Part of the PCOS regimen is exercise. Many women with PCOS are insulin resistant, overweight, with high triglycerides with a risk for diabetes II. Basically we’re suffering from the adverse effects of hypothyroidism. So in order to keep our weight down and stay healthy otherwise, we probably need the exercise more than anyone else.
I’m a distance runner. Because of my condition, no I can’t run a marathon yet. But that’s one of my goals. I ran and swam when I was growing up; I’ve worked with coaches and kept up my habits.
The hardest obstacle for anyone is to get started, especially if you haven’t worked out in a while.
First of all, diet makes a bigger impact than exercise so we can’t eat 20 cookies thinking that it’s okay because we work out. It’s actually in the athlete’s best interest to remain thin, fat cells are harder to burn off than the calories you already ingested. This is an interesting topic because our goal is to burn the fat. Since we’re either losing or maintaining our weight (and not racing)- we want to “hit the wall”.
Basically,
“hitting the wall” “means the runner has burned up all of the carbohydrates stored in his liver and leg muscles, forcing him to slow down dramatically as the body starts to burn fat”.http://www.reuters.com/article/2010/10/21/us-marathon-idUSTRE69K5FZ20101021
This is considered inefficient for athletes during competition, especially extreme distance runners because the body requires a lot more oxygen to burn the fat than you did when you were burning carbs stored in your liver. The measurement of the oxygen needed is called a VO2Max.
Per the article,
“Aerobic capacity, also known as VO2max, is a measure of how much oxygen the body can transport to the muscles and consume during aerobic exercise.
Measuring exact VO2max requires a treadmill stress test at maximum effort, but an informal way to estimate aerobic capacity is to divide your maximum heart rate by your resting heart rate and multiply by 15, Rapoport said. To find your maximum heart rate, simply subtract your age in years from 220 beats per minute”
Because many women with PCOS have hypothyroidism, our VO2Max is going to be low. We need our thyroids and metabolism to work so our bodies can more easily oxidize the fat. So yes, your diet is more important than just “burning calories”. I’m not sure that Metformin is going to do this for us. We need our Vitamins, Selenium, Iodine, Magnesium, Boron, etc. to keep our metabolism going and it’s important not to overeat. I’m also learning that fluoride and bromine are two halogens that interrupt iodine absorption and causes hypothyroidism. Fluoride is in our tap, it’s probably a good idea to stay away from both.
Why is this important? It's rather important to stay hydrated while working out and yes, personally I do drink a lot of water. It's not a good idea to ruin your efforts by ingesting something that's going to hinder our metabolism further.
“Thyroid Function: Fluoride exposure in humans is associated with elevated TSH concentrations, increased goiter prevalence, and altered T4 and T3 concentrations.(Page 262)”http://journals.gagazine.com/nyscof/fluoride-damages-the-thyroid-study-reveals/
(The thyroid effects are associated with average fluoride intakes that) will be reached by persons with average exposures at fluoride concentrations of 1-4 mg/L in drinking water, especially the children.” (Page 260)
“Pavelka, et al, have studied the metabolism of bromide and its interference with the metabolism of iodine, by a decrease in iodide accumulation in the thyroid and skin (and in the mammary glands in lactating dams) and by a rise in iodide excretion by kidneys. They have also established the biological half-life of bromide in rats.”http://www.iodine4health.com/special/halogens/halogens.htm
“BEST (Board on Environmental Studies and Toxicology) discusses the effects of fluoride on the endocrine system, as well as the health effects of perchlorate.”
PCOS is treated like diabetes, but it’s also an immune disorder which comes from hypothyroidism.
As always, make sure a doctor is monitoring your progress with this syndrome; they may be quite resourceful on your dietary needs.
Here are some tips I have about exercise.
1. Consistency is the key. If you go once, you’re not going to see results. You have to go for a period of time. Many do 30 minutes to an hour, 4-5 times a week.
2. CONDITIONING. I learned this from my coach. In order to run long distances, you must first build up to it.
You're not going to run a marathon at Olympic speed the first time you go, it's better not to try.
Here's an idea on how to build up. If you're running, do a mile at first. Walk or jog it if you have to. When your body is comfortable with that, add another mile to your daily run. Then keep building up from there. Your body will know when it's capable of handling longer distances. If you experience any pain, stop.
This is the case with every physical activity you’ll ever do. You want to build up your lung, heart and muscles. If you race every time you run, if you work out hard every time you go to the gym- not only will you burn yourself out, but you’ll put your body into trauma. Sometimes it’s sore muscles, injuries…don’t overdo it at first.
In my case, I was running 8 miles a day for a 5K (3.1 mile) race. I didn’t race the 8 miles, I just ran it.
If you overdo it at first, you’re going to hate physical activity and stop doing it. We want consistency for weight management.
3. Choose a physical activity you enjoy. This will make it easier to be consistent with you exercise. I enjoy running. Others prefer P90X, dancing, cardiovascular kickboxing, yoga (not cardio though), walking, spinning, biking, hiking…
4. Have fun with it. Join a group whose doing the same thing you're doing. Get some cute workout gear. If you're running or biking, seek a path that you like (ie. the beach, a nice park). Run your dog if you enjoy that. The more you enjoy what you're doing, you're going to keep doing it. And that's the goal.
Here's something that helped me out. Although I'm not yet reliable enough to compete in a road race; I like to volunteer at them. I believe that being around a bunch of strong, healthy, active people (who demonstrate the feats that the human body is capable of) does something subliminally to encourage your body to get healthy and active. It's positive and you have an excuse to get outside. It's also helpful to be in the company of those who overcome physical obstacles to be their best. We have physical obstacles of our own to overcome.
We're humans, we're social animals. Its' instinct that we want to do what others are doing. Why not get the peer pressure from those who are fit, beautiful and accomplishing feats?
Where to shop for athletic gear (my favs):
Adidas.com
REI.com
http://athleta.gap.com/?tid=atfb1
http://www.lululemon.com/
Nordstrom Rack
http://www.gearjunkie.com
Other sites for athletes and anyone who wants to get active:
http://www.coolrunning.com/
http://www.runnersworld.com
http://www.active.com
www.activeendurance.com
http://www.ideafit.com/fitnessconnect
http://www.ideafit.com/
http://www.inneridea.com
http://www.balancedtriathloncoaching.com.au
http://www.balancedpersonaltraining.net
http://www.vibrancenutrition.com
http://www.IronGirl.com
http://runlikeamotherbook.com/
http://www.runtheplanet.com/
http://www.teampenguin.com/what_is_a_penguin.php
http://www.mapmyfitness.com/imapmy/
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