Episode 5: Does Bariatric Surgery Cure PCOS?

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Here we go. Ready? Oh, yeah. Hey, Steph. Hey, Hannah. This is I can see you. I know. Welcome

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to our first video podcast. Guys, this is weird. This is so weird. I'm still like, where

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do I look? Yeah. Do I look at the camera? Do I look at myself? Do I look at Steph? I

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don't know. Like, so bear with us while we learn how to be video podcasters. It must

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be a little bit of grace on this one, guys. We're learning. We'll figure it out eventually.

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Yeah, we'll share some behind the scenes photos because if you could see how long it took

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us to get set up and to then be like, is this a good angle? How's my hair look? Is this

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okay? Like, the joke is, yeah, give us a few episodes and we probably won't give a shit

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what we look like when we show up. No, it's going to be like a pajama messy bun episode

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in three or four. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. 100%. But at least for the first one, you get Hannah

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and Steph with makeup and like really trying to look presentable. With like a ring light.

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I know. I have like the office lit up. There is a dog in here. So enjoy the distractions

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when he gets up and down. But you know, Bo gets to be in here for the day. So I love

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it. It's mine out. That's okay. I kicked everybody out. I was I was going to kick everyone out

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and then the cat wanted in. So the cat's in here somewhere. Bo's in here. It's just going

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to be a good time. Yeah. Keep the brood in the room is right. I love it. It's going to

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be a good time. No, I kicked the whole family out. The dogs out there probably crying somewhere.

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I love it. Hey, listen, Saturdays are podcast days. So for those who don't know, we record

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on Saturdays. I love it. Cool. Well, welcome to episode five of the Bariatric Bander podcast.

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Now live in a living cover. Can't believe it's five. I know. I can't believe we're on

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five. I can't believe now we are doing video. So you will be seeing us every week. You can

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still catch us streaming on every platform. Spotify, Apple, iHeartRadio. We love iHeartRadio

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because you're now our biggest download and streaming service. I love it. I love it. So

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hello Americans. And now you'll find us on YouTube. So wherever you want to watch or

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listen, we're trying to be everywhere so that you can choose the format that you'd like.

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And also so that you can put faces to names for those of you who don't know, Steph and

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I, this is who we are. This is what we look like. We look different than we did a couple

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years ago. You can see the faces we make when we talk about things that get us really riled

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up. When we're typically sitting behind the camera just, yeah, all the way to come out.

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My face is going to be bad. It's going to be very bad. I get heated a lot. It's true.

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But that's, you know what? This is the real deal guys. So yeah, we're on unfiltered. We'll

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get into the groove in a couple, a couple of episodes. Listen, I've cut my swearing

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down substantially. So you are all welcome. I was impressed. You did a good job. You're

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welcome. I think I swore more in the last episode than you did. Hey, you were passionate

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in the last episode. So this one's a good one too though. Gotta give you grace. Right?

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This is a good one. This is a good one. This is a good one. This week on episode five,

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we are going to talk PCOS or as I call it PCOS and comorbidities, which I will mispronounce

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this entire episode. You did it. I know. Because it's right in front of me and I always call

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it comorbidities, but it's comorbidities. So we're going to talk about PCOS, comorbidities

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and bariatric surgery together. And kind of what we mean by comorbidities for those who

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don't know, comorbidities are kind of health issues that you have that can absolutely lead

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to death. Now, not, they're not really going to cause you to die instantly, but there are

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two or more medical conditions that occur at the same time within your body that can

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really impact your health and outlook. And what they mean by outlook is it increases

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your risk of death. And it's all about lifestyle changes when it comes to comorbidities. So

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comorbidities are not something that you've inherited through your genes or things that

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you have no control over. These are things that have directly happened to you because

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of your lifestyle. Things like high blood pressure, high cholesterol, pre-diabetes.

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Now, yes, does this run in families? Sure. But they specifically would look at, did you

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develop this because of your lifestyle, not because of your genes? So that's what comorbidities

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are. I'm not a doctor, so there's probably somebody being like, she butchered that so

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badly. But comorbidities are basically things that take away from your life expectancy that

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are within your control. So we're going to go through bariatric and bariatric surgery

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because shocker, spoiler alert, Steph and I both have PCOS and Steph and I also both

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had slash have comorbidities. And so we kind of wanted to cover what did that look like

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before surgery and give you guys an update on what it looks like now after surgery. Love

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it. Yeah. So I covered what comorbidities are. Boy, for someone who cannot pronounce

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that word, I am going to have to consistently keep saying it this podcast. But Steph, maybe

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you want to cover what is PCOS or as I affectionately love to call it, PCOS. Yeah. So Anna, I love

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that. So PCOS is polycystic ovarian syndrome. So it's when on your ovaries you have cysts.

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So you can see these typically on an ultrasound. The thing with PCOS is there is no definitive

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test. And the reason I say that is because not everybody will show multiple cysts on an

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ultrasound all the time or at all. There's a lot of symptoms that go into PCOS. So there

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are a lot of people who have undiagnosed PCOS. There's a lot of people who don't get diagnosed

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until later. But basically what it is, is cysts on your ovaries and that can impact

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hormones. It can impact fertility. It can lead to weight gain, hair in places you don't

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want hair. You saw my Instagram story this morning. You'll notice I even called it on

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my story. I forgot to shave my lovely ones this morning. So I did that for you today.

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It's the worst. It's so bad. And so it is basically an overarching diagnosis that has

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a lot of symptoms within it. So for me, I was diagnosed with PCOS, but I rarely had

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multiple cysts on my ovaries on ultrasound, but I had all the other symptoms that fell

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in place. So it's different for everybody. A lot of women are undiagnosed and there is

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no magic cure for PCOS either. I think this episode will honestly just become all about

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PCOS because it is just such a huge topic we need to cover. And maybe we'll just cover

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comorbidities in its own because there's like a million to cover there. But I think that's

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the big thing when I first learned about it, which was later in life, by the way, I only

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learned about it because I was having an ultrasound of my kidney because I only have one working

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kidney. And while I was there, they were like, hey, maybe we should just like, do you want

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to get a pap test done while you're here and blah, blah, blah. And I was like, oh yeah,

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sure. They were like running some sort of clinic and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. So,

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you know, okay, we're going to do that. And I had both, like I had the speculum, all that

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stuff, but like then they did an ultrasound when they were in there for good measure and

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they were like, oh, and I was like, oh, what they're like, you have a ton of this on your

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ovaries. And I was like, okay, I also have them in my kidney and I seem to be doing fine.

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So I had no idea what it was. It was later in life, but then it all kind of started adding

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up. But the one thing that really bugged me was I would start Googling it and boy, did

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I find a ton of people being like, here's how you cure it. Here's how you cure it. Here's

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how you cure it. Here's how do you cure it. And there is no one solution to fix it. Like

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this is, yeah, there's things to help, but there is no help. And we'll talk about weight

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loss surgery, but none of it is like, nobody said to me, oh, if you have weight loss surgery,

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it's going to totally, totally cure your PCOS. Like nobody said that. But when I would go

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see certain people, they absolutely kind of tried to sell me on, oh yeah, like this is

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what you need. This will cure it. And it's like, cure it. If I have cysts on my ovaries,

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won't the cysts always be on my ovaries without surgery? Like do they just go away? Because

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I have a feeling if they kind of go away, it's probably painful. Like that's probably

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because they burst. So I just remember there were too many people telling me like there's

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quick fix, quick solution, spearmint tea, Metformin. The big thing was like the diets.

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Everything I was seeing online was diets will fix PCOS. And there just, there wasn't any

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studies or enough people that had specialized in this, which was shocking because once I

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was diagnosed with it, it's like everyone I knew was like, oh yeah, I have that too.

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I have that too. Yep. For me, I did have symptoms, but obviously we didn't know what those symptoms

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were. Right? Like I have male doctors and don't get me wrong, Dr. Singh is a fucking

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G. I love him. He's great. This was before I had him, but it was a lot of like, oh, you

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have anxiety. Oh, okay. Oh Jesus. The amount of times I was told, you have anxiety, you

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have anxiety, you have anxiety. And then they'd be like, why don't you start anxiety medication?

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And I'd sit in this office and go, I don't, I don't think this is anxiety. Like I'm not,

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I don't think I'm bad enough to need medication like it is. They made me anxious because then

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I started to have herculean anxiety where I thought there was something wrong with me.

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But my symptoms were, I was going an entire year where I'd have one period. Before that,

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I had a period that wouldn't end and it lasted months, which was just like horrible in your,

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you know, mid to late twenties to be like, quite disgusting. How do I live a normal life?

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Like a single girl, you know, 300 period. Okay. I then had like solid years back to

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back where I just wasn't having it. And so a lot of it was like, well, you're overweight.

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Yep, I am. But I've been overweight my whole life and my periods never been this weird.

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So okay. And then it was, well, you go, it's anxiety. You need to be on anxiety medication.

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And I remember my mom was a nurse being like, do not fucking take that medication. Like

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you don't need it. And not that she's against medication. She just knows me. And in your

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situation, you didn't need it. Yeah, exactly. And she knows me. She's my mother. Like she

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knows you are not like, you are not at that level. And I luckily have a great therapist.

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And I remember saying to her, like, am I supposed to be on this medication? And she was like,

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you're like, no. And I was like, okay, she's like, if you need it, like there's nothing

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wrong with it. But remember her telling me at the time, like, you're one of like the

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least anxious people I see. And I was like, oh, cool. But boy, they make you spiral. So

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yeah, it was the stress, your weight, your fat, you got to lose weight. Then I was overweight.

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And then it was, you're anxious, take anxiety medication. Then it was, oh, some women just

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have hormonal imbalances, never once got sent for hormone testing. So, you know, it's normal.

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And then they were like, oh, well, I guess if you haven't had it for six months, like,

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we're going to have to induce it because, you know, it can lead to cancer. And I was

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like, oh, do you know how long it took for, but it took so long for someone to tell me

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that you could induce your period. Like, why was I waiting years to finally be told? Like,

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what happens is if you don't, sorry for the men listening, but if you don't have a period,

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the tissue will build up and that tissue-

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It doesn't just disappear.

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That tissue is what can start to become cancerous if it doesn't leave your body. Again, I am

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no medical expert. This is just what I was told by my gynecologist. So when I finally

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got prescribed a gynecologist who was the best, she was like, oh my God, yes, you need

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to be doing this every month because you don't want that building up. I had to have the world's

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most excruciating procedure, a uterine biopsy. I wish this on no one. And she was like, we

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have no choice, Hannah. It's been years where I don't know what's growing and going on.

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And I have to be certain that there's not old tissue, scar tissue. Like we have to.

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And I was like-

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And they don't, note to men, they don't medicate you for these things.

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Oh no, you're not knocked out.

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Yeah. Take some time and all.

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Yep. They literally was told to take some Advil before I come in because it might be

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quote crampy. And there's nothing that happens to numb you or anything. And for those who

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don't know, they go up in you and cut a chunk out of you while you're away.

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Take a deep breath.

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Yep. Oh, it's going to be a little bit of pressure, little bit of pressure. I threw

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up and then almost passed out in the car in the parking lot. Because by the way, they

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were like, yeah, you can drive yourself to this. Should not have driven myself to that.

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I called my mom and I cried and I rarely cry. So I'm sure my mom thought, oh God, she's

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dying. But I just remember thinking, I'll never have that procedure done again. You've

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got to be kidding. So I went back to my doctor and said, no, how do we fix this? I need to

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fix this now. This is, this is absurd. So yeah, my experience with PCOS is that, yeah,

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I did have symptoms. I was having infrequent to no periods. I had to get induced with medications.

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I had to have uterine biopsies. And then I was put on metformin, which did absolutely

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nothing for me. And then I was told, lose a ton of weight. Oh, and then if I want to

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have babies, I should just start having babies. It doesn't really matter if I found the right

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guy. You know, if there's somebody in my life that I, you know, is good enough, I'm not

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even shitting you. This is what I was told. If there's someone in my life that's good

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enough, I should start trying because it'll be really hard for me to have kids with this

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thing that I have. And I was like, Hey, I'm here to fix my medical issue. I couldn't give

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a shit about starting a family. I would like to not get cancer. Let's focus on the immediate.

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I was so pissed. I was like, well, thanks so much for, thanks so much for this. Thank

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you. Thank you so much. I was, I was 20, 20, no, 28, 25 ish. I was 25 ish. 26, 26. I was

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26 because I was 25. And then decided we wanted to have kids. Cool. And nothing was happening.

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Nothing was happening. Nothing is happening. Okay. I know it takes a while. Like at least

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they say like within the first year, it takes a while. Right. And then I had started having

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random, weird spotting, like mid cycle, almost like clockwork out of nowhere. Weird. This

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is weird. So went to the doctor and at this time I had a doctor who I despise. I, I'm

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so glad we got rid of this doctor. Anyway, um, I went to him and he's like, well, how

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long have you been trying? And I said a couple, a couple of months and he's like, Oh, well,

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he's like, you're young. And I was like, okay, but I just, I said, I have a feeling something

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is not right. I said, I now have this weird random spotting and he's like, yeah, again,

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you're fine. You got to wait at least a year. And I was like, no, something, something is

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not right. I just know it. Something is not right. He's like, okay, fine. I'll send you

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for some blood work to check your, um, menstrual levels. Okay. And I was like, okay, cool.

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So he sent me for blood work. It came back a little bit off, but nothing crazy. Okay.

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Well, that doesn't really help me with any answers. He's like, okay, I'm going to send

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you for an ultrasound and a scope. And I was like, Oh, okay. So send me for the ultrasound,

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for the results. The next couple of days, I'm supposed to go for this scope at the hospital.

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Yeah. On my notes to me, I find out like the day before that the scope means they are going

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up in there. Oh yeah. Like a little camera scopie thing. Yeah. So I was not- It's like

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a reverse colonoscopy. Yeah. So I was not looking forward to this. I took time off work.

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I booked it off. I go, I'm by myself. I'm so nervous. I walk in and the doctor who's

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doing it, like they're just basically like pumping people through this room, getting

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scopes done. And so I walk in and the doctor, he's standing there like with a chart like

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this. Yeah. And I opened the door and he looks up at me and he looks at the chart. He looks

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at me, the chart. He's like, are you Stephanie? And I was like, yeah. So it was, how old are

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you? I said I'm 26. And he just literally can see him go, Oh, he goes, come sit down.

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Oh, and I was like, what? He's like, you're not getting a scope today. Oh, and part of

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me was like, thank the Lord. I've been stressed out for days. I took time off work. I'm in

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a gown and now you're telling me this isn't happening. Like what the shit is going on?

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So we go into the down. He goes, I'm sorry. He goes, I didn't even look at your file before

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you walked in the room. I just assumed people that are here should be here. Yeah. He's like,

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if I would have seen this, I would have canceled your scope before you even got here. And he's

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like, let's look at your file while you're here. So I told him, he goes, okay, he goes,

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you don't need a scope for that. I was like, okay. And then he goes, I have your ultrasound

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results here. Everything looks fine. Okay. He goes, except for the tumor. Excuse me.

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And I, yeah, I went, what? For the tumor on your liver. And again, I just served, he goes,

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I'm guessing you didn't know about that. I was like, no, no. He goes, it's nothing bad.

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He goes, it's a benign tumor. It's like a, not like a fatty tumor, but he goes, people

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get these all the time. They go away. Nothing to worry about. I'm like, I think, I feel

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like I should still know it's there. Yeah. Like, yeah. So I thank him. He was great.

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We talked about it. I left, I stormed back to work. My boss is like, why are you here?

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I was like, I'm going in. We had like personal call booth rooms. Yeah. I was like, I'll be

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back. So I went and I called the doctor's office and the receptionist answered and I

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loved her, but I said, Jennifer, and I lost it on her and she apologized. She had no idea,

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whatever. So I went back to the doctor again and I was like, this is bull. Like you are

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referring me to a gynecologist. Um, I said, we're getting Devin tested. And he's like,

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well, Devin's not my patient. I was like, I don't care. I'm like, I am your patient.

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You're sending me to a gynecologist. You're sending me to a fertility specialist and you're

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getting Devin tested. So I got referred to that oncologist while I was waiting for that.

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We went to this one fertility clinic in Kitchener, which I will not name, but oh my God,

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I would never step foot in this door again. I have some of the worst, the worst doctor.

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So we got Devin tested. Thank gosh through her. And then I went to see Dr. Pops in Kitchener

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and honest to God, I walked into his office. He looked at the file. He looked at Devin's results.

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He looked at all my stuff and he just looked me in the eye. He goes, where do you want to go?

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And I said, what? And it's now been like a year. He's like, where do you want to go?

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I was like, for what? He goes for fertility treatment. You tell me and I'll send you.

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And I was like, thank God. So anyway, we ended up going fertility place. Um, and that's

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where I found out I had PCOS based on all my other testing. Um, they, they were able to tell me within

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like my first appointment. He looked at me and he's like, okay, the weight obviously is a PCOS thing.

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Yeah. He looked at my blood work levels. Um, but then he said to he, we talked about like, um,

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tiredness and bloating and a bunch of other things that are common symptoms, like, yep. And

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can continuous fatigue, like all the time. And then he looked at me and he told, I'm sorry for staring.

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He goes, but I'm looking for hair. And I was like, what? And he said hair, chin hair, um, hair,

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like thicker than normal hair in here. Um, and he goes, do you have hair on your thighs?

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And I was like, well, he goes like upper inner thigh area. Do you have dark hair? Not a lot,

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but like dark predominant hairs. And I said, yeah. And he goes, um, PCOS like right off the bat.

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And he's like, what? He goes, you have PCOS. And instantly they checked my thyroid because often

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PCOS and thyroid are connected. I got tested for that too. And it was, it was negative. It was,

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so it was fine at first. Um, so that was okay. But yeah, he instantly diagnosed with PCOS. Wow. Um,

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we started fertility treatments. We did one round of fertility treatments that ended in miscarriage

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that kicked my thyroid out of whack. So then I was on thyroid meds. Um, but yeah, it was,

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we did like a year fertility stuff with this clinic who was phenomenal, but that they're the

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ones who finally diagnosed PCOS and then everything kind of started to make sense. I had, I did

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sometimes have cysts, but not regularly. It was only the odd time, but I had every other symptom

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in the book. And they do differ. Like there is insulin resistant PCOS. I have that too. There's

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another one, like I'm not an expert on that, but there are different types. So

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I do know that the insulin resistance one closely mirrors diabetes in the sense that you can gain

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weight, um, around your abdomen. You have like the swollen faces. We'll post on Instagram,

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some photos of before surgery. Um, just so you could see what my face looks like. Cause that,

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that alone should have been enough. So yeah, different. I know. And I always had really full,

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I still do. Like I'm not as clearly as far in the process as you are, but yeah, but I've always had

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a full round. Yeah. But this was insulin resistant. Never knew. This was really different. And I

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didn't notice at the time, but like, yeah, cause you see it every day. It was swollen. I think I

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just thought, Hey, I'm fat versus that's just not a fat face. Like that is a very, um, and it caught

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up quick and they put me on metformin because again, like I, I still don't know what type of

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PCOS I have because they never really tested. They just kind of assumed it was insulin. I actually

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don't think it is for the fact that like metformin didn't work kind of like the diet changes didn't

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really do much for me. The really annoying thing with PCOS that we can both attest to is that it

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makes it really difficult to lose weight, not impossible. And this is going to be, sorry,

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this is a really hot tape. I know I'm really sorry. It makes it difficult, but not impossible. So I,

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100% I think because I was obese was looking for a way to be like, I'm obese and it's not my fault.

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Um, and so as soon as I got described, Jesus prescribed with PCOS, I was like, Oh, cool.

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That's the reason I'm fat has nothing to do with anything else in my life. I have a medical issue

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and that's why I am fat. So I used it to justify like, it's not me. It's not my eating habits.

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I'm clearly working out enough. And the truth is like, does it make it difficult? Sure. I'd say

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for every 10 pounds, someone without it can lose. You probably can lose too. And that fucking blows.

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That really fucking blows. Super demogorgous. But it is not the reason you're obese. There. It is

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not the reason I was 315 pounds. The COS alone is not the reason. And that's where the different

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diet come in because they'll say like this diet is good for this time. And like I had insulin

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resistance PCOS for sure. And that's when I got looped into the keto because everybody said,

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I tried that keto and PCOS and now I will say I did lose weight with keto. 100% I did. But I,

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one of the things that I have an issue with with my insulin resistance and my PCOS is I will lose

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weight, like you said, very slow, but it will happen. But then I almost hit this plateau and

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I can't get past the plateau. And it's almost as if I also have really high cortisol, which is

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another thing I found out. It comes with it. It's continually high all the time, which basically

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means for anyone who doesn't know, you, your cortisol level should go up and down. It's your

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stress hormone. So it should, there are times in the day or when you exercise that your cortisol

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will go up and then it should come back down. Mine is always high. So my body is permanently

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panicked and stressed, which is great. Which gets mistaken for anxiety and then we get put on

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medication we don't put on. So I usually hit a plateau and then I get like, my body goes into

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extra panic mode. And then it's like, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, you're losing weight. You're losing

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weight. Stop and try to hold on to it. And it's really hard to get over that, that doable, but

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again, very hard. It's called cravings. It because of cortisol, your body wants you to eat. And

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there's this common theory. Oh, everyone's going to hate me after this episode. There's this common

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theory called starvation mode, which is, oh, your body is just so deprived that it's going to hang

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on to all the nutrients and keep you fat. Now, logically you could be like, okay, but like if

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we starve prisoners of war and they lose weight, or if you were on, okay, let's have a nicer example.

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If you were on naked and alone or whatever that like bear guile show is or survivor, right? How

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come they lose so much weight? They're not in starvation mode and they're not gaining weight.

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Who's a fat survivor that you've seen? So like, I don't disagree, don't disagree that there are

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things that kind of, you know, can help hold on to weight, but this notion that you've deprived your

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body or you've not eaten enough. And that's the reason. No, it's not. It's not. It is not

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scientifically. It comes down to not being sustainable. Like it's just the diet, the keto.

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And I, I know people personally who have done keto for a long time and have seen great success.

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And that's great. You always see success. That's great. Yeah. But it, for me, not sustainable.

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Not at all. And they'll say low, low carb is good for PCOS. But again, for me, not sustainable. It's

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and I, this, I'm sure we'll talk about this in another podcast, so we don't go down the rabbit

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hole and do a two hour podcast, but it comes down to lifestyle changes, not diet. And it comes down

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to things that are sustainable, that are real life that you can implement as a lifestyle change

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and continue on. And so that's where people with PCOS struggle is because a lot of these

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diets that are supposed to help PCOS are not sustainable. And you have to think if you are

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insulin resistance, you really got to look at your diet and look at sugar. You got to almost think

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like you are a diabetic. No, I have diabetics in my family. Yeah. Runs in my, runs in my family on

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my dad's side. So they don't just track their sugar. They're not sitting there going, oh,

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how much sugar is in this? It's carbs and sugar. Like there's a, there's a few things they have to

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look at to make sure they keep their sugars balanced. So that's the other thing when you have

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insulin resistant PCOS. And again, we're not medical experts. This is just based on the medical

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experts we've been dealing with having PCOS, having our own dieticians from the bariatric clinic

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and our own internal medicine doctor, nurse, and surgeon from the clinic. They track calories,

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not calories, carbs and sugar. And they have to make good choices for themselves to keep their

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insulin balanced. You do too. And the hard thing is a lot of women getting prescribed. There we go.

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A lot of women getting, I'm not even thinking of the right word, but basically being told you have

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this, are overweight, too obese, and unfortunately aren't making good life choices. So if your body

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is already unbalanced and already teetering into high cortisol and insulin, do you think throwing

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yourself into keto and throwing your body into something that's so drastic is actually going to

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be sustainable and help you? Not really, because you're just adding more stress to a stressful

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situation. So one of the best pieces of advice I got from the clinic was, oh yeah, this will help

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with your PCOS because we're going to teach you how to re-eat and also don't be afraid of cardio.

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You know, blah, blah, blah. When it comes to the diets on Instagram that we're told to do for PCOS,

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it's, don't do cardio. You gotta get that high fat in there. Oh, spearmint tea, spearmint tea,

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spearmint tea. Only wait. Fucking hate spearmint tea. It's so gross. Oh, and then you need to get

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metformin and this other thing that you buy off the internet. Oh, and then you need to eat whole

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seeds, like just a scoop of hemp seeds. Like first of all, oh my God. And then it was, you need to

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move really slow. You shouldn't be doing cardio. You know, you need to just lift five pound weights

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and go really slow. Cause if you go too hard, you're going to put your muscles up and oh my

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goodness. If I hear anyone tell me fuck cardio one more time, I'm going to lose my mind. Cardio is

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not the enemy. Cardio does not make your PCOS bad. Cardio is not keeping you fat. Strength training

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is important. You want to build muscle. Muscle is great. Muscle burns fat. Muscle's awesome.

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But if you want to do HIIT, do HIIT. If that's your class, cool. If you want to lift slow,

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lift high weight slowly, go for it. But this notion that you need to hold a five pound weight

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and just go really slow and that's what PCOS needs. I spent a year following these stupid

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exercise routines that I kept seeing for PCOS and I gained fucking weight. And the thing that

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worked before surgery, I started walking. I was 315 pounds before surgery. I was obese. I was

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morbidly obese. I was huge. I've lost weight once in my life before. I was 195 pounds from walking.

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I didn't go to the gym. I didn't do HIIT classes. I literally walked twice a day to and from my job

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in Toronto. I walked 30 minutes to catch my bus, caught my bus, walked 30 minutes home after I got

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off my bus and I dropped an enormous amount of weight after bariatric surgery, which is a tool.

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It's not a magic device. I walk. I walk 5K a day, minimum. I'm getting a ton of steps in and the

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walking has been great. I'm a runner now. I'm training for a 10K and a half marathon. Walking

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still has helped me lose more weight than running because running makes me so hungry that I want to

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eat all the carbs in the world. But cardio has had one of the best impacts on my PCOS, my mental

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health and my weight loss. It's helped me regulate my breathing. It's increased my heart capacity,

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made my heart more efficient than it's ever been. And I still strength train. I have nothing against

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it. But for the love of God, if I see one more PCOS account say, do not do cardio, cardio is so

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bad for PCOS. It's not. That's total bullshit. Total fucking bullshit. It is not spiking your

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cortisol. It's not keeping you fat. It's not ruining fit. Like I'm hot take, but I'm so tired

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because all I see are PCOS accounts saying that cardio is the worst thing ever. And now I'm seeing

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like other accounts saying cardio is why you're not losing weight and you'll be fat. Like it's a

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balance folks. Our clinic has told both of us specifically two days of strength training and

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the rest needs to be cardio. They've even said you need to be moving every day. Now it's not get out

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and run every day. There's a cat walking right in front of me. It's not get out and run every day.

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No, but it's 30 minutes minimum a day of walking or some sort of vigorous exercise and two days a

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week of strength training. And I hate to break it to people, but they told me Pilates does not

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count as strength training and neither does yoga. Cause early on I tried to go, I'm doing Pilates.

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And they were like, it doesn't count. So I said, great, I'll do body pump. And they were like,

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you could, yeah, absolutely. If you love it, do body pump, but also like you could just go

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lift heavy weights. And I was like, oh, and my dietician now has said the same thing to me. How

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much are you weight training? And I was like, you know, so you're not. And I was like, she's like,

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you can't just run five days a week. So he's like, gotta be, it's gotta be a healthy mix of both.

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And like, I hate cardio. I hate it. I hate it. I hate it. But it's gotta be a mix and walking is

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so Filippen underrated. And I used to have this, he's doing this bootcamp with this trainer who I

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still to this day, I love him so much. And he used to say, and it always stuck with me, that your body

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recognizes movement, not exercise. Because I remember like, I would go to these bootcamps

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with people that were fit and I was morbidly obese and I couldn't do half of the things. And he was

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so great. He would come over and I remember he would put my hand on his hand on my back and he

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would just say, just move, just move like what he goes, I don't care if you can't do whatever I've

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told you to do at this station. Just do something. Yeah. And then you say your body recognizes

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movement, not exercise. And so I hand down for first strength training. But cardio, like you said,

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even if it's just walking, that counts as cardio. Walk is boring. Yeah, it doesn't have to be hit.

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You're not gonna find me doing it. There's no way in hell. I hate it. I would rather die than do it.

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So cardio, as long as your heart rate is up, walking counts. So get over it. The hate for walking

367
00:33:38,700 --> 00:33:44,140
blows my mind. Like why people think walking doesn't count as exercise? Bitch. So my mom lost an

368
00:33:44,140 --> 00:33:49,100
incredible amount of weight after she had kids. It was something she struggled with. Walking,

369
00:33:49,100 --> 00:33:53,500
she just walked every day. And now it's part of their routine as retired individuals. My mom's

370
00:33:53,500 --> 00:33:59,100
like, your dad and I go out for a nice walk. And it's how they maintain. My dad, who's going to be 80,

371
00:33:59,100 --> 00:34:06,060
does 10K a day, not at once. But he goes for two walks a day. He was a runner, a hockey player.

372
00:34:06,060 --> 00:34:11,180
He'd never had his knees replaced, his hips replaced. He's battled and won his battle against

373
00:34:11,180 --> 00:34:19,500
cancer. We owe it all to walking. We attribute it to, he was a drinker, a smoker. I wouldn't say he

374
00:34:19,500 --> 00:34:23,740
ate the best. That man probably eats three ice creams a goddamn day. How he's not a diabetic,

375
00:34:23,740 --> 00:34:29,260
I'll never know, but like good job, dad. But we do, we tell them all the time, we attribute it to

376
00:34:29,260 --> 00:34:36,140
your walking. He plays golf. He's an avid golfer, which like love golf. And he plays with younger

377
00:34:36,140 --> 00:34:42,220
people because the 80, like he's 70 something, but the 70 something and 80 year olds he plays with

378
00:34:42,220 --> 00:34:45,980
are all literally in the hospital too much to play with because they've had their hips replaced,

379
00:34:45,980 --> 00:34:49,900
their knees replaced, their shoulders replaced. Like they're not healthy people. He now plays with

380
00:34:49,900 --> 00:34:56,140
60 year olds because they're actually healthy. And my mom said, it's your walking reg. Like

381
00:34:56,140 --> 00:35:02,380
you're getting out every day and walking twice a day. It's keeping you fit. It's letting you

382
00:35:02,380 --> 00:35:07,420
eat those ice creams. But like, I don't know why there's so much hate. Thanks, Mel. So much hate

383
00:35:07,420 --> 00:35:14,060
for walking. Early on in my bariatric journey, I just walked. I was not a runner until June of 2024,

384
00:35:14,060 --> 00:35:19,180
by the way. I walked. I did laps in the driveway. Yeah. I did. When I got up to it, I was doing 10k

385
00:35:19,180 --> 00:35:23,180
on the weekend and I loved it. I put an audio book on, I went out for an hour and a half.

386
00:35:24,140 --> 00:35:30,940
And the weight was just going. So with or without surgery, I can attest, I lost an enormous amount

387
00:35:30,940 --> 00:35:36,780
of weight back in my very early twenties from just walking as well. So I stand firm in my belief that

388
00:35:36,780 --> 00:35:42,700
if people are telling you with PCOS not to do cardio, no, if you like spin, do spin. If you want

389
00:35:42,700 --> 00:35:49,820
to run, run. If you want to walk, walk. If you're just starting, walk. Walking is the one of the

390
00:35:49,820 --> 00:35:55,100
best things. And if people tell you it's not, get rid of the account, move on and goodbye.

391
00:35:55,100 --> 00:36:01,420
Walking is literally not keeping you fat. Walking is not keeping you with PCOS. This is a medical

392
00:36:01,420 --> 00:36:07,980
disease that is causing cysts on your ovaries and walking is not causing that. It's not. And it is

393
00:36:07,980 --> 00:36:13,340
not hurting your chances of losing weight at all. So just move your body in whatever way it makes

394
00:36:13,340 --> 00:36:18,540
sense. But if people are telling you not to do something, it's, it's probably not the best advice

395
00:36:18,540 --> 00:36:25,100
because what I've learned from surgery, everything in moderation, everything has a balance. Just like

396
00:36:25,100 --> 00:36:31,260
I can't just do cardio. I have to do strength and cardio for a well-rounded healthy body. If I want

397
00:36:31,260 --> 00:36:36,540
to keep those muscles and I want to build muscles so I don't become really weak, you need to do

398
00:36:36,540 --> 00:36:45,500
strength training. So that's my hot take on, I hate the fuck cardio movement. I hate it. And I don't

399
00:36:45,500 --> 00:36:50,380
think it's helping. I don't think it's helping you not to do cardio. I really don't. I think what it

400
00:36:50,380 --> 00:36:57,100
comes down to at the end of the day is, is PCOS a medical issue? Yes. Yes. Is it, is it a medical

401
00:36:57,100 --> 00:37:05,340
disease? Yeah. Does it make things in your life harder? Yes. Yes. Does it make things impossible?

402
00:37:05,340 --> 00:37:12,380
No. Oh. There is, is there a cure? No. There, but at the end of the day, there's lots you can do

403
00:37:12,380 --> 00:37:17,660
to make improvements. There's lots of things you can do to help. In terms of diet, it really comes

404
00:37:17,660 --> 00:37:22,540
down to clean eating for me at least. Clean eating. Clean eating. Lifestyle changes. I don't,

405
00:37:22,540 --> 00:37:27,580
I'm really trying to get the word diet out of my house and out of my mouth. And I agree with you.

406
00:37:27,580 --> 00:37:33,500
Yeah. Because it's not diet. It's not a lifestyle change. A diet implies, diets imply short term.

407
00:37:33,500 --> 00:37:39,340
Yeah. And diets come into the good food, bad food, which is a whole nother conversation that I don't,

408
00:37:39,340 --> 00:37:46,220
I don't want to get into today because we'll be here for another hour. But it's just, is it a medical

409
00:37:46,220 --> 00:37:51,420
condition? Yes. Does it make things hard? You damn well bet it does. And challenge. Are there people

410
00:37:51,420 --> 00:37:57,260
who, I know like for me, one of my big symptoms is I'm always tired. Now that is also my cortisol,

411
00:37:57,260 --> 00:38:02,220
but like I'll wake up and Devon will say, Oh, like good morning. How are you tired? He's like,

412
00:38:02,220 --> 00:38:07,980
you always say that because I literally wake up tired. It's a day and I go to bed. So people with

413
00:38:07,980 --> 00:38:14,300
PCOS are not lazy. No, they're not, not trying to better themselves. No. But at the end of the day,

414
00:38:14,300 --> 00:38:18,460
there are things you can do. Like you said, move your body, just walk some weights, just walk,

415
00:38:18,460 --> 00:38:24,700
just move, let some weight, eat clean foods. And if you're not somebody who's planning on having

416
00:38:24,700 --> 00:38:30,700
surgery, vitamins are, yeah, vitamins huge. And if you are not someone who's planning on having

417
00:38:30,700 --> 00:38:37,020
surgery, you will, the weight will be lost. It will just be slow. I hate to say it. It's going to be

418
00:38:37,020 --> 00:38:40,700
tougher. It's going to be harder for you. It's going to be more work for you. It's going to be

419
00:38:40,700 --> 00:38:46,060
slower for you. But that was one of the reasons why, yeah, for me, it was appealing to have the

420
00:38:46,060 --> 00:38:51,580
surgery because same thing. They said that it will improve your PCOS because one of, one of the catch

421
00:38:51,580 --> 00:38:58,300
22s with PCOS is it will get better if you lose weight, but it's so hard. It might not cure it,

422
00:38:58,300 --> 00:39:05,340
but it will get better. Yes. But the losing weight part is the really hard part. So for me, it was,

423
00:39:05,340 --> 00:39:12,620
okay, I can continue to work my butt off like crazy, see results, but see them so slow, which for me

424
00:39:12,620 --> 00:39:20,060
was so demotivating and I have a lot to lose. So it was, do I want to sit here and put in all this

425
00:39:20,060 --> 00:39:25,980
effort for the slow result, which I know for me makes it very hard then for me to be motivated

426
00:39:25,980 --> 00:39:32,060
and for me to have the determination to stick with any sort of thing. Right. So I can bust my butt

427
00:39:32,060 --> 00:39:36,860
and it'll take me two, probably two plus, let's be more than two years, probably to lose the amount

428
00:39:36,860 --> 00:39:42,860
of weight I need to lose. Or I can have this surgery, drop the weight shit ton faster,

429
00:39:42,860 --> 00:39:49,340
which to me was like, why would I not want to put myself and my body in the best position possible

430
00:39:49,340 --> 00:39:54,540
as fast as possible? A hundred percent. I feel better and not be so tired all the time and not

431
00:39:54,540 --> 00:39:59,260
have my, yada yada. Right. So for me, that's what it was. Is PCOS something that is going to

432
00:40:00,300 --> 00:40:05,020
make it impossible for you to have a healthy life? No, not at all. But it does make it really

433
00:40:05,020 --> 00:40:10,940
freaking hard to challenge, but it's not impossible. It's like everybody is running a race.

434
00:40:10,940 --> 00:40:18,300
Everybody's running the same 200 meters. You have to carry a boulder with you while running

435
00:40:18,300 --> 00:40:25,980
at 200 meters. So not impossible, but harder. It's you're going to be slower. You're more tired.

436
00:40:25,980 --> 00:40:31,980
Sorry, I have animals in here. You're more tired and it's, it feels unfair because well, they get

437
00:40:31,980 --> 00:40:38,300
to run without the boulder. They do. They do. And that's shitty, but if you push through, eventually

438
00:40:38,300 --> 00:40:43,580
losing weight will help. And I know you don't want to hear that, but don't discredit your doctor or

439
00:40:43,580 --> 00:40:47,020
stop seeing your doctor because they mentioned weight. I know I mentioned it at the beginning

440
00:40:47,020 --> 00:40:50,380
and I kind of rolled my eyes because that's how I felt when I was a baby. It's hard to hear.

441
00:40:50,380 --> 00:40:54,380
Stop talking about my weight. They're not wrong. My mom always says this.

442
00:40:55,740 --> 00:41:00,540
Losing weight just means your body has to work less hard to fuel and run your body.

443
00:41:00,540 --> 00:41:04,780
Okay. It is not something that doctors say to be mean because they think you need to be skinny or

444
00:41:04,780 --> 00:41:09,340
look better. It has nothing to do with your looks. They're saying if your body even lost 10 more

445
00:41:09,340 --> 00:41:13,820
pounds, it would function more efficiently. Your organs wouldn't have to work as hard. Your joints

446
00:41:13,820 --> 00:41:20,060
wouldn't be as sore. You might not be as tired. Walking might not be as hard. So losing weight has

447
00:41:20,060 --> 00:41:25,500
helped. If it was impossible to lose weight with PCOS and Stefan, I wouldn't be losing weight.

448
00:41:25,500 --> 00:41:32,060
I've lost over 150 pounds. Steph's lost over 50 pounds. Like it's doable. Now surgery gave us the

449
00:41:32,060 --> 00:41:39,100
tool to just eat less because eating less causes you to lose weight. So it helped us get lower.

450
00:41:39,100 --> 00:41:44,780
And because we're lower, I can say two years out, I have regular periods. I have totally normal

451
00:41:44,780 --> 00:41:48,460
energy levels. I'm not waking up tired or falling asleep in the middle of the day.

452
00:41:50,140 --> 00:41:56,620
Things feel so much better than they were. They're under control. I don't have cravings

453
00:41:56,620 --> 00:42:02,860
like I used to. I don't have any of the symptoms I had before. I have regular cycles that I could

454
00:42:02,860 --> 00:42:09,180
set my watch to. So it has immensely helped, but you don't need surgery to do this. There's lots of

455
00:42:09,180 --> 00:42:13,420
people who've done it without. You have to look at your diet. And I know it's tough because you're

456
00:42:13,420 --> 00:42:17,820
tired and you don't want to move and you're dealing with a lot of shitty symptoms, but you

457
00:42:17,820 --> 00:42:21,660
have to look at your diet. And unfortunately you have to say, I have a medical issue.

458
00:42:22,220 --> 00:42:25,820
That means I don't get to just eat what I want to eat. I really got to watch the sugar and probably

459
00:42:25,820 --> 00:42:30,860
cut the sugar out. I got to really look at my carbs as well. You don't have to be keto, but like

460
00:42:30,860 --> 00:42:36,780
just look at how many carbs you're maybe eating a day. Switch to high protein. High protein is not

461
00:42:36,780 --> 00:42:43,180
boring. There's a lot you can do, but switch to high protein. Don't listen about the keto this or

462
00:42:43,180 --> 00:42:50,220
take this drug or that drink spearmint tea. Eat clean, eat in a calorie deficit. Not a major one.

463
00:42:50,220 --> 00:42:55,820
We're talking like maybe 200 calorie deficit. And then just walk. And it's tough, but when you wake

464
00:42:55,820 --> 00:42:59,500
up and you go, I'm tired and I don't want to move, there was a great quote that helped me at the

465
00:42:59,500 --> 00:43:06,060
beginning of surgery that was basically like, don't make up your decision to exercise or move

466
00:43:06,060 --> 00:43:11,020
or whatever until you start moving. So you can't sit in your house and go, no, I'm too tired and

467
00:43:11,020 --> 00:43:14,940
I don't want to do it. You can make that decision when you put one foot in front of the other out

468
00:43:14,940 --> 00:43:20,140
the door and move for a few minutes. And if you then decide, I can't do this, that's fine. But

469
00:43:20,140 --> 00:43:24,380
you have to be in motion to then make the decision. Should I stay in motion or should I not? Because

470
00:43:24,380 --> 00:43:29,340
you'll always convince yourself you're too tired till you get going. And that's why I vote just

471
00:43:29,340 --> 00:43:34,700
try walking. And I'm not saying walk 5K or 10K. Walk for 10 minutes and go back in. Okay. Walk

472
00:43:34,700 --> 00:43:38,940
around the block. But don't make that decision till you're physically dressed with your shoes on and

473
00:43:38,940 --> 00:43:42,700
out the door. And then make the decision if you're too tired and you don't want to do this.

474
00:43:43,820 --> 00:43:49,180
Don't let the tired you make that decision because exercise actually, I know you're not going to want

475
00:43:49,180 --> 00:43:54,060
to hear it. It can help make you feel a bit more energized. It gives you more energy. Yeah. It

476
00:43:54,060 --> 00:43:59,500
actually does. And like I said, if you physically can't, like Hannah said, if you put your stuff on

477
00:43:59,500 --> 00:44:03,180
and you get out that door and you get halfway down the street and you just can't do it.

478
00:44:03,820 --> 00:44:10,060
You know what? You tried, you put the effort in and something is better than nothing. Right?

479
00:44:10,060 --> 00:44:16,460
Progress over perfection guide. That's what it boils down to. And like after surgery, I literally

480
00:44:16,460 --> 00:44:22,460
would just do laps of my driveway for five, 10 minutes at a time. And then build up. And then

481
00:44:22,460 --> 00:44:28,860
I went back to the gym and now I'm back to workouts and stuff. But it's that the hardest part is that

482
00:44:28,860 --> 00:44:36,300
first couple of minutes. And then once you get into it, it's you're good. And I tell myself this

483
00:44:36,300 --> 00:44:41,580
all the time because before surgery, I was getting up at 5 a.m. and going to the gym every morning.

484
00:44:41,580 --> 00:44:47,500
And then part of it, part of it was a winter fit. And it became, am I getting up at 5 a.m.

485
00:44:47,500 --> 00:44:52,540
to go brush now where I live? We have a lot of snow. So am I getting up at 5 a.m. to go brush the

486
00:44:52,540 --> 00:44:58,220
10th and we just know off the truck, let it heat up and then go to the gym. Hard pass. So have I

487
00:44:58,220 --> 00:45:03,820
been doing my 5 a.m. gyms? No. Do I need to get back into it? Yeah. I've been doing lunchtime

488
00:45:03,820 --> 00:45:09,100
workouts because I work from home, which is great. But you on it, like I have to keep reminding

489
00:45:09,100 --> 00:45:16,460
myself how much better I feel after the workout, even during the workout. And my entire day

490
00:45:16,460 --> 00:45:22,300
is just so much better. I'm less stressed. I'm less irritable. I have more energy. Yeah. And for me,

491
00:45:22,300 --> 00:45:28,060
the big part is if I wake up with my kids, I'm so grouchy. I'm irritable. I'm grouchy. I yell at

492
00:45:28,060 --> 00:45:33,180
them. I'm angry. If I get a workout in and then deal with my kids, I'm like a totally different

493
00:45:33,180 --> 00:45:40,700
mom. It does so much for your, yeah. Even on a side, even a walk, it's not only for your body,

494
00:45:40,700 --> 00:45:46,860
but for your mental health. It clears my head. So good for you. And so yeah, I think because

495
00:45:46,860 --> 00:45:50,140
people think if you're walking, you're not sweating and you're not out of breath and you're not

496
00:45:50,140 --> 00:45:54,700
panting. You don't have to. No, people have it in their mind that unless you're out of breath,

497
00:45:54,700 --> 00:45:57,820
you feel like you're going to throw up and you're drenched in sweat, you didn't work out.

498
00:45:57,820 --> 00:46:05,820
Which is totally BS. It's totally BS. So start with small achievable goals. Don't like innocent,

499
00:46:05,820 --> 00:46:13,420
small calorie deficits here. We're not talking thousand calorie deficits. No, set yourself up to

500
00:46:13,420 --> 00:46:20,380
succeed one little goal at a time. And you will get there. You will get there. It's not easy.

501
00:46:20,380 --> 00:46:26,860
And surgery is not easy. P.C.S. isn't easy, but it's doable. You can do it. You just have to be

502
00:46:26,860 --> 00:46:32,540
patient, which I, anyone who knows me and hears me say you have to be patient is in a part still

503
00:46:32,540 --> 00:46:39,020
a lot because I have none. You're not alone. You can do this. It's not going to be easy

504
00:46:39,020 --> 00:46:43,900
because that is the medical disease you've been handed is a challenge, but it's not an impossible

505
00:46:43,900 --> 00:46:48,140
challenge. It literally isn't. Don't let it become your crutch and convince you that there's nothing

506
00:46:48,140 --> 00:46:53,420
you can do, which we all did before surgery was, oh, well, P.C.S. It's that's not what it is.

507
00:46:53,420 --> 00:46:58,860
Okay. It's a challenge. And then I'll end on Steph is right. Don't try to do it all at once either.

508
00:46:58,860 --> 00:47:01,740
Don't try to be like, well, I'm going to walk five days a week and I'm going to do this and I'm going

509
00:47:01,740 --> 00:47:06,780
to be in a calorie deficit and I'm going to go to bed at this time. No, you will fail. Start small.

510
00:47:06,780 --> 00:47:10,780
And maybe that small goal is I'm just going to try to walk three days a week. And until that becomes

511
00:47:10,780 --> 00:47:16,060
easy and not a massive challenge, then go, okay, now I want to look at what I'm eating and maybe I

512
00:47:16,060 --> 00:47:21,900
need to cut my sugar down to 40 grams a day instead of what it's at currently. Or maybe the goal is

513
00:47:21,900 --> 00:47:26,300
I'm just going to start looking at what I eat every day and then make an analysis on what maybe

514
00:47:26,300 --> 00:47:31,660
I could change. Because the one thing I didn't realize before was that what I thought I was eating

515
00:47:31,660 --> 00:47:39,100
versus what I then track was not even a little bit. It was drastically underestimating the sugar,

516
00:47:39,100 --> 00:47:45,420
the carbs, the calories, the protein. Yeah. The protein. Like, so again, start small, start slow.

517
00:47:45,420 --> 00:47:48,780
We're going to have lots of podcast episodes that'll help you with things like this.

518
00:47:50,060 --> 00:47:55,500
Our next episode is going to be about what we eat in a day, what our macros are like, like what

519
00:47:55,500 --> 00:48:00,060
eating and recipes look like. So that will be a great one to help anybody that's now at that

520
00:48:00,060 --> 00:48:05,500
stage of changing their life where they want to look at. Where do I start? So this was a good

521
00:48:05,500 --> 00:48:09,900
episode where we just needed to talk about PCOS and PCOS and just let you guys know we've been

522
00:48:09,900 --> 00:48:14,620
there. We know the challenge. You're definitely not alone. Surgery is a remarkable tool to help

523
00:48:14,620 --> 00:48:18,540
with this if you're thinking about it, but you can definitely do it without it as well. It's just

524
00:48:18,540 --> 00:48:24,700
slower. But surgery helps, improves things drastically. And I would give it a big thumbs

525
00:48:24,700 --> 00:48:32,620
up if you're thinking about it while having PCOS. I've already seen women. I know we're running so

526
00:48:32,620 --> 00:48:38,780
over, but a lot of women who have PCOS that have had surgery have successfully gotten pregnant

527
00:48:38,780 --> 00:48:45,980
a year after. I apologize about the noise in my room. I finally had my first normal cycle in two

528
00:48:45,980 --> 00:48:55,820
years. Finally. I had my two years today, but they've gone down. Yeah, they've gone down. My

529
00:48:55,820 --> 00:49:01,260
joints have gone out and my blood pressure has gone down. My bloating has gone down. Like it's

530
00:49:01,260 --> 00:49:08,060
already, I'm only three and a half-ish months out. Wait till you're two years out. Exactly. Just the fact

531
00:49:08,060 --> 00:49:17,020
that I had a normal cycle. That alone is to me massively. I could if I wanted. I went from being

532
00:49:17,020 --> 00:49:20,940
told you probably just are not going to be able to conceive children to like, hey, you better be

533
00:49:20,940 --> 00:49:28,940
careful. Right. So yeah. But our next episode is going to be about diets and macros and other

534
00:49:28,940 --> 00:49:36,780
things. But yeah, we're looking forward to it and we will chat with you guys next week. Like,

535
00:49:36,780 --> 00:49:41,180
subscribe, please rate and review if you like it. We want to hear from you. We love all the new

536
00:49:41,180 --> 00:49:44,860
listeners we have. Let us know what you think about the episode, but thanks for coming along

537
00:49:44,860 --> 00:49:50,940
on the PCOS journey this week. Love it. We will see you. We'll see you next Monday. Next week.

538
00:49:50,940 --> 00:50:06,380
Bye Steph. Bye Hannah.