The week before my period I am absolutely ravenous. I crave 10 different things at once and do not feel satisfied no matter what. Its not even that I am really "hungry" its just that I am hungry for BAD THINGS (cheesecake, fries, fish & chips, ice cream, etc). I haven't given in yet, but I want the cravings to stop. :mad: Immediatly after I eat something, I am craving somthing else. I can't get my mind off it. I never noticed how bad it is when I wasn't eating clean, probably because I was giving in without a second thought.

Does anyone else go through this and how do you deal with it?

I go through it!!! Last month, I stocked up on fat free sugar free Jello instant pudding. I made the white chocolate flavor and threw fresh raspberries in it. I made sure to allow myself one serving of it every day during that time. It helped some.

Yes! Holy cow I get hungry! I just make sure to drink *tons* of water. That helps, but doesn't make it go away. I do eat somewhat larger meals around that time. Works okay. I try to do more cardio to balance it out.

i give in and cry afterwards then come to you for advice..
no not any more but it will be hell to get out of this routine.

Yes! Holy cow I get hungry! I just make sure to drink *tons* of water. That helps, but doesn't make it go away. I do eat somewhat larger meals around that time. Works okay. I try to do more cardio to balance it out.

I do eat larger meals in an attempt to get rid of these darn cravings. Sometimes I think the more I eat, the more I want. It is a vicious cycle!! I also drink 32 oz of water in the morning, 2 liters while I am at work, and 32 more oz in the evening (minimum). I have to find a way to help this because I feel like I am going to break down and have a serious binge! I keep driving my b/f crazy talking about the numerous ever changing cravings that I am having.

I want to try and allow myself to have something *special* on these days, but nothing too bad & indulgent. Maybe I will try the fat free pudding that Teriliel suggested. Sometimes I am scared though that giving in will just makes me want more. I feel like a crazed ravenous animal :spaz:

Geez, what did girls ever do to deserve this? :mad: :confused:

My Fiancee experiences the same thing! She'll be comforted to know that there are other women who have the same issue (I don't want to say "problem," since it's probably perfectly natural, even though it's a pain in the ass).

Chocolate, Sugar, Chocolate and......did I mention Chocolate? I have a bad sweet tooth as it is, but I just sit around nearly in tears until I finally break down and have a candy bar. It is SO tough and I really need to overcome my urges. I caught myself literally day dreaming about a reeses peanut butter cup at work the other day! I was zoned out infront of my computer staring off into outer space with a funny look on my face and a co-worker asked me if I was okay! THAT is how powerful the hold is over me!! :o

Chocolate, Sugar, Chocolate and......did I mention Chocolate? I have a bad sweet tooth as it is, but I just sit around nearly in tears until I finally break down and have a candy bar. It is SO tough and I really need to overcome my urges. I caught myself literally day dreaming about a reeses peanut butter cup at work the other day! I was zoned out infront of my computer staring off into outer space with a funny look on my face and a co-worker asked me if I was okay! THAT is how powerful the hold is over me!! :o

Hahaha! Thats hilarious. Sometimes I dream about eating stuff while I am sleeping. It seems so real as I am stuffing ice cream and candy into my mouth. Then after I eat it , I feel guilty even in my dream. Then when I wake up I am so glad that it was all a dream and that I really didn't do it. :claphigh:

Too bad the cravings carry over when I am awake! :p

Seriously, I can eat just about anything during that time. And I tend to have ruddy, sensitive skin as well. Ugh.

A male friend of mine was curious about what women go through during this time. I described it as "hellish". From my point of view, you want and do (if it happens to happen) eat and eat, feel yucky, feel sensitive in your skin, and want to have tons of physical bedroom activity. The irony is, you feel less sexier than ever and want to indulge more than ever. Frustrating. Right?

Ravenous. And hellish. Heh!

I think all woman find that at least once a month they go through these kind of cravings. I find myself wanting to eat mainly crap stuff like chocolate and chips about 2 weeks before my period for 2-3 days. I have also found that the best thing to do is eat your normal diet then if you crave a cookie or chocolate then just eat it.
Don't avoid eating the thing you are craving and then eating loads of other stuff hoping the cravings will go away, the calories do add up even in 'healthy food'.
Tyr not to beat yourself up about this, every woman goes through it, it's the joys of being a woman!!! Just be thankful it only occurs once a month, just imagine if it was a continuous cycle all month!!!!

To deal with cravings, I've discovered two things that work. First, surround yourself with healthy snacks -- fruit especially. Over time, my cravings have transferred from chocolate and junk food, to fresh fruit and vegetables. Your body is hungry, but your mind tends to "lock on" to whatever the last thing it was that it thought satisfied it. If you keep satisfying it with healthy stuff, it starts craving the healthy stuff.

The second thing is to recognize the craving. So I tell myself "I really want to eat a chocolate chip cookie." (This is a frequent thing, since a woman in the office brings in a plate every Monday for everyone to eat.) But then I step back and actually think about the cookie. Is it really that good? Or is my craving just a fantasy about the cookie, a fantasy that it will never live up to, and I will only want more? Often, when I do give in to the craving, I realize that it never lives up to what I want it to be. So why eat it at all? Oddly enough, just giving name to what you're doing helps it to go away. Then you just realize "I'm just hungry." And it makes it easier to eat the healthy snack.

Good luck!

What can I say?! I'm so glad I'm not the only one out there who sometimes eats eats and eats until my stomache can't take it anymore!!

Just to give you an example, I recently finished 2 whole boxes of Go Lean Crunch in only 2 days!! Got that?!? 2 days!!!! Crazy, I know!! But I've realized that cerals with high amounts of sugar (especially Go Lean Crunch, Vector, Vive, Raisin Bran Crunch), crackers, cookies, chips, rice cakes, and ice cream (all the yummy stuff) get me ADDICTED!! And I mean addicted! I can't have just own bowl, or one cookie, or one whatever...I have to keep on eating until I just don't want (or can't eat) anymore.

Anyway, the only way that I've learned to deal with this is to NOT BUY the above-mentioned items so that they're not in my house otherwise, temptation will win over me and I'll over-induldge.

I can't say that these cravings hit at a certain period during the month...they just happen whenever. I think it's important to have self-control...something I'm definitely lacking.

Anyway, my 2 cents worth.

I can't take it anymore............where is a brownie when ya want one?!? HELPPPP!! :eat:

Yeah imagine feeling that way for 9 MONTHS!!! :d_eek: That's what happened to me when i was pregnant and i gained 60 lbs!! I think because it was my first child i couldn't distinguish between just craving and needing to eat for the baby. The funny thing is after i gave birth i had no appetite then a month later i went on birth control and it came back.

I think i read somewhere that when you have cravings like that it's because your body is lacking in some type of nutrients, like i think i read chocolate has zinc and the body craves zinc at that time. Who knows, maybe i'll research it more. But i'm also glad to here that everyone goes through it. :tu:

random story to make you ladies feel better:

last week, my boyfriend literally "caught" me in the kitchen at his house, eating chocolate ice cream out of the tub with a butter knife (it was all that was clean)...

:o

luckily, he thinks my ice cream habit is cute, but it frustrates me sometimes when i get cravings. i've found eating less processed sugars helps me with staving off the ice cream binges and such, and ALSO giving in to the craving sometimes and letting yourself eat a little of the food you want helps keep your mental stability at bay. :eek: my perspective is that i'm going to be eating healthy for life, and occassionally, ice cream is ok (i'm trying to think of no food being BAD or GOOD qualitatively, just quantitatively).