OK Ladies.. time to say NO to TOM!

I agree - its a nightmare! I crave chocolate and anything stodgy and its usually 1-2 days before up to 3-4 days after!

To be honest I think you need to be a little more generous to yourself around that time. I eat the chocolate and burn it off in the gym - intense exercise actually makes you feel less hungry. I know its the last thing you want to be doing but it really does help

See this is my problem.. I cant just eat a part of something, put the rest away and be ok.. Once i start.. thats it.. I lose all control.. I need to learn not to leave the store with anything that will destroy me later!!

It sounds like sugar addiction to me. Your best bet is to stay away from the sugar and go through the detox of it so your body will no longer crave it.

right now there is leftover chocolate chip cheesecake in my fridge from a party i had here. and my tom is saying - OH YEAH BABY - and my mind is saying now THAT is NOT a good idea .... I am going to go with the 90 calorie special k chocolate bar and hope it all subsides. You must not beat yourself up though ... a little leeway is okay. You must be kind to yourself a little bit.

I was thinking about posting about this today - because my period came late and it has been driving me crazy! I continue to lose weight every month but I am working dang hard to see it happen... so when TOM comes around and I continue working hard only to see I maintain for 1-2 weeks or go up a pound, it is aggravating. I know some women have said they go up like 5 or more pounds! The good thing is, as long as I can go without eating everything in sight and I eat my sugar-free chocolates, I'm usually good and can look forward to a sudden drop in weight within a week!

Here are some tips I found elsewhere on the sight for things to eat during the cravings: plain popcorn, sprinkled with splenda or truvia, cinnamon, garlic powder. Also, I haven't eaten them but a lot of people praise the vitatops and one menstrual cravings post recommended the sugar-free ones. That's the way I go - sugar-free Turtles and sugar-free Dove chocolates, because for some reason, I just do NOT say no to some chocolate when it comes to TOM.

After reading other posts, just wanted to make another comment...


I had ZERO PMS symptoms prior to having children (no serious chocolate cravings, no feeling like I wanted to eat everything, no desire to sleep all day leading into it) and I ate horribly. Now, POST having kids, and eating better, I have all of these. I also eat around 15g of sugar per day... which is pretty low. I think symptoms can be related to food, but I also think other factors come into play.

Hope this isn't too long, :noway: but it actually has to do with getting past cravings. Just finished reading it online at better homes and gardens.com... link would be bhg.com / Health and Family / Weight Loss / Simple Diet Strategies.... I copied and pasted if that works for you.. it had other pages as well with other good eating ideas if you want to go to the bhg.com site.

ANYWAY, here goes:


Smart eating made simple
quote:

Getting your brain out of binge mode

Ever had a night like this? You swing by the store for a gallon of milk. As you wait in the checkout line, a bag of chips catches your eye. You know those chips aren't good for you, but you buy them anyway and scarf them in the car. By the time you pull into your driveway, regret is kicking in.

This isn't just a case of weak willpower, says former FDA commissioner Dr. David Kessler. The real problem is that certain commercially made foods -- the ones with tons of added sugar, salt, and fat -- are so tasty and so stimulating that they actually overwhelm the brain's circuitry. When we eat them, the brain cranks out dopamine, a neurochemical associated with a reward that drives us to eat that food again...and again...and again. Eventually, just looking at the food can trigger a dopamine release. "We get stuck in a cycle," Dr. Kessler says. "We're constantly chasing that satisfaction." These steps can help you break free.

Envision what you should be eating instead

Temptation can strike suddenly -- like when you walk through a food court and catch a whiff of freshly baked cinnamon rolls. Perhaps you try to reason with yourself by thinking, I shouldn't eat that or That food is bad for me. You'll have far more success if you go a step further and visualize a better outcome, says Dr. Kessler. Try, I have a healthy lunch waiting for me back home, and cinnamon rolls aren't in my plan.

Don't be seduced into stopping

Resisting the call of the fast-food drive-through might seem futile in the moment, but consider this: Studies show that addictive cravings tend to fizzle as soon as the object in question becomes unattainable. In other words, drive a few miles past the burger joint, and you'll likely discover that you didn't really need those extra-large cheese fries after all.

Think through the aftermath

When you're being lured by a super-stimulating food, the brain's reward center is keyed into one thing and one thing only: the immediate sensory pleasure of eating that food. Gain control by extending your thoughts to the consequences. For example, Nachos might taste great now, but tomorrow I'll feel awful about myself, or Ice cream sundaes always give me indigestion. Explains Dr. Kessler, "This undercuts the reward value of the food."

unquote.
As I said , there were more pages, but I thought this was pretty relevant. Hope it helps somebody!:blushing:

Im on day 4... cravings were only bad the day before it started...my problem is HORRIFIC cramps & HEAVY HEAVY bleeding....so much so that I dont dare to work out.....not to mention Ive been an emotional crying unbearable witch:sad: ...but the cravings, yeah, not too bad for a change.... I think what helped this month was that I got sugar out of my system ( Haven't had any since Ash Wednesday) so the normal monthly cravings weren't as bad as usual

Honey, If your TOM is truly "horrific" cramps, and "Heavy heavy bleeding", I was wondering , have you been talking to your OB-GYN about this? This is usually treatable, and could possibly be symptomatic of other problems besides usual TOM.

It really is amazing though, about getting the sugar out of your system, isn't it? Even just usual daily temptations and cravings get better once your body isn't "expecting" to get the junk food.:drinker:

Cheers to all! I'd still rather be a female!!:laugh: :bigsmile:

My past week has been like this, I didn't even weigh in this week. It's so frustrating because I start craving before my good old friend shows up, so I don't even know why it's happening for a couple days! Urgh.

This is me too! I start starving and craving things days before and then once it's over I go to practically no appetite...it drives me nuts. I've been bingeing for 6 days now...*sigh* But Aunt Flo arrived today so hopefully this will end in the next couple days.

Got mine this morning 3 chocolate bars, a slice of cake, a mozerella ball (???), pasta n sauce, slice of toast, 5 crackerbreads, one packet of walkers sunbites and melba toast. That is what my day has consisted of, picking at the fridge. Its always the same around my totm I HATE IT!
I was on weight watchers pro points for 6 weeks and lost 3lb - a lost still but tragic all the same. So I switched to cal counting and lost 5.5lb in my first week (which was last week) and got down to 194lb from 202 originally. I was 196lb yesterday and today I've probably consumed about 2000kcal instead of 1200 and have put on what I lost last week - I dont even want to check!

Why is it that I think weight loss CAN be easy and simple if I put my mind to it. All I need to lose is 3.5st and if I kept at it I could have lost it in 6 months. Yet easier said than done, hey

Personally, I think it would be easier for me to just grow about 6 inches taller!! :laugh: