I have always heard about the issues that women have during their TOM while trying to lose weight.... BUT JEEEZ. I am on the seasonale BC so I only get it once every three months and this is hard! I have been pretty unpredictable for the past 2 days. I am hoping that it wont be for the full week because I have lost 6 lbs! I don't want to gain it all back. But I am like an empty stomach all day long. Moody AND hungry.... I feel bad for everyone around me! What is the secret? Let my body win and eat the sweet and salty chex mix? Or just sleep all day?

I haven't hit that point yet. Still early in my weight loss (day 9), but I was worrying about that too. Let's hope mine isn't too rough. Hope you get to feeling better.

If anyone knows, tell me too! Seriously, my TOM is late (not pregnant, this happens half the time to me), but I'm getting the week-before-TOM bloaty, crampiness. And I had a really good week calorie-wise and shot up like FIVE lbs. Went down from a salty meal to 143, then shot up literally overnight to 148 - this was without carbs and salt.

That's happened to me before with TOM, but this time I'm STARVING all the time. I want carbs, sugar, salt, fat. Normally I even crave veggies - not this month. I normally have trouble meeting my daily calories, but I've been struggling not to go over them all week. I don't know what to do with myself.

Ugh. If anyone has any tricks, I'd love to know too.

I just try to stay on track with the food log, go a bit heavier on the protein, allow myself the one Green & Black candy bar and try to make it last through TOM, get more rest, take my multivitamin, break out the heat pad if I need it.

But yeah... crazy hormones making me cranky, snapping at the family, sleepy.... just ugh!

I have no interest in TTC, but my doc told me to take a prenatal vitamin anyway for the extra iron since we lose it in menses. So it isn't surprising that I crave things like chocolate and steak during TOM.

A.

During TOM I make sureee to stay on point. Every TOM my weight goes up from one pound to 3 pounds and the day after TOM ends...I get a BIG whoosh downward. It's VERY rewarding, IF you stay on track haha. Seriously. Drink water and just stay on track with your meals! If you're eating 4-6 small meals a day you should be good!

Just popping in with a different story, so as not to scare everyone haha...and I'm not trying to rub it in your faces those who suffer, I know it can't be fun - but I don't experience any real weight loss side effects during TOM - I haven't noticed a gain and my cravings are minimal - but then again, I allow myself chocolate and things like that fairly regularly in my calorie counting.

I do, however, get some really really nasty cramps, so I guess I'm not 100% lucky.

i just had TOM right in the middle of my week 2 after id lost 6 pds. it went from sunday to wednesday and i gained 4 pounds back. but i stuck to my diet so i know it was water weight when i wanted something sour i ate a pickle and when i wanted something sweet i drank a glass of chocolate milk. anyways those 4 pounds i gained back were gone yesterday! and im back down to 6 lost! so TOM is horrible but hopefully if you drink enough water you should bounce back a couple of days after he leaves!

I agree with you I bloat up like a whale and it takes me a while to loose the water weight.

If it makes anyone feel better, my TOM always lasts at least 45 days, and has been as long as 90 days. I've been to tons of doctors and they all do blood work, tell me I'm not anemic, scratch their heads, and send me on my way. AND it wouldn't be that bad if I only got it every once in a while, but I never have more than 30-40 days off before another one strikes. Because of this, I get used to the water retention and appetite changes.

I'd suggest drinking lots of water (always makes me less hungry) or maybe one of those 100 cal pack sweet n salty (you don't have to feel guilty if it's just 100 calories!)

wow, mdchick, that's really not cool!!

my cravings are kinda minimal too, although it depends. i don't eat many carbs so sometimes i'll get weird bread cravings, which is a pain cuz all the "bready" stuff sold here is super high in calories, and of course i don't wanna eat just one. but yeah, the best thing is to allow yourself a LITTLE bit of what you're craving and count it in your calories. so have a big salad, with a side order of chocolate i swear, salad, cabbage and soup have become my best friends....

mdchick - WOAH! Are you going to female doctors? Maybe male doctors just don't FEEL your pain! I know if I was a doctor and a woman came in that had to have her period 30-40 days I'd make it my BUSINESS to figure out what hte heck the problem was because I don't even like being on my TOM for 6 days! LET ALONE 40!!! My heart goes out to you!

Jeez, mdchick, that sucks.

I haven't really noticed any change but then I don't get an actual TOM any more as I am on the contraceptive injection, and they just stopped. Maybe I would notice it more if I knew what is going on with my uterus and when!

I was just googling this the other day. I have been doing really well staying on track with my food and then out of nowhere I was seriously craving salty things. I ended up allowing myself to eat a few Cheetos.....not the best choice, but I controlled it and got the craving out of my system. My weight went up but has now gone back down again. For me, once I looked it up and knew why my body was craving so bad, I felt more control because I knew that it would pass.

Also, when you do get the munchies, I would try to eat things which are proven to help cut that. For me, a few cashews or unsalted pecans really helps satiate that urge. It helps even out your blood sugar and the fat in them give you a real "full" feeling which things like chips and most snack-y things dont.

I know right?! They've all been women, and I get to the point where I'm like "my period is sometimes TEN TIMES longer than your's! TEN!" The only good thing is that I get used to it, so it's kind of an every day thing. That and I think I'm probably ten times more excited when it finally ends

I get insane food cravings on my TOM, mainly salty food. Not one for sweets really.

I usually bloat up REALLY bad and weigh 6-8 lbs more! It's terrible, I hate it.

Speaking of TOM...mine should be starting tonight, oh joy.