Pms
 

Do you tend to go off program during that time of the month? Do you get cravings before or after your period? I seem to go off plan before and during. I was wondering if it would be a good idea to increase my calories to 2000 during that time, to avoid just completely screwing up. What do you guys think?

Pickles. They have less calories than chips so if you have a salty thing going on go for the pickles.

Fruit smoothies,1 cup of frozen fruit and 1 cup of milk w/non-calorie sweetner of your choice can work for ice cream in a pinch for about 130-150 calories and is way more filling.

A mantra like this "too shall pass" works for me sometimes.

Whining and *****ing helps sometimes to.

And every once in awhile a very expensive piece of dark chocolate does the trick.
Chris

lol...thanks for the ideas

i find that if i obsess over food when i am pmsing, i make myself miserable. my rule is, if i still workout hard and heavy, i dont count calories. however, i do not binge on junk food because that only makes me feel worse. i have bad pms. i am hungry and tired all the time. keeping my activity level up makes me feel soo much better. keeping my food intake low makes me feel tired and grumpy. so i up my food intake and try to keep my activity level the same. i can afford a few bad days a month.

I know a lot of women say they have these cravings, but I never do. I don't doubt they are real for some people, but I wonder if there's some brainwashing going on too -- that at some point some women were told to expect them, so therefore they have them.

When it comes to ANY type of craving or compulsion, I'm a big fan of starving them off as much as possible rather than feeding them and making allowances. Try to find out if you really have them, or if there's a voice in the back of your mind that's telling you it's time to have them. Or, if you are experiencing mood swings that you respond to with food, as you do with other emotional experiences. Either way, you might try responding with whatever will do the trick in as few calories as possible. If it's physical hunger, load up on non-starchy vegetables. If it's salt, pickles, as someone else mentioned, are a good idea. I also find that things with sharp tastes -- lemon juice, vinegar, salsa -- sometimes satisfies in the place of salt, so use them liberally on vegetables. If it's sweet, try hot tea with splenda. If it's chocolate, try some of that 25-calorie hot chocolate mix. Etc.

I always get the muchies the week before TOM arrives... I'm not hungry but I want snacks... Chips... Dessert... I try to limit my snacking to popcorn or something that somewhat resembles a healthy food. LOL

The past few months I've been EXTREMELY tired the week before... My mom suggested that I take an iron suppliment to boost the iron levels in my bloodstream (which will help give me energy).

I agree about the brainwashing funniegirl, although its not like I'm conciously saying I'm PMSing, time for a big food party. It just seems that when I look back over my calendar, the days without gold stars all occur during that time. Everyone slips up now and then, so maybe I subconciously justify it if its around that time. I agree laura, i think the best option is probably to just up the exercise. My new plan of attack is to allow myself to eat maintenance calories, but walk for an hour.

Not all women get PMS
 

Just because you do not get PMS doesn't mean it is not REAL...

80% of women get PMS.....if you don't get it then you are in the lucky 20%

I hate PMS! I was diagnosed with cyclothymia but I was tracking when i get my symptoms and it is right after I ovulate, I think my down mood is PMS and my up mood is just being releived from not having it anymore.

I have been tracking my weight loos and gain for 4 weeks not and I gained 5 lbs overnight....can you say water weight!

I can't wait for my PMS to be over so I can go back to seeing the progress on the sacale again...and it is so hard to say no to food....and i have decent will power. I just want to watch some chick flicks and have a bunch of naughty food and lots of it.

Good luck to you all!

I swig pickle juice and eat plain tortillas during TOM. Why? I have no idea. I just crave them. Nothing else but that stuff. Its so weird. Other people crave chocolate or whatever, but not me. lol I also just get really, really pissy. Even if theres nothing to get irritated about, ill find something. I know its not brainwashing, because i dont keep track of my cycle, as i am irregular most times.

I don't really have much of a period, but I still get pms! I think it is in my head, or my body is really well programmed, because even the months without a TOM, I get cravings and I bloat up and all of that good stuff...sometimes I even get cramps!

I think you should just treat yourself well without going overboard.

I am usually more preoccupied with food the week before. Not any specific weird cravings, just the stuff I would usually want the rest of the time; I just want it more then. But then that's the week of my cycle when I can lose weight the fastest, too, so it kind of evens out.

I definitely get hungrier during the week before my period. If I stick to my calorie budget, I also lose weight faster.

I think my metabolism literally changes during that time, and if I don't eat a bit more to compensate, then I'm using more calories than any other time of the month.

PMS is real, not brainwashing. How do I know? Because I'm old enough that I never even heard the term until I was over 30, yet the symptoms were there all through my twenties. What a relief to find that it was a common occurance! And that there were specific things you can do to relieve the symptoms: take evening primrose oil, get sufficient magnesium and/ or a good multivitamin. Take progesterone supplements if necessary. There's a lot you can do to help the situation. You don't have to just submit to temporary insanity!

Munchies during PMS is almost certainly your body trying desperately to get the ingredients it needs to cope with the situation. Take lots of vitamins and minerals and eat sensibly, and your body can cope with things better.

I don't get specific cravings, but I tend to be absolutely starving the week before my period. I honestly think I need more calories then because I rarely get physically hungry the rest of the time and that week I just can't concentrate on anything unless I eat 400 or 500 more calories than I do on a normal day.

I seem to get cravings for carbs...and would eat toast/bread etc till it comes out of my ears! I also find I'm soooooo tired I don't have enough energy for exercise. Its getting better though since I've upped my exercise levels...