PMS and Binge Eating - real or just an excuse?

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  • LJFitzSimmons
    LJFitzSimmons Posts: 24
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    "Women should have more control"

    Well yes in an ideal world we would, but not all of us do, and the tone of this post is so judgmental it's ridiculous.

    Do you think people who binge eat enjoy it? From personal experience, it makes me feel ill and triggers my anxiety, and if it was just as simple as making the decision to control the urge to eat more when I'm upset/stressed/on my period, then clearly I would do, what sense would it make for me to be making up excuses for something that makes me break down in tears and feel worthless?

    It's definitely not an excuse, and yes, we do need to try and control those urges, but nobody needs to be judged while their struggling with gaining that control.
  • dakotababy
    dakotababy Posts: 2,406 Member
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    My experience - it is an excuse.
  • suremeansyes
    suremeansyes Posts: 962 Member
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    I for sure am super hungry for about a couple days after I ovulate. PMS week and all that I'm fine. It's just those few days after ovulation.

    And to say "just keep the stuff out of the house"...I'd have to keep ALL food out of my house. I don't graze on just junk, I seriously just feel like I can't get full. This actually happened to me this week. Tues, Wed and Thurs were torture days, I was "starving".
  • aqualeo1
    aqualeo1 Posts: 331 Member
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    It's a total bs excuse for me! I'm craving chocolate cuz I have my period. Or I'm getting it next week. Or I had it last week. That's 3 weeks out of the month! I just love chocolate that's all there is to it.
  • 19TaraLynn84
    19TaraLynn84 Posts: 739 Member
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    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

    Lol! This may be true for some, but not for all. I bled so heavily that tampons were falling out within an hour of insertion on my first two days. (TMI, I know. Sorry.) I've never measured, but I'm quite certain that was more than a tablespoon.
  • 19TaraLynn84
    19TaraLynn84 Posts: 739 Member
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    BOTH.

    That is all.

    Haha! Yes!

    Honestly ladies, this is about as pointless as arguing about whether or not EVERYONE should exercise while on their period. We are all so different. What is true for one for person will not be true for the next. Whether you intend to or not, you're making a woman who already feels like crap feel even crappier by telling her that she is just making excuses.
  • newbeginningsbob
    newbeginningsbob Posts: 25 Member
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    I think PMS makes me more susceptible to giving into my cravings because I'm usually tired, cranky and fed up the couple of days before my period. So I'm not really reasonable. If I want something, it takes a lot for me to say no.

    Usually I'm fairly good at saying no to cravings (preempting by not having bad food in the house) but tonight... ah tonight... I am currently experiencing PMS and ate (shamefully) a whole Easter Egg in about 5 minutes. I barely tasted it and felt sick afterwards but I felt like I "NEEDED" it. Total binge. Huge craving. I should not have left that near me at this time of month. I know better...

    So knowing I know better, maybe I'm subconsciously using it as an excuse to binge? I'm justifying it to myself.
  • 143tobe
    143tobe Posts: 620 Member
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    Just posting so I can find this thread tomorrow when I have time to read it.
  • PikaKnight
    PikaKnight Posts: 34,971 Member
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    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

    Lol! This may be true for some, but not for all. I bled so heavily that tampons were falling out within an hour of insertion on my first two days. (TMI, I know. Sorry.) I've never measured, but I'm quite certain that was more than a tablespoon.

    ^Agreed. Some people act like there is no such thing as a heavy flow. From my own personal experience until I was about 28...my periods were so heavy that sometimes I'd have to change my tampon every 20-30 minutes and make sure I had a pad to catch overflow. It was super embarrassing, uncomfortable and WAY more than a tablespoon. And this would be continuous for days...not just a few hours or one day.
  • JenniTheVeggie
    JenniTheVeggie Posts: 2,474 Member
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    Ummm....I've never done the 5000 calorie thing (in the past two years) but I definitely notice patterns of hungrier days throughout the month.
  • AllOutof_Bubblegum
    AllOutof_Bubblegum Posts: 3,646 Member
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    Agreed, OP. Cravings are just those, cravings. They don't rule you unless you allow them to. They may get a little stronger for a few days once a month, but to tout that you "have no control" and "just go nuts" is a copout. If you screwed up and binged, fine, we're all human and nobody's perfect. But OWN IT and stop shifting the blame on something other than your own self.
  • kgeyser
    kgeyser Posts: 22,505 Member
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    I definitely notice an increase in cravings and hunger in the days leading up to my TOM. I'm also very sensitive to hormones - I can't take hormonal birth control because the side effects are horrific - so I definitely think there is something to theory that a woman does experience something biologically and it's not just an excuse to stuff your face. I gained weight each time I tried the pill because the hormones jacked up my hunger cues, and since those hormone levels resemble ones I experience before TOM, it makes sense to me. That doesn't mean I go crazy but it does help me on those days to be able to say "oh, that's what's going on."
  • Howdoyoufeeltoday
    Howdoyoufeeltoday Posts: 481 Member
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    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

    Lol! This may be true for some, but not for all. I bled so heavily that tampons were falling out within an hour of insertion on my first two days. (TMI, I know. Sorry.) I've never measured, but I'm quite certain that was more than a tablespoon.

    ^Agreed. Some people act like there is no such thing as a heavy flow. From my own personal experience until I was about 28...my periods were so heavy that sometimes I'd have to change my tampon every 20-30 minutes and make sure I had a pad to catch overflow. It was super embarrassing, uncomfortable and WAY more than a tablespoon. And this would be continuous for days...not just a few hours or one day.

    If I recall from my sex ed class in high school you bleed about 1/4 to a 1/2 a cup. If anyone really cares that much feel free to measure....

    I'm already half way through mine for the month and I can say I'm more hormonal then usual but I take bc to regulate me so I'm never too crazy or hungry or wanting to watch a marathon of Nicholas Sparks movies and cry my eyes out. But before I started bc ( I was 15 at the time) there were times I would bleed for 2 months straight....and once I even passed out. So All that to say, I don't judge a girl for scarfing down a pint of ice cream on her period. Excuse or not let the damn girl eat! :drinker:
  • benaddict
    benaddict Posts: 1,381 Member
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    Since starting MFP 39 days ago, the ONLY day I have gone over my calorie goal was the day before my last period. I even exercised that day to earn extra calories and still went over by 300. The entire day I felt like I had not eaten anything, like just a burning emptiness in my stomach that wouldn't stop no matter what I ate. I ate fruit, vegetables, chicken, red meat, nuts, dried fruit, rice, greek yogurt... nothing helped. I had NO sweets or chocolate. I finally took Advil PM and went to bed. I know it's normal for me to be hungry right before my period, but I haven't been counting my calories until recently so I have no idea how much I normally eat on those days. So for me, personally, the PMS is real, because every other day for the past 39 days I haven't had any problems sticking to my goal. Of course, I'm on fertility medications, so that may make a difference in my hormones, but this is my personal experience.
  • RomulanWarbird
    RomulanWarbird Posts: 230
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    When I get PMS I want to eat more -salt.- Not chocolate or cake or anything that makes me go over on calories, but pickles.

    Pickles. I eat so many. And olives. I don't care because I'm not over in calories but I end up having to drink an extra liter of water to flush my system.

    But I've never really binged and I've never been over on calories. I don't know anyone who does just binge eat 5000 a day during PMS so...
  • lee91356
    lee91356 Posts: 330 Member
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    :heart: the replies because for SOME this is NOT an excuse our bodies are BURNING more calories and therefore we are HUNGRIER then normal. I too overeat/ binge eat and hey, guess what, its not only crap, its ANYTHING and EVERYTHING - biggest c raving roasted chicken, salted nuts, and protein bar, along with cereal (no milk) and pretzel. But truth be told its the nagging hunger that anything thats not nailed down must go in my pie whole because I'm still hungry.

    I am also an emotional eater and I know the difference and there is one. if your not sure, rather then insult people check with a doctor or certified nutritionist/ dietitian.
  • Chocolatdee1203
    Chocolatdee1203 Posts: 20
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    It is so funny how we as women can be so brutal to eachother. NO ONE knows what the other's body goes through at the special time of the month as there are many factors that play into it like your hormone levels, chemistry, DNA, weight etc. So to say that people are using their period as an excuse or copout is kinda harsh. It is like me saying I don't PMS so those that say they do are full of $%^&. It is funny because this whole week I have been fighting urges big time and not being satisfied with my normally satisfying healthy food or getting hungry super quick after I eat. I have been saying all week WTH is wrong. Look at the calendar and... I am due next week. It makes sense. Now I have ate three cookies in two days which I wouldn't normally touch. No it is isn't binging but I sympathize with those that can't control the urges and the hunger like they can normally. I think that admitting that you overate is owning it no matter what the reason you attribute it to. This is a weight loss forum so get off of the pulpit and stop preaching about how you are a rock star and can control your urges and others are just weak excuse makers. What satisfaction is there in putting others down just because you don't struggle like they do? Try being uplifing instead of insulting. This thread is 6 pages long with women who say they suffer from this struggle every month obviously it is real for some. When God made you he didn't clone you or your DNA into all of us so let's stop the madness. #GoingtogetanothercookieandIOWNTHAT
  • RomulanWarbird
    RomulanWarbird Posts: 230
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    :heart: the replies because for SOME this is NOT an excuse our bodies are BURNING more calories and therefore we are HUNGRIER then normal. I too overeat/ binge eat and hey, guess what, its not only crap, its ANYTHING and EVERYTHING - biggest c raving roasted chicken, salted nuts, and protein bar, along with cereal (no milk) and pretzel. But truth be told its the nagging hunger that anything thats not nailed down must go in my pie whole because I'm still hungry.

    I am also an emotional eater and I know the difference and there is one. if your not sure, rather then insult people check with a doctor or certified nutritionist/ dietitian.

    Yeah you also burn more calories the week before your period, don't you?
  • canadjineh
    canadjineh Posts: 5,396 Member
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    Speaking from 39 years of experience with this 'business' - I don't even have to check the calendar anymore. Two or three days before P day, I suddenly get a craving to eat almost a pound of old cheese at one sitting and chase it all down with jiggers of Frank's Hot Sauce. YES, I said jiggers. I try not to do that of course, but as soon as I get that feeling - I suddenly clue in after not thinking about my cycle for a month. Hubby knows the sign too, lol.
    It's not like I deny myself those foods the rest of the time, they are a regular part of my meals. It's just at that TOM the craving is crazy. I admit at times I have done the pound of cheese with jigger chasers. Don't feel like eating much after that - so I don't usually go too far over on calories or even macros for my maintenance diary.

    It's just the way it is... looking forward to menopause, I doubt it's going to be any crazier for me.
  • 1991court
    1991court Posts: 230 Member
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    Its a total excuse! If I want chocolate I will eat it who cares I don't need my period to want chocolate its like a daily thing for me.. So when I know I will be on my period I seriously will get in arguments with myself no you don't need that cupcake, grande latte, chocolate bar and whatever else... So I try to force myself to not give into the excuse oh im on my period I can eat this it will make me nicer.. chances are I wont be nicer and I will want more.. just sayin lol

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