Duromine & Pcos - My Weight Loss Journey

[Rava]

@Gettingmylifeback a 12kg loss and a size 12 too big - AMAZING!

I am so glad to read that you are feeling great and to now know you have some baby biceps happening (which gave me a giggle when I read it as that's how I describe mine )

Hope this week has been a great one, and cant wait to read your next update

 

[Gettingmylifeback]

Hi all, sorry it has been so long. I just finished my last script after taking it every few days.
At the end of the duromine part of my journey my stats are:
HW: 84.7kgs
SW: 80.2kgs
CW: 62.8kgs!!!!
That's right I am only 2kg off my goal weight and have lost a total of 22kgs!
It has not been a straight forward journey. I have had slip ups and weeks I have gained weight but I got there! I never gave up and I feel fantastic.
I have done so many things I never would've done before like rock climbing and wearing a bikini. I actually look forward to going out and having fun instead of being anxious about how I look.
Thank you for all your support ❤

 

[April]

Holly mackerel!!! Your story is AMAZING!!!! When you have time and if you have such a desire, please tell our community more about your ups and downs and how you managed to change your mindset every time you needed it. May be, you'll even add some before and after photos. You have no idea how much inspiration the real success stories with Duromine help hundreds and thousands of people to finally get a grip and go forward.
I applause to you! BRAVO!

 

[Brandy89]

Hi all,

Today is my first day taking Duromine 30mg, and I wanted to document my experience to look back on, and to also put out there for people like me with a similar situation. Its been very helpful for me reading these forums before starting duromine and I hope my posts can do the same for others. Quick back story, I am a 30 year old female and have PCOS and have had (well that I know of) for the last 10 years. I've always kept my weight in check somewhat. I was about 70kgs when diagnosed ten years ago. Since them I have fluctuated between the 70s-80kgs range but its only been the last few years that I hit the 90s. I have been in the 90s for maybe 2 years. I have had irregular periods during this time but its never all that bad. From January to May this year I did not get a period at all, and that is when I packed on an extra 10kg, which was of course a shock to me ,as I have never gained that amount of weight in such a short time frame. In this time I tried numerous things to lose weight. Walking, calorie restriction and also keto for a month and lost nothing. I got a period in June which was amazing but still no progress with weight loss, and so I then decided to see a doctor at the end of last month and had some blood taken just to see if there was anything else going on. Surprisingly my sugars and insulin were fine, thyroid fine. I do have elevated androgen levels, which my doctor explained could very well be why I am having a hard time losing any weight.

I will admit I was hesitant to start duromine, its not something I ever thought I would do as I had heard bad things about it in the past. I am not a fan of taking medicine unless its absolutely necessary and unfortunately with my rapid weight gain, I feel it is kind of a last resort. My goal weight I have listed is 75kgs which means I have 25kgs to lose. I would however happily sit around the 80kg mark, even though I would still be classed as 'overweight' in that range, I feel great at that size. I certainly do not feel great at my current size, I am sluggish, experience shortness of breath and am mentally not happy at all. I am embarrassed to leave the house if I am honest.

I took my first tablet at about 8am today. I have read that alot of people take it earlier, so I will wait and see how I go tonight with sleeping and if I have any issues I will try to take it earlier. So far I am not hungry at all. I never usually eat breakfast but I do get pretty hungry around lunch time (which is right now). I am already experiencing the dry mouth, but its no big deal, I am just drinking alot of water.

If you read all of that and are interested in following my experience, I will be aiming to update here everyday and or/week (depending on how eventful or uneventful my days are).

 

[Brandy89]

The rest of day 1

At lunch time I ate a piece of salmon quiche. I wasn’t hungry but I still wanted to put something into my body. I would say it was less than a proper portion size. I had spurts of energy through the day which I found helpful as I got a lot done at work. After work I did about 20 minutes of aerobic in my lounge room. Usually after work I am so tired that I just lay on the couch, so it was good to have the energy to do a bit of exercise. For dinner I had about 3 bites of the spinach quiche and I had 200ml of milk. I will aim to maybe eat a little more on day 2, but I just didn’t feel like eating at all. I got really really tired by 7:30pm which is unusual for me. I held out sleeping until 10:30pm as I didn’t want to go to sleep too early and wake up too early. I ended up waking up at 2:30am and couldn’t go back to sleep. I got a sharp headache at about 5:30am so I got up and ate a banana as I figured maybe my body needed something or some sugar. I ended up dozing off again at about 6am. Was happy with day 1.

Day 1 summary
Mood: Good, motivated, happy
What did I eat? Salmon quiche
What did I drink? Water, 200ml milk
How much sleep did I get: 6.5 hrs
Time my pill was taken: 8am
Side effects experienced: dry mouth, woke up from 2:30am to 6am
Exercise: 20 mins of aerobics
Cravings/apetite: None

 

[Brandy89]

Day 2

I had every intention of taking my tablet earlier on day 2 but because I had a broken sleep the night before I didn’t get to. I ended up taking it at 8:30am however it didn’t seem to matter in the end. I didn’t get the same noticeable bursts of energy I did on day 1. I also didn’t get dry mouth. I did feel good though, not lethargic like I had been feeling before starting Duromine.

My sleep was weird. I want to bed about 11pm and I’m not sure how much I slept. I couldn’t really tell if I was asleep and dreaming or just really relaxed and my mind was wandering off, either way I feel more rested than I did from the first night. Also after a little while I woke up suddenly as my heart started racing for no apparent reason. This happened a couple of times which scared me. Feeling scared to take my tablet on day 3.

Day 2 summary
Mood: Good, happy mostly. A little scared during the night due to the increased heart rate.
What did I eat? Banana, Salmon quiche, spinach
What did I drink? Water, 200ml milk
How much sleep did I get: Not sure but woke feeling rested.
Time my pill was taken: 8:30am
Side effects experienced: heart racing
Exercise: 30 min walk
Cravings/apetite: None

 

[Brandy89]

Day 3

Weighed in for the first time since the doctor took my weight. Was down a little bit, but my body has a tendency to fluctuate so I don’t really believe the weight just yet. That might sound weird but I’m so used to going up and down so I don’t trust it. I will wait until I’ve reached the one week mark to weigh myself again. The scale said I was down 1.3kgs based on what I was at the doctors.

Day 3 summary
Mood: Good, happy mostly. Had a good amount of energy
What did I eat? Banana, Salmon quiche, 1 piece of toast
What did I drink? Water , 250ml milk
How much sleep did I get: About 8 hours
Time my pill was taken: 8:45am
Side effects experienced: none
Exercise: 60 min walk
Cravings/apetite: None

 

[Brandy89]

Day 4

Today was the first day since starting that I woke up hungry. I had barely been eating the last 3 days maybe only 400 calories a day so I decided to eat a bit more today to see if that would help with the hunger. Didn’t really have any energy today. Feel like the tablet just didn’t work today.
Perhaps my body has just adjusted to it somewhat.

Day 4 summary
Mood: Had a random crying fit. Got over it pretty quickly though.
What did I eat? Banana, Salmon sashimi, veggie curry with cauliflower rice
What did I drink? Water
How much sleep did I get: About 6 hours
Time my pill was taken: 8:30am
Side effects experienced: I’m not sure if the crying fit was a side effect of Duromine or because I was due for my period (which never came)
Exercise: None
Cravings/apetite: I had an appetite but no cravings in particular

 

[April]

Hello @Brandy89 how have you been doing this week? Looks like you started quite nicely. How do you feel? How did the weigh in go?

 

[Brandy89]

Hi April, feeling good. I took a day off the Duromine on day 6 as I had heart palpations the night before which scared me a little and just thought I would take a break as I have seen some others do the same. Still going well, not eating much but when I am eating I am eating healthy. I am also walking everyday. I had my day 7 weigh in today and have lost 3kg since starting which I’m really happy with

 

[April]

Yes, I read about your palpitations, and wanted to tell you to slow down a bit, but you already figured out what to do. =))
Congratulations on the great loss and keep going towards your goal the same way you are going now. You know... this week try to add some stretching after your walks. It doesn't take much time, but your muscles are already watmed up, and it helps quite well to tone up the muscles and avoid skin sagging. But do it slowly, I mean little by little. Trust me, you'll love the results!

 

[Brandy89]

Yes, I read about your palpitations, and wanted to tell you to slow down a bit, but you already figured out what to do. =))
Congratulations on the great loss and keep going towards your goal the same way you are going now. You know... this week try to add some stretching after your walks. It doesn't take much time, but your muscles are already watmed up, and it helps quite well to tone up the muscles and avoid skin sagging. But do it slowly, I mean little by little. Trust me, you'll love the results!

Hi April,

Thank you for the advice about the stretching. I started this today after my walk

 

[April]

You go, girl! That's the spirit! Feeling good? No palpitations anymore?

 

[Brandy89]

Hi April, no palpitations. If these were to come back again would this be something I would need to see my doctor about do you think?

 

[April]

I think it would indicate that you should switch to taking it every other day, or making 1-day breaks from Duromine at times.

 

[Brandy89]

Day 15

Feeling frustrated. I’ve gained 300grams since my last weigh in on Friday. I did get my period on Friday night so I didn’t weigh over the weekend as I know I retain a lot of water during my period so I knew it wouldn’t be accurate. Period is over and have weighed today and am up 300grams. I’ve been eating around 500 calories every day and doing a 60 minute walk every day and burning about 600 calories. I’ve even started running as well as walking. I really don’t know how I’ve gained. I’m basically starving. A big part of why I started Duromine was because calorie restriction no longer seems to work for me. I have been doing it on and off for the last 15 years. When I was younger it worked liked magic but now it doesn’t seem to do much for me at all. When I spoke to my doctor before starting Duromine I queried her on eating and she basically said if you aren’t hungry don’t eat. Just eat something so your blood sugar doesn’t drop and you don’t faint. I was very hesistant about this as it goes against everything you read regarding diet. They always caution against starving but I went with the flow and I basically don’t eat most days and when I do it’s clean. It’s veggies and meat. Basically no carbs. The only thing I can think of is upping my calories to see if that works but that’s also very scary as if I’m gaining eating nothing I can only imagine what I might gain if I eat more. Any advice would be appreciated. Feeling a bit defeated.

 

[April]

Hello dear! Starving yourself for such a long time usually means the end of any weight shifts sooner or later. You are absolutely right - you need to up your calories. Especially since you exercise. If you are afraid of gaining weight when you up the calories, start at least with two days of higher calorie count. I mean, eat 1200 calories the next two days. And exercise well on these days, as well. Then go back to your 600 calories for like 5 days. Then have the three days with higher calories and 4 days with low calories. Until you reach the moment, when your 600 calories make 2 days and the correct amount 5 days. Let's try and see what happens. But don't exercise heavily on those low-calorie days.

 

[Brandy89]

Day 15

Feeling frustrated. I’ve gained 300grams since my last weigh in on Friday. I did get my period on Friday night so I didn’t weigh over the weekend as I know I retain a lot of water during my period so I knew it wouldn’t be accurate. Period is over and have weighed today and am up 300grams. I’ve been eating around 500 calories every day and doing a 60 minute walk every day and burning about 600 calories. I’ve even started running as well as walking. I really don’t know how I’ve gained. I’m basically starving. A big part of why I started Duromine was because calorie restriction no longer seems to work for me. I have been doing it on and off for the last 15 years. When I was younger it worked liked magic but now it doesn’t seem to do much for me at all. When I spoke to my doctor before starting Duromine I queried her on eating and she basically said if you aren’t hungry don’t eat. Just eat something so your blood sugar doesn’t drop and you don’t faint. I was very hesistant about this as it goes against everything you read regarding diet. They always caution against starving but I went with the flow and I basically don’t eat most days and when I do it’s clean. It’s veggies and meat. Basically no carbs. The only thing I can think of is upping my calories to see if that works but that’s also very scary as if I’m gaining eating nothing I can only imagine what I might gain if I eat more. Any advice would be appreciated. Feeling a bit defeated.

Hi April, thank you so much for the advice. I will give that go fingers crossed

 

[Brandy89]

Day 21

Today is day 21 so officially 3 weeks since I started Duromine. I haven’t updated much here as I have pretty much been doing the same thing each day. I do my daily 1hr walk, some days I add some light weights for toning. My appetite is still suppressed, so the Duromine is still working. I’m sleeping great now and I haven’t had any more chest pains. The dry mouth comes and goes but most days I don’t have it. I am adding in a few higher calorie days here and there (usually 1000 calories max per day) on those days I try to burn over 600 calories. On my non high calorie days I usually eat about 500-600 calories, which I will try to increase over time it’s just hard to eat more when I have no appetite. On my lower calorie days I still do my walk. I weighed in this morning and have lost 5.1kg in total. I haven’t been able to lose that much weight consecutively for maybe 4 years. Sometimes I feel like I notice a change in my body a little but then other times I still feel the same. Hopefully by the 10kg mark I will notice a difference.

My mood so far has been fine. I haven’t felt depressed or aggressive as some people have mentioned. I do catch myself sometimes feeling a bit drained as I’m working really hard to ensure I’m moving every day and I’m eating really clean and sometimes I think why aren’t I losing more weight. I know they say slow weight loss is the best for the long run in order to sustain it, it’s just some of the stories you read on here people can drop 5kg in just 1 week. When I feel like that I just try to remind myself that before Duromine it was so hard for me to be able to get the scale to go down at all and now it’s dropping almost every day, even if it is only in small amounts.

So I’m glad I didn’t give up and I will continue to keep going. I have more than a weeks left of tablets as there were a few days after day 5 where I stopped taking Duromine due to the heart palpations. So I won’t need to go back to the doctor for at least another fortnight. I’m hoping by the time I need to get a new script that I will be down another 2kg. I also took my measurements last week. I wish I had have taken them at the start of this, but at least now I have something to compare to from this point on.

16/07 Starting weight: 101.5kg
07/08 Current weight: 96.4kg

Measurements 04/08
Waist: 38 inches
Hips: 48.5 inches
L thigh: 22.5 inches
R thigh: 22 inches
Right arm: 14.7 Inches
Left arm: 13.5 inches
Bust: 42 inches
Butt: 50.5 inches

 

[April]

Hi Brandy. how are you?