Stalling on period

Annahbananas wrote: »

Does anyone else have any tips on how not to gain 7 pound every time my period happens?

I'm wondering if my sodium is too much during this time

When my appetite spikes up premenstrually, I honor it and eat at maintenance for a few days. Most times I add a snack and have a slightly larger dinner, and/or a treat. If I use PMS as an excuse to #EatAllTheFood I will gain more than my normal few pounds. This month I decrease salt considerably and actually lost weight premenstrually, a first.

@Francl27 has reactive hypoglycemia (?) premenstrually and needs to be very careful about carbs at this time in order to keep her appetite in check. (She'll correct me if I got any of that wrong.)

Drinking lots of water, remaining active, trying to avoid exceeding your calorie limits, and minimizing your salt and carb intake can help, but much of this "gain" is hormonally mediated and nothing is going to stop it completely. Unless you're blowing past your calorie goals all week, the "gain" doesn't represent fat but water retention, and it will correct itself after your period is over.

Nobody is one stable weight all the time, and rapid gains and losses of several pounds of fluid from illness, trauma, surgery, and hormonal fluctuation are just part of being alive.

I recently had surgery and between the fluids they gave me during the surgery, constipation from anesthesia and pain meds, decreased activity, and fluid retained by my tissues as they healed, I was up ten pounds from the day before surgery to the day after! I hadn't magically gained ten lbs of fat, though, and it dropped off over several days back to my normal weight.

I go on a low sodium diet when I start pms to keep water retention under control(2-3 lbs) if I don't I can easily retain (6-10 lbs) it's all about prevention for me b/c once the bloat comes on,drinking extra water won't help

VintageFeline wrote: »

It's lessened with losing weight, my tummy doesn't increase in size anywhere near as much as it did and I don't think my weight goes up quite as much but it is what it is. It's only water and comes back off again so I'd just learn to relax during that time about heat the scale says, it's not an accurate representation of your progress.

I'm the opposite when it comes to bloating. When I was at a higher weight, my tummy didn't expand nearly the same amount as it does not or at least it wasn't noticeable. I've found that, as I get into smaller pants sizes, even just a few lbs and some bloating during that time of the month can put me up an entire freakin' pants size. Eff that, yo.