Love this thread because TOM is a big challenge for me. I get CRAZY hungry for two to three days before it arrives. Hot drinks during the day help (coffee for me) and an afternoon nap of thirty minutes or so after the kids get home from school has been a life saver. I tend to lose my dieting resolve then. I wake up far more in control. Another tool I've been successful at using during my crazy hungry TOM attack is also just getting AWAY from the kitchen/food source. I like to go shopping (lol)! Head down to the mall and try on clothes! It's only once a month. You don't have to buy anything, but it'll get you out of your head and remind you how far you've come. That always lifts my mood and gets me away from danger.

I'm starting to have issues with TOM and it's not fun. I used to have normal flow and be totally regular every 34 days I had a 5 day cycle. I knew when that food craving was coming. Now I'm starting 26 days from the first day of the previous month and I'm flowing almost 7 days. The difference is my eating. We've been really tight with money and haven't budgeted food right. I've been known to eat not enough or no protein and some days go without food all together. I really think that's what is messing me up. I've gone from a good strict caloric intake to all over the map. I'm hoping to get things together again and see if things go back to how they were. I think my body is taking revenge on my up and down eating patterns. It's been an emotional time too.

That said. Before all this change, I didn't vary or eat what I normally wouldn't (up until a week or two ago it had been a year since I'd really, really eaten chocolate). I would allow myself one Reese's but no more. I got through and was prouder for doing it.