Hypothyroid, PCOS, excess cortisol excretion and insulin resistance are NOT rare conditions. They affect women the most, but they are very common. And while a poor diet and lack of exercise does not help these conditions, they definitely make it harder to lose weight when your metabolism AND appetite are not 'normal.' Women with PCOS and insulin resistance are HUNGRY. Truly hungry. This is why they need to eat foods that promote the most amount of satiety and control their insulin levels or else hunger and bingeing are inevitable on a typical weight loss diet. No one should "diet" anyway, all you have to do is eat a little less and move a little more. We're been trained to think that weight loss = starvation. Not so. You can eat a LOT and still lose weight if you manage your calorie bank and stay active.
In general it's much harder for a woman to lose weight than a man due to men having so much more lean body mass than women. Women were designed to be fat and water storing machines to produce babies. We're definitely not designed for modern day desk jobs and the plethora of refined carb foods. Then take hormones and menstrual cycles into the equation and you have a whole new animal because women also weren't meant to have as many menstrual cycles as we do in present day.
The human genome has been evolving for millions of years but it's only in the past 100 years that introduced a ridiculous amount of new foods, chemicals, preservatives and other things that our internal program doesn't know what the fuck to do with it. In terms of evolution, we're still infants. What we know about the human mind and body is nearly nothing compared to what we don't know.
Men, women, weight loss, food, calories, etc., all have many, MANY gray areas. There is not a one-size-fits all solution for everyone or every situation, however, the very basic fundamentals ring true for everyone: Eat as many real, minimally processed foods as possible and stay active. This recipe works for everyone but just how you get it to work takes a lot of tweaking and experimenting. What works for you might not work for me and vice versa. You gotta educate yourself and through trial and error, you will find what works. The only diet that works is the one you can stay on today and the rest of your life. So, forget the celery and water. Just scale back on what you already eat, eat the healthier, wholesome, homemade versions of it and before you know it, you have a new lifestyle that doesn't make you feel miserable from being hungry.
