Episode #148: Navigating PCOS and Eating Disorders: A Teen’s Story to Better Health

Hello, my friend, and welcome back to another episode of the PCOS Repair Podcast. Today, I get to share a really inspiring story of one of my clients from a few years ago. We were recently emailing, and I was reminded of how amazing her transformational story has been. She graciously granted me permission to share it with you in today’s episode.

Something I love about my client, whose name is Annie, and her story is that it touches on some very important key aspects that often go unconsidered or undiscussed as we search for a new path toward better health. Of course, here on the podcast, we focus on PCOS health, but this applies to anyone exploring fitness programs, nutrition plans, or just wanting to lose a few pounds—especially as we head into summer.

Whatever health goal we’re pursuing, we don’t want to overlook how that journey may impact our mental health.

So today, I’m excited to share Annie’s story: how she overcame her PCOS struggles, found her path to healing, reversed her symptoms, and lost the weight she wanted to lose. But more importantly, how she did all of this while also managing a previous history of eating disorders. She was able to move forward in a way that nourished her physical health, her mindset, and her emotional well-being.

Let’s dive in.

Annie was about 24 years old when we started working together. Throughout her teens, she had struggled at various times with eating disorders. At the time, she didn’t know she had PCOS—she hadn’t been diagnosed yet—but she felt the pressure of social norms and the expectations for a certain level of fitness, for fitting into specific pant or dress sizes.

Like many teens and young adults who are not well-informed about how to properly care for their bodies, she used methods within her control to try and meet the expectations she felt surrounded by. Before we started working together, she had already worked with therapists and had done the work to get her eating disorder tendencies under control.

However, she had gained about 35 pounds and wanted to lose the weight. She was very aware that although those issues were behind her, they could potentially resurface if she pursued weight loss without the right mindset or structure. She wanted to incorporate both PCOS health and weight loss into her routine without triggering past problems.

At the time, she was pursuing her PhD in Florida. The hot and humid climate felt particularly challenging for her, especially with the extra weight. She said it brought down her energy and made her feel uncomfortable—physically and emotionally. Living in a place where shorts and swimsuits were common year-round only added to her discomfort and self-consciousness.

She was ready to make weight loss a big priority in her life—but she wanted to do it the right way. She wanted to feel better, reach a healthier weight for her, and do it all without compromising her mental health.

Let me pause here for a second. As we dive into today’s rather sensitive topic, I just want to acknowledge that this may be triggering for some of you. Please proceed with discretion. If you have a history of disordered eating—or even just a difficult relationship with food—this may hit close to home.

In today’s culture of social media “inspiration,” before-and-afters, fast fixes, trendy diets, and even medications like Ozempic being popularized, it’s easy to fall into the mindset of doing “whatever it takes” to achieve your goals.

But any time you want something so badly that you stop considering the bigger picture, I encourage you to pause. Take a breath. Give yourself time to calm down around the issue and look at your options more clearly before diving into something that might not be the right move for your overall health.

One of the things I love about Annie’s story is that she was willing to do it differently. She came into the process ready to take a slower path if needed. She understood it might be harder. She knew she’d have to grow into a lifestyle she could sustain. And she was ready to do it that way.

One of the agreements we had when we started working together was that she would continue working with a therapist to manage her mental health and eating disorder recovery. That part of her care was supported by someone qualified to handle those aspects, while we focused on building her physical health and PCOS care plan.

Ultimately, it was her mindset and approach that made all the difference.

So how did Annie’s journey look different from what I usually talk about on this podcast?

In many episodes, I talk about identifying your root causes, nourishing your body, and finding a sustainable rhythm. All of that still applies. But when someone has a history of disordered eating—or even just a pattern of failed attempts, guilt, and frustration around food—it’s essential to approach things differently.

For Annie, that meant shifting her mindset, redefining what success looked like, and creating a data-driven plan rather than reacting emotionally to every small fluctuation.

Weight loss is incredibly emotional. There’s confidence when things are working, and there’s disappointment and even despair when they’re not. And let’s face it, most of us are terrible at measuring progress.

If I get on the scale in the morning and it’s up half a pound—even if I ate well and exercised the day before—it can feel like everything I did was for nothing. But that’s just not how weight works. Hydration, salt intake, hormones, time of the month—it all impacts the scale.

Annie knew that about herself. So we created a plan with spaced-out weigh-ins and a clear expectation of what success would look like over six-week intervals. We aimed for 0.5 to 1 pound of weight loss per week—no more.

So, for example, what if after six weeks she had only lost two pounds? That might seem discouraging on the surface, but we had already talked through that possibility. She acknowledged that at the beginning, she might still be learning how to implement the changes, so slower progress was okay.

As long as she wasn’t gaining, or stuck in place, we would call it a success. And that’s exactly what she did.

See, when we let ourselves get emotionally caught up in short-term results, we tend to throw out all the good we’ve done just because it didn’t meet some unrealistic goal. We get discouraged and revert to old habits. But Annie avoided that trap by focusing on steady, sustainable change.

We also made sure she was working on her root causes and structuring her meals in a way that supported her mindset and avoided triggering old patterns. For her, that meant regular meals—breakfast, lunch, and dinner—with snacks as needed. We gave calorie ranges, not strict targets, to allow for flexibility while still being mindful of balance and consistency.

That structure helped her avoid extreme hunger and overeating later, which can be a slippery slope for someone with a history of binge-restrict cycles.

So fast forward to now—four or five years later. Annie is nearly 30 and just had a baby. She recently emailed me because she wants to lose some postpartum weight. She told me she’s going back to the tools we built together and wanted to check in about updating her plan.

What really stood out to me was how calm, empowered, and self-aware she sounded. She has maintained her weight, supported her PCOS health, and is now re-entering the weight-loss phase with clarity and confidence. She owns her health journey.

And I think that’s what makes her story so inspiring.

We all have moments in our past that didn’t go the way we wanted. Maybe we’ve failed at sticking to a plan. Maybe we’ve developed unhealthy habits or even just discouraged ourselves into inaction. But those experiences don’t have to define us. They can inform us. They can help us approach our health journey in a more intentional, compassionate, and sustainable way.

Annie brought her full self to the table—her history, her lessons learned, and her commitment to long-term health. She used her past to guide her future, not to limit it.

So as we wrap up today’s episode, I want to remind you that PCOS, although frustrating, can also be a gift. It forces you to care for your body in a way many people never have to think about. In a world where poor energy, excess weight, and declining health are everywhere, PCOS can be a wake-up call—a push to make meaningful, lasting changes.

And if you’re in the thick of it, struggling with symptoms or feeling overwhelmed, I hope Annie’s story gives you hope. You are not alone, and there is a way forward.

If you’d like to continue the conversation, you can find me over on Instagram at @nourishtohealthy. And if you found today’s episode helpful, be sure to hit that subscribe button so you’re notified each and every week when a new episode becomes available.

Until next time, bye for now.