I just need to know if this is normal, or if this is just me. Sorry if it is too personal. During that time of the month (pre, during and immediately post) do you gain back nearly half the weight you've taken off for the month? It seems as if I gain 5lbs no matter where I am in the dieting, excercise process...and it takes at least two weeks for that to come off after the fact. In retrospect, it honestly feels as if I only have one good week a month to truly make any progress with weight gain. I loose 9lbs a month, say, gain back 5..so I've only lost 4lb. It's so discouraging.

I think it's pretty normal to (temporarily) regain weight during TOM. I used to DREAD weigh-in during that week or so when I was on WW, because, no matter what I did, there was always a 2-3 pound gain (sometimes more).

The good news is this: as long as I was faithful to my plan, the weight kept coming off. The gains were only temporary, as long as I stuck to plan.

Hi Tookshire,

The weight gain is all water, not fat. You might consider taking your measurements and using this as a gauge of your progress in addition to the scales. Due to hormone replacement therapy, my water fluctuates a lot. The scales dont always tell me the true story and this can be extremely frustrating. I do weigh on Mondays, but I also took my measurements when I started dieting and I will be measuring each month. Hang in there and you will lose the inches as well as make the scales go down.

HI, I am new and have just been reading these posts on here for awhile, too chicken to join But whew here i am, I just went to the dr because of this--for me it was my worst binging time pre-period and then i just kept going. I also get wicked insomnia, so I am going to try now for a month, to get to bed early (by passing the binging times) to try to get through the ups and downs of what my dr said were hormone surges, premenopuase (I'm almost 40 soon). I hope hope hope it can happen! All diets i've been on in the past fail after 2 weeks of the most motivated i ever am, because of this.

Like Ronda said I would suggest measuring and do a weigh in every week then average them out per month. I get a ton of water weight as well so I am right there with ya.
Hugs

Hi,

This is definitely a problem for me - I can gain around 5lbs on the scale the week before - but of course this isn't really gained 'weight' or fat - it's just water retention. Other people I know aren't affected - think it depends on how badly you are affected by PMT, if you have high blood pressure, etc. Best to avoid the scales if this happens to you as it can be very distracting!

EM