Wavering and Needing a PEP Talk!

cindytw

I need to hear some great things from people as I head into PMS time, which is where I cave and eat whatever every time! I am feeling like WTH, what does another day of chips and dips make when I don't lose doing right either??!! WHo has debilitating PMS and how do you deal??

Foamroller

I had an "abducted by zombie-bingeing alien monster" feeling most of last week for inexplicable reasons. Like waking up after I wolfed down 500 kcal of chips in 5 mins. Yup, TOM came by on sat. Lesson learnt, some things I can NOT buy.

Not above TDEE. I didn't go totally overboard though. Ate up to around TDEE. For me silly rules like weighing and pre-logging the snacks first helps a lot. It forces me to take a conscious choice whether I'm going to allow that portion or not.

Damage control. Or having to take a walk if I had more snacks than I was planning for.
I use a spreadsheet to have complete overview of my intake. It calms me down to look at my numbers. The subjective bad feeling is usually NOT proportional to what I ate. And I don't want to guilt trip myself for being human I've managed to almost completely stop 2000-3000 kcal no boundaries binges. I'll allow myself snacks up to a limit.

Forgive, don't forget. I'm working on forgiving myself slip-ups. Shame is a vicious loop. Learn from mistakes and assess why something didn't go as intended for the next similar occasion.

You can do this, cindy. Babysteps! Gradual change sticks better, in my opinion. If you're used to a big portion of something, make it a bit less. You guys in LCHF seem very good at substituting too. Find some really low kcal stuff that work as emergencies.

My go-tos are: cucumber, cherry tomatoes, kohlrabi, daikon (yes, I know it's carby, but they're quite filling). Avocado, roasted and salted sea laver, fried pork rinds, miso soup or homemade brothy soups, kimchi, boiled and drained spinach sprinkled with sesame oil and seeds.

TRIAL AND ERROR FTW

These roasted, salty sea weeds are a bit oily. 27 kcal/pack. If you snack on nori sheets, 3 big sheets is max recommended for iodine.

Sabine_Stroehm

Find a new favorite. When I first transitioned to low CRAP (I was a serious junk food eater), I tried a few different PMS foods. In the end, for me, (again, damage control), popcorn, which isn't low carb, and... roasted garlic with salt. (Hubs didn't love that one!)
Find something that works: is it crunching you need? maybe pork rinds. Or yes, seasoned nori! (sea weed) Is it chocolate you need? maybe fat bombs. You can do this.

GiGiBeans

Repeat after me, "There is no excuse for cheating". Your monthly fling is cheating on the body you love. Be faithful to it. Show it you care & want the best for it, not cheap snack thrills. Circle the date on the calendar & make "that time" into special "me time" and pamper yourself in non-food ways.

Food has as much power over you as you let it. Start viewing it as nutrition instead of comfort.

Although I meant this a bit tongue in cheek, it really does come down to self-control & self respect. Remember you're worth it.

Dragonwolf

Don't buy the foods you tend to binge on. This makes it harder to do so (ie - you have to go out of your way, which gives you time to stop).

Make sure you're getting enough magnesium and good fats (and nutrients in general). Extreme PMS is actually often caused by not-quite-perfectly balanced hormones (correcting this hormone imbalance is why Yaz and its ilk work for PMDD). Getting sufficient fats and nutrients -- with magnesium being one of the big ones -- can help balance the hormone out, which can mitigate the effects of PMS.

Remember that the time of "no losing" is often water retention. You might not lose this week, but if you stay on track, you might lose "double" next week. That "extra" weight loss was actually lost this week, but water weight masked it on the scale.

Weight is not the be-all of health. The scale doesn't tell the whole picture when it comes to your health, so even if you aren't losing anything (be it for a week or a year), remember that you're helping your body be its healthiest when you refrain from the junk food. Even when the scale doesn't reflect it, your body is healing as long as you're giving it good food, and you're preventing that healing (and possibly even causing damage) when you give it crap.

cindytw

Thanks everyone! Lots of great advice here!

Foamroller wrote: »

I had an "abducted by zombie-bingeing alien monster" feeling most of last week for inexplicable reasons. Like waking up after I wolfed down 500 kcal of chips in 5 mins. Yup, TOM came by on sat. Lesson learnt, some things I can NOT buy.

Not above TDEE. I didn't go totally overboard though. Ate up to around TDEE. For me silly rules like weighing and pre-logging the snacks first helps a lot. It forces me to take a conscious choice whether I'm going to allow that portion or not.

Damage control. Or having to take a walk if I had more snacks than I was planning for.
I use a spreadsheet to have complete overview of my intake. It calms me down to look at my numbers. The subjective bad feeling is usually NOT proportional to what I ate. And I don't want to guilt trip myself for being human I've managed to almost completely stop 2000-3000 kcal no boundaries binges. I'll allow myself snacks up to a limit.

Forgive, don't forget. I'm working on forgiving myself slip-ups. Shame is a vicious loop. Learn from mistakes and assess why something didn't go as intended for the next similar occasion.

You can do this, cindy. Babysteps! Gradual change sticks better, in my opinion. If you're used to a big portion of something, make it a bit less. You guys in LCHF seem very good at substituting too. Find some really low kcal stuff that work as emergencies.

My go-tos are: cucumber, cherry tomatoes, kohlrabi, daikon (yes, I know it's carby, but they're quite filling). Avocado, roasted and salted sea laver, fried pork rinds, miso soup or homemade brothy soups, kimchi, boiled and drained spinach sprinkled with sesame oil and seeds.

TRIAL AND ERROR FTW

These roasted, salty sea weeds are a bit oily. 27 kcal/pack. If you snack on nori sheets, 3 big sheets is max recommended for iodine.

I do buy snacks like these, they are just called SeaSnax or Seaweed Snacks here. I like them!

cindytw

Sabine_Stroehm wrote: »

Find a new favorite. When I first transitioned to low CRAP (I was a serious junk food eater), I tried a few different PMS foods. In the end, for me, (again, damage control), popcorn, which isn't low carb, and... roasted garlic with salt. (Hubs didn't love that one!)
Find something that works: is it crunching you need? maybe pork rinds. Or yes, seasoned nori! (sea weed) Is it chocolate you need? maybe fat bombs. You can do this.

Thanks! I am usually a fried/chip/salty person so I did get some Seaweed Snacks and a dark chocolate with Stevia just in case.

cindytw

GiGiBeans wrote: »

Repeat after me, "There is no excuse for cheating". Your monthly fling is cheating on the body you love. Be faithful to it. Show it you care & want the best for it, not cheap snack thrills. Circle the date on the calendar & make "that time" into special "me time" and pamper yourself in non-food ways.

Food has as much power over you as you let it. Start viewing it as nutrition instead of comfort.

Although I meant this a bit tongue in cheek, it really does come down to self-control & self respect. Remember you're worth it.

Thanks! You are right of course!

cindytw

Dragonwolf wrote: »

Don't buy the foods you tend to binge on. This makes it harder to do so (ie - you have to go out of your way, which gives you time to stop).

Make sure you're getting enough magnesium and good fats (and nutrients in general). Extreme PMS is actually often caused by not-quite-perfectly balanced hormones (correcting this hormone imbalance is why Yaz and its ilk work for PMDD). Getting sufficient fats and nutrients -- with magnesium being one of the big ones -- can help balance the hormone out, which can mitigate the effects of PMS.

Remember that the time of "no losing" is often water retention. You might not lose this week, but if you stay on track, you might lose "double" next week. That "extra" weight loss was actually lost this week, but water weight masked it on the scale.

Weight is not the be-all of health. The scale doesn't tell the whole picture when it comes to your health, so even if you aren't losing anything (be it for a week or a year), remember that you're helping your body be its healthiest when you refrain from the junk food. Even when the scale doesn't reflect it, your body is healing as long as you're giving it good food, and you're preventing that healing (and possibly even causing damage) when you give it crap.

Thanks! I will try taking my magnesium more faithfully and see if that helps. I "know" all these things, but once the hormones start changing, I forget about all of it!