I have only been doing my weight loss for 10 days now, so when TOM comes around I am sooo scared. I don't want it to discourage me. I hope my weight gain isn't toooo much. Maybe I wont gain anything if I stay completely away from salt and drink nothing but water. I just wish it would come and go so I can get it over with. Somebody please tell me my weight loss hasn't been for nothing and I have to start all over again! I'm having a VERY difficult time with this. Going a little nuts but trying to stay in there!!!!!!!!

Hang in there! There are some things you can do that will help bolster you. I don't have regular TOMs, due to PCOS. But at least once a week, my scale says I have put on weight. I deal with it this way:

If you know you have followed your plan, done your excercise, then whatever happens day to day or do to monthly cycles is all temporary, and not real weight. I write down my food intake, and I rest easy knowing I can prove to myself that it works.

Another thing I find useful is if I feel puffy, I pump the water up, and maybe even drink unsweetened tea. Extra water intake is diuretic, and helps take some of the water weight out. It's like priming the pump!

You will do ok if you realize that as long as you are doing your end of the program, your body will cooperate long-term, if not always day to day.

Hi
I gain HEAPS (up to 2.5kg, aarrgghh) at TOM but I have a graph of my losses so I can see that the overall trand is DOWN. DO NOT GIVE UP, you are worth the effort! This is not even a 'temporary setback' b/c it's a natural part of your cycle. The trend will be down if you keep up what you're doing (I 100% agree with the previous poster)
Cheers

Try not to weigh during TOM, give yourself a week of! What's the worst that could happen, as they say!?

Like the other posters said; It's just a mental thing, the weight you gain during TOM is just water weight and bloat not actual fat gain. You just gotta keep living your healthy lifestyle and tell yourself "I know this bloat weight is temporary"

keep up the good work!

Ahealthier me is absolutley right! And I also agree with the idea of keep a weight chart or graph. I've done so since I began an noted things like TOM or a higher than usual sodium intake - things besides actual fat gain that might make the scale go up. In the beginning it was just a tool to help me get over the mental hump of water weight. In the long term, though, it has been really valuable in understanding how my body reacts to certain situations and I have very few surprises on the scale anymore. Plateaus don't even concern me any longer (although they still irritate the stew out of me) because I know almost EXACLTY how my body will progress once I've hit one.

The bigger issue for me during TOM are the cravings that I get. But, again, this is something that my body does and I can't control it. I can, however, control how I react to them. But, that really applies really applies to the whole process of losing weight doesn't it? We can't always be 100% in control of the foods we eat or how our bodies are going to respond to change but as long as we eat well and exercise often we can count on what our bodies are going to do in the long run. You WILL lose weight if you stick to your plan despite the little bumps in the road.

Try not to stress over things like TOM. All the worry in the world isn't going to stop it from coming and can only lend to making it harder to stay on track. Try to just roll with the punches. But if you know for sure that you can't supress being discouraged then do as 2frustrated suggests and WAIT to weigh.

I find that if I stay true to my program, I actually drop a few pounds about 3 or 4 days after my TOM start. So that's always something to look forward to.

My biggest problem is also cravings. I am not a low-carb person, but I find if I up my protein foods (Chicken, turkey) that helps me feel satisfied. Also, I keep tons of carrots, celary at my desk and at home so I can satisfy the hand to mouth thing.

For the sweet fix, I have a lemon yogurt poured over frozen (yes frozen) berries. Let it sit for a minute but eating the berries frozen is great. Not Ben and Jerry's great but I've divorced them.

Hang in there!

Yeah like the girls said usually weight gain is pretty normal and it goes away after so dont sweat it. I gain from 4 to 5 pounds but as long as your sticking with your plan and working out as well as best as you can ( I dont workout my first two days of my TOM) you will be alright afterward.
I get the cravings as well. I exspect them but I try to deal with them as best as I can.
Dont wory it will come and go and things will get back to where they were.

My TOM doesn't seem to affect me, as long as I stay on plan, I can lose what I normally do. Some weeks I don't weigh, if I know I have strayed a bit. I get terrible cravings and find it really hard to stay on plan. I am kinda lucky my TOMs are a bit bizarre, usually only last a day or two (and I'm not on the pill) so I have an off plan day if I need it.

As everyone has said, don't sweat it, it happens to us all, and it can be demotivating, don't let it unhinge you. And look forward to when its over and you have a slightly more interesting weigh in, coz your fluid loss registers on the scales!!!

WOW. If I could thank each of you a million times I WOULD!!!! I feel so much better. And I'm chosing to trust all you. SO I probably wont weight during TOM. THANKS A BUNCH EVERYONE!!!!!!!!!!

I've learned to love my tom.

At the moment, I don't gain before, I just slow down my loss a bit. But the week during/after I lose at one heck of a rate as all the bloating goes. Which compensates!