Metformin for PCOS

This topic contains 9 replies, has 4 voices, and was last updated by Purple Vegie Eater 9 years, 10 months ago.

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Vickidoodle

8:09 pm
26 Jun 14
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I have just today been prescribed Metformin for help with my PCOS symptoms. Since I have been reading about IF i am very keen to make this my way of eating but now I am concerned about how to go about it if Im taking metformin. The GP says I need to eat something when I take my tablet in the morning but I was going to save my 500 calories for the evening on fast days. I have seen on these boards that there are a few people on metformin and yet are still able to fast. Any advice on how to go about this would be appreciated 🙂

dlroseberry

8:32 pm
26 Jun 14
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If you’re careful in choosing your calories, you can make a pretty good dent in your hunger in the evening with more like 250 calories. Broccoli (I hate it myself but it’s very edible on fast days), acorn squash, watermelon, these are thing I like but there are lots more vegetables and even some fruit with very few calories that convince your body that you’ve eaten a meal (at least for awhile). I like to finish off with a bit of fruit, a kind of dessert after eating a lot of the low-cal veggies.

That way, you can have a nice little high-protein breakfast with your extra calories, and that will make the whole day a bit easier as well as helping you with the metformin. Always remember, tomorrow I can eat a lot more like I want to.

dlroseberry

9:37 pm
26 Jun 14
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I should also say that fasting immediately lowered my insulin and blood glucose numbers and they then continued to drop as I lost weight. Rising insulin resistance was the trigger that got me moving and fasting was immediately effective. I know from posts on this site that some people haven’t been so lucky, and I know that the cause of your high insulin is different but I think substantially lowered insulin levels is a common effect of fasting. Good luck.

Purple Vegie Eater

10:05 pm
26 Jun 14
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My husband’s experience with fasting was similar to you dl.
He is at maintenance now. Having lost 30kg and off insulin injections, but still has 1 Metformin tab per day. He fasts 24/12 twice a week and believes he will have to for life, but eating enough not to lose on the other days, to maintain the wonderful stable BS results he now gets.
Hope this helps Vikidoodle.
Cheers PVE

Vickidoodle

10:10 pm
26 Jun 14
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thank you x

Do i have to take metformin in the morning? I just thought taking it in the morning on fast days means i have to have breakfast and i want to be able to fast for as long as possible…otherwise ill do what Di says and have a small breakfast and small dinner x

Purple Vegie Eater

10:19 pm
26 Jun 14
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We are not doctors, but my husband takes his 1 Metformin at lunch time with no food. He doesn’t eat anything until dinner time, and then only 250-300 cal.I just asked him and he says it seems fine to him, so that’s what he does. Metformin isn’t like insulin, needing to have food to act on. It increases your body’s insulin sensitivity, I believe. Can someone else tell us more? I might go and do some research!
He initially ate an egg for breakfast, a couple of felafels and lettuce for lunch and greens and fish for dinner. No, a year in, he only has the dinner. His blood sugars are far steadier and normal now than they ever were on insulin. He does a blood sugar test every morning and records it all. He is a scientist, but not medical 😉 PVE

Purple Vegie Eater

10:25 pm
26 Jun 14
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Vikidoodle, taking Metformin with food reduces the side effects of diarrorhea and stomach cramps. I guess it depends if you have these.
You can easily do 5:2 successfully eating an egg for breakfast and low cal dinner. Have you got the recipe books? They are excellent. PVE

Vickidoodle

9:23 pm
27 Jun 14
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Thank you…gp advised to take it with breakfast which i do think is to do with lessening any stomach issues…..I just wanted to do the fasting in such a way where i didnt eat from dinner time to dinner time..but then i suppose i could see how i go (only took first dose today, starting off at 250mg then going up to 500mg in a couple of days with the view to increase it further in the nest few weeks) By the way sorry to sound like a complete numpty but what does PVE stand for?

Amy C.

9:36 pm
27 Jun 14
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PVE = Purple Vegie Eater – his/her user name on this forum.

Purple Vegie Eater

10:04 pm
27 Jun 14
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Thanks Amy.
So much text. So hard to see it all.

Viki, start fasting with breakfast and dinner and possibly later change it to 24/12 if it suits. As I said, It doesn’t suit me at all. This has to be long term sustainable for you. We are all individuals (I’m not)…. To quote an old movie.
Cheers and good luck
Purple Vegie Eater (PVE 😉 )