Saturday, April 6, 2024

(Not) Staying on track during PMS - Anyone else?

I know how to lose weight. I know the principles in theory, and I have already managed to lose ~10kgs (22lbs) from my starting weight (95kg/210lbs, 5'4"). So, I know I can do it, I know how it works and I also have some experience how I react to different food intakes, different types of food, how to deal with cravings, the whole deal.

I also want to emphasize that I take my weight loss pretty chill; if I plateau, I plateau, if I feel like maintenance is the way to go for a while, so be it. I don't worry if I go over budget on rare occasions, and I don't stress about the scale if the water weight fluctuates.

At the moment, however, I am in a phase of weight loss. I limit my daily calories to a reasonable amount that i know I can sustain over a longer time (as I did it for some time now, with some breaks).

Now, I also happen to be born with an intact female reproductive system, so once a month my cycle cycles around. Most of the time, I am fine; as some of you will no doubt know, however, PMS is one hell of a monster.

Cravings, stress, tiredness, aching, mood changes, everything seemingly working together to try and derail you from your weight loss journey. Today, it is as if my brain lost its ability to understand consequences.

Usually, when I want to eat something just for the tast, feel or to fulfill cravings, I can look at it and make a decision - eat this now, but at the cost of (some of) today's deficit, budget it in or don't, because you don't really need it. Sometimes I decide one way, sometimes the other, but I always feel in control. This took a lot of work, and I am proud of this.

But just before my period, all the control goes out the window. I take a look at some chocolate, think 'oh, I don't actually want to eat this right now' and yet my hand moves by itself, and I eat. Then i think 'okay, that's enough', put the thing away ('cause I know, if it's there, I'll probably eat it sooner rather than later).

Then, 20 Minutes later, the empty wrapper/box appears on some countertop. I ate it all. Sometimes, I still want more. It is like inside me, an insatiable beast awakens that takes over my body for short times and just takes over decision making like this:

Wants chocolate but also wants to lose weight -> I don't really need that chocolate, I'd rather not eat it -> ??? -> Eats all the chocolate.

It doesn't help if I 'allow' myself some. It doesn't even help if I don't have chocolate at home. I have found myself in the store during that scenario more than once, fully aware that 'that's not actually what I want to do right now'.

To be clear, this is - for me - not a big concern, I consistently only eat ~300kcal over maintenance for like two days a month because of this. It just is pretty annoying and I feel weirdly out of control about this.

This got long, but I had to get it out there. Does anyone of you feel the same? Do you have tips (besides protein/nutrient/iron deficiency - I have that pretty much under control) or other advice? Do you sympathize with this?

I guess I just need to know that I am not alone!

submitted by /u/WeightTooCool
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