PMS/PMT – for all sufferers

This topic contains 4 replies, has 4 voices, and was last updated by HappyNow 9 years, 2 months ago.

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Liat

1:42 pm
4 Mar 15
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Hi all,
I named the post to all sufferers, as I know the men among you are suffering just as much if your partner is going through it.
I now my poor husband does…

I know this is not really an acknowledged medical condition, but I seem to suffer terribly from PMS/PMT, and I find that the week I get it (I am unfortunate enough o have if for the whole week before I “come on”), I really struggle a lot with the fasting:
1. because I am so so SO hungry all the time!
2. because of my mood swings and those are more like vortexes!!! 🙁 :’-(
3. because my head is not rally in it during this week of the month. 😐

I have a couple of questions/requests:
1. Do you have a good idea of how to cope with this “situation” and not affect too much the fasting days?
2.will it seem reasonable to change the fasting days to 800cal days, just for that week, s at least the guilt wouldn’t set in too much and make me just go for the fridge…???

I had put on 3lbs last week and I think I will jus throw in the towel if I put on this week 🙁

any advice would be appreciated. I really mean it. ANY!!!

Thank you.

TracyJ

1:56 pm
4 Mar 15
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I think you’ve got to be kind to yourself while you settle into the lifestyle. If you think that all it would take is a couple of hundred extra calories per fasting day for that 1 week per month then do it. If it keeps you on the lifestyle and successful for the rest of the month then it’s worth the little ‘cheat’.

I did used to have terrible periods but I haven’t had a bad one (and even then it wasn’t BAD-old-days BAD) since the last time I had a holiday (and therefore no fasting days) the week before my period. My periods, mood swings and hormonal imbalances was one of the first and most important (as far as I’m concerned) side-effects of the 5:2 lifestyle. I hope you feel it too after a while.

If you’re not feeling it yet – may I ask – are you actually having at least 1 14 hour or more period of genuine (no calories taken in) fasting, during your fastdays? If not, try to do that for a few fastdays and see if that has any positive effects.

Liat

2:14 pm
4 Mar 15
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Thank you TracyJ

on my fast days (which are usually Mondays and Wednesdays), I start the fast directly after the evening meal the day before – meaning: after I had my dinner on Sunday and dinner on Tuesday, which is usually at 6-6.30PM. the next time I have any calories is at 9ish AM the next day (after about 14 hours) and it has to be an apple as it gives me substance and energy. next thing I usually have is a “cuppa soup” made out of 1/2 knorr vegetable stock cube, and I save most of my calories for the evening meal. with my life style and running around (I am a mum of 2) this makes the most sense. once I finish most of my 500cals after the evening meal, I eat nothing until the next morning at about 8ish…
should I spread the calories maybe more evenly during the day? Am I doing something wrong…??

Mogs

2:41 pm
4 Mar 15
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I find it hard the week before, as I’m so snappy and tearful I just want to crawl under a duvet and not move.

It would be nice if 5:2 had an effect on it – wonder if the sainted MM et al are looking into those kind of effects? Would make sense that there would be a link between different types of hormone and regulation of metabolic ones could have a normalising effect on sexual ones. In the absence of info on this though, I shall have to do my own n=1 study – I am my own laboratory

HappyNow

3:09 pm
4 Mar 15
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I started 5:2 in Jan 2014, lost 13kg, and have been maintaining at under 60kg since June 2014 (a combination of 16:8 pattern of eating, low refined carb/sugar, and occasional fasts).

My periods had been very heavy, very painful, and I retained a lot of water. My first after commencing fasting was a revelation! No water retention, no pain, considerably lighter. And that’s how they continue to be.

However, I am always ravenous in the run up! The fasting clearly helps with symptoms, but my body is shouting FEED ME!! So it’s a bit of a compromise. I don’t think going over by a couple of hundred calories on one or two fast days a month would be a big deal personally.

However, as I said, I fast 16 hours most days (7-8pm til 11am) and rarely do a low cal fast anymore, so for me it seems the continued benefit comes from the longer fasting windows and no sugar/ refined carbohydrate rather than the calorie restriction.

Perhaps as Tracy suggests you could look at extending the time without food, and maybe look at what foods you’re eating and cut down on bread, pasta, sugar etc and see if that helps?