Hi hun, It's really hard to explain or understand how metformin works. All I know is it has something to do with insulin resistance and the imbalance of those hormones unbalance all the other hormones and cause havoc. I was put on it as a trial drug back in 2004 after having polycystic ovaries seen on a scan when we were having fertility treatment. I was sure I had it but I was seeing a useless doctor who wouldn't entertain the idea. I only had about 3 periods a year, was overweight, had facial hair and acne etc etc. When it was seen on the scan he couldn't deny it any more and I was referred to a lovely endocrinologist who confirmed it and offered to put me on a trial. They were just starting to put women, who couldn't conceive due to pcos, on it. It's actually a diabetic drug but as insulin resistance is in the same family they were trying it. After 5 years of clomid and ivf....I was pregnant in 3 months! Dream come true. So, it clearly works. Anyway, the bigger you are the more out of whack your hormones get so he asked me to try and lose weight to help the pills do there thing. It came off quite quickly. So it does work. After having DS I came off them as I didn't want anymore children due to my mental health problems. He wanted me to stay on them as they help with so many things for pcos sufferers but I had tummy problems and thought it was the pills so I said no. Many months later, still having tummy problems I realised it was milk and not the pills - typical! But as didn't want anymore kids I didn't bother going back on them. He did say I could go back on them at any time. Looking back I can see that I was exactly the same weight, 1 week after having ds as I was when I conceived 11 stone. It was when I came off them and went on anti d's that the weight went on. I can't help but wonder which was the culprit. Anyway the bigger you are with pcos the harder it is to shift it. The smaller you are, the easier, the imbalance gets worse as you get bigger. It's not my diet that's the problem as I am religious about recording every single calorie and I don't go over 15/1600 and am exercising. It's either my psych meds - which I have just found out apparently put weight on cos they too cause insulin resistance, or my PCOS which does the same. It must be that! Every time they test me for diabetes I come back borderline, my mum, nan, brother are all type 2 diabetics. My mum also has pcos. They don't like prescribing it if you're not diabetic but it's so annoying when I know for a fact the dr wrote to my gp saying I can go back on it anytime and that I fit all the criteria. It's cos it's an off label use even though it's been used for PCOS at least since I was on the trial, it's common treatment these days as it provides so many health benefits to pcos ladies. It reduces cholesterol, reduces risk of diabetes, regulates your cycle, helps with skin problems and thinning hair, reduces heart disease etc all the things we are at high risk for. And of course it makes magic little metformin babies, I know of three personally! So, I'm on 15/1600 cals. Have upped my fat to 40g a day. I lost 4lbs in the first week and half a pound the second week. I weigh in tomorrow but the scales showed just another half a pound when I weighed today. So it's looking like half to one pound a week. It must have been water weight in week one. I can't bear losing as little as half a pound a week when I'm working so hard and have so much to lose. It will take me 3 years to lose the rest and that's if I keep losing that half a pound! It slows down the further along you get so probably longer. How can I be so big and losing so little in my first weeks? It looks like it would continue like this for a couple of months and then probably stop! Don't get me wrong, if I was a couple of months in and had dropped to a pound a week I would be thrilled. But to be 16 stone and only losing that if I'm luck AND in the first month, frankly it's really upsetting cos of the way weight loss slows. Is I'm starting at half a pound then I'm not suddenly going to start losing more as time goes on. As far as I am aware it slow down not speeds up. I'm eating: b/fast - 2 Weetabix snack - yoghurt lunch - 2 toast, poached egg and small tin spag hoops. OR, tin soup and 50g pasta. OR, 3 little fishcakes and baked beans. OR, mashed potato and dry chicken snack - 20g pretzels or 2 ryvita with low fat cheese spread tea - sandwich - cottage cheese OR dry tuna OR dry chicken, French fries crisps, fruit smoothie supper - 1 Weetabix The past couple days I've been so frustrated I've dropped the morning snack and supper. I know it's not a healthy diet but I do have that selective eating problem. I'm also doing 15-20mins on the cross trainer a day. It should be working cos I have dropped around 2000 calories lower than what I was eating. also diets in the past have always worked at 4-6lbs in the first week, then 2-3lbs for the next few weeks then settling into and steady 1.5-2lbs a week thereafter. The one time I lost a lot of weight was about 15 years ago, I had PCOS then but was nowhere near as big as now, I went from 13 stone to 10 stone that time. Easy peasy. The next time I lost weight (ten years ago) I was on metformin and it fell off, I only had 2 stone to lose that time - managed to lose it and bam I was pregnant. Since then I have been unable to lose weight without starvation. One time was slim fast. I was almost passing out on that one. Another was when hubby cheated. I lived on toast, tea and cigarettes and lost 1.5 stone in 3 months. I wasn't eating more than 500 cals a day. Even the binging stopped. I was drinking instead. But to try and eat, exercise and do it all properly...well, the scales aren't really moving since the first week. It seems my body only responds to starvation now. I can't believe I have to wait a week to talk to dr about it. I've had a look at an old thread on here from when I tried slim fast. Back then we thought my bipolar was m.e as I was diagnosed with that after my surgery as a kid so things have changed a bit there but otherwise it was the same as where I am now. Trying to give up my bad habits and struggling. I managed to lose 9lbs in the first month of that apparently, with no exercise and I was practically starving myself to achieve that. Do I really have to starve to get my body to let go of the weight? It's just so frustrating when I really think going back on meds I took for a couple of years before, for a condition I suffer from and is the appropriate treatment for me, would be a much more sensible idea. Going to go and hibernate now, I've gone on and on, moaning and whinging. Sorry guys. Caz x
So perhaps you're one of those. Either way I'm so glad it worked for you! 
