Increased hunger slightly before/during menstruation

[Comencenala]

I noticed - as many women do, that I have an increased appetite before the first day of my cycle, and sometimes even into my cycle. I'm currently running a calorie deficit (~500cals/day) to try and shed some fat. I'm wondering if I should increase my calories sightly while menstruating or slightly before? I know I should listen to my body but I was wondering if I should just deal with the mild hunger or increase my calories by 250/day or so.

[MarreFitbit · Accepted solution]

Hey there @Comencenala, thanks for stopping by! The symptoms of PMS vary by individual. The classic PMS symptoms include water retention and bloating, irritability, strong cravings, appetite changes, fluctuations in pain tolerance, as well as differences in your energy level. Simply put, for the week or two before your period hits, the last thing on your mind is putting in a hard workout or eating healthfully. You want to eat chocolate, ice cream, and pizza while lying on the couch. If you're dedicated to the gym, PMS can leave you feeling psychologically devastated.

One of the most important factors that you must take into account if you're currently trying to melt off those last pounds of body fat is your metabolic rate. That's a fancy term for how many calories you burn over 24 hour. It'll vary not only from person to person but also from day to day in the same person.

If you're highly stressed out, your metabolism may rev a bit. On the other hand, if you've been following a very-low-calorie diet for a couple of weeks now, you're likely finding that your metabolism has slowed down.

Your cycle also influences your metabolic rate. During the luteal phase of the menstrual cycle—the week or so before your period is set to begin—you'll burn up calories faster than at all other times throughout the month. Researchers measure increases in total energy expenditure of 2.5 to 11% during this time.

This may not seem like all that much, but if you're dieting, it'll make a difference. 

However, most women also experience an increase in appetite during this period, including myself. They're hungrier and more prone to cravings. The net result is that they end up consuming more calories than they're expending through this increase in their metabolic rate. They're burning more, but there's more to burn.

So one important take-home message from this is that if you're currently dieting, and will continue dieting through your cycle, be extra careful about your adherence during the week before your period. You could easily undo your weight-loss efforts.

Another of the biggest cycle-related complaints among fit women concerns bloating. It's not abnormal at all for women to take on 5 to 10 extra pounds of water during their cycle. As you can imagine, this can have an unsettling effect on the reflection in the mirror.

One morning, you may wake up impressed with the degree of definition your body is showing. The next morning, you might see what looks like a blanket of fat covering what used to be those defined muscles. That's not fat; it's just excess water retention caused by female hormones, mainly estrogen. If you're on birth control pills that have a high estrogen level, talk to your doctor about changing meds to an alternative with lower estrogen levels. In theory that should mean less bloating every month.

Other strategies you can employ to help lessen water retention:

1. Avoid salty foods
2. Drink more water than usual
3. Sip some herbal tea
4. Season your foods with oregano

Avoid starting on a fat-loss diet plan during the luteal phase, for the reasons mentioned above. Since you'll be at a higher risk of experiencing hunger during this time of the month—and that hunger will also likely lead to greater incidences of food cravings—beginning your diet during this phase raises the odds of backsliding. Instead, cycle your calories. Bring your calorie intake much lower during the two weeks immediately proceeding your period, when hunger levels are lower and cravings less frequent. Then increase your calorie intake back to a maintenance level during the week before and during your period.

This will help mitigate that natural increase in hunger coming your way. But it will also help reset your metabolism. So if your metabolism is slowing down at all due to the reduced calorie intake, you bring that rate back up again through this increased food intake. Once you move back to dieting after your period is over, you're burning body fat as fast as possible.

Additionally, since you'll already be dealing with increased bloating during the week before your period, staying strict with your diet may be tough anyway. If there's one time of the month you should be taking a break, well, this would be it. Since you're also burning up calories at a slightly elevated rate during this time, the extra calories will stand a lower chance of being deposited as body fat. That's yet another advantage of taking a short diet break during the early luteal period of your menstrual cycle.

So keep these factors in the back of your mind as you go about your diet routine during your cycle. By more clearly understanding the changes taking place within your body, you can help reduce the chances of them affecting you negatively. 

Hope this info helps you sweetie, I'll be around if you need further assistance! 

[Chinookwind]

"Your cycle also influences your metabolic rate. During the luteal phase of the menstrual cycle—the week or so before your period is set to begin—you'll burn up calories faster than at all other times throughout the month. Researchers measure increases in total energy expenditure of 2.5 to 11% during this time."

Will Fitbit be giving users the option to allow for the Calorie tile to to reflect that research (maybe using the lower % to be conservative) if the Female Health tile is being actively used? Or to atleast flag the dates in the Calorie tile that fall in the luteal phase so that we users can have an explanation for the difference. Or atleast give us the opportunity to make a note about a day's given caloric intake?

[Calathea77]

The luteal phase is half your cycle, not just the few days before menstruation. So it's anything after ovulation, but bear in mind that Fitbit does not track ovulation accurately or even make an educated guess. The Flo app can import data from Fitbit, MyFitnessPal and so forth, which means it can display your calorie data organised by menstrual cycles. On a more basic level, you can track cravings in the Clue app and see lots of cycles laid out together. Both Flo and Clue can do a good job on calculating ovulation, although right now Clue is being overridden by the incorrect ovulation dates Fitbit is using, so Clue is still trying to fix that. I wouldn't link your Fitbit account with Clue, there's no real benefit and it is causing problems. I stopped using Flo a while back when I switched to Clue, so I don't know if Flo is having the same problems. 

[HamiAnderson]

How does drinking more water decrease water retention? 

[SilviaFitbit]

Hey there @Chinookwind, @Calathea77 and @HamiAnderson! Thanks for sharing your comments on this topic. I was searching more regarding this topic and it says that Water helps your liver convert fat into usable energy. If you don't drink enough, your kidneys are overwhelmed with concentrated fluids, and they will make your liver do extra work. This is what causes water retention and bloating.

Hope I can continue seeing you around. 

[Calathea77]

"Your kidneys are overwhelmed with concentrated fluids" sounds like a serious medical problem,  not simple premenstrual bloating. I rally don't think you should be giving medical advice here, especially if you had to google it first. 

[MarreFitbit]

Thanks for pointing this out @Calathea77. My friend @SilviaFitbit is not giving medical advise here, what she did was just giving a little bit of more information about water retention during our PMS (as this question/inquiry was raised by another member). She also stated in her previous post that she was doing a research about this topic and she found out that general information that you can find on the internet, that's why the info is in Italic. 

If you are concern about something during your PMS or even about your cycle, consult your doctor before starting an exercise routine, diet or so. 

Something I'd like to add here for all of us in this thread, is that my cousin who is my doctor (since forever), that all the excess fluid is lost during menstruation. During this event, the water retention can store enough extra fluid to add an extra 5–6 pounds (2.3–2.7 kg) of weight (what happens to me). 

I like to know my body during every phase of change, that's why I always speak to my doctor to be more careful on what I do or eat to keep myself healthy. Every body is different, what works for me can't work for someone else. Do not do/change something before you can speak to your doctor. 

General information and personal experience about menstruation or pre-menstruation can be share in the Female Health board, however, everybody needs to know their body before taking any advise.