HI,

I have read quite a bit on BFL and it sounds like something I would be interested in trying in conjuction with a LC WOE. I do have one question (TrainerDan if you are there I would love to hear/read your advice/opinion).....

I have PCOS. My doctor has informed me that the reason why I don't look like I weigh 220lbs is because of the muscular look I have. My arms and legs look thick but not 'fatty' even though I am extremely overweight...it is not lean muscle...I hope I am explaining this correctly....My doc said it has to do with my insulin being to high and out of whack...it does something to the muscle...anyway...My thing is that I do not want to look like a bodybuilder....I want to be trim, toned, and lean...I used to run track, lift weights (training for track), tennis, volleyball, and I was always active....I now have a sit-down job, and by the time I get off of work I am exhausted...I get 'driffty' during the day, especially after I eat (now I know why) and I am tired of feeling/looking like this...

I am interested in trying BFL but I don't want the female bodybuilder look...I already look "Strong" as some people tell me....

Any and all advice/information is welcome.....

suganomore

Don't fear, when you exercise your body with weight traing and go extremely low carb, there are chances your muscles will become smaller. After all, if you're insulin resistant, most of the stuff in/around your muscles will be water & fat.. if that gets off the muscle, it will become smaller.

Women simply don't have the genetic make-up to have huge muscles, unless they are one of the outliers or are using hormones.
So, don't worry.. if your doctor is right it will go away..

Fietser, on a CKD-diet herself (around 20g carbs in the week, carbo-loading in weekend)

Fietser is correct suganomore. Women don't have the hormones to get 'huge' w/o a lot of work and help (i.e. illegal substances). Female bodybuilders spend years and years bulking up to the size you end up seeing.

Lifting heavy weights (a la BFL) will give you hard, densely packed muscles and reduced body fat. The end result is increased lean body mass and decreased body fat.

I understand that with PCOS there are extenuating circumstances (such as higher than normal levels of testosterone in the body) and perhaps posting part of this question over in the PCOS forum might get you a few answers that relate directly to your situation. I can, however, advise you to have a look through Lisaf's journal - she has PCOS and has had great success with LC and BFL. Her journal is under the K-L section of the "Journals/Bootcamp" section of the forum.

Cheers!
Nat

Generally comes with a miriad of other hormonal imbalances which have caused the PCOS in the first place.

However, in balancing the weight training and cardio I think that you will find that you develop as Nat et al say you will in this thread. This may happen simply because in doing the weight training AND the cardio, although you are possibly tapping into higher levels of sex hormones, these will be balanced with equally as high cortisol levels...and cortisol (stress hormone) tends to be the opposite of sex hormones---by that I mean it has a suppressive effect upon them and everything stays balanced for both men and women usually. Too much of one triggers the pituitary to correct the problem and the pituitary senses the overload and starts to release ACTH which encourages cortisol release.

If you look at men that run 5-6 hours a day and do the long distance type running they achieve this because after 30 minutes of running they start to release huge amounts of cortisol, and if prolonging the running period, this has the effect of reducing the muscles size. So although they are muscular, they look lean. So I would not worry if your muscles start to "appear" to look larger at any point. Increasing the cardio can solve that problem in the way that I described.

There are some women who are prone to bulk up...but they are scarce on the ground. If your going to be one of those, there are ways and means of modifying that through the type of exercse and the duration that you do it.

There is one more thing that I notice now I lift weight..
I have been fairly a-sexual most of my life.. low self-esteem, catholic background (thinking that one should be married to have sex), wish to be independent.. etc.
Now I lift weights, I notice a remarkable increase in sex-drive..

Unfortunately there's nobody to share it with

Fietser, getting very frustrated now about that

Thanks to all of you for your reply's. I have my first challenge starting in January. I am eager to start, I just don't want to get my hopes or my expectations up to high. I weight 215 now. I hope to get down to 175. No matter what I am not going to give up though.