I actually lose my appetite for the first couple days of AF. Always have. I guess with the back ache and cramps, it takes my mind off of food?

BTW - Oranges don't work as a substitute for chocolate in my brain either!! I have found something weird that does though. 2oz of banana with 1/2 Tablespoon of peanut butter on it. Probably the fat in the PB is what satisfies me.

I also find myself positively starving at that TOM. Like I could eat and eat and eat and eat and never be satisfied. And the chocolate cravings are awful. I got some good WW candy this last time, though. One point (about 50 calories) in one pretty satisfying piece. If I ignore the craving it just grows to be out of control.

Oranges? I'm afraid the sugar will make me even more hungry, but its worth a try at least once. I'll be starving anyways so maybe 4 oranges is better than 4 cheesburgers . :)

Oh, about the banana thing, I read somewhere that people like to mash up a banana, add penuts to it, and freeze it. It sounds kind of good to me but I've never got around to trying it.

I'm a calorie counter too, and luckily I don't feel too crapy besides feeling so hungry, so maybe I could exercise like a bunch to make a bigger deficit, and not worry so much about the extra calories. I'm not sure if it really works that way, but it sounds good on paper. :) Thanx :) Lindystar

Yup, it works this way! If your food creates a 500 calorie deficit and you exercise for 300 calories worth, then your total cal deficit is 800 cals. So...you either have a bigger deficit for the day OR you can eat those cals burned (I OFTEN do that either when I have a big workout or I have a big workout to justify eating something that I've been craving :lol:)

Green & Black's organic chocolate. A 20g bar. One in a day isn't going to bust your diet (if you're just generally eating healthily, I mean, not some fad diet with loads of banned substances). I have PCOS so have no cycle at all - I might wait a year for AF, or 6 weeks. Since losing weight it's got a lot better but I still madly crave chocolate the week before. I find a small amount of rich organic chocolate gets rid of the craving, and a little goes a long way.

Or a glass of wine in the evening. That makes me more relaxed and crave less.

Oh, wow, I've never heard of organic chocolate, it sounds yummy though. Where in the world do you find it? On the internet? We have a health food store around here but its all vegan stuff mostly and they are into the carob thing. Carob is ok, but its just so not the same. :)

Any grocery store that has an organic or natural section will have organic chocolate. Green & Black's is a great one. There are lots others too.

OMG I'm STARVING this month! :rofl: You guys jinxed it! So far today I've had porridge with an egg, 1/4 cantaloupe, 2 apples, 15 cherries, 7 baby carrots, 1/8C mixed nuts, it's 11am and I'm about to chew my arm off! :rofl: Think I will have a yoghurt next... :lol:

Tell you what else works for me (Maybe you can only get this in the UK, I'm not sure?) Scottish Oak Cakes (low fat, salt and 50 cal a throw), with either Philadelphia Light on, or organic honey.

In the UK you can get organic chocky pretty well everywhere now - any supermarket, or from a health food shop, even some little corner shops have Green & Blacks now, I've noticed! When we lived in the US, it was literally impossible to buy anything organic (or even, anything fresh!) where we lived, so I know it can be very hard in some areas, probably depending on where you are!

I discovered the oat cakes in a local health food shop but I think you can probably get them in Holland & Barretts, as well.

You can get oatcakes in most supermarkets too ;) They are yummy yum yum! I like the sainsbury's ones because they're more like original oat cakes. Those Nairn's ones are wierd!

Good, I definitely was like a ravenous beast all this wekeend! I ate everything and was so conscious of it. I never really felt bad, sick, full, or tired of eating. Only at the end of the day when I thought to myself, how disgusting and why in the **** did I do that?!

Oranges, thats a good idea I definitely should try that! They are good, and one of those things you don't tend to eat quickly because you have to peel, cut, and so on... Good suggestions :)

About a week before my TOM I don't exactly get extra hungry (as in rumbly tummy), but I do get incredibly munchy. I could just eat & eat & eat. I also notice a big fluctuation in my weight around this time. It can go up three pounds overnight. I try to make a big bag of LF microwave popcorn to munch on, but sometimes that just doesn't seem to do the trick. Then look out!

I think it is all hormonal. Maybe Nature's way of making sure we eat enough at that time of month so we can conceive?

Oranges work okay for me, but I always drink them with a big bottle of water. I get the same effect from drinking a big bottle of water with lemon juice in it. The big bottle of water on its own doesn't work as well. I think it's something about the citrus.

The other thing that I find works well for me is gum. Like, really spicy gum like Dentyne Ice or one of those that are almost burn-y. Especially cinnamon and spearmint flavors. Brushing my teeth helps, too.

Hey, I love the idea of brushing teeth to fight a munchie attack ! I forget if it was on this post or another but I remember reading that someone puts on some of those teeth whitening strips to fight a craving. I did that today, and those things are so gross I forgot all about my munchies.

PhatPhoenix, oh gosh I love how you said "50 cal a throw." A throw, thats like a serving or peice right? So cool. The internet is so fun sometimes. :) Ok so thats goofy of me, but I just thought it sounded neat. :)

Are oat cakes like rice cakes? I've never heard of them. We have some organic stuff here, and have been slowly getting more, but its not like a lot, and its always ******ed expensive.

Thanx for all the info and feedback gals, keep up the fight, Lindy :)

The oat cakes I've had are like biscuits (cookies! - I lived in the US for a year so I'm virtually bilingual!)

2frustrated - I'll look out in Sainsburys for their's.

Another brilliant chockie fix for the UK fat chicks - Rosemary Conley's chocolate mousses. You can only get them in Co-op, up here, though (go figure!) so maybe that's a Northern thing? They're super chocolatey and 125 cal as well as veggie and low fat - if I have a really massive chocky urge, I often find one of them hits the spot. I've been a veggie for years and you'd be surprised how hard it is to find chocky mousse that's vegetarian! I have to hide them from my kids, or they'd scoff the lot but luckily the lids are Barbie pink and have a pic of Rosemary on, so I told my toddlers it's *girl food* and they'll turn into ladies if they eat it - and guess what? They don't!