Okay... so its that TOM. My first since I've been trying to weight manage and my daily weight has been all over the charts. At this point if I maintain last weeks lost I'll consider myself fortunate.
I've tried researching it on the web but no dependable sites have much info on the issue... so here it goes...
How is weight loss affected during that TOM?
I think probably the only way that TOM can affect weight directly is through water retention- a lot of women seem to find that during TOM they retain more water than usual and therefore see a smaller loss or a bigger gain.
Indirectly, if you get cravings around TOM and indulge a little, thats obviously going to affect your loss, if you get bad cramps and decrease your exercise around TOM thats also going to affect it etc.
Eventually you'll get to know you're body enough where you'll see a pattern around TOM. I tend to bloat up the week before and then actually lose during. So just keep on charting. As long as the overall trend is in the right direction that's all that matters.
My problem with TOM is that during the week, I can never tell if my stomach is full or if I'm still hungry. (if that makes sense. lol)
Perfect sense. I'm the same way.
My weight jumps up about 7 pounds in the couple days prior. I don't actually start losing those pounds until the day after it ends. Then, poof, it's all gone in like a day, and then I'm a few pounds lower than I was to start with. I'm a daily weigher, but I don't weigh myself during that time. Too frustrating.
Just stick with your plan (as well as you can, sometimes those cravings are hard.)
I'm with the other ladies. Track what your body does, then you can anticipate it. If I'm actively working at losing, during my TOM, my body stops losing, and I maintain steadily, no matter how perfectly on-plan I've been. Sometimes I gain a bit... but as long as I've stayed OP, after TOM is over, my weight drops down by about a pound usually. It's pretty fun to have it happen overnight!
I'm another one who gains before and loses during. About a week before TOM my weight will go up by a few pounds and I'm starving-hungry all of the time. Then, once TOM starts, my weight will drop back down in a few days. Oddly, if I eat completely normally during that advance week and stick to my "normal" diet, I won't lose anything but the water weight. However, if I eat more calories than normal during that week, I will actually lose some real weight during TOM.
I don't know about you Kate but I did my weekly weigh in today (Think I'm about 1/2 through TOM) and I'm up a pound. So I'm going to take the nice ladies advice and ignore the scale till it about 24 hours after it stops.
I'm exactly like Wednesday though... I could eat everything in the house and probably still be hungry, so to be honest, my calories were only on track 2 days this week. Its a learning experience... one I didn't take into consideration when I started.
Like most ladies here I retain water a week before. For me I wont usually gain but I will see a smaller loss for that week regardless of my efforts. During though I'll lose usually about 3 pounds that week so I don't mind too much.
I actually still weigh every morning just to see what my body is doing but I don't really take it to heart.
Itīs unfair: you do get all the cramps, the moods, the cravings, the PMS and all that stuff PLUS a nice weight gain
Haha, yup. Once a month I suddenly want to eat everything, I want to punch everyone I see, and songs that I hear on the radio that aren't even sad make me cry, and then TOM starts and it all clicks in my head and I think, "Oh, yeah. Good. I'm not losing my mind, then."
My first week on this weight loss journey turned out to be my normal "PMS week." But somehow that "Week 1" buzz of being so committed to a new plan obscured the normal symptoms and the start of TOM took me by surprise! And the day it started I had a first week loss of 5 pounds. Totally AGAINST my normal experience.
As a rule I'll gain before and lose after, but it seems my net loss for the TOM no matter how well I stay on-track is the lowest loss of the month... a pound for the week max. If I'm honest, that's totally down to me- it's that I give into the cravings more often.
I can't cite the source but I did read somewhere reputable that we do in fact have a higher metabolism in the pre-TOM week, but it's negligible overall - around 60-80 extra calories burnt per day in that week. It might cover giving in to ONE moderate chocolate craving but that's it! *sigh*
? for other girls regarding TOM
