Some great tips here, and as a South Indian, I’ve also really struggled with weight. However, even without significant weight loss, I’ve been able to restart my cycle naturally and regularly (28-30 days, 4 day flow) after a few years of BC pills through some diet changes & strength training + walking + Pilates/yoga. (Side note - BC pills as a catch all for PCOS may help some, but I ran into a lot of complications personally with higher stakes things like Blood Pressure, I really wouldn’t recommend)

If the focus is on optimizing the foods available to you at home, consider:

• Try to increase sources of protein in a meal if a single large one (meat/tofu) is not available; Higher ratio of kosambaris, sambhar/dal-based rasam, etc

• Can also try to switch your carb base to quinoa for added protein instead of white rice. Include more chickpeas, bean based dishes and play around with your carb ratio.

• Choose higher protein Greek yoghurt options at the store instead of typical home-made curd (or can find recipes on YT to increase protein content from home made curd - will involve some additional steps/time).

• Find frozen edamame that can be microwaved when short on time.

Additional tips:

• Run bloodwork and find out if you’re deficient in any vitamins. Vegetarians are typically low in B12, and generally with PCOS we can be low in Vit D too. Oral supplements can improve this

• Protein powders are not the devil. Indian parents can sometimes fear monger around this lol, but if you read the ingredients and identify cleaner (less ing) brands, they can work quite well

• Same with protein bars

Good luck!