TOM question- please help or I may go off plan!!
 

I always thought you gain weight b4 TOM and lose it the day TOM arrives and that it is 1-2 lbs. I went up the day TOM got here!! :mad: Is this normal? :?: Today is day 2 and weight seems to be still up I do feel bloated and kind of yucchy but my weight is up by 3 lbs!!!!! IOs there anyway this is normal or did I actually gain weight? Can somoen please help me. I can't really search for past threads because there aren't enough letters in TOM.
I am desperate!! :stress:

A lot of women gain with TOM and my understanding is it goes away when you stop for most women...but we are all different so our bodies behave in different ways. If you have been true to plan and not eating like a crazy PMSing madwoman...than I'd say it is water weight and don't worry over it.

Think of this...3500 calories is a pound. To suddenly gain 3 lb. you would have had to eat 10,500 calories on top of whatever you burn just to live and through movement and exercise. I'm sure you didn't do that overnight, so don't worry about it. It is something you have to deal with on this journey. There will always be fluctuations, some small and others larger, but you make sure you are true to plan and keep going. The scale will show your progress when the yucky bloating feeling goes away.

:hug: Hang in there! If it really bothers you a lot, maybe dont' weigh everyday or just don't weight during TOM.

I get the sense we're all really different here. I frequently gain the day before TOM arrives, or the day it does. And then it stays for a few days and leaves. It's hard to tell how much weight is from TOM.... usually for me it seems like it's 1-3 pounds... but that really varies.

Good luck!!!

DON'T GO OFF PLAN!! No matter what the scale say's right now, going off plan won't help (and you know that). You're doing great so far, don't let that evil scale trick you into doing something you don't want to do.:devil: Relax, stay on plan and in a week you will be back to seeing good numbers again. I know it's hard, but when you realize that these ups and downs are normal, they won't bother you as much. They are only numbers, YOU know what you are doing. :hug:

Ahh TOM....you :devil:you.

Yes, it's normal! I just generally ignore the scale the week around TOM. It always does crazy things for me. Stay on plan, it'll be okay. You haven't really gained 3 lbs., that is unless you've eaten 10,500 calories in excess of your daily requirements recently!

Yes it's normal!! Whatever that means. "Normal" really varies a lot from person to person, even with the same person, it can vary month to month. Don't let the fluctuations get to you. There's a lot going on in a body and 60% of it (us) is water and it WILL fluctuate from day to day.

I know it's hard, but hang tough. STICK with your plan. Just stick with it. Creating a calorie deficit WILL result in weight loss - it just won't always register on the scale right away.

It's not the same for every woman. I don't lose the water weight until TOM is almost over. Some months I don't gain any water weight at all. Don't sweat it and don't go off plan.

I don't lose the water weight until TOM is OVER.

Please don't sweat it! Everyone is different. I never weigh myself during TOM. Drives me crazy!

For me, when I'm not on bc pills or on 21 day active/ 7 day inactive bc pills -
I start to get very hungry the week before TOM, If I let this derail my eating, I can gain "real" weight, but if my eating is good I start to gain weight 3 or 4 days before and it doesn't leave until 4 to 8 days after TOM starts. I generally gain 6 to 10 pounds, just water weight. I can usually tell it's "just" water by how my ankles look and how my rings fit (and how I've been eating).

I have always had severe PMDD during TOM (I dread the cramps, husband dreads the mood swings). BC pills helped, but then a woman doctor heading out weight loss clinic suggested that I use a bc like YAZ or stack my regular bc (shortening or eliminating the placebo week to shorten or miss periods), as it could deminish PMDD and food cravings. It's worked very well for me. There are risks to bc, but for me, getting more of my life and control back has definitely been worth it.

I said it in another thread, but I think it bears repeating here:

Our bodies are not calibrated mechanical objects that always register the exact same schedule and time and gain/loss. Not only does this vary from woman to woman, but it can vary for any one woman from cycle to cycle.

It all depends on what you've eaten recently, what the weather is like (seriously - for me I retain more water in the summer when it's humid and miserable), what your hormone levels are like (women's hormone levels fluctuate from cycle to cycle), and ... who knows. Maybe what phase the moon is in and if Jupiter is in retrograde? :D

Seriously - there is simply no way you can say " I will always lose X lbs on this date and gain X lbs on that date." Our bodies don't work that way. And if you let yourself get psyched out by that, then you're going to sabotage yourself before you know it.

Hang in there and just remember - it's overall progress, not the day to day variations that count.

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I know when my period is coming because I gain 2-3 pounds a day or 2 before it starts. I keep it on through my period and I don't return to lowest weight till a few days after it.

I also gain during TOM, it varies from 2 to 10 pounds. It goes away though!! So hang in there - trust your body, if you are feeling bloated? Do NOT get on that scale!!

-Aimee

I usually gain during TOM too. It's never the same amount nor is it ever at the same time. I've learned to just take it for what it is time of month. I know those pounds will be gone along with a few of her friends soon and to not worry about it. I've also bloated so bad during TOM my waist gained 9 inches. :eek:

Hang in there. It will be over with and you'll be so glad you stayed on plan during this time when it's over.

Like so many people have already said, it is different for everyone. I gain before, then my weight acts really crazy with lots of fluctuations during. It only levels off afterward.