I've tried dozens (if not hundreds) of diets and type of eating, and I've found many that work quite well until TOM.

When we first married, hubby started calling me "werewolf," because during 7-10 days a month (2 days before and throughout menstruation) I was prone to violent moodswings and would crave and binge on red meat (and chocolate). During the rest of the month, both held little appeal, so we started calling those 7-10 days "meat week."

Hubby would say that during "meat week," it wasn't safe for him to enter the apartment unless he threw a bag of burgers through the door and waited to hear munching.

His exageration was closer to the truth than I would like to admit.

My metaphorical lyncanthropy was greatly suppressed by birth control, but then my insurance forced me to switch to a different pill. I can't afford to pay for the original medication.

Since the prescription change, I've had to work as hard to maintain my weight as it took to lose 100 lbs. I lose well for three weeks and gain it all back or more during "meat week."


I've decided to to try a different approach for meat going very stricly low-carb during meat week.

Very srict low-carb radically reduces my appetite, but after a few days tends to have very unpleasant side effects that do not go away (It's blood sugar issues, not carb withdrawal), but it should be safe and reasonally comfortable for the 3-5 hungriest days of meat week.

Any other werewolf ladies out there? What do you do to foil monthly hunger.

I recently had to go on zoloft due to severe PMS symptoms -- not only do I become ravenous, I also become severely depressed. Wonder why our reproductive systems hate us?

I think it's a vicious spiral. Body fat throws the hormones out of balance. Hormonal inbalances increase hunger and adds more fat - more fat throws the hormones even more out of balance.

Whichever one starts the ball rolling may not even matter, because each problem feeds into the other, and it just gets worse and worse without intervention.

I'm convinced that reversing the spiral is possible, but jeesh it's a lot more work than I'd ever have imagined, and perimenopause only seems to be making it harder.

I'd really consider being locked up for a week, if there were a safe, inexpensive, socially acceptable way to do it.

Sounds like me.. only chocolate bingeing starts 4-5 days prior to TOM. I look like a vampire in search of blood.. I will go through every cupboard until i find a piece of chocolate..if i dont find it...husband beware...it just kills me.. i do so well losing weight until that time comes...and to think...im not eve on birth control pills causemy TOM lasts for 3 days

I'm stealing "metaphorical lycanthropy" I hope you don't mind!

But yeah, I'm in this boat. I don't crave chocolate (I actually dislike sweets) but I crave every other junk food. I fall back into old ways and devour bags of McDonald's fries and cheeseburgers. My boyfriend lovingly calls these my "secret cheeseburgers." Because I'll eat them before I get home, leaving only circumstantial evidence behind.

This month has been killer, I've eaten things I didn't even know existed (hence my thread on my introduction to Buffalo chicken Mac and cheese pizza) or fried ravioli. It's bad but I think you're onto something with the low carb idea. I try to stay as paleo as I can during the weeks I'm not an insatiable monster so I should try to carry it through "meat week" (another term I am stealing).

I used to be on the pill and cravings weren't as bad but then I must have wronged the pills in some way because they tried to kill me; now I'm on the Paraguard IUD (which rules. Once I got over the initial pain, since I never had kiddies) but with no hormones my body just craves whatever it wants. And it wants carbs. All the carbs.

Hope this wasn't tmi, this thread is oddly cathartic, thanks for starting the discussion!

Edit: as to foiling hunger, I've been told I need to work out more and that should help regulate my cravings and distract my brain from the Burger Binge vibes. I know it's generic "move more!" advice but I might try it. It should also help cramps, which are stupidly bad with the IUD at times. I suppose it wouldn't be bad for me to excercise more!

TMI possibly, but this happened to me this last month. When I mentioned it to a group of friends, several agreed that they had experienced it.

Usually, it's pretty easy for me to stay on track during TOM, but this last time, I wanted chocolate in the late afternoon and salty snacks. Thank goodness we didn't have much in the house! A hamburger sounded really good, which is weird since I'm not much of a red meat eater.

We'll see what next month brings....

I read this yesterday and again want to wait until i had some alone time to give it a thorough long reply...but i'm sitting here with a sqirmy baby so here it goes.
yes i have had this exact issue for most of my life, i lose for like 2-3 weeks then i binge during pms and essentially undo all my work. Right now i dont have a cycle because i just weaned my baby and tom has not returned. its been really nice not having the hormonal swings or having my weight loss savataged by horomones. and i think kaplods you are right that its all related to horomones. I spoke with my endocrinologist about possible estrogen dominance, with not only have i had sysmtoms of but i was unable to maintain a pregnancy (after my 2 first kids) without progesterone. He explained it is a catch 22 because until i'm a healthy weight he can not properly address horomones like estrogen & progesterone because my weight can easily influence it. but i was concerned about my horomonal issues effecting my weightloss..Actually many women are out of balance and dont know it. my endo just supported a "no" carb diet, no grains, limited fruit, mostly non starchy veggies, meats n dairy. My a1c was prediabetic and he supports this diet for sugar control as well. i have done some of my own research and studies are starting to show this as well. I will try to come back and post one particular study on this.
I am "rushed" to get as much weight off as i can till my tom returns. I am taking the low carb approach too.
I wish i had some advice for you, but i dont. baby is getting fussy, i'll be back later...

I stopped menstruating more than once or twice a year for nearly a decade at my heaviest. I went on birth control for the first year that I was with my boyfriend, and that regulated my cycle, but I never had pms symptoms.

Now that I've lost weight? Not only am I regular, but I have cramps nearly as bad as the ones that I had in high school, I'm a b*tch or a crybaby for a few days before, and I get just bone tired out of no where. I have yet to figure out if my out of control eating during this time is an actual craving, or if it's just my usual food as comfort response. I absolutely refuse to go back on birth control, I don't like messing with my body's natural processes, and I gained the last 50 pounds in practically days on it. I eat very low carb normally; these days I fall off the wagon hard.

I've started charting my cycle, because having a period on a regular basis again is so new to me that I sometimes second guess the symptoms. I'm hoping this way I can be mentally prepared and stay on plan.

I never had PMS until after I had my second baby and I hate it! I get so moody and irritable and crave salty foods and I can never figure out why unitl my period starts. Then the lightbulb goes off for me.

The only way I can really control myself is to not have any of the foods I crave in the house. No chips, no peanuts, no jerky.