Down with gluttony: how to stop overeating before your period

Increased appetite before menstruation is not a rare phenomenon; many girls experience it. For some, the desire to eat well appears irregularly, while others note an increase in the number of calories consumed every month. Of course, those who watch their figure will be especially concerned about this feature of the body. But it is worth knowing that increased appetite a few days before menstruation, which is often accompanied by PMS, is a completely normal phenomenon associated with the processes occurring in the female body in the last days of the cycle. Let's look at this issue in a little more detail later in the article.

What are the characteristics of the female body

The hormonal levels in a woman’s body are not constant. The amount of hormones such as estrogen and progesterone in the blood alternately changes. Such jumps in the functioning of the endocrine system affect the feeling of hunger, mood, and bodily sensations.

In the phase that precedes ovulation, the body's endocrine system actively produces estrogen so that the egg can mature. Before and during ovulation, a woman feels great because her body is working at its maximum.

In the second phase of the cycle, appetite always increases

After ovulation, the second phase begins when the woman’s body begins to prepare for the expected pregnancy. The girl’s appetite improves and a craving for certain foods appears. Mainly meat, sweets and bakery products.

During this period, the endometrium of the uterus actively grows, becomes looser and more convenient for the attachment of a fertilized egg. If conception does not occur, then menstruation occurs, during which the woman’s body is freed of excess tissue and fluid. After your period you want to eat a lot.

What to do to maintain your figure

The main rule: do not starve as soon as a new cycle begins, do not try to compensate for the past two weeks with limited nutrition. This cannot be done, because it is so easy to disrupt hormonal levels and disrupt the menstrual cycle. Doctors recommend switching to easily digestible foods, giving up flour and sweets, and reducing the consumption of high-calorie foods. Include more sports in your life and drink clean water at least 1-1.5 liters a day.

Read on topic

: Menstruation and physical activity - how and how much you can do.

According to the doctors themselves, progesterone affects metabolism, which is also a factor in “eternal hunger.” Rest assured, already on the first day of the cycle, your appetite will return to normal, your skin will become cleaner, and your mood will be wonderful! And remember, excessive dietary restrictions during hormonal changes are fraught with emotional breakdowns and great harm to your figure.

Why do you crave sweets?

After ovulation, the amount of estrogen in the blood decreases significantly, and progesterone begins to be actively produced. It stimulates the digestive system, and in particular the pancreas. The release of insulin into the blood increases, which exacerbates the feeling of hunger.

Sweets are a source of endorphins, which a woman needs during this phase.

During this period, moderation should be observed. There is no need to starve, limiting yourself in everything, but you shouldn’t eat everything either. A small piece of cake or chocolate is enough to satisfy your hunger and significantly improve your mood.

You can eat sweets, just don’t get carried away

For what reason do you want to eat?

The fact that appetite increases before menstruation should not worry a woman much. You should know that this situation is completely normal, and the following factors confirm this:

• during the premenstrual period, the balance of insulin and glycogen (hormones responsible for the concentration of glucose in the blood) is disturbed, and therefore girls often crave sweets - in this way the body strives to bring sugar levels back to normal;
• The endocrine system, which has to mobilize resources in order to raise estrogen levels, suppresses the production of serotonin, the so-called happy hormone, which is why a woman may experience mood swings, emotional depression and intense hunger.

But there is good news for young ladies who are afraid of gaining excess weight due to a strong appetite during menstruation.

Metabolism, slowed down due to the active production of progesterone, normalizes and “accelerates” after the final phase of the cycle has passed.

Thus, the calories that a girl receives in excess during premenstrual syndrome have virtually no effect on her physical fitness. Therefore, we do not advise you to worry about the fact that your appetite may increase before and during menstruation.

Why do you want bread and pastries?

The main reasons for the craving for baking before menstruation include:

1. Starch content in this product. Most baked goods contain starch. It has calming properties and helps relieve cramps and pain during premenstrual syndrome.
2. Content of fast carbohydrates. Fast carbohydrates are “fuel” for the body. If necessary, lipids and proteins can be transformed into this simpler compound. Carbohydrates are quickly broken down by the body into glucose, and are used in preparing the reproductive organs for bearing a child. When consumed in large quantities, excess weight appears because they are easily converted into fat. Protein breaks down more slowly into simpler substances. Products that contain it in large quantities are more beneficial in terms of nutritional value.
3. Sugar content. Helps compensate for excess insulin produced by the pancreas.

This product contains almost all the nutrients that a woman's body requires before her period. The smell of bread is pleasant and has a calming effect on the nervous system; you want to eat it during menstruation.

Often during menstruation I crave baking

How to deal with taste cravings during your period

Let us immediately note that not all women suffer from uncontrollable appetite and various taste preferences on the eve of menstruation and during it, although there are quite a few of them. This is due to the individual characteristics of each organism. After all, the duration of the cycle, critical days and painful sensations are also different for everyone.

Therefore, to adjust her diet, every woman must find her own optimal way. We recommend that those who cannot do without sweets introduce into their diet the day before as many products as possible, which contain natural sugar, as well as many different vitamins and beneficial elements. For example, cakes and sweets can be replaced with dried fruits, fruits, nuts, and natural yoghurts.

You need to help the body get enough and restore energy. To do this, you should include white meat, beans, and cereals in your daily menu.

When you really want something salty, instead of unhealthy chips and crackers, prepare yourself a vegetable dish with soy sauce, which is both tasty and healthy.

You should also remember that the hormone of joy is directly proportional to your mood. Therefore, you need to learn to get it not only from sweet foods, but, for example, through active rest, physical activity (light jogging or walking). They will improve your mood and tighten your muscles, and a woman happy with her figure is a happy woman.

Why do you feel full?

After ovulation, due to an increase in progesterone in the blood, nutrients begin to accumulate in the body. The body is preparing to bear a child. Adipose tissue increases, the body removes fluid worse.

The latter fact can lead to the formation of edema, so you should drink water in moderation.

A woman feels her body as looser and less toned. There is a feeling of weight gain and sensitivity decreases. After the start of menstruation, such feelings disappear, but during menstruation you still want to eat a lot.

How to stop eating and not gain weight

Since appetite increases before menstruation and a woman constantly wants to eat, there is a risk of overeating and significant weight gain. Also, weight gain during PMS is associated with water retention in the body.

In one menstruation you can gain 2-3 kilograms. Part of this weight is water, it will leave at the beginning of a new cycle. But if you don't control your appetite before your period, you will gain even more weight with each cycle.

To prevent fat before menstruation from bothering you, follow these basic rules:

• Control your stress. Stress increases appetite before menstruation, learn relaxation to combat overeating. An important tip is to get enough sleep to keep yourself in good shape. Do breathing exercises or meditate.
• Accept your physiology. It cannot be changed, we are designed that way. But we have the power to increase the level of endorphins - pleasure hormones. Endorphins will help you endure emotional outbursts more easily and reduce your appetite during menstruation. Do exercises in the morning, run in the park, walk. Physical activity is a good endorphin booster.
• Follow your diet. If during the first phase you teach yourself to eat right, then you won’t have problems with gluttons during your period. Eat 3-4 times a day according to schedule, be sure to have breakfast, and do not overeat at night.
• Take magnesium. This element is also involved in the production of endorphins and promotes weight loss. If you do not want to take mineral complexes, then a week before your period, simply eat foods rich in magnesium - nuts, buckwheat, seaweed.

Stress control, physical activity and magnesium are three things that will help you stop period cravings.

Cravings for sweets and starchy foods

According to most ladies, when a glutton strikes before menstruation, first of all you want to eat something sweet: cake, sweets, pastries, etc. Science explains such gastronomic cravings as a deficiency of endorphins and blood sugar:

1. When a woman with PMS is irritated, angry, dissatisfied with everything, the body strives to correct this state of affairs. To do this, he requires reserves of the joy hormone. Chocolate is rightfully considered an ideal source of endorphin replenishment.
2. After ovulation, due to a decrease in estrogen levels, the amount of insulin increases. It reduces the percentage of sugar in the blood and completely weakens the body, making it constantly hungry. Against this background, you may want to eat something floury - high in calories and filling at the same time.

See also: Why does the lower back hurt during menstruation?

Keep your mouth shut or How not to overeat?

If you are a tough cookie and still intend to lose weight even in “these days,” you cannot avoid irritation and bad mood.

Try to pamper yourself as much as possible. One of the main reasons for overeating is dissatisfaction with oneself. The belly increases in size, we cannot fit into our favorite jeans, and in the reflection a dissatisfied and immense woman looks at us with everything. Don't be dramatic! You have the power to look great even in such situations. To feel beautiful, set up a salon at home: do a manicure, face masks, makeup and hairstyle, and for home clothes, choose something that makes you feel 100 percent better.

To take your mind off thoughts about food, you can do something you love. While knitting, sculpting or putting together puzzles, you won’t even notice how night falls.

Another way is to arrange cozy home gatherings with friends. Nothing is more relaxing than the company of close people with whom you can talk about everything in the world.

If you are in such a bad mood that you don’t have the strength not only to call your friends over, but even to get out of bed, give yourself maximum relaxation. Light scented candles, turn on calm music and immerse yourself in reading your favorite novel or magazine. Reading not your thing? Then crawl under a cozy blanket and watch your favorite women's films. Bridget Jones, Pretty Woman, Bride Wars or The Devil Wears Prada are guaranteed to lift your spirits and boost your self-esteem.

There are also more drastic measures. Many women resort to hormonal contraceptives, which can significantly reduce PMS symptoms. The drug is prescribed individually, after examination and consultation with a gynecologist.

What is better to eat and what to limit

Sometimes excessive blood loss provokes the risk of developing anemia. More than 35% of women after 30 years suffer from iron deficiency. Instead of baking, you should eat vegetables and fruits. The main thing is to focus on protein products, which are considered a “building element” and have a positive effect on well-being.

It is recommended to include in the menu:

• Food containing iron (eggs, pomegranate, liver, nuts, lentils);
• B vitamins (cereals, preferably buckwheat)
• Root vegetables (beets, carrots, radishes, new potatoes, Jerusalem artichoke);
• Pasta from durum wheat;
• Greens, cucumbers, eggplants;
• Low-fat cottage cheese, kefir;
• Turmeric, cloves, cinnamon, nutmeg, saffron.

There are no categorical prohibitions, but it is important to observe some dietary restrictions to reduce discomfort:

• Reducing fat by up to 10% helps cope with excessive pain;
• Avoid alcohol and drinks with a high percentage of caffeine;
• Avoid hot spices, hot peppers, onions, and garlic for a while;
• To prevent swelling and bloating, stop eating chips, hamburgers, cabbage and legumes.

Rarely in women, the opposite situation occurs - loss of appetite. The first thing you should do is contact a gynecologist; diagnostic procedures will show the possible cause of the pathology. Isolated cases do not require treatment.

Symptoms:

• A depressed emotional state, pain in the lower abdomen, weakness and dizziness reduce the need for food;
• Medications carry a risk of side effects;
• Wrong lifestyle. Nicotine or alcohol poisoning disrupts the functioning of the digestive system.

Do all women suffer from increased appetite?

Doctors never tire of repeating that each organism is individual, so its functioning and needs also differ from each other. Especially when it comes to PMS. Many women want to eat a lot, everything at once. But what is familiar to one girl may be completely unusual to another.

So, menstruation is an individual matter. Some people never stop visiting stores in search of sweets. But there are also cases when PMS does not provoke an increased appetite - women experience a feeling of disgust for all flour products, sweets, and especially very aromatic products.

How to reduce appetite during menstruation

Doctors do not have a clear opinion on how to deal with constant hunger and how to get rid of cramps before menstruation. Some believe that any methods will be successful only if the young lady has strong willpower, others argue that the only correct solution is to take oral contraceptives (OCs). Their use is a guarantee of neutralizing gluttony during PMS, because hormonal levels are leveled out, and appetite decreases accordingly.

The following recommendations will also be useful:

1. Create favorable conditions for the functioning of the nervous system: increase self-confidence and internally accept yourself, establish peaceful relationships with others, focus on something constructive, distracting yourself from thoughts about food.
2. Take up your favorite hobby: reading, knitting, sewing, drawing, etc.
3. Receive positive emotions through visiting the theater, cinema, and other educational and entertainment activities.
4. Use yoga poses and asanas that help relieve hunger.
5. Give preference to dietary dishes, not forgetting about mineral and vitamin supplements in the diet.

The principle of fractional nutrition is the ability to “deceive” the brain, which endlessly signals the feeling of hunger on critical days. Meals should be small (not exceeding the size of a fist) in portions up to 7 times a day + food should be chewed thoroughly - at least 30 times. This way, the feeling of fullness will come faster: before you have time to eat something extra.

Some experts, answering the question “What to do if you have obesity during menstruation?”, recommend playing sports and walking in the fresh air. However, there are also opponents of such methods, arguing that they, on the contrary, stimulate appetite. Therefore, you should focus on the individual characteristics of your body.

Interesting options for suppressing hunger are non-traditional methods, for example:

• acupressure;
• use of color therapy: blue tones present in clothing and kitchen textiles have been proven to reduce food cravings.

Important! A brutal appetite can be provoked by the presence of pathogens in the body - fungi, worms, etc. A medical examination of the microflora can eliminate the possibility that obesity, lack of strength and malfunctions in the operation of one or another system are caused by the activities of these “guests”.

What is the best substitute for sweets?

Both a complete abstinence from sweets and excessive indulgence in the desire to eat extra deliciousness can harm the body. In the first case, the body, already experiencing severe stress against the backdrop of critical days, will be subjected to additional stress due to the refusal to satisfy the “small weakness”. In the second, depression can be aggravated by extra pounds resulting from excessive consumption of sweets.

When the body really craves something sweet during the menstrual period, you can eat a gluten-free analogue instead of a chocolate bar; it is also worth including dried fruits rich in vitamins in your diet (they also contain much-desired sugar, but only it is of natural origin, which will not have such a noticeable effect on figure).

When the glutton haunts you all day long, reduce your cravings for sweets using the following recommendations:

1. Eat cucumbers and tomatoes, which contain small amounts of sugar.
2. Replace fast carbohydrates with whole grains.
3. Drink yogurt instead of a snack.
4. Eat foods that contain sufficient fiber and calcium.

Prevention measures

It is worth working on the problem throughout the cycle, and not on specific days. It is important to monitor when the desire to “eat” manifests itself more strongly and suppress nervous behavior without indulging in gluttony after unpleasant situations. It’s one thing to eat within normal limits, another thing to invariably overeat. After all, your critical days will end, but the excess weight will not go away.

What to do:

• Increase physical activity from the first days of the cycle, which will allow you to quickly return to normal well-being. It is also better to suppress food cravings during such periods, then it will be easier to give up excess foods.
• Learn to consume water correctly, without confusing the need for food and the feeling of thirst.
• Create a special calendar. You need to prepare not during your period, but take into account a couple of days before it. Try not to find too much work, minimizing the feeling of tension.
• Choose a gentle diet and exercises for relaxation, yoga is suitable.
• Do not focus on the imperfections of your figure, going to extremes when losing weight.

Does everyone feel hungry before their period?

In this case, everything is individual - you yourself may have noticed that not every woman experiences negative symptoms in the period before menstruation. And not everyone manifests themselves with aggression and tearfulness, a desire to make trouble, or to eat something.

Many women continue to live as usual and do not suffer from negative addictions until the end of the cycle. Some women, on the contrary, experience an aversion to food and lose weight during menstruation. As you can see, everything is individual here. For your own peace of mind, you can visit a gynecologist and undergo an examination and consult with him.

Do you want to eat a lot of sweets during your period?

The desire to eat a lot of sweets, as well as salty foods, are all manifestations of a high level of progetserone. You should not completely deny yourself the use of such products. But at the same time, it is important to be able to replace them with less high-calorie and harmful analogues. For example, if you want chocolate, it is better to give preference to dark dark chocolate with a high cocoa content than its milk counterpart. It is better to replace quickly digestible carbohydrates and baked goods with plant foods, slow carbohydrates and foods rich in protein.

If you don’t eat sweets during your period, you can not only improve your well-being, but also lose an extra kilogram, or maybe two. It is better to control your appetite at this time with the help of a diary, as well as clear planning of the daily schedule (without empty windows for unnecessary snacks). And if at first before your period you want to eat a lot, then as a result of such control, your appetite will normalize and the desire to eat a lot will go away.

Good afternoon, I always feel like eating before my period. In addition, a couple of days before the discharge starts, I feel weak, anxious, lack of desire to do anything, and even have a headache. Tell me how you can improve your well-being? Lilia, 27 years old.

Good afternoon, Lilia. The condition you experience before menstruation is called PMS, that is, premenstrual syndrome. And if at this time you begin to experience real depression, then you can even talk about premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD). To improve your well-being, you can consult a doctor to be prescribed mild antidepressants, and also modify your diet for these days.

Blame it all on hormones

Not every person will be able to list all the hormones that are produced in his body by the endocrine glands. When a woman is about to menstruate, the ovaries, which are responsible for the cycle, and other glands work in a certain way. Doctors have found that a group of paired glands – the adrenal glands – is also responsible for the duration of the cycle. Both the parathyroid glands and the thyroid gland itself are included. Often, even the composition of the blood changes so much that it leads to an imbalance of electrolytes, expressed in the appearance of edema, headaches, spasms and an aggressive mood. This is how PMS begins - premenstrual syndrome.

In everyday life it is believed that its manifestation is either aggressiveness or tearfulness, but in reality it can also turn out to be severe malaise. More often it is caused by an excess of sodium ions in the blood. It is this electrolyte that displaces others - calcium, magnesium and potassium ions, so not only your mood can change. Women with problems with the musculoskeletal system may experience pain in the spine or joints due to a lack of calcium. But a deficiency of magnesium and potassium affects the activity of the nervous and cardiovascular systems.

When a representative of the fairer sex increases the amount of a hormone called male, that is, testosterone, this leads to an increase in sexual desire.

The woman seems to change places with the man and becomes the initiator of sexual intercourse. At the same time, oxytocin levels increase. This hormone is responsible for the contraction of the muscles of the uterus, so its increase is natural during the period when the menstrual cycle ends. This hormone is a typical female hormone, because it is normally produced in large quantities after childbirth, helping to restore the size of the uterus and reduce bleeding.

Breastfeeding provokes the production of oxytocin, and sometimes during its strong release, the nursing mother feels almost unbearable pain in the abdomen. Similar pains can haunt not women in labor at all, but those women who begin menstruation. The uterus painfully twists and contracts, and during such periods a woman is unlikely to think about sex.

An unbearable desire for intimacy before menstruation is not the ugliest thing that raging hormones can provoke. When oxytocin does not increase as much as testosterone, there will be a strong desire for sex.

Emergency assistance - a plan of action in the event of a serious breakdown

First you allowed yourself candy, then a bar of chocolate, and in the end you didn’t notice how you ate half the cake? Don't panic! We have prepared a retreat plan for you in critical situations:

1. Stop reproaching yourself and blaming yourself for wrongdoing. You can’t return the past, it’s time to move on;
2. Have you eaten? Now let's continue our diet. No, not from tomorrow, not from Monday, and not after the end of your period, but this very minute. We brush our teeth to forget the tempting taste of delicacies, and eat salad and a portion of boiled meat for dinner;
3. If we eat a lot, we drink a lot of water;
4. “These days” is a wonderful escape from sports, but an intense walk in the park will definitely not do any harm, and your fat will shake out at least a little;
5. The next day is a fasting day for us. Apples, kefir, cottage cheese or porridge - choose to your taste.

These measures should bring your body back to normal and boost your morale so that you can continue to lose weight with ease. By the way, don’t be upset if after a fasting day the scale needle still doesn’t budge. This will happen after 3-4 days (depending on your cycle). Therefore, we advise you to forget about weighing at this time and hide the scales far away.