Ladies only...

My appetite is definitely affected by my hormones. Sometimes I lose my appetite and sometimes I, like you, am ravenous. But there's always a huge change in my eating patterns the week before my period. I get horrible cramps and breakouts and things along with it, too, but those symptoms have been made some better by taking birth control over the years.

I do find that forcing myself to go the gym usually lessens my cramps. I can have the most debilitating, can't walk kind of pain, but running and doing lots of stretches usually makes me feel BETTER somehow.

I've also been very anemic at times for various reasons, and my iron is always lower around the time of my period. Sometimes I think my body has trained itself to crave iron-rich foods (or just food in general, ha!) to help with all the iron lost during that time of the month.

Try taking a vitamin or iron supplement for a while and see if your cravings change. If they don't, just opt for things like fruit and try to remind yourself that lots of bloating/water retention can happen along with PMS. So any weight you feel you've gained is probably not "real."

I used to be anaemic also but that was years ago when I was sickly thin. I thought it went away once I put on weight but I walked into a health food shop with my mum at Christmas time and the lady took one look at my eyes and said "the whites are blueish, you're low in iron".

I hate it... happens to me as well. For those 3-5 days I don't gym as hard as the rest of the month, I only do light cardio and yoga. Yoga really helps with the cramps. Also, a friend once said that if your body is really craving something, then it probably needs it... All in moderation though. And camomile tea... about 4 cups a day for me. At least you know you are not alone :-)

I crave EVERYTHING in sight at that time. I buy takeaways, a block of chocolate or icecream, a bag of chips, drink milos or hot chocolates and this time I attacked the deli ham in the fridge when I couldn't find anything bad in the house! Once, last year I was really craving chocolate cake mixture - not the cake the batter! So I made up a batter, poured enough in a tin to make a small cake then sat there and ate the rest of the batter! It's like I'm crazed when this happens! :devil:

None of it makes me feel better though, I have a yoga DVD that I've never used so I might try that next time, thanks.

I get this too, the week before I have a huge appetite and no energy for exercising. I usually allow myself extra calories for that week and just accept that I might not lose anything or gain a little that week. In the long run it's only 1 week out of 4 so I'm still able to lose weight.

You say the progress you've made goes out the door because of this week, do you mean for that week you don't lose or you haven't lost anything overall? How long have you been trying to lose weight?

I always feel bloated at that TOM and my clothes fit a little tighter but it soon goes back to normal.

If I look back at my weight chart it's like this: 3 weeks = loss, 1 week = gain / stay the same. Over the course of 2 years it hasn't been a big problem, 3 steps forward for 1 step back is still forward overall.

Best of luck, I hope you find something that works.

I haven't lost anything overall. I've been trying for about 6months but keep slipping back to old habits. I've been REALLY trying for about two months but I still haven't seen any progress. I actually feel like I make progress the way my body looks and the way things fit but then I jump on the scales and it's the same. I know it's not all about scales though so was gearing up to weigh myself then my visitor came and my body went back to bulgy and bloated. I'm unsure if it's just bloating though because my eating goes bad and exercising stops during that time so I feel like I keep bouncing back to fat me.

The thing is this also happens when I don't have my period. If I skip the gym for three days or more and my eating slips, the weight comes straight back, it's so fast that even my BF doesn't believe me when I say I can't skip the gym for more than a day or I get beefy again. But it actually does happen. My clothes start getting too tight again. It's wierd and annoying and I'm a bit worried about getting preggers one day because if that's what happens when I don't exercise, what happens when I CANT exercise?!

I know this sounds completely nuts but it's definitely not in my head because my body changes, I can see it and my clothes are tighter, people at work notice too because I see them look at my tummy on a bad day.

I was doing really well with my eating and exercise - still hadn't seen a difference on the scale but had seen a difference in the way my clothes fit so was going to take measurements soon. BUT...

One week before my monthly visitor came calling I felt sluggish, no energy, didn't want to exercise and wanted to eat everything in the house, and in the supermarket. Within a few days My clothes are too tight again, I'm bulging out in bits and the places that were starting to look better are just back to being fat. Now it's actually that time and I made myself go to the gym this morning even though I really didn't want to. I feel like absolute crap with major tummy pains but I feel good knowing that I actually went to the gym and I'm eating well again today - not craving everything and anything bad.

This happens to me every single month without fail, any progress I make goes right out the door the week before. Does this happen to anyone else? Also, is there anything to stop that happening other than forcing myself into the gym and away from the food? I'm ravenously hungry during this time, which is a total pain.

The best thing to do is drink hot water with fresh lemons every morning and night- u are just retaining water and need to eliminate it... Also, don't stop excercising during that time after it is over you will see weight loss if u keep it up.

Thank you. Does the lemon and water help with water retention? I drink between 2 and 3 litres of water a day (that's 67 - 101 liquid oz a day - sorry unsure if that's what you guys measure, I'm in New Zealand so I use the metric system :embarassed: ) That's 9-12 glasses a day

But I heard that drinking a lot of water is good as it helps eliminate water retention - even though that seems like an odd logic

I have read that getting plenty of dairy can help alleviate PMS. Also, eat flaxseed every day, 1 to 2 T. When I have been good about doing the flax seed, my cramps and other hormonal PMS issues are greatly reduced. maybe it could help with your cravings too?

Dairy generally makes me feel bloated but I might look into that. At the risk of sounding stupid: Is flaxseed just like taking a tablespoon of little seeds? Cause I'd imagine that would be quite difficult to swallow?