Comparison of PCOS Weight Loss Medication Currently experts recommend overweight women with PCOS try a low-calorie diet first to lose weight before seeking medication. This is because for most women with PCOS, a low-calorie diet is more effective than medication alone for losing weight. However, most studies also show that certain medications can boost the impact of a low-calorie diet (LCD) especially if tailored to the patient’s individual condition. Fortunately, there are several types of medication, each with different properties, to suit a variety of women with PCOS, according to hyperandrogenism, insulin resistance and BMI. The insulin sensitizer metformin (Fortamet, Glucophage or Glumetza) is commonly prescribed to women with PCOS and insulin resistance (IR) struggling to lose weight via diet alone. Unfortunately, the heterogenicity of PCOS means not all women respond to metformin the same and can skew small size studies. Nevertheless, overall metformin treatment promotes weight loss and/or maintenance among women with PCOS and IR. Dumesic et al. recently reported that elevated testosterone levels boosts abdominal fat deposition in PCOS women. As a result, hyperandrogenic women with PCOS trying to lose weight (or reduce body fat) also benefit from anti-androgen medication such as Flutamide (Eulexin). Although the heterogenicity of PCOS means not all women will respond to flutamide the same. Glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) analogs such as Liraglutide, Exenatide and Semaglutide, mimics the effect of the body’s incretin hormone, decreasing glucose levels and suppressing appetite. Therefore by design GLP-1 analogs are superior to Metformin for overweight women with PCOS who did not significantly lose weight after lifestyle modification. Although semaglutide (Ozempic, Wegovy, Rybelsus) treatment more than doubles the loss of weight for women with PCOS compared to Liraglutide or Exenatide.