The mistake I kept making when trying to manage my PCOS
One thing I genuinely thought would help me was being stricter with myself around food I kept telling myself I needed to cut out sugar, reduce carbs, and make better choices at first I would feel motivated and convinced that this time I was finally going to get everything under control
But after a while it started getting exhausting
I would feel hungry and think about food constantly If I ended up eating something sweet I would feel guilty afterward I kept telling myself I just needed more discipline and better self control The hardest part was that I treated one difficult day like I had ruined everything I would promise myself I would start fresh on monday and try to do everything perfectly again
Eventually I started questioning whether being so strict was actually helping me
I realized I was spending so much energy thinking about what I wasnt allowed to eat that I wasn t paying enough attention to whether my meals were satisfying me in the first place I started focusing more on balanced meals with protein fiber and enough food to keep me satisfied i also tried to stop treating every sweet snack like a failure that needed to be made up for the next day
Nothing changed overnight, and I still have difficult days. But I started feeling less guilty around food and stopped looking at one imperfect day as a reason to give up. I think the biggest lesson for me was that taking care of myself doesn't have to mean being at war with myself all the time
I wish I had understood that sooner.