Hi everyone. I'm posting my weekly shopping cart because I'm honestly feeling quite frustrated and could really use some advice from people who understand PCOS.

Here's my weekly shopping cart over on r/whatsinyourcart.

Before anyone judges the shopping list, I want to clarify that the lasagne, Gouda, wholemeal bread, salami, Bunny Bites crisps and chocolate are for my husband's work lunches, not necessarily things I'm eating throughout the week myself.

My biggest frustration is that I gained around 12 lbs from wedding stress back in 2018, and I've never, ever managed to lose it. It's been years of wanting to get back to where I was, and I feel like I've been stuck with this weight ever since.

The thing is, I'm not sedentary. I do cardio, biking, strength training and wild swimming daily. I have a collection of medals from doing 5Ks in under 30 minutes, and I track pretty much everything with my Garmin watch. I'm putting in the effort, keeping active and trying to be mindful of what I eat, but the weight just doesn't seem to shift.

Having PCOS makes the whole thing even more frustrating because I don't know how much of this is down to PCOS, whether I'm missing something, or whether I'm simply doing something wrong. I don't want to crash diet or live miserably on tiny portions. I just want to understand why losing this weight feels so impossible when I'm already doing so much. I was diagnosed at age 9, rediagnosed at age 14 and 26. I'm 37 now. Never had kids due to infertility.

Has anyone else experienced this? Did you eventually find something that helped, whether it was changing how you approached food, adjusting your exercise, getting medical support or something else entirely?

I'd especially appreciate advice from people with PCOS who've been active for years but still struggled to lose weight. I'm feeling really disheartened, and I just want to lose these 12 lbs without having to make my entire life revolve around weight loss.

Thank you for reading.

I moved to the UK in 2017 and became a naturalised British citizen in 2024. I bought my first home here in 2022, sold it last year to move to a new area, and bought our new place this year for £400k (I own 30% of it, and I owned 30% of my previous home specifically to ensure I wouldn't trigger any US capital gains tax upon selling). My life, my home, and my future are fully here in the UK.

Yet every single year, the shadow of US citizenship and foreign tax filing leaves me completely on edge. I’m seriously considering renouncing, but my husband and I are totally at odds over it.

Here’s where I’m coming from:

My dad died when I was 16, my mom passed away in 2020, and all my grandparents are gone. My remaining aunts and uncles are in their 70s/80s. I haven't been back to the US since 2017. Not for holidays, not even for funerals. I have no US bank accounts, no 401(k)s, and I’ve fully paid off my US student loans.

I filed my 2025 tax return on Jan 28th. It was accepted, but it’s still marked as pending (I assume because I reported the house sale, even though I made zero profit and specifically owned only 30% to keep it far below any potential gain limits). I tried setting up an ID.me account to check my tax transcript, but neither the automated system nor the video call agents would accept my British passport, my active US passport (exp. 2029), and my UK payslip. The bureaucracy is maddening.

I have £10k in my UK pension and only 19 US Social Security credits ($8k base) from before I moved. My US credit score is zero. My UK husband doesn't have a Green Card, US citizenship, or an ITIN (I always file as Married Filing Separately).

My mom died purely because she couldn't afford her cancer treatment in the US. That broke me. The thought of ever moving back to the US, getting sick, and going bankrupt just to stay alive terrifies me.

My husband thinks I should keep my US passport "just in case." But in case of what? Even if some catastrophic event forced us to leave the UK, where would we go in the US? He couldn't work right away, we’d have no credit, no family to stay with, and no healthcare.

I know I don't owe any actual US taxes under current income thresholds, but the compliance burden, the annual anxiety, and the tether to a country that gave my family so little support feels like an anchor around my neck.

Has anyone else in the UK (or abroad) been in this exact spot with a non-American partner who doesn't quite "get" the mental weight of US citizenship? How did you navigate the decision to stay or renounce?

I moved to the UK in 2017 and became a naturalised British citizen in 2024. I bought my first home here in 2022, sold it last year to move to a new area, and bought our new place this year for £400k (I own 30% of it, and I owned 30% of my previous home specifically to ensure I wouldn't trigger any US capital gains tax upon selling). My life, my home, and my future are fully here in the UK.

Yet every single year, the shadow of US citizenship and foreign tax filing leaves me completely on edge. I’m seriously considering renouncing, but my husband and I are totally at odds over it.

Here’s where I’m coming from:

My dad died when I was 16, my mom passed away in 2020, and all my grandparents are gone. My remaining aunts and uncles are in their 70s/80s. I haven't been back to the US since 2017. Not for holidays, not even for funerals. I have no US bank accounts, no 401(k)s, and I’ve fully paid off my US student loans.

I filed my 2025 tax return on Jan 28th. It was accepted, but it’s still marked as pending (I assume because I reported the house sale, even though I made zero profit and specifically owned only 30% to keep it far below any potential gain limits). I tried setting up an ID.me account to check my tax transcript, but neither the automated system nor the video call agents would accept my British passport, my active US passport (exp. 2029), and my UK payslip. The bureaucracy is maddening.

I have £10k in my UK pension and only 19 US Social Security credits ($8k base) from before I moved. My US credit score is zero. My UK husband doesn't have a Green Card, US citizenship, or an ITIN (I always file as Married Filing Separately).

My mom died purely because she couldn't afford her cancer treatment in the US. That broke me. The thought of ever moving back to the US, getting sick, and going bankrupt just to stay alive terrifies me.

My husband thinks I should keep my US passport "just in case." But in case of what? Even if some catastrophic event forced us to leave the UK, where would we go in the US? He couldn't work right away, we’d have no credit, no family to stay with, and no healthcare.

I know I don't owe any actual US taxes under current income thresholds, but the compliance burden, the annual anxiety, and the tether to a country that gave my family so little support feels like an anchor around my neck.

Has anyone else in the UK (or abroad) been in this exact spot with a non-American partner who doesn't quite "get" the mental weight of US citizenship? How did you navigate the decision to stay or renounce?