Ladies what do you do that time of the month?

I try my hardest to continue what I normally do, which is exercise 30-90 minutes a day and eat right (I also stick to this philosophy when I get sick). I may not feel like it, but I know once I'm done I will feel much better than before. I also find that exercising helps me with cramps during my cycle.

As far as cravings go, I snack on what I normally do. Almonds, dark chocolate covered almonds, granola, and 100 calorie popcorn packs (not all in one sitting, lol). Dark chocolate is a not so guilty pleasure of mine, and I find that having a few pieces of it daily doesn't hurt my weight loss in any way. So I can generally get through cravings without a problem because my body is used to that food.

The worst thing for me is that I get irrationally angry for no reason at the littlest things. Something that I would normally laugh off, awakens the kraken. And that's why I also refuse to skip working out because exercising releases those endorphins that my body and mood desperately need.

I've also found that I normally still lose during that time.

I eat a lot of protein to keep full and bump my calories up to close to maintenance. Drink a lot of water and go for a walk.
If I still crave something sweet I eat dark chocolate or just work some ice-cream or whatever into my calories. It's no big deal.

Inositol always helps my cravings, as does keeping plenty of fruit around (as I'm a HUGE sugar junkie around my time of the month). I try to always make sure to take an iron supplement around my time of the month as well, since I tend to lose a lot of blood, which exhausts me and causes me to reach for unhealthy 'quick fixes' for my energy- often things like candy, baked goods, etc.

I drink a lot of tea and water around my time of the month, including the day or two before hand. If you find yourself really unreasonably bloated dandelion and cranberry tea are good for relieving bloating, but they are not as intense as an OTC diuretic unless you like quadruple steep them. I really don't suggest taking a diuretic (regardless of whether it's an OTC medication, herbal tea, etc.) because it does lead you into the trap of becoming potentially dehydrated (the last thing you want is sodium and potassium out of wack) if you don't drink loads of water to help your body regulate it's water retention. The best thing you can do for bloating is to merely drink more water.

In all honesty, my menstrual problems got a lot better when I cleaned up my diet. They didn't go away (I still get cysts, horrific cramps from the cysts, headaches, bloating, etc.) but it got a lot better in terms of intensity, and the frequency of such symptoms really did decrease. I hope this is the case for you as well! Exercise, try your best to avoid products high in sodium, drink lots of water and I think you'll be just fine.

Us woman folk are period warriors, haha.

I TAKE MY MULTIVITAMINS, POP B12'S LIKE THERE IS NO TOMORROW AND WORKOUT LIKE CRAZY TO AVOID CRAMPS, AND DRINK PLENTY OF WATER!!!

I'm fortunate in that I don't get bad cramping, but I do get super irritable and emotional, I get hungrier, and I retain water, ugh! I've only been logging my food on MFP for a few weeks and am due for TOM soon. My plan is to take walks like I always do and eat back all my exercise calories from the walks if I'm extra hungry (I don't always eat them back). Staying under calorie goals seems to help me be less moody and emotional thank goodness. As for bloating nothing takes it away all together but I do minimize it by drinking dandelion tea - one or two cups a day.

I take a buttload of midol for the cramps. Skip the first day (heaviest for me) but exercise the rest of them. Allow myself to indulge in chocolate when I crave it. Don't weigh myself or look in the mirror for 5 days.... :l

Going thru this right now..I ate a carrot cake slice and up late eating a fruit bowl.I can tell when its my time because I crave carbs and sugar..

I become nauseous, so cravings are easy; except sometimes I will crave protein in the form of red meat very bad, I give in to that one. As for working out I switch from lifting to circuit training, cardio with lower weight high rep. Otherwise I get muscle fatigue too quickly and my work out seems like a waste.

Try and stay the course.
Don't spiral if I fall a bit short.
Look forward to two days after when I magically "lose" 3 pounds overnight.

A few days before I usually want to eat all the carbs in the universe.

So I do a little more activity than usual- light exercise like walking doesn't make me reach for the fridge the way that more intense cardio or weights does.

And for a day or two I just switch up my macros so I'm eating more carbs and if I'm still ravenous, I'll reduce my deficit but I'm lucky in that I don't get a lot of pain. Just a very specific sort of hungry- just starchy carbs. So some bread or rice cakes or whatever is all that I need to make me feel better.