I haven't been on here for a while. I guess I have been a bit lazy, plus I got hit with 2x bouts of Gastro (Gotta love the viruses the kids bring home from school = aka = "the public petrie-dish system"). Seeing as you should not take Duramine during these times, it appears my first month worth of Duramine has been lasting longer than 30 days.
I am still awaiting my 2nd real period since having surgery to remove an IUD which punctured my uterus and caused an infection. I'm really not all that surprised that my period is 30+ days later than it should be; such is the nature of dealing with PCOS. The annoying part about it is that my breasts have been seriously enlarged (which is met with much elation from my fiancé lol) but are super tender (not his fondest part of this effect) and my bra's are not coping well with keeping me in. My abdomen is bloated and enlarged and cramping is ever present. But this has been happening for about 2 weeks now, and every day I expect to get the red devil, and every day - nothing.
As such, measurements and weigh-ins have stopped for some time. I can't trust either to be an accurate representation of where I am situated within my weight-loss journey. It's actually driving me quite mad, and quite disheartened to say the least.
But even so, I have also become a little disheartened with the slow loss as opposed to the rather rapid loss I am seeing in other Duromine users. I chalked it up to a couple of things:
- A lower starting weight, thus less to lose;
- The sporadic use of duramine due to ill health; or
- PCOS causing me to battle with weight retention.
Being the google fanatic that I am, and knowing my issues with PCOS (also responsible for my facial hair growth, skin tags, easy weight gain, disrupted ovulation/menstrual cycles, and anxiety/depression - cool huh?), I started looking into Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR) calculators. We all know about BMI, and how annoying and disheartening they can be. We are all trying to lead healthier lives with exercise and healthy eating. But I always wondered why I have never been able to eat a regular caloric/balanced diet without continuously gaining weight! Even on Duromine, my diet and exercise only results in a small amount of weight loss. Could I have my BMR wrong???
So, I found one of many BMR calculators which are ever available on the world wide web. (For those who are unsure of what this calculation provides, it is the minimum number of calories that your body requires in order to sell sustain. It is initially calculated on age, sex, current height and weight, but is further adjusted for level of exercise per day). Now, this is a result of what it takes JUST TO EXIST. The idea is that any caloric input over this number will produce an excess of energy that is likely to be stored as fat. In order to lose weight, you consume this calculated number, and rely on exercise to place you at a caloric deficit = thus equating to weight loss. Here is my result from Calculator.net:
BMR = 1,522 Calories/day
I can NOT, for the life of me, remember a time that consuming this many calories has EVER resulted in weight loss. So a bit more researching led me to a study of PCOS with respect to BMR: Basal metabolic rate
This article is presented as an abstract online, but as I am a Geology PhD student through QUT, I have access to databases and full-text articles, so I have been able to read the entire study. It was quite a robust study, actually. Three groups were presented:
- Women without PCOS
- Women with PCOS (Not Insulin Resistant)
- Women with PCOS (Insulin Resistant)
Long story short - Women with PCOS (both groups) have a naturally lower BMR than those without. Those WITH insulin resistance had a BMR lower than those without PCOS by 700 calories!!!!! Those WITHOUT insulin resistance had a BMR lower than those without PCOS by about 550 calories!.
I don't know about you, but that seems particularly significant to me. It finally shows me that all that hard work I had been putting in, to no avail, was NEVER going to cut it. It wasn't all in my head!!!
"But what has this got to do with Duromine, Amber???"
Well! I am glad you asked, and I will tell you now.
- Women with PCOS, are clearly set up for failure from the get go due to their lower BMR - regardless of Insulin resistance or not. 550 calories (for anyone watching their diet) equates to an entire meal! And not only that, but we all know that not all calories are created equal. So this throws a massive spanner in the works!!!
- You don't have to have PCOS to be insulin resistant! Infant, excessive weight gain alone can invoke insulin resistance!
- You may have a hormonal imbalance caused by weight gain (one can trigger the other - it's hand in hand!)
- Weight gain can invoke PCOS (instead of the other way around), and thus you may want to get your doctor to run a hormone check on you!
These could be potential reasons why we do not all lose our weight as rapidly as others on Duromine. Our unique body chemistry dictates how our systems run. Duromine helps to reduce appetite, but is also works synchronous with our BMR - our adrenaline and our capacity to burn more energy than we otherwise would.
Food for thought!
