[chattykathy]

I started out so good. I could clearly see my goals, had a food and exercise plan. I was getting faster and stronger with each workout, lost some weight and was doing so good with food that I had very few cravings. Then my TOM hit. I exercised through the pain but I gave into my chocolate and salt cravings.

Ever since then it's been a struggle to stick to my diet and exercise. I even hurt more with less exercise. I feel like I either gained some weight back or am at a stand-still. I want to look forward to my exercise again and feel good about food. I'm not sure how to find my groove again. Anyone else had this before? Will it pass? Is there a way to get out of this slump?

[lynnie923]

Originally Posted by chattykathy

I started out so good. I could clearly see my goals, had a food and exercise plan. I was getting faster and stronger with each workout, lost some weight and was doing so good with food that I had very few cravings. Then my TOM hit. I exercised through the pain but I gave into my chocolate and salt cravings.

Ever since then it's been a struggle to stick to my diet and exercise. I even hurt more with less exercise. I feel like I either gained some weight back or am at a stand-still. I want to look forward to my exercise again and feel good about food. I'm not sure how to find my groove again. Anyone else had this before? Will it pass? Is there a way to get out of this slump?

all i can say is its TOM and it will pass you just have to get back into the swing of things. I am there right with ya with not exercising my body hurts right now. But MOnday will be back into the swing of things. I hate TOM.

Lynn

[NotTheCheat]

Usually the best way is to try and wade through it and do the best you can. Your body may need slightly more calories during your TOM or maybe you need iron and the cravings your body is having for spinach are getting misinterpreted as chocolate?

One of the best things for me is to revisit my motivations, making sure that most of my motivations are positive. So not "I want to lose weight because I think I look bad now," but " I want to lose weight because I want to feel the triumph of a fitter me." Another thing is to do something to pamper yourself to remind yourself that you are worth all the time and energy to lose the weight. We can often feel rundown and feel like we need "a treat" and that gets translated as a food we crave. Is there some other type of special treat you can give yourself?

[MadBlackWoman]

I've had this happen before. It will pass. Maybe it's an issue of needing more water? Sometimes I get a bit dehydrated water when TOM is going on and that can have an adverse affect on workouts.

[geoblewis]

I'm feeling pretty slumpy today too. Weepy, self-absorbed, lethargic, struggling to stay on track. Then the old ovaries started throbbing this afternoon. I don't know why, but I'm always so surprised when TOM comes around!

[Corren]

ToM is my absolute weakest time as well.

I crave chocolate and red meat like a mad fiend. This time around I made the low carb chocolate bark stuff (very strange tasting but the real cocoa powder seemed to do the trick and it wasn't good enough to want to eat too much of it, lol). I also had one 4oz trimmed piece of steak each day for the duration. I managed to eat asparagus every day as well, (blech!!) just to try to naturally keep the water retention down without water pills.

I skipped my exercises for 2 days from the cramps and general "ick" feeling but I made it through with a net loss.

This month seemed easy though, being still in the "omg diet yay I will win!" mode.. lol. We'll see how next month goes!

[abbysue715]

Im sure it will pass. Most things do with time. Maybe you can make a list of your motivations for why you are doing this in the first place. I started a thread called nothing tastes as good as...

There are so many wonderful motivational things on there. It might help you just keep pushing.

You can do it! I believe in you!

[Kristy Lynn]

It's always hard getting knocked off track/end up in a slump, but you can pull yourself out of it!

[silentarctic]

Power through it, fake it til you make it. That's what I've been saying the last week. I haven't felt like exercising but I've gone (okay I skipped one class) but I just pushed myself harder, and felt better for it in the end. I am lucky I have friends who guilt trip me into going (aerobics class is more fun when there is more people so we all bug each other to go).

Eating is a harder one, I think planning ahead, helps. Getting back into a routine for me is always hard, but when in doubt I usually go for old standbys (my favorite non fat, low sugar yoghurt + all bran buds, cucumbers and celery).

I'm working on the eating thats my MAIN issue if I had that under control I believe the lbs would be dropping rather than the scale staying pretty much the same overall the past few months.