Ladies what do you do that time of the month?

Drink lots of water. That may sound counter-intuitive but it helps. Definitely exercise! It really will help. When I need to satisfy my sweet tooth, I have a bite-size piece of dark chocolate, like a piece of Dove or Hershey's Bliss, or a dark chocolate mini reesee's peanut butter cup. That's just enough to feel like I have indulged, but without too many calories (about 40).

This is pretty much the best answer I could think of as well - indulge the chocolate/sweet/whatever cravings, but only in small amounts. That way you can still fit them into your TOM days and you don't end up obsessing about them until you binge.

We all go through it however I do agree with the lady that said no excuses. I normally go to the gym as usual and do my classes but I will submit to one small craving like a bag of crisps or a small chocolate bar (I don't go mad) because I know if I didn't I would go AWOL and eat anything and everything in sight lol! Before I started dieting I would literally eat a family size pack of crisps and chocolate as well as loafs of bread and pasta etc. We are all human, we all get cravings and we all feel like poop sometimes and we all deal with it differently. I'm not saying follow in my footsteps because maybe I'm doing it wrong by submitting but it does help me :-)

We all deal differently because our periods affect us all differently. Those who say "No excuses" probably don't feel as much pain as others do. As a teen, physical activity made my cramping ten times worse. Thanks to an endometrial ablation, my period is not nearly as bad anymore. Since I've experienced hell week before though, I have a lot more sympathy for those who simply cannot push past it as others think they should.

That was not a rant at the poster I quoted, though. This subject just comes up a LOT, and I hate to see women painted as weaker or wimpier because they say they can't go about life as normal for a few days a month.

I did not want to post tmi but the reason I can't exercise for the first day or two of my cycle is because the flow is so heavy, I go through a tampon AND pad approximately every 25 minutes, I am light headed and doing any kind of physical activity only leads to "gushes" ....this has nothing to do with pushing through the pain and everything to do with avoiding a messy embarrassing situation, lol. Sorry if that's too much info but I know I am not the only one like this. It has nothing to do with being weak.

Sorry if this sounds like I am ranting...I'm not, just in a rush right now and was agreeing with the above post. Thank you OP for this thread....I always wondered what other people did also

I usually don't get cramps but get bloated, puffy, clutzy (sp?) and irritable/tired. I usually can still workout, but yesterday I was working and could hardly stand up straight. I then went to get some food for dinner and was standing on line at the store (12 items or less) and the girl being checked out had about 3-4 times that amount. I was behind two people behind her NOT staring at her but leaning over holding my salad and yogurts and mentally punching her in the face a few times while I was riding out the spasms in my uterus...(I'm sure she's a lovely person). That night I thought I had my cravings under control and proceeded to eat 4/5's of a bag of Cadbury mini eggs, a regular Cadbury crème egg and then a handful of those lovely Brach's jelly eggs...all that I had bought on sale the day before...stupid me...two days before my period...but had to get them before they were all gone! So I can totally 100% understand what you are going through! Luckily that was the extent of my pigging out for this TOM. All I can say is to just ride out the inevitable period crap that will happen and get back to your regular program ASAP. I usually just give in to what I'm craving. I've learned in the past that trying to eat other things to satisfy what I really want will never work for me. I always end up eating more calories doing that than if I'd just had the one food I REALLY wanted. A few days leading up to your period, maybe get in some extra activity to try and balance out the out of control days.

We all go through it however I do agree with the lady that said no excuses. I normally go to the gym as usual and do my classes but I will submit to one small craving like a bag of crisps or a small chocolate bar (I don't go mad) because I know if I didn't I would go AWOL and eat anything and everything in sight lol! Before I started dieting I would literally eat a family size pack of crisps and chocolate as well as loafs of bread and pasta etc. We are all human, we all get cravings and we all feel like poop sometimes and we all deal with it differently. I'm not saying follow in my footsteps because maybe I'm doing it wrong by submitting but it does help me :-)

We all deal differently because our periods affect us all differently. Those who say "No excuses" probably don't feel as much pain as others do. As a teen, physical activity made my cramping ten times worse. Thanks to an endometrial ablation, my period is not nearly as bad anymore. Since I've experienced hell week before though, I have a lot more sympathy for those who simply cannot push past it as others think they should.

That was not a rant at the poster I quoted, though. This subject just comes up a LOT, and I hate to see women painted as weaker or wimpier because they say they can't go about life as normal for a few days a month.

I did not want to post tmi but the reason I can't exercise for the first day or two of my cycle is because the flow is so heavy, I go through a tampon AND pad approximately every 25 minutes, I am light headed and doing any kind of physical activity only leads to "gushes" ....this has nothing to do with pushing through the pain and everything to do with avoiding a messy embarrassing situation, lol. Sorry if that's too much info but I know I am not the only one like this. It has nothing to do with being weak.

Wow! That's heavy! I feel for you. I wasn't that bad, but it was still a major inconvenience. Ask your doctor about Cyclokapron, my doc put me on it and let's just say...LIFE CHANGING!!

I make myself work out.

I always feel skinnier after, regular exercise does wonders for helping with cramps, and the endorphins make me less cranky. It's just putting down snack food and getting there that's mentally tough.

Exercise! Make yourself do it! Push harder!
Cut back on caffeine,
try to sleep more,
and make sure you fit some chocolate in there somewhere

First 2 days are the worst, and the days leading up to it everything is tender so running is out. This last time I honestly slept and ate chocolate and *****ed about feeling yucky (but stayed in calories for the day). TOM makes me crave red meat and chocolate, but generally I feel so sick that I don't eat much anyway.

Day 3 back into the swing and doing ok. Still tired but I am able to push through it. Yay gym tonight!

I rejoice then go work out.

Same here.

The week before is definitely my worst time for cravings and hunger, when TOM actually comes i don't usually feel very hungry so I think it works itself out. Some months are worse for me than others but i think the better I have been eating the better I feel during that time. If I do have cramps exercise does not take them away and in fact makes them worse, they become sharper.

Stay active I walk if that's all I can do. I admit that I find lifting harder around then.