Hunger/cravings pattern and menstrual cycle

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oat_bran
oat_bran Posts: 370 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
This is obviously a question for those who are menstruating. What kind of hunger and/or cravings pattern have you noticed in relation to your menstrual cycle?

Be precise and detailed, please, if possible. For example, do you feel hungrier around ovulation? if so for how many days leading up to it or after it, if you're tracking your cycle. Does the hunger increase gradually or comes suddenly? Do you get sweet cravings just before your period? Can you satisfy it? Do you feel less hungry during your period and in the first week of your cycle? etc.

Do you adjust your eating patterns to your menstrual cycle and if so, how exactly? Do you eat more or less calories during certain times of the cycle? Do you prefer more or less frequent meals? Do you adjust your macros in a way that helps control your hunger/cravings? etc.

Replies

  • callsitlikeiseeit
    callsitlikeiseeit Posts: 8,627 Member
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    i tend to be hungrier for that week, but not always.

    sometimes i will eat a little more but usually i dont.
  • ciaraos27
    ciaraos27 Posts: 29 Member
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    I desperatley need carbs for a day or two, and chocolate. I try to do more exercise that week.
  • Francl27
    Francl27 Posts: 26,372 Member
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    It starts 10 days before my period, and stops on day 3 or so, typically.

    I get that weird feeling that I need to eat something because I'm feeling weak, and typically breadish stuff is the only thing that makes it stop... but I typically need to eat a lot of it to stop. I've tried supplements, tea... nothing has helped. I don't get sweet cravings and eating sweets doesn't help at all. I occasionally have chocolate cravings, but a couple squares and those go away.

    I'd say that I exercise to counter it, but let's be honest, I can't exercise off all those calories (and this time I've been feeling dizzy to boot, so there hasn't been any exercise either).

    I wish I could tell you how I solved the problem, but I haven't. This started happening 3 years ago when I reached my lowest weight. I'm now 30 lbs heavier. I did notice though that I need to eat more during the day, then I'm fine having a light, balanced dinner, typically.

    Then there's *usually* a week or so when I'm not that hungry or don't mind hunger at all, although that hasn't happened in a while (but I'm peri menopausal).
  • kazminchu
    kazminchu Posts: 250 Member
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    The day before I ovulate I'm hungry solidly all day. Nothing touches the sides, and I can eat without ever feeling "full", although I generally feel very uncomfortable.

    Then two days before my period starts I am the same. Like Francl27 described, it's a kind of feeling like I'm weak/about to pass out from hunger. Similarly it's for carbs, but not limited to sweet carbs. More like filling ones like bread/pasta/rice. But it doesn't go away with food, I can eat a full meal and be hungry 10 minutes later.

    It comes on suddenly, generally around mid-morning. I adjust my eating pattern around my cycle by, uh, eating all the things on those days. I've not yet been able to satisfy it without going way over my calories, and keeping to my calories just makes me feel sick and faint. So I figure it's 2-3 days per month, it's fine. I don't adjust my macros because I can't be bothered and I don't think it'll help any.

    I tend towards 3 meals a day plus an afternoon snack, on my hungry days I tend to graze almost constantly trying to fill the void.
  • Toria718
    Toria718 Posts: 396 Member
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    Yesterday was one of those days, going fine until mid-afternoon and then an intense hunger that wouldn't be satisfied. Logged it all and came to around 4500 calories. I ate all the things lol (cheese sticks are amazing). Good thing it's only like this a couple days a month. I get hungry like that once at ovulation and again 2-3 days before my cycle starts.
  • RubyDarling
    RubyDarling Posts: 171 Member
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    The week before my period, I am an eating machine and crave sugar and carbs.
    Then once it starts, my hunger dies right off and I'm barely hungry.

    It all averages out so I eat when I need to, and try to make smarter choices around what I eat (plus drinking a HECK of a lot of water to fill me up).
  • lottieouroboros
    lottieouroboros Posts: 15 Member
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    RubyDarling wrote: »
    The week before my period, I am an eating machine and crave sugar and carbs.
    Then once it starts, my hunger dies right off and I'm barely hungry.

    It all averages out so I eat when I need to, and try to make smarter choices around what I eat (plus drinking a HECK of a lot of water to fill me up).

    Same here! (Currently in the eating machine phase right now, lol). Before my period I'm super hungry and crave anything dairy/fat related, then once my period starts I'm not very hungry for the first day or two and can't eat anything carb-heavy (like bread or fries) - this is especially if I get nausea.

    I also retain a lot of water about 1 week before my period starts, so I don't weigh myself around then. This usually stops once my period has stopped and I suddenly feel a lot greater because I actually notice the weight I've lost. I guess because there isn't much difference between my starting weight and goal weight (about 25lbs, I've lost 15), even a couple of pounds gained from water makes me feel like I've gone right back to step zero.

    If I'm in a lot of pain or have super wild cravings, I usually let myself eat (obviously within reason) and worry about repairing the damage later. I'll aim for maintenance but it doesn't always work. My own comfort and wellbeing comes before weight loss, otherwise it makes me miserable.

  • ShayCarver89
    ShayCarver89 Posts: 239 Member
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    About a week before I start my period I become very hungry. Once it actually shows up the hunger subsides, about 2 days into my appetite returns to normal. But that week leading up to it..its bad.
  • kami3006
    kami3006 Posts: 4,978 Member
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    I am very hungry the two days before TOM, then I lose most of my appetite the week of. I'm also significantly more hungry for a couple days during ovulation. When I was eating in a deficit I would bump up my calories to maintenance those days. Now I just vary my intake to accommodate it by following a weekly calorie goal.
  • cmhubbard92
    cmhubbard92 Posts: 5,018 Member
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    If I didn't have a "female tracker" on my Fitbit app, I would know my period is due in a day(or less!) because I crave salt, but more particularly tortilla chips covered in shredded cheese(only because I love cheese and would eat it all the time if I could.) I will down half a bag of tortilla chips "just because." I log it, and move on. If I go over my goal (because seriously, one serving = 9 chips????), so what. It happens once a month, and I wouldn't be content just ignoring that craving.

    I would also say I crave chocolate, but I crave that every day of the month... The rest of the time though, it's not as bad. I do get terribly nauseous from my cramps, so I tend to eat less when it actually starts.

    I do notice my weight rises(but I think just about every woman has mentioned that problem), but I just continue weighing myself, and I compare it to the previous month's weight around that same time. Sure my weight might be higher, but it is still less than the month before! The graph on here is simple, but pretty neat when trying to look at the trend!
  • XxAngry_Pixi
    XxAngry_Pixi Posts: 236 Member
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    I drop 2 to 3 pounds a day or two before my period starts. Then the first three days i am ravenously hungry and crave carbs so bad. I try to stick to maintenance those days but usually go over. I go under other days though to compensate for it.
  • Mrsindepenant1
    Mrsindepenant1 Posts: 196 Member
    edited January 2019
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    I find I will get slight cramps and automatically think I should eat something as if it was hunger pain. If Im having a awedul time of it and feel tired it makes me want to laze around and snack so I try keep busy to avoid Snacking. If I crave certain things like carbs etc then I will try and adjust my food to suit. So if I want pizza I will
    Make a healthy one on a wrap base, or I’ll have a low calorie chocolate dessert so I can satisfy my cravings without going over the calories.
    Other than that I don’t notice any difference throughout the month.
  • Deviette
    Deviette Posts: 979 Member
    edited January 2019
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    Note: although I don't always bleed thanks to my birth control, I still have a noticeable "period week" when my body acts like it's on it's period and my cycle is still pretty regular.

    Starting about a week before my period I am always ravenous, this lasts for about a week (week 1). I normally then lose my appetite a little around when my period starts, then it builds back up again (week 2). The next couple of weeks are fairly steady hunger-wise (week 3&4)

    Week 1 - I am just hungry, I want to just eat food, and lots of it. This is when I'll find myself just going to the fridge and mindlessly grabbing food and scoffing it down.
    Week 2 - Is when I tend to get specific cravings. Much easier to control as I find that they pass after not very long. I'll also find myself feeling especially lazy for a couple of days this week. Normally a few days after my period has started.
    Week 3&4 - Is when I find my intake much easier to manage. And nearer the beginning/middle of week 3 is when I'll often not actually feel hungry. I'll find myself eating, not because of hunger, but because of habit. If I rack up a day with a silly large deficit, you can probably bet that it was in that week because I didn't actually eat when I wasn't hungry.
  • oat_bran
    oat_bran Posts: 370 Member
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    callsitlikeiseeit wrote: »
    i tend to be hungrier for that week, but not always.

    sometimes i will eat a little more but usually i dont.
    ciaraos27 wrote: »
    I desperatley need carbs for a day or two, and chocolate. I try to do more exercise that week.

    What week/part of the cycle you are referring to? This is why I asked people to be precise in my OP. For information, your cycle starts the first of your period and ends the day before your next period. Ovulation usually falls around the middle of your cycle, e. g. day 14-15 for an average menstrual cycle.
  • oat_bran
    oat_bran Posts: 370 Member
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    Francl27 wrote: »
    It starts 10 days before my period, and stops on day 3 or so, typically.

    I get that weird feeling that I need to eat something because I'm feeling weak, and typically breadish stuff is the only thing that makes it stop... but I typically need to eat a lot of it to stop. I've tried supplements, tea... nothing has helped. I don't get sweet cravings and eating sweets doesn't help at all. I occasionally have chocolate cravings, but a couple squares and those go away.

    I'd say that I exercise to counter it, but let's be honest, I can't exercise off all those calories (and this time I've been feeling dizzy to boot, so there hasn't been any exercise either).

    I wish I could tell you how I solved the problem, but I haven't. This started happening 3 years ago when I reached my lowest weight. I'm now 30 lbs heavier. I did notice though that I need to eat more during the day, then I'm fine having a light, balanced dinner, typically.

    Then there's *usually* a week or so when I'm not that hungry or don't mind hunger at all, although that hasn't happened in a while (but I'm peri menopausal).

    Yes, I remember reading your post from a while back about this problem. I can relate a lot so much to your experience. You probably have also read my other posts where I describe having this issue. For a while I was thinking, my birth control pill was the culprit, so I went off of it. And for several weeks I was convinced that I had found my solution. My hunger subsided significantly and I could sustain an average 400-500cal daily deficit easily. During my first true cycle after going off the pill, the increase in hunger was very subtle and was easily satisfiable with eating slightly less or spreading out my calories more. I was really happy because I thought that the problem was solved and I would finally be able to lose weight.

    But during my second cycle around ovulation the hunger started to increase gradually and started picking around the 1 week mark before my period. It was so bad yesterday, that I went almost 2000cals over my TDEE. It was unbearable. I just couldn't stop eating. And yes, carby things seem especially tempting, but it's not a craving for anything in particular that I could satisfy, it's just a need to eat anything in sight almost non-stop. I couldn't feel satiated no matter what I tried and the drive to eat was overwhelming. I can barely stop thinking about food and get dreams about food when I sleep. I wake up hungry and feel hungry again just after eating. Words can describe how frustrating it it. I already ruined 2 weeks of progress in those few days. And I'm still 1 week away from my period. I'm so jealous of those who only experience this for a day or two a month. Or of those that can eat at maintenance and satisfy it.

    If it continues like this not only will I never lose weight, I'm afraid I will gain a lot. And gain it fast. I tried lost of things but nothing really works. There was a few times in the past where I tried to follow someone's advice and had a very fat and simple carb heavy lunch at around 1000 cals and it seemed to do the trick and the hunger subsided for the rest of the day, but it only worked a few times and when it doesn't work it's incredibly frustrating, because I end up eating most of my calories at noon and then have almost nothing for the rest of the day even though I still feel like I'm starving. I'm at the end of my rope here to be honest.

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