A question for the ladies...

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Alice_in_VVonderland
Alice_in_VVonderland Posts: 67 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
More specifically, this is a very odd question for the ladies who are
A- of menstruating age,
B- possess a uterus, and
C- are not on birth control.

I've been reading that in the week prior to menstruation (you know, that week when we binge eat so much that even the cat is afraid of becoming our next entree), our Basal Metabolic Rate increases by approximately 10%. For me that's roughly 150 additional calories burned per day for about 7 days.

I was wondering if anyone logs those calories burned? Or do you happen to notice a trend of exceeding your calorie goals by roughly 10% during that week?

Replies

  • Runaroundafieldx2
    Runaroundafieldx2 Posts: 233 Member
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    I've always counted my calories and never noticed a difference long term.

    Short term ovulation week I could spring up between 3-7lbs of water weight.

    The day after my period started it would shoot back down.

    Looking at the 28 day picture my weight loss or gain has always matched my calorie intake/out
  • Alice_in_VVonderland
    Alice_in_VVonderland Posts: 67 Member
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    Here is a source, by the way.
    https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/3766447

    Granted that test was only done on 10 people, but I've read a handful of articles all making similar statements.

    I mean, if we round that down to 100 calories a day for the sake of margin of error, and lower body weights, it's only 1/5th of a pound a month. So no, I wouldn't really expect anyone to notice a significant difference. I was just curious if anyone bothered with it. It's about the same amount of calories as a brisk 30 minute walk, so it's not an insignificant amount in that perspective.
  • Machka9
    Machka9 Posts: 24,930 Member
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    Seffell wrote: »
    All the studies which I've read show that there is no increase in BMR. My own experience of several years of careful logging confirm this.
    Runaroundafieldx2 wrote: »
    Looking at the 28 day picture my weight loss or gain has always matched my calorie intake/out

    Yes.

    When I'm on a mission to lose weight, I just keep logging and eating as normal, and weight loss happens as normal.



    Also, just an anecdotal thing but ... when I'm heavier, I am a bit hungrier just before my period. However, when I'm lighter, I don't get hungry before my periods. No idea why that is, but that's how it works for me. So as long as I stay under a certain weight, there's no appetite difference between a "pre-period" day and any other day.

  • Lounmoun
    Lounmoun Posts: 8,426 Member
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    Alice_in_VVonderland wrote: »
    I was wondering if anyone logs those calories burned? Or do you happen to notice a trend of exceeding your calorie goals by roughly 10% during that week?

    I do not log extra calories burned the week before my period. I do not binge eat for a week. I do sometimes have a maintenance calorie day around my period. Otherwise I proceed with my normal eating and logging.


  • ejg1010
    ejg1010 Posts: 48 Member
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    I have never heard of this but even if my body did burn 10% more calories in the lead up to my period it just isn't worth it to me to calculate/track it. Every month I put on a few pounds in the lead up to my period (water retention) and I am also more hungry so I eat at maintenance if I feel the need to. To be honest I'm losing 0.5lbs per week (based on a monthly average) and so I wouldn't even notice a 10% fluctuation.
  • nicsflyingcircus
    nicsflyingcircus Posts: 2,451 Member
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    I just started the week before my period today. I won't notice any increased appetite, but what I will notice is that for the next week to 10 days my weight won't really budge on the scale even if I'm sticking to my plan. Towards the end of my actual menstruation and after the weight will drop off. Not an answer to your question but an interesting observation I had once I started closely tracking both my weight and my cycle.
  • TavistockToad
    TavistockToad Posts: 35,719 Member
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    for me, the scale show the lowest weight the day before my period, then i bloat and go up a pound or 2 which lasts a few days. then, a fortnight later i gain a pound when i am ovulating.

    i sometimes feel increased appetite the week before my period, sometimes the week of, which makes me think maybe its not actually my period causing it as its not consistently the same time!
  • smolmaus
    smolmaus Posts: 442 Member
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    If I was desperate enough for an extra 150kcal for bleeding-days that I was logging menstruation as exercise to justify it I would probably need to take a good look at my plan. If you're starving eat more.

    7 days bleeding, averaged over 28 day cycle = an extra 37.5kcal a day. That's definitely margin of error territory.
  • tinkerbellang83
    tinkerbellang83 Posts: 9,104 Member
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    I have non-hormonal birth control and can say that I've noticed no increase in my BMR in the 2 years I've been tracking.
  • Seffell
    Seffell Posts: 2,222 Member
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    Alice_in_VVonderland wrote: »
    Here is a source, by the way.
    https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/3766447

    Granted that test was only done on 10 people, but I've read a handful of articles all making similar statements.

    I mean, if we round that down to 100 calories a day for the sake of margin of error, and lower body weights, it's only 1/5th of a pound a month. So no, I wouldn't really expect anyone to notice a significant difference. I was just curious if anyone bothered with it. It's about the same amount of calories as a brisk 30 minute walk, so it's not an insignificant amount in that perspective.

    What concerns me is that 10 women is an insignificantly low number and the paper was published in 1986. This is not a reliable study.

  • sophia162
    sophia162 Posts: 115 Member
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    smolmaus wrote: »
    If I was desperate enough for an extra 150kcal for bleeding-days that I was logging menstruation as exercise to justify it I would probably need to take a good look at my plan. If you're starving eat more.

    7 days bleeding, averaged over 28 day cycle = an extra 37.5kcal a day. That's definitely margin of error territory.

    welp, there's the hard truth right there! ^^
    *chuckles
  • lynn_glenmont
    lynn_glenmont Posts: 9,986 Member
    edited November 2018
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    Alice_in_VVonderland wrote: »
    More specifically, this is a very odd question for the ladies who are
    A- of menstruating age,
    B- possess a uterus, and
    C- are not on birth control.

    I've been reading that in the week prior to menstruation (you know, that week when we binge eat so much that even the cat is afraid of becoming our next entree), our Basal Metabolic Rate increases by approximately 10%. For me that's roughly 150 additional calories burned per day for about 7 days.

    I was wondering if anyone logs those calories burned? Or do you happen to notice a trend of exceeding your calorie goals by roughly 10% during that week?
    Alice_in_VVonderland wrote: »
    Here is a source, by the way.
    https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/3766447

    Granted that test was only done on 10 people, but I've read a handful of articles all making similar statements.

    I mean, if we round that down to 100 calories a day for the sake of margin of error, and lower body weights, it's only 1/5th of a pound a month. So no, I wouldn't really expect anyone to notice a significant difference. I was just curious if anyone bothered with it. It's about the same amount of calories as a brisk 30 minute walk, so it's not an insignificant amount in that perspective.

    From the abstract of that article, it sounds like they're talking about TDEE ("24-hour energy expenditure"), not BMR, and they're talking about the two weeks following ovulation, not just the one week before onset of menstruation. The writers hypothesize the increase in energy expenditure is due to the release of progestin. Interesting to me that there's no mention of any link to the energy and building blocks needs to create the uterine lining each month.

    ETA: no, I've never logged those calories, as I assume that's accounted for in part by adjustments in the BMR formula based on age -- which may be one reason MFP underestimated my maintenance calories, since I was later than average to perimenopause.
  • Alice_in_VVonderland
    Alice_in_VVonderland Posts: 67 Member
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    Seffell wrote: »
    What concerns me is that 10 women is an insignificantly low number and the paper was published in 1986. This is not a reliable study.
    That was just one of quite a few other more direct sources that I sort of cherry picked because I didn't think anyone would really be interested in tackling this monster-
    https://www.nature.com/articles/0803699

    There's an interesting bit in there about chocolate cravings during the luteal phase as well.
  • nutmegoreo
    nutmegoreo Posts: 15,532 Member
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    Alice_in_VVonderland wrote: »
    Here is a source, by the way.
    https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/3766447

    Granted that test was only done on 10 people, but I've read a handful of articles all making similar statements.

    I mean, if we round that down to 100 calories a day for the sake of margin of error, and lower body weights, it's only 1/5th of a pound a month. So no, I wouldn't really expect anyone to notice a significant difference. I was just curious if anyone bothered with it. It's about the same amount of calories as a brisk 30 minute walk, so it's not an insignificant amount in that perspective.

    I don't bother with it, but if I'm having a hungrier day, I will eat a bit more. I usually have about 3 hungry days during the week before.
  • joinn68
    joinn68 Posts: 480 Member
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    It would barely be noticeable I think. I don't necessarily feel hungrier before TOM, but I am definitely more tired during.
    No I don't log that "increase". I have lost weight before and over a long enough period it averaged to what was expected
  • Cahgetsfit
    Cahgetsfit Posts: 1,912 Member
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    Interesting. For me, I just keep logging like normal. I have one day where I am a ravenous beast, not a whole week. On ravenous beast day I usually do not stick to my goal and will go above - usually to around maintenance or even a bit more dependent on how ravenous I am. Then it seems to get 'satisfied' and the next day i'm OK again. My ravenous beast day is a bit over a week out from my period (I used iPeriod for a few months to track the pattern of when I am crazy/bottomless pit/horny/ready to kill anyone who crosses my path/etc). About 3 days before my period I become very very tired and need extra sleep.

    So yeah - I figure one day of overeating won't kill me.

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