People who think metabolic and hormonal diseases don’t excuse being fat

Take a look at r/fatlogic and search “PCOS” it’s disgusting.

A common argument is “PCOS doesn’t change the amount of calories you eat. Calories in calories out bruh”

But they don’t understand just how much I needed sugar and fat before I was treated. The only thing that broke through the exhaustion was sugar or fat. Any time I attempted a diet or even just “ate healthy,” I was depressed and my muscles ached. I had a bad case and not everyone with PCOS is like this but that’s what PCOS does. It makes you need more sugar and fat for energy and function. And of course, that means higher calories. It also affects the ability to workout, making the “calories out” part also unfair.

I’m only 17, and my dad never believed that my PCOS caused my extreme appetite. He’d scold and punish me for eating extra sugar and fats, and force me to workout until failure. I became extremely depressed and began sneaking food to feel better. As soon as I got my own money I’d order delivery greasy sugary food too. But then he’d guilt me and make me feel awful for it. I was just trying to feel happiness and have enough energy to live :(

Finally I got my PCOS diagnosis and my dad never bothered to read the articles I sent him on how it messes up appetite and causes weight gain. He insisted I was just lazy and being a woman by making excuses.

But then I started Metformin, a drug that improves the bodies ability to use carbohydrates. For a normal person it doesn’t cause weight loss or appetite reduction, but for someone with metabolic diseases like PCOS or diabetes, it changes everything.

After a week in I started not binging on food after school. My lunch kept me satisfied until dinner. I noticed I had so much more energy and cognitive ability. I realized it was the Metformin and decided to test out how much food I needed.

I found that just 3 eggs and some strawberries for breakfast gave me the power to be my most energetic and happiest self all the way until lunch. Metformin is not a stimulant, it didn’t give me energy, it just allowed my body to use the eggs and fruit for energy in a way it couldn’t before.

My lunches became healthy salads with chicken, and my grades changed. The fact that a meal so low in carbs and fats could give me this brain power, was mind blowing. I finally felt like my old self, who was smart and capable.

At dinner time I impressed my dad by being satisfied from a normal amount of spaghetti. He challenged me by suggesting we give up all unhealthy foods for chicken rice and peas. So we tried for a few dinners but HE gave in before I did.

He didn’t want to believe it was the PCOS holding me back before, and acted like Metformin was Ozempic and was killing my hunger for me. But that was not the case, because I still felt hunger. So I tried to find more information online to prove to him that Metformin doesn’t work like this on people without PCOS.

Finally today, he seemed to have given in and accepted that it was never my fault. I feel better, but I’m angry I had to endure all that before.