I can go 2 - 3 months OP and it all goes well, then all of a sudden after Aunt Flo comes I cannot get enough to eat. I spent this last month dying of hunger. Yesteray Auntie Flo got here, and I am hardly hungry at all. I forced myself to eat dinner last night.

So not only was I on a plateau, I felt like I could have eaten everything in sight for days on end. Anyone else have this weird issue?

I had to switch to stacking bc to avoid periods (sort of like Seasonique) in order to address this issue. My monthly hunger was so crazy - hubby called me a werewolf, and that week "meat week."

Changing the bc helped a lot, and combined with a lower carb diet, has been a miracle cure for me. Even though the weight is still coming off rather slowly, I'm able to do so comfortably - without feeling like I'm starving to death and suffering miserably because I can't eat what my body and brain tells me I NEED to. For the first time ever, I can really see myself doing this forever (without feeling it's a death sentence).

...wasnt sure what BC was, looked it up...

I have my tubes tied, no need for birth control. BC always made me mental anyway. Glad its working for you.

Every month! I am just getting over Flo right now, and starting with PMS week, and during, I want to eat nothing but chocolate! It makes me sluggish, too, when it comes to exercise. After TOM goes away, I'm usually okay and can eat more according to plan.

I sometimes get that hunger around TOM. I can eat dinner, and feel like I haven't eaten for 6 hours, even though I just finished! But somehow (thankfully) it's not every cycle.

You actually burn more calories right around menstruation, so you could always plan a 50 or 100 calorie extra snack in, just to help you.

I always feel that if you are truly ravenous (as opposed to craving), you should eat something. Your body might be telling you something.

HI,

You sound like me-- I also have had a problem with cravings I was doing really well then I just lost it and needed sugar and fried food- I have gotten back on plan but I was wondering if the cravings were normal and my bodies way of saying they needed something? Or if that was just an excuse so I didn't feel like a total failure for eating sugar and fried food?

I know that you will feel much better when your back on track --

Good Luck stick with it- I know it will pay off

i am going through this right now! i have been doing great staying on plan and the last couple of days there is not enough food to fill me up! it seems to hit in the afternoon/evenings for me. if you put something in front of me (like the brownies my co-worker brought yesterday) it gets put in my mouth. and not just a little, a lot! what the heck! i did finally get my visitor today so hopefully this will die down a little bit. i am stepping the exercise up this week and trying like mad to stay on plan but still allowing myself to have an extra snack (something sweet usually) to try to tame the beast that has been unleashed in my stomach!

I am right there with you. I feel as if I am losing my resolve in the last couple of weeks despite following my plan pretty carefully for 4 months and losing almost 40 lbs. I think it has to more to do with the change in daylight - I am in northern latitude.

I wonder if the book Intuitive Eating, covers this. I know exactly what ya'll mean. I do it too--the week before my period I have a ravenous hunger. I eat as I like maintaining some sensiblities and then slow way down when the hunger subsides.

I'm glad to hear I'm not the only one!
From may to august, I kept losing and gaining the same 15 pounds each month. It was driving me crazy! From ovulation to when menstration starts I eat like everything is my last meal. Once aunt flo arrives, I go back to normal. My doctor changed my birth control and last month was fine...... and I lost some weight without thinking I was going to die of starvation.

I, too, am glad to see I am not the only one. I have noticed, however, that it has gotten worse as I get older. It is as if I am possessed. Like I have no control on how much I eat. I think it may be time to talk to my dr about this because it is worse than I have ever experienced. (or perhaps I just never noticed it before...)

Mine seems to only hit once every 2 - 3 months. I usually get a bit more hungry around TOM, but that is controllable. This lasts for a whole month between cycles and it seems to come around the same time as a plateau. At least I am not the only woman in the world who goes thru this. Its nice to know I am not completely out of my mind.