Women - Menstrual Cycle and Weight Gain

pichiPurinsesu

i go up anything from 2lb to 6lb it seems! and this happens around a week before i'm due on u___u weighted myself this morning and i'd put on 4lb overnight - don't think so haha

Rachshuv

Cheese n salty foods- I use rice crackers when I'm menstruating spread with light Philadelphia... Much less fat and calories then cheese and crackers yet even more satisfying. X

trud72

i am awful on my cycle :grumble:
i only lose weight 2 times a month! :noway: yes just after ovulation and just after period but i ALWAYS gain around 6/7 lb just before them and tend to pig out alot more too! then lose weight who knows my body is screwed up! lol :bigsmile: but it's still losing right! :drinker:

Roni_M

I always have 2-5lbs gain with mine. I have a mirena IUD so don't actually have a period (just some spotting) but I still get the monthly gain. Usually lasts about a week.

Gummyb34r5

Omg I'm so happy to see this ! I've been doing the Intermittent fasting for 3 weeks now and have lost 5 lbs. But last weekend I cheated and ate outside of my eating window, and today I checked my scale and I'm 110!! Now I know it's just because I'm on my cycle. :)

Muidar

Me too. Lots of women saying the same thing on other sites.

The food cravings are your body trying to replace the lost cells. Research shows intensity of food cravings are linked to a set of hormones we all produce in varying amounts depending on genetics. Make a point of eating quality nutrient rich stuff like avovadoes and beets and high iron meat. Be careful of veggies that block iron uptake and it helps curb the cravings. I find taking a for women multi vitamin helps too.

sarahmonsta

It depends on your body. When I weighed more I would gain like 10lbs. Now It is the best time for me to take advantage of losing weight lol. Lots of women gain water weight and feel heavy, also if you gorge yourself with food you can gain from that as well. lol It just depends.

petitegreek

I've made the mistake of stepping on the scales a couple of times. Even though I KNEW it was temporary, it still really upset me. So now I know enough to not get on the scale until 2 days after the end of my period. For me it's just not worth it.

^^ THIS!!! I just went through this last week and I won't do it again.

FitCrystalLina

It makes me feel so relieved and happy that Im not the only one with this prob.
Ive been working out hard and I feel like im about to start me period and I gained 3 pounds
I haven't started yet offically yet i just feel like im about to.

honey223344

So glad to see this. My period is just now ending today. I stepped on that scale and I've gained 2.5 lbs. I am very sad/mad right now and from now on I will NOT weigh myself during the week of my period. Glad to see I'm not the only one going through this.

emboslice94

Totally common! I know overeating is common, but I try to limit that. I do however, allow myself one "cheat" meal/treat around my period that is hormonally driven (so basically the food that I absolutely crave and would kill for at the time), it's one of my three a month.

If it freaks you out to see the scale, then up to 4 days before, and about a week after, don't weigh yourself. No point discouraging yourself, I know I would gain like 5 pounds in water weight and be super bloated and be super down on myself if I got on the scale, so just avoid it, try to stick to your food plan, but let yourself have a treat if when you're on your period, just try not to go overboard. And don't beat yourself up about it .

JDBLY11

Can someone tell me how my cycle is going to affect the scale. I'm doing so good these last two weeks and weighing every couple of days. I think I read a post one time that said we gain weight during our cycle. Does anyone know? Is it best to stay off the scale until I'm off? Thanks!!

My cycle has never affected the scale. I lost 60 lbs a couple years ago and weighed in regularly. Usually I lose just the same as I did previous weeks. It has never gone up because of my period.

thistimesucess

I'm slightly different from most of you here. I've found that for 3 weeks I barely loose anything, the week before my period I may even go up, then during my period I drop anything from 1 - 3kg (I'm going for slow steady weight loss). So I figure that I retain water from fairly early on in my cycle and its only truly reflected about the time of my period, I used to get so frustrated with weeks in a row and the scale not moving - now I know that's how my body works and look forward to seeing just how much I actually lost that month. I'm thinking of moving to only weighing myself once a month because of it,

TheFitnessTutor

You'll gain water weight. This is part of the burden of directly repopulating the planet. The important thing to do is NOT try to change up your routine (assuming that its a good one) like most people do or eat less or do more exercise when they see a weight gain. I say weigh yourself every day multiple times a day and through your cycle so you can see just how unpredictable and inaccurate a scale can be. It will help you break this fear of weighing in or the emotion that comes with these relatively useless numbers you see appear. Appetite increases because you're feeding for the possibility of two. Lets not over-react or make this more complex than it is.

StArBeLLa87

Best advice don't weigh yourself the week of your period ugh water retention is likely to occur and may cause discouragement!

Don't seriously! Lol

4lbs is average water weight gain during this time it will come off though as long as you don't binge!

TheFitnessTutor

Best advice don't weigh yourself the week of your period ugh water retention is likely to occur and may cause discouragement!

Don't seriously! Lol

4lbs is average water weight gain during this time it will come off though as long as you don't binge!

If you did binge, why would that effect the water weight?

StArBeLLa87

Best advice don't weigh yourself the week of your period ugh water retention is likely to occur and may cause discouragement!

Don't seriously! Lol

4lbs is average water weight gain during this time it will come off though as long as you don't binge!

If you did binge, why would that effect the water weight?

I'm saying the water weight will come off unless you binge like over eat like crazy

Your a dude don't you think this is a subject for women no offense! Hehe

Some women get munchies bad during this time duh and there discipline weakens for some not all!

TheFitnessTutor

Best advice don't weigh yourself the week of your period ugh water retention is likely to occur and may cause discouragement!

Don't seriously! Lol

4lbs is average water weight gain during this time it will come off though as long as you don't binge!

If you did binge, why would that effect the water weight?

I'm saying the water weight will come off unless you binge like over eat like crazy

Your a dude don't you think this is a subject for women no offense! Hehe

Some women get munchies bad during this time duh and there discipline weakens for some not all!

I was asking the question as a means to show a flaw in your logic. Yes I'm a dude. No I don't think this is a subject for women. Women thinking there's something different going on with them is part of the reason we're lost in this industry as a whole.

PolacaFL

I'm glad I found this post. I haven't lost weight this week even though I haven't gone over my calories. I hope this means water weight...I also readjusted my diary so that I may monitor my sodium intake. Lets see next week

nomad1000

I go up anywhere from 2-5 lbs but I still weigh every day. It is all part of the process of my learning how certain foods and situations impact my weight. Plus, I love to see the number go down afterwards since it usually is lower than when I started since I still work to meet my calorie and activity levels.

Since I know snacking is a big problem during my TOM, I try to plan activities in the evening (my prime snacking time) that have nothing to do with eating. Like tonight, I am painting our bedroom. Needs to be done and it's on the opposite side of the house from the pantry.

Shrinknflubberooskiesape

Y'all have no clue how much better y'all have made me feel reading your replies.
I started using mfp in jan 2012 and lost 65lbs from jan 1 to mid june. Since jan 2013 I've gained 30lbs back. :-( as of 4 days ago I have gotten the WANT to attitude back that I had in 2012. Of course I'm due my TOM tomorrow. I was gonna weigh in on sundays but have been stressing about it, scared I'm gonna see a gain and lose my WANT to........ so after reading your replies I'm going to skip weighing in tomorrow. Should I weigh in next Sunday or wait another week? Also, thank you for the banana/cocoa thing. Going in the morning to buy bananas. :-) again, thank you all soooo much.

JilaineS

These are my go-to snacks for cravings:

Chocolate:
2 tbsp of coconut oil
2 tbsp of cocoa powder
Pour it onto wax/ parchment paper or foil. Freeze it for 15 mins and break up into little pieces (I also add a dash of salt and cayenne) in total it's 260 cals, but it's VERY healthy and packed with Omega 6. Too many benefits to mention.

Salty:
Boom-Chicka-Pop sea salt popcorn. 4 cups is only 120 CALORIES!!

Salty & sweet: (my weakness)
Boom Chicka Pop lightly sweet popcorn
Tastes like kettle corn and only 120 calories in 3 1/4 cups.

Lastly, as my dear friend who is a very talented nutritionist told me, "Sometimes you just need Ben & Jerrys, and thats ok! its all about moderation!" Hope this helps ladies!

Good luck and stay strong!!!

mmm_drop

All the ladies on MFP must be "cycled up". Holy mother effing threads about shark week already.

JilaineS

What do you mean when you say:
Women thinking there's something different going on with them is part of the reason we're lost in this industry as a whole.

I think what she meant is, the water weight will come off, so don't replace the 4lbs of water with 4lbs of fat from binge eating. Resist the urge and the water weight will go. It's a very natural thing. Our body reserves fat, water and blood for creation of a human. For those who missed 6th grade health class. (I know, I'm using very scientific verbiage here ????)

melissa3324

Well this post has made me feel a little better about my weight gain this week. Howver, does anyone ever keep gaining weigh through out the week?? I have been steadily gaining 1-2 lbs a day this past week! I haven't been binging or eating a lot of crap this week either. Maybe it is because my period is lasting a really long time but its extremely light and inconsistent?? I don't know, maybe I need to do a bit of research.

ProgressNotPerfection32

For me, it's best to just stay off it for a week and a half. I've learned to just stay away from the scale a few days before, during, and a few days after my period. I know that it's just water retention, but I hate seeing those numbers go up. Some women can handle weighing in during their TOM, but for me, having PMS + seeing the scale number go up makes me so cranky haha.

I agree with everyone. I wanted to add that for the first 2 years of losing weight I freaked every month. Hell I freaked with each gain. Then this past September I made a lot of changes. One of those being I weigh every single day. And I graph it every single day. I thought it would make me more obsessive but ya know what?? When I make not of ovulation, TOM, bm's or lack thereof, I started to see a pattern each month. I have charted enough months now I can look at my pretty graph and know why I gained or rejoice if I have a true loss (my true low only shows up 1-3 days the entire month). Or I can say crap!! Got to tighten up, starting to gain and this isn't in my norms.

By the way- I gain just before TOM a little but my biggest gain is AFTER TOM is gone. Weird but true

ashalily

I know this is an old post but this makes me happy. I ate badly V-day weekend but I continued to work out harder this past week than before and before I was losing 1.5 pounds a week just walking the stairs at work and eating 1200 calories a day. I weighed myself this morning and I weighed in the same as last week. I had not lost or gained anything. I am happy with this because typically i do put on weight during my period, usually around 2 pound at least!

crysd78

Hi.. I just started my weight loss journey 4 weeks ago. In the first 3 weeks, I lost 19 pounds. I weigh myself every Sunday morning before I eat or drink anything. Last Sunday, I weighed 280.3 pounds. Yesterday, I started my period and today, I weighed 281.0! I'm so upset that after losing such good numbers for 3 weeks, I gained a pound instead of losing some in an entire week! Ugh... just wondering if this is normal... I'm just hoping that it DOES have something to do with my period because I usually eat under 1400 calories a day and very rarely go over that. I even stepped on the scale 3 times because I couldn't believe it! It's just a bit discouraging. :sad:

Leesha97

It's period water gain, no worries. Mine comes right back off about three days into my period. I've retrained my brain to know I'll only really lose weight during the two weeks after my period, the other week and a half I just try my hardest not to binge and if I do overeat, to make sure it's all clean, healthy food and not junk. I have never found a way to not overeat the week before, I've just accepted my body needs more calories during this time and will drive me insane until I feed it.

crysd78

Ok.. tyvm for your reply. I feel much better now knowing that it wasn't something I did wrong. I've been doing the same thing when I feel like snacking.. I choose healthier options instead of binge eating on M&M's or cookies or potato chips.. lol. because that's what I used to do. Now, I choose a stick of string cheese, some nuts or seeds, or these amazing 40 calorie each fudgesicles I found at Walmart. They're delicious and truly satisfy my chocolate and sweet cravings. Thanks again for your comment.. now I don't feel so discouraged, which is great because feeling discouraged has caused me to just give up in the past.