PMS and Binge Eating - real or just an excuse?

tryskinni

It's interesting reading how everyone goes through this. For me, I don't get hungrier or get any specific cravings. I do, however, get debilitating cramps, bloat up like a balloon, and get this wash of nausea, dizziness, and general "nastiness" over me. Because of this, I feel awful, not myself, and desperate. It never fails that I think more food will make me feel better. I take medicine, sleep more, hydrate, then eventually turn to food.

Rinse, repeat, every f%^&* 28 days.

But yeah, it's just self control I lack.

JunkFoodJane

I completely disagree. I went through an entire pregnancy without craving anything more than having a heightened desire for spicy food, I gained a whopping 9 pounds throughout, but that doesn't mean I think women who gain 40 pounds and are eating paper in the closet because it just looks SO TASTY should 'just control themselves'. I remember when I was a kid my mother would eat buckets full of ice when pregnant with my sister. Obviously not going to make her gain an ounce, but she just HAD to HAVE it. All day she carried around giant cups full of ice. Just because I didn't experience it doesn't mean it was simply an excuse for her to indulge in her long-hidden passion for ice cubes.

During PMS, I often just feel like an empty well. Nothing I take in seems to diminish the feeling of HUNGER. It's not, 'Ohhh, pie! SLOBBER SLOBBER SLOBBER!' I, personally, feel hungry. A different kind of hunger than I feel any other time.

Obviously we all need self control and should try our best, but the idea that someone else just isn't trying hard enough because they don't have the same struggles that you do is not very compassionate.


As Tryskinni mentioned, I also get very sick. For me, my intestines get all out of whack, I break into cold sweats, I get dizzy, nauseas, disoriented. I have gone home from work thinking I was coming down with the flu only to find out 7 hours later what it was (my cycles are a little irregular, so it doesn't always occur to me).


I've never seen South Korea, but I believe my boyfriend when he tells me he's been there.

gigglybeth

I've been gluten free for 2 years (Celiac disease) and it's made no different whatsoever in my PMS or cramps. The only thing that has helped has been exercise- both cardio and weights. Once I started that, for some reason my PMS really subsided. I also get ravenous and am like a bottomless pit. If it's in the kitchen, I will eat it and it's even worse since I started weight training. I generally prefer salty over sweet, but during PMS I crave all things sweet.

Like others have said, hormones are a force to be reckoned with and they're difficult if not impossible to fight. I've done some incredibly bizarre things that I knew were irrational and/or stupid as they were happening, but I just couldn't stop myself. Then 2-3 days later my cycle starts. Like I said, it's better now that I regularly exercise, but the cramps are just as bad and the cravings are still there. It's slightly insulting to imply that if we just had a little more discipline that we could overcome our hormones.

castelluzzo99

I have never noticed eating patterns to follow my cycle, but I remember when I was pregnant the first time eating everything, and justifying it because everyone said I was eating for 2. I gained 50 lb during the last two trimesters (was too sick in the first one to gain anything--at least I didn't lose!). Anyhow, sure, we have cravings sometimes, and yes, we need to do something about them, but I believe that the mind is a very powerful thing, and we need to make it tell our body what's what. That, and sometimes we might be craving something other than what we think we are craving (as in, micronutrients). I was able to successfully kill random cravings during my last pregnancy by drinking fresh veggie juice or fruit juice with wheat grass powder in it.

tryskinni

I've never seen South Korea, but I believe my boyfriend when he tells me he's been there.

HA

JustLindaLou

I hate when someone tells me I'm just being a b**** cause of PMS. You know what, I do keep it together the rest of the time and when I'm PMSing I feel like crap and I don't feel like spending all the energy to treat you delicately. People don't realize that all the annoying crap that you snap at them for while PMSing is the same crap they do all the time, just that normally you're kind and patient enough to still respond sweetly when you have to repeat yourself for the tenth time.

OMG THIS!!!!!!!! LOL!!!! SO true!!!!

1stplace4health

If I wasn't crazy, angry, short tempered, starving, confused, and bloated I might be able to agree. You're lucky.

JustLindaLou

This has been an interesting thread to read, hearing what everyone else experiences... I KNOW I have used PMS as an "excuse" to really binge month after month. Yes, I DO get for real cravings - carbs carbs carbs - salty carbs, starchy carbs, chocolatey carbs. Just bring on the carbs. I will eat stuff I normally can resist, like chips. I also KNOW I genuinely get hungrier, and I get more tired, before and first couple days of my period. Unfortunately the cravings seem to start 10-14 days in, and my cycle is getting erratic (as someone else mentioned, 48 hello perimenopause...) soooo the "cravings" cycle can go for 2-3 weeks before Aunt Flow finally arrives... I know for me bingeing and emotions go hand-in-hand, and the havoc the monthly cycle can wreak on hormones and emotions just makes it that much harder to stick with "the plan"... It just gives me a real "I don't give a crap" attitude about pretty much everything....

wassergottin

It appears that the premise of this post was argumentative to begin with, thus any experience that does not coincide with the OP's personal experience is automatically discounted.

Personally, my PMS symptoms vary month to month. Some months I can walk around without feeling debilitating cramps, at other times I'm stuck in my bed, miserable. Most frequently, I have more painful than average cramps, and whilst I do not often experience cravings, I do notice an increased appetite. It's very difficult not to binge on those days, and as will power has been found to be a finite resource, occasionally things have to give.

DesDawn24

I think it varies for every woman! For me I 100% believe that PMS can cause crazy cravings and a strong urge to eat everything in sight. Hormones happen, and sometimes they do evil things. However, I also recognize that I am in control of my decisions, not my hormones. I think that PMS heightens lots of emotions that would otherwise not be so extreme, like stress and frustration. So while I might joke about using PMS as an excuse to pig out on everything in sight, I still recognize that it's ME making those choices, not something else making me do it.

nikki94541

Yes women who have PMS do crave. It is a hormonal factor and not all women are the same. Whether or not we give in to the cravings is a different matter. I would never eat 5000 calories on cravings. But I will give in to the chocolate and the salt and vinegar chips on a good day but in moderation not just to go nuts because I think I can.

MrsWells1983

It's interesting, because I had an OB/GYN doctor come to my classroom to discuss hormonal changes during PMS and puberty (6th grade health class). The first thing he said was "PMS causes hormonal fluctuations that will make girls feel pretty icky, HOWEVER, the hormones themselves do not cause anger outbursts, poor decision making, and overeating. Those things are still within your control." He made a great point and I've been thinking about that ever since.

I'm sorry how old were you again? Pretty sure that since you were in 6th grade studies have been made to show that the Dr in question is in fact talking through his *kitten*.

How do you explain that during my cycle (Follicular and Ovulatory phase) I'm a saint yet the last half of my Luteal phase I'm a raging lunatic? Oh I'm using PMS as an excuse to feel overwhelmed, frustrated and emotional. Not to mention completely starving (and nothing will satisfy me), I can generally control what I eat, but it only takes my husband to say one thing wrong that will send me bat **** crazy and I eat all the choc chips in my pantry. Also how can you explain that my husband knows I'm pregnant before I've taken a pregnancy test because my PMS is nowhere to be seen? It can't be hormones then........

I'm so pleased that you don't feel any of the above during your period, but those of us who do, don't appreciate the assumption that we are making excuses.

RoadsterGirlie

I am hungrier than usual during that TOM. A woman also burns more calories during this time, so I do allow myself a little bit more - not a lot, but a little bit.

Of course, being on maintenance makes it easier since I get to eat more calories than when I was losing weight.

00sarah

I, personally, think it's kind of just an excuse. Although I do eat more red meat during the TOM, because women can require more iron then, due to blood loss.

creatureofthewind

Everyone is different. That is what makes life the way it is.

chunkydunk714

Totally get cravings and yes, I eat for two....myself and my hormones

AdriSaysRelax

My boobs ache, my skin gets oily, I cry at the dumbest things and I REALLY, REALLY, WANT CHOCOLATE AND FRENCH FRIES. MAYBE CHOCOLATE DIPPED FRENCH FRIES. MMM.

All of the above is hormonal, absolutely. It's how I know the TOM is coming. I don't count days or mark it on a calendar because I don't have to. This is my inner monologue. "Tearing up during a Liberty Mutual commercial? Check. Willing to murder for a tater tot? Check. You'se a bout to bleed, girl."

Seems sorta derpy to me to try and separate one pre-cursor from the others. If someone can figure out how to will-power their way out of breast pain and bloating, let me know, yeah?

anemoneprose

I am hungrier than usual during that TOM. A woman also burns more calories during this time, so I do allow myself a little bit more - not a lot, but a little bit.

Of course, being on maintenance makes it easier since I get to eat more calories than when I was losing weight.

this is true, shedding an egg and all the relevant hormonal revolutions use more energy/cals than when that's not going on. & of course there will be individual differences, not everyone's the same.

pinkraynedropjacki

I get hungry, very, very hungry and no matter what I can't feel full. I don't use it as an excuse it's a fact for me. I always over eat when PMSing and have still been able to have amazing results.

This. I am unable to 'feel' full either & it does make it very hard to stop. But then I workout enough that I have no need to do so.

pinkraynedropjacki

I, personally, think it's kind of just an excuse. Although I do eat more red meat during the TOM, because women can require more iron then, due to blood loss.

You bleed about a tablespoon...hardly enough to make you anemic