For as long as I can remember, I have felt like something was off with my body. Growing up with obesity was an awkward and frustrating journey. Losing weight was always slow and hard. Gaining it was always fast and easy. Food felt like the enemy, because the only solution back then was restrictive dieting. I hated not being able to eat “whatever” I wanted like everyone who wasn’t overweight. Being overweight made it harder to exercise. For years, I blamed myself for not being strong enough. I unfortunately took my weight issues personally.
It took me years, and eventually an official diagnosis, to finally understand what was going on. I want to open up about this because I know I am not the only woman who has lived it.
This is the first post in a series I am dedicating to a metabolic condition I have carried most of my life, formerly known as Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome, or PCOS. And this past Monday, sitting in my endocrinologist’s office in my late 40s, I was reminded of it all over again. Let me take you on a personal journey, in hopes that you too might relate.
PCOS is now PMOS
It’s important to understand that PCOS is now PMOS. It is becoming a topic of discussion due to this recent name change. In May 2026, a global panel of more than 50 patient and professional organizations, including The Endocrine Society, came together through a consensus published in The Lancet and agreed the old name was doing more harm than good. The word “polycystic” put all the attention on ovaries and cysts, when the truth is that this is a whole-body hormonal and metabolic condition. The new name is PMOS, polyendocrine metabolic ovarian syndrome. It leads with hormones and metabolism, which is a far more honest description of how it actually shows up in a woman’s life.
The change will take time to roll through doctors’ offices and guidelines, and as Yale Medicine explains, it does not rewrite anyone’s diagnosis or treatment plan overnight. However, the language matters. For many of us living with this condition, even with normal ultrasounds, the real story was happening in our hormones and our metabolism the whole time.
When I first received my diagnosis over 20 years ago, it was still called PCOS. I am going to use the new name, PMOS, throughout this series, because it describes my experience far better than “cysts” ever did.
My PMOS Diagnosis
My story really begins in my senior year of high school, when I had my first experience with irregular periods. For the majority of that year, I did not get my period regularly. It wasn’t until after graduation that I finally experienced a “normal” cycle.
Through my late teens and into my early 20s, my periods were irregular and most of the time extremely heavy, lasting 7 to 14 days. I never knew when it would show up. There was no rhythm to it, no way to plan around it, just this unpredictable, overwhelming thing my body did on its own schedule.
For a while, I did not have the means to get it looked at properly. It was not until I had medical insurance through work that I was finally able to see an OBGYN. She ran tests, gave me my official diagnosis, and placed me on birth control to help regulate my cycle.
The diagnosis and medication helped bring some regulation. However, I was not given a handbook on how to live with PMOS. What I did not have yet was any real understanding of how deeply it would shape my adult life.
Personal PMOS Complications Affecting My Health
Here is the part so many women with PMOS understand in their bones. I could lose weight. That was never fully impossible for me. But my body seemed determined to keep me inside a certain range, and no matter what I did on my own, I could not break through it. If I did, the success was short lived. The negative narrative in my head continued.
By the time I hit midlife, the reality had fully set in. I came to understand that I had to work three times harder than the average woman just to see the same results. Three times the effort for a fraction of the payoff. If you have ever felt that, you know how discouraging it is. This is the kind of thing that can quietly convince you that you are the problem, that you are not trying hard enough, when the truth is that your biology is working against a system that was never built for it.
It was never about willpower. It was chemistry.
The Wrong Approach Towards PMOS & Health
I want to be honest about the seasons I got it wrong, because I think they matter to anyone walking this road. It’s easy to get caught up in current diet and health trends. However, certain approaches to weight loss and health are not beneficial for a woman dealing with PMOS.
There were stretches of my life where I leaned into restrictive dieting for long periods of time. I bought into the idea that cutting carbs harder and eating less was simply better, that if I could just be disciplined enough, my body would finally cooperate. What I was actually missing was the bigger picture. I did not need to punish my body. I needed to support my metabolic and hormonal health.
That shift changed everything for me. I educated myself on real nutrition that benefited hormonal health. In my 40s, I stopped treating weight as something to conquer overnight and started treating my health as a lifestyle I was building for the long haul. Slow and steady wins the race is my mantra. I stopped asking my body to be someone else’s body. Weight loss became a journey, not a deadline.
My Perimenopause Experience with PMOS
Just as I was finding my footing, perimenopause showed up abruptly. I call it the great shift, because that is exactly what it is. My hormones were changing again, and this season came with its own unique set of challenges. It forced me to wake up and pay closer attention to my body than I ever had before. You can read my experience in The Perimenopause Diaries 1.
LLVB is full of my lived experience of perimenopause and how to thrive and live beautifully in a time of chaos. In a recent post about Hormonal Hairloss, I mentioned my plan to get a full panel of bloodwork done to determine what is happening in my body and the best course of action for me. I had also been experiencing a lack of motivation and fatigue over the last 6 weeks, which forced me to rest.
Then came my doctor’s appointment last Monday. It was a reminder that I am navigating a metabolic condition on top of perimenopause. Two hormonal realities layered on top of each other. My latest bloodwork showed that my current symptoms had nothing to do with perimenopause and everything to do with PMOS. My bloodwork gave my doctor and me a clearer picture, and we made adjustments, including support for my insulin sensitivity. I also got a real reminder about how much stress plays into all of this, and how much I need to protect my body from it.
It would have been easy to walk out of that office feeling defeated. For a moment, I will admit, the number on the scale caught me off guard, thanks to the active insulin resistance PMOS brings in your 40s. But I have done too much work to let one appointment undo it.
My Healthy Approach Moving Forward with PMOS
PMOS is a lifelong condition. Monday’s appointment was a reminder that I still live with this condition, which shows up differently in the various stages of life. For me, it has me focusing on supporting my metabolic health.
Did my bloodwork and the realities of PMOS stop me in my tracks? Yes. As a matter of fact, I had to really understand what my biology was doing so I could treat myself with grace. I am extremely thankful for a patient and encouraging endocrinologist who helped me not go deep down an unhealthy mental spiral. Understanding what the bloodwork revealed provided her and me direction for proper healthcare. My health was never meant to be cookie cutter, and neither is yours.
Living with PMOS is a two steps forward, one step back kind of journey. You make progress, and then your body pulls you back, and you have to keep going anyway. But falling back does not erase everything you have built. My progress is still mine. My journey is still moving. Understanding PMOS in my late 40s is about embracing the truth of how this condition shows up now and giving myself the support I need to keep living life beautifully.
What I am committed to now is staying educated about my own body, tuning in to my stress, and taking the medication that helps my body do what it cannot do alone. That is not giving up. That is showing up wisely.
I do not feel hopeless. I feel resilient. And more than anything, I have made peace with this truth: my value does not come from the scale. It never did.
More PMOS Education Coming
My commitment to you is to provide real-time education on PMOS. This condition, upon diagnosis, does not come with a handbook. I want to ensure this platform provides proper sources to educate women living with PMOS. Although it is a frustrating condition to live with, PMOS does not have to diminish the beauty in our lives.
Sources and further reading
- Endocrine Society, Polyendocrine Metabolic Ovarian Syndrome: a new name to improve diagnosis and care
- Yale Medicine, PCOS Is Renamed PMOS: What You Need to Know
- American Society for Reproductive Medicine, PCOS is Now PMOS: Understanding the Name Change
A quick, honest note: I am a licensed hairstylist and makeup artist, not a doctor. Everything I share here comes from my own lived experience with PMOS and my own research, and it is meant to encourage you, not to diagnose or treat you. Please talk with your own healthcare provider about your body, your bloodwork, and any changes to your care. This post may contain affiliate links. If you purchase through them, I may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. I only recommend things I truly believe in.
