gainage when there shouldn't be, cravings for salty sweet things, lack of motovation to excersize bc you feel like a tug of war is going on inside you.

Yuk.

All too true! But there is an upside (for me, anyway). If I stick OP I find that when TOM is over, the scale does a few lbs. drop fairly quickly. Sometimes just knowing this keeps me motivated so I can see that quick loss.

I totally agree!

I would add that having sore breasts, wild mood swings, cramps from ****, and just the ickiness of it all totally sucks!

This is one aspect of being a woman that I really hate. I've given serious thought to getting those depo shots just to make it all go away for awhile!

It is a mind game, but it is physiological as well.
However, you can't use TOM as an excuse to go crazy. I just ignore any whonky scale stuff, and try to work through cravings in a healthy way.

Ditto Lori. I usually plan in a few extra (small calorie) snacks so I'm eating more often and that usually helps keep the cravings at bay. I ignore the scale for the most part and know that if it's a gain (no loss, or small loss) it's all going to even out the next week. This one (i'm at the end of TOM) and I struggled more with wanting salty foods. I did eat even more than I had planned but I tried to make healthy choices and just tried to follow my cues. I had two days where I felt like my eating could really get out of control but I persevered and added in that exercise and I'm so glad I didn't give in to binging and lots of nighttime eating.

This TOM, why not write down all these feelings, everything you are craving, etc. And then when it passes, look back over what you've written and you'll be more prepared for the next one.

I've become much more acquainted with my TOM issues since I've been losing weight. I never paid much attention before, because if I felt like eating something, I just ate it anyway. Now I notice that I have strong cravings for certain things and am just generally hungrier during that week. But it helps a lot to know that's what is causing it. I adjust my eating for that week, make sure I've got lots of little healthy snacks I can have, up my protein, and usually I just skip the scale that week because I know it won't make me happy. Makes the week after even more fun though! The family just has to put up with my crankiness tho'. Not much I can do about that!