Shark week! Rawr!

gsp90x

Ok ladies (and men who know ladies) I searched through 15 pages of posts and did not find the previous shark week thread.

*sigh* I thought I had hid the jackpot doing the meativore may challenge. The first 2 weeks I lost! (I hadn't lost anything for 2 months prior to this) So whooo hooo! At the end of third week I had gained back 2 pounds BUT I was also starting to get tired and I thought it was because my period was coming. I was right, I think.

Well... it did come. And boy oh boy did it come with a vengeance!

so I'm in my 4th week of zero carb. My energy wavers between excellent and lethargy. That i'm going to blame on the period. The first day for me is always hell and I spend most of it in bed. I have plenty of symptoms but what I want to ask is:

Do you eat more on shark week? (I'm STARVING and can't seem to shut up that signal even though I'm eating as much as I want)

Do you crave carbs on shark week? (Same as above - though I have not given in)

Do you gain weight on Shark week?

How long does it take you to get back to pre shark week weight?

And finally any tips you may want to offer?

Thank you folks in advance!

AreteAndWhimsy

Holy cow, I'm going through my first on LCHF and I thought it was just me being weird! I've been ravenous for meat (MEAT OH GOD MEAT, just bowls full of ground beef and a spoon and the monster is temporarily subdued) and I'm cold and wanting another coffee every fifteen minutes... not because I need the energy, but that I'm just cold (it's winter here and the house is freezing and damp despite my best efforts) and creamy drinks are what I am craving. Tea and broth is so not cutting it right now.

Is this at all normal?

KnitOrMiss

Yes to all of the above.

I treat this by treating it like induction. Eat all the fat, sodium, and food, as long as I restrict carbs.

I can have a LC treat IF, and only if, I've got my binges under control. Otherwise, I avoid like the plague.

Drink a crap-ton of water, tea, or other "clear" type fluids. Pamprin helps too.

About a week...give or take

Wear the tightest clothes you can manage, use "internal" products, and use Salon Pas patches to help with pain. The tight clothing reduces the muscle ability to contract and minimizes cramping. Also there are maxi-pads now with heating pads built in (obviously disposable - my friend told me about them because NSAIDS don't help her, but I don't have details, but am happy to asked if needed). Hospitals carry the "cold snap" ones for after labor. Don't know if those are OTC yet. (TINS unit if cramps are super killer bad.)

Up red meat/liver. Get those iron counts up, it helps.

If you've mood swings, consider supplementing with Inositol - naturally balances hormones either directions. It is in some B-Complexes (like B-150), but can be bought separately. I've used 500 mg tablets and the powder. Be careful on the powder (Jarrow brand on Amazon), easy to take more than you mean to (not problematic for most folks).

Hope something helps.

DianaElena76

Shark week here too. At least this time it waited until after the weekend, but still. Killer cramps, cravings, and my previously tamed mid-morning and mid-afternoon hunger monsters are back. AND the scale was up about 0.6 this morning. I think I generally get a "whoosh" right before TOM arrives and then put on some water weight during the week that comes off bit by bit afterward. I haven't been at this long enough to establish any more pattern to it than that, but I will tell you that ever since I really got going with LCHF I've been getting it every 2 weeks (whereas I've always--my entire life--had a longer cycle than most at 45-60 days). I really hope THAT stops soon. I may as well take out stock in tampons and pads so I can make myself rich. LOL

KnitOrMiss

It's crazy...I thought I started today, and I'm not supposed to anymore with maintenance hormonal meds, but I'm still recovering from messing myself up back in April... I thought I'd cursed myself. My cycles now seem to have aligned with the lunar cycles. Mercury in retrograde seems to be my PMS's siren song.

@Mami1976D I find that the carb monster screaming quiets when I stuff it's face with fats... LOL

I'm up almost 2.5 pounds, but I know it will come back off when it's ready, plus I lost about 7 pounds in less than two weeks with my stall breaking, so my body is leveling out or something.

But the weirdest bit is after feeling like a raving monster this morning, I'm mostly normal now... Not even cramping or ANYTHING. I think my body is playing games with me again!

gsp90x

Ug. I'm sorry to hear you're also affected by the shark week hunger monster! I am happy to know that it's possibly normal. I was relieved to see this morning I was back to preshark week weight. Back down 2lbs. So even though I STILL have raging cramps (now in my back), insatiable hunger signals and fatigue.... I'm hopeful the scale will still co-operate if I stay the course.

sweetteadrinker2

Eat all the food every month, and all the BPC

Dragonwolf

There is some evidence that our metabolism goes up and down depending on the cycle phase. There are even more than a few eating plans that base what you eat on the phase of your cycle. I don't know how proven it is, but some of it, at least, does make some sense.

Almoshposh

I'm kinda glad I'm not the only one suffering. Misery love company . Ive been starving and craving carbs like never before. Also went up 1.5kg. That totally killed my monthly loss to date.

[quote="KnitOrMiss;32674335"

I'm up almost 2.5 pounds, but I know it will come back off when it's ready, plus I lost about 7 pounds in less than two weeks with my stall breaking, so my body is leveling out or

Thank you for this and the lesson in patience. It WILL come off when it's good and ready. No amount of hair pulling is going to make my body lose faster than it wants to.

Twibbly

gsp90x wrote: »

So even though I STILL have raging cramps (now in my back),

The best thing for me when I get those is either a nice long drive in a car with heated seats or the disposable heating pads you can buy at Walgreens. I forgot the brand. Those and lots of hot drinks seem to relax them some.

minties82

I thought this was a thread about eating fish for a week, haha!

I don't get any hunger or anything during my period, but I sure get it for a few days around ovulation and then in the week before my period starts. I hate it.

tlmeyn

The only thing I get (besides cramps) is the craving for chocolate, chocolate and more chocolate! Thank god for Stevia. Chocolate with Stevia. Still caloric, but not too bad on the carbs!

KDRockstar

I thought this thread was about the show on Discovery channel... lol!

I haven't gone through a shark week on LC yet, but I did have bad cramps before. Using magnesium oil has been incredible, as well as taking a regular B-complex. What the body doesn't use, you pee out. Brilliant.