Hi all,

I recently started tracking my calories and increasing my exercise and have been doing really well until TOM! Can you tell me from your experience how long the extra pounds associated with TOM lasts?

I have heard that temporary weight gain occurs the week before TOM, i have also heard that it happens during....i dont know what to believe. Its Day 3 and I am still up a 1lb. I know that 1 lb seems small but the fact is that I have been consistently losing between 2 - 2.5lbs a week since I started.

Can anyone offer some advice and info from their experience? Thanks

Hi Slim-I think everyone is different. There is a thread around here on this same subject and everyone had a different answer. Some women notice the gain the week before. For me, I gain my TOM pounds the actual day I start. It usually stays with me for 2-3 days and then I am back to normal. My belly blows up like a balloon! Don't panic, your body will even out and get rid of that fluid.

Thanks Annie. Anyone else want to share their experience?

I agree with Annie.
I've noticed that everyone is different and the best thing you can do is track it for your body over a few months.

For me... I seem to gain the week before and then actually drop it right as my cycle starts.

Good luck figuring it out.

teresa
www.gooddaytodiet.com

If I gain during TOM (sometimes I stall), I gain on the first day it starts. Then the weight doesn't go away until TOM is over.

I refuse to weigh myself for three days before my period, while I have it and for three days after my period, so typically I don't actually SEE a weight gain or stall on the scale and that really helps me stay motivated.

Typically I gain about three pounds, but it does disappear as soon as my TOM goes away as long as I haven't gone on a junk food binge and what not during that time.

I am apparently a freak of nature -- I tend to gain more when I ovulate than before or during actual TOM. I get belly-bloat and cramps during ovulation, too. I don't think this was always the case -- I have noticed it only since having baby #3.

I also find it can vary from month to month (may be due to how much I indulge pre-TOM cravings).

I agree -- if you track your weight every day (if you're a daily weigher), over a few months you will probably see a pattern emerge.

Thanks a lot guys. I feel so much better now.

I don't have many periods (on Seasonale) but I just went through one and I was amused. I didn't gain... I just didn't lose anything. And then WHAM, 2 days after my last day my scale dropped 4 pounds. Considering I lose 1 a week, that was HUGE! Then I went back up 2 a couple days later, which is about where I should be at my normal rate. I managed to at the whole thing.

Try to not take the scale TOO seriously. I know it's hard (is for me) but a couple days are not the end determiner of how you are doing. Just remind yourself that it's not possible for you to have actually gained weight. That is, unless you really did eat an extra 3500 calories recently.

I don't like weighing myself at that time. I also get a huge, insatiable appetite. Lethal combination.

I actually drop a little bit right before TOM, then I gain a whopping 3-4 lbs during AF AND during ovulation time. It really sucks. TOM gain lasts about 4 days, and Ovulation lasts about 2 days

I go up anywhere from 3-5 pounds before TOM and it stays there about 3 days into it. I love when it is officially over though because I always get a nice drop after.