. Our medically supervised weight loss programs and coaching help you:
We may also use medications or hormonal birth control to regulate your cycle, alleviate symptoms, or aid in weight loss. If you have stubborn pockets of fat, we may recommend SculpSure® body sculpting with heat.
If you have PCOS, weight management is more important — and more challenging — than ever. Get the help you need with your PCOS: Call our team at 432-200-9052 or use our online appointment form today.
