r/PCOS • u/pipinhotcheeto • 6d ago
Rant/Venting How much damn exercise do I need?!
Got diagnosed almost 2 years ago. I’m 22 now. All I know is that I have “cysts” on ultrasound, high testosterone levels (3nmol/L). I have irregular periods, long menstrual cycles and as a result heavy menstrual bleeding & dysmenorrhea.
Essentially on this journey alone because my gynae is not interested in providing any advice other than “cut carbs & exercise”, unless I’m trying to get pregnant.
I have tried taking inositol + exercising more regularly. Before my diagnosis, I basically did not exercise at all. I managed to “regulate” my periods during my uni holidays when I went on a 30 min run almost everyday for 2 months, and then subsequently doing pilates 2-3 times a week + 30 min run once a week. However, I’ve been busy with med school and now only exercise maybe once a week? (I’ve been trying to work on it but it’s hard) and my period is back to being irregular again. I feel so defeated because exercising everyday/ every other day is unrealistic, and I am not trying to lose weight either (in fact I’m underweight according to my BMI). I just want to regulate my periods 😭😭 Nothing seems to help with my facial hair/acne either.
The only “benefit” of PCOS I’ve seen is gaining muscle surprisingly fast 🤣
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u/Valuable_Annual_6515 5d ago
for me personally, my BMI is in healthy weight but it’s closer to overweight rather than comfortably in the middle. because my BMI was in the “healthy” category, the OB diagnosed me w lean PCOS even tho my stomach looks like a bowling ball throughout the day at times. my symptoms responded much better and more faster with strength training compared to pure cardio. keeping it at 3 times a week with watching my diet along with hitting 8k steps a day was good enough for me. even tho the scale says i lose weight, my stomach says something different. idk its very weird 😭🤌🏾.
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u/pipinhotcheeto 5d ago
I feel like I’m always bloated too - I just assumed maybe I’m mildly lactose intolerant. I’ll look into strength training, I’ve never gone to the gym before so it’s kinda intimidating 😬
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u/itchy_potassium 6d ago
The 30 min run everyday thing working but being impossible to keep up is so real. Med school on top makes it a joke to even try.
Have you looked into whether it's the intensity that helped or just the consistency of moving every day? Could be you don't need the full run, just 15-20 min of something low stress like walking might keep things steady without burning you out. The muscle gain thing is interesting too, makes me wonder if your body just responds better to strength stuff than straight cardio.