Weight Loss and PMS

[Strawberry]

Hi all,

I'm new on here, pls bear with me if this questions has been asked b4.

For the ladies = how do you control the urge to eat everything in sight during TOM?

Tips & suggestions appreciated.

Cheers,

Strawberry

[holly80]

to be honest. I cant

i always put on a kilo. I have tried to beat it, but I go really crazy if I crave for something around that time of month

[cherry847]

Same here - my husband will actually throw chocolate at me if I don't have any

But I have realised I don't actually need to eat the things I do, I just use it as an excuse when I want to eat junk since I feel so guilty every other time I splurge! One thing I have done that worked for me was to set myself a challenge to cut out chocolate, which is my biggest weakness, for just one week so for 6 days I keep telling myself "it's ok, you can have chocolate on Friday!" and then it gets me through because not only do you have something to look forward to but it actually helps me to eat healthier because you're always aware that you've cut something out it helps you to be stronger about making other good food choices. As a last resort I'll have a jarrah chocolatte or something after dinner if I absolutely need it....

Hope that helps!

[Strawberry]

thanks, i will give it a go. I have to fight the crazies when i do get TOM.

[shelbel]

Ooh yeah i love the delaying technique! I find alot of the time the hunger is just in my head too, like i think i need to eat something! Jarrah is a great idea, its sweet and will keep your tummy full for ages, especially at that after dinner time.

[EvilWombatQueen]

I find it gets easier as I get more used to a healthy diet. For instance back in the day when I ate bags of chips, pizza, chocolate, sweets and oven chips as often as I liked the cravings for unhealthy food at TTOTM meant I was eating buckets more crap on top of the crap I was already consuming. Now that I'm used to limiting myself for treats and eat a very healthy diet when I get a hankering it can usually be fixed by a handful of chips or a small bar of dark chocolate. It's all relative.

As to my tips... well, dark chocolate is my favourite. You get an even bigger chocolate 'rush' and it's too strongly flavoured to eat mountains of it. So a small bar suffices where a family block would have been needed before. See if you can find healthier alternatives to the things you are wanting to eat. Pita chips or rice crackers have a fraction of the fat of potato chips. Flavoured rice thins are low in calories and fat and still have that munchy feel about them. Freedom Foods have a range of 100 calorie treats which are great (though a bit moreish to only eat 100 calories of them!) And if all else fails a low fat hot chocolate might help ease the cravings a bit, plus it would be perfect for cold winter nights.

Good luck!

[HappyBella55]

I'm the same during TTOM. I get really really hungry and my apitite does increase. What I do is have lots of protein throughout the day i.e milk, yogurt, cheese, meats, beans and if I get a craving for something sweet I'll eat it. I no longer look at food in terms of good and bad. I focus on the type of energy it will give me and I won't deny myself eating certain foods because I've said its bad (if that makes sense).

Allow yourself to eat during this time, its just your body asking for more energy, it is shown that women during menstruations burn more calories, so this is your body's way of asking for the loss energy to be restored to function. Eat good healthy foods and you'll be right.

And if you are hankering for the junk allow it in moderation just be conscious and aware of how much you are eating. Take your time eating it, enjoy it and don't eat while you are preoccupied with other distractions.

Hope this helps you.

Good luck.

[GumBoots]

I tend to have a small loss around the time of AF but not from over eating/eating the wrong things. I always stick to my points and exercise but still dont lose much.

[Strawberry]

Ooh yeah i love the delaying technique! I find alot of the time the hunger is just in my head too, like i think i need to eat something! Jarrah is a great idea, its sweet and will keep your tummy full for ages, especially at that after dinner time.

Does it really work though? I'm such weaked willed. I don't know if I could hold off for an entire week. The thought of eating the chocolate to make myself feel better is always on my mind. Honestly, when I get like this chocolate is the only thing on my mind, how quick I can get my hands on it and how fast I can eat it. I drive to the shops, buy it and by the time I've gotten home half the block is gone and the self pittying water works begin.

I guess I can give jarrah a go.

[Strawberry]

I find it gets easier as I get more used to a healthy diet. For instance back in the day when I ate bags of chips, pizza, chocolate, sweets and oven chips as often as I liked the cravings for unhealthy food at TTOTM meant I was eating buckets more crap on top of the crap I was already consuming. Now that I'm used to limiting myself for treats and eat a very healthy diet when I get a hankering it can usually be fixed by a handful of chips or a small bar of dark chocolate. It's all relative.

As to my tips... well, dark chocolate is my favourite. You get an even bigger chocolate 'rush' and it's too strongly flavoured to eat mountains of it. So a small bar suffices where a family block would have been needed before. See if you can find healthier alternatives to the things you are wanting to eat. Pita chips or rice crackers have a fraction of the fat of potato chips. Flavoured rice thins are low in calories and fat and still have that munchy feel about them. Freedom Foods have a range of 100 calorie treats which are great (though a bit moreish to only eat 100 calories of them!) And if all else fails a low fat hot chocolate might help ease the cravings a bit, plus it would be perfect for cold winter nights.

Good luck!

Thanks for these tips EvilWombatQueen (cool user name by the way ). Oh dark chocolate is my weakness I can eat the organic dark chocolate by the block. Actually come to think about it, I don't actually taste the flavour I'm eating it so fast and at other times I have chocolate sitting in my fridge for weeks not being touched. I'm such an all or nothing person.

[Strawberry]

I'm the same during TTOM. I get really really hungry and my apitite does increase. What I do is have lots of protein throughout the day i.e milk, yogurt, cheese, meats, beans and if I get a craving for something sweet I'll eat it. I no longer look at food in terms of good and bad. I focus on the type of energy it will give me and I won't deny myself eating certain foods because I've said its bad (if that makes sense).

Allow yourself to eat during this time, its just your body asking for more energy, it is shown that women during menstruations burn more calories, so this is your body's way of asking for the loss energy to be restored to function. Eat good healthy foods and you'll be right.

And if you are hankering for the junk allow it in moderation just be conscious and aware of how much you are eating. Take your time eating it, enjoy it and don't eat while you are preoccupied with other distractions.

Hope this helps you.

Good luck.

HappyBella55 some great advice there! Glad to hear there are others out there like me, and I'm not freakish for being such a pig during TOM. I will try eating more protein except for red meats. I'm semi vego and only eat fish, chicken, egg, milk so I can work around this. I wish I could have your view! How can you not look at food as good or bad! We are constantly being told by tv, health professionals and so on to limit bad food and eat good food. Its a constant battle for me, really it is. If I've eaten a bad food I feel like such a faiulre and like i've blown it so i might as well keep eating poorly. How, how, how do you control this, pls give me your tips and advice how you overcame this!!

i had no idea that our bodies burnt more calories during TOM. That's interesting. As to taking my time in eating something bad, this is something I will have to work on! come on, i associate this as a guilty habit so i shove the food as quickly as I can and make myself sick in the process. Its like a dirty secret and i don't want it to be discovered. Did you have an problems with this? How did you overcome it. I noticed your ticker you've started out heavier than me and have lost a lot of weight how did you do it? Congratulations by the way, you must be so thrilled!