PMS and Binge Eating - real or just an excuse?

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.

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.

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!!!!

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....

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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

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

Actually, I had to have a blood transfusion because my periods were so heavy and I was so anemic. Maybe YOU only bleed a tablespoon, but again, not every woman has the same cycle.

It's a wonderful thing if YOU can control YOUR cravings.

If I can't (or simply don't, as it seems to be your opinion), I'm not sure why that's an issue with which you should concern yourself.

I say this with all due respect, although I'm afraid it will read as snippy. Not intended.

I don't buy into the "I have PMS so I just ate 5,000 calories!" theories floating around. Yes, when I get PMS I get cravings for salty and sweet things. I crave food with those tastes. HOWEVER, I still manage to keep control of the AMOUNT of those sweet and salty foods I'm eating.

I think overeating and blaming it on PMS is wrong. We should have more control over it than some women like to believe. It shouldn't be an excuse to eat way too much.

I'd like to hear from other women about this topic. All replies are welcome.

i don't need to make excuses. i eat more when i have pms. i struggle to eat at all post-period.

would i get moral browny points if i ate the same cals each day, regardless of how i felt?

one day a month i'll hog 3000+. i maintain a healthy weight. i'm failing to see the issue.

Do you not require 500 more calories over the duration of your period anyway?

PMS makes you emotional and crabby, you will crave foods to make you feel good especially if you have an emotional attachment to food.

I used to get them every 3-5 months, the cravings and cramps where horrible, i looked for any way possible to alleviate them, so i was getting 3-5 period cravings in one go.

My body isnt your body, your body isnt anyone elses body.

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 j
uice or fruit juice with wheat grass powder in it.

Someone else whose experience is the be-all end-all.

Drinking fruit and veggie juice would have made me throw up. I had 9 months of "morning" sickness. I was a bottomless pit of hunger the first two months, too. I wasn't just eating whatever because I could. I was to the point of nearly passing out HUNGRY.

People really need to stop being narcissistic jerks and realize no two women experience things like PMS, periods, pregnancies and birth control exactly the same way.