How To Lose Weight On Your Period

Is There Anything I Can Do To Avoid Period Weight Gain Altogether

Period LIFE HACKS | How To Lose Weight When On YOUR PERIOD !!!!

Tbh, no not really, but you can minimize it. “The period weight gain caused by hormonal fluctuations is not entirely avoidable, but can be improved,” says Dr. Chambers.

One way to improve your period weight gain is monitoring what you eat while you’re on and off your period. “Theres a saying that you crave what you eat. Eating healthier in between menstrual cycles is just as, if not more, important than just what you eat while on your period,” explains Dr. Chambers. “Eating healthy foods like fruits, vegetables, and lean meats can help minimize calories and prevent excessive intake.”

She also recommends eating more frequent smaller meals, instead of infrequent larger dishes, which can turn down your cravings for that greasy slice of pizza.

Hormonal birth control can also help you mitigate period weight gain, says Dr. Chambers. “Hormonal medications like certain types of birth control that prevent ovulation, will lessen hormonal fluctuations and thus lessen this type of weight gain/water retention.” If getting on or switching your birth control method is something you’re interested in, consult your doctor.

But if all else fails, just wait it out. Weight fluctuation during your period is totally normal. But if you’re really worried about it, check in with your doctor.

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How The Menstrual Cycle Affects Your Body Weight

Changes in body weight are normal across the menstrual cycle.

However, hormonal changes and other factors can make sustained weight loss challenging for premenopausal women. This is one reason some people take DIM supplements, which claim to control estrogen metabolism and help balance hormones.

It can feel a lot of times like your body is working against you, even when youre doing everything you should be to lose weight.

The luteal phase is especially problematic for many women, with some issues lingering into the first few days of the follicular cycle.

Read Also: What To Eat While On Your Period

Achieving A Healthy Balance

To train your hardest, you need to eat the right foods to fuel your body. Patton says, This will build muscle and prevent injury.

To prevent the serious health consequences associated with the Female Athlete Triad:

  • Eat three full meals each day.
  • Balance meals with carbohydrates, protein and fat.
  • Never omit certain food groups, such as fats. Omitting food groups is a sign of disordered eating.
  • Eat within 30 to 60 minutes of finishing all workouts.
  • Eat post-workout meals high in carbohydrates and moderate in protein. Some good examples include sandwich & fruit, bagel with peanut butter and chocolate milk, energy bar and yogurt with granola, or spaghetti with meatballs, salad and fruit.
  • Have a minimum of three carbohydrate-rich snacks throughout the day.
  • When workouts last more than 90 minutes, eat 15 grams of carbohydrates or drink a sports beverage every 15 to 30 minutes.
  • Consume adequate amounts of calcium daily: 1,000 to 1,300 mg per day. Best sources include milk, yogurt, non dairy milk , cheese, calcium-fortified orange juice, and dark green leafy lettuce.

Patton says female athletes who think they may be at risk for female athlete triad should see a sports medicine doctor. If youre having difficulty building a healthy diet or increasing your calories, you should see a registered dietitian for professional assistance, she says.

Drink Apple Cider Vinegar Daily

How to lose water weight whilst on your period

The results of a study published in 2013 showed that drinking 0.53 oz of apple cider vinegar daily may restore ovulatory menstruation in women with PCOS. More research is needed to validate these results, as this particular study involved only seven participants (

30 ).

Apple cider has a bitter taste, which may be difficult for some people to consume. If you want to try taking it but have a hard time with the flavor, you can try diluting it with water and adding a tablespoon of honey.

SUMMARYDrinking 1/8 cup of apple cider vinegar a day may help regulate menstruation in women with PCOS.

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Should I Weigh Myself Regularly

Your weight is just one of the parameters of your overall health profile. Regular weighing may help you track your weight loss and weight maintenance goals. It is an effective way to track if your weight loss strategy is enough to burn calories or if you need to intensify your training.

A scale is a useful tool in your healthy weight gain journey. It offers early recognition of slow patterns of weight gain and provides an opportunity to modify your lifestyle behavior before total weight gain becomes extremely difficult to control. A study reported that adults with excessive weight who were trying to lose weight or prevent weight gain and who weighed themselves regularly were found to lose weight more often than those who weighed themselves less frequently. This study suggested that at least some people can benefit from daily weight measurements.

It is prudent to remember that inch loss is more important than weight loss. If you lose weight after a crash diet but your clothes are still tight, then it may mean that you are losing bone and muscle mass, which is not healthy at all.

If you crave control and feedback, regular weighing may satisfy more of your requirements and motivate you for further weight loss achievements. The scale can bring a feeling of achievement if you are slaying your diet and exercise goals.

Combating The Side Effects

You should combat the side effects of your period the way you would with any other bulge, exercise. You should actually drink a lot of water to help you rid yourself of water retention. Avoiding fatty foods, alcohol, and salt will help you in your journey. These foods actually trigger your body to hold onto water.

What about that weight that doesnt disappear after your period? This is the weight that could be from those pre-period cravings. Craving and eating salty, greasy foods, and sweets cause you to actually gain weight that will not come off after a period. So, before you go for that cheeseburger thing about whether or not you want to carry more weight after your period.

Moral of the story: check your weight but dont let it control your emotions. Do not get paranoid about it.

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How To Get Rid Of Menstrual Weight Gain: 5 Ways

If you are trying to reduce PMS weight gain, then there are a few things you should know about the average menstruation weight gain.

The first thing to know is that just because you have menstruation weight gain, it doesnt mean that you will have it the rest of the years you have your period. You can beat the weight gain, but you are going to have to come to terms with your physiology, understand it and do what it takes to get it back on track.

PMS water retention can cause an average menstruation weight gain of anywhere from 2 to 15 pounds. And when youre gaining that much weight, your clothes arent fitting, youre feeling sick, bloated and ugly, and you keep wondering when does menstruation weight come off.

Ways To Fight Pms Cravings

Weight Loss on Your Period

How to Fight Food Cravings

So how can a woman combat PMS cravings and keep from gaining weight?

Eat complex carbs Though it might seem counterintuitive to feed a diet, Wurtman suggests reaching for a snack high in complex carbs whenever you feel an attack of the grumpies coming on. Taking in a few extra calories in rice cakes now will prevent you from raiding the icebox later on. Meals also should be high in complex carbs, such as whole-grain breads, pasta, and cereals. “Eaten on an empty stomach, baked potatoes, even half a bagel or low-sugar cereals, will increase serotonin levels within an hour,” Wurtman says.

Continued

Avoid processed sugar Simple sugars increase insulin secretion, which lowers blood sugar, Lark explains. And if insulin levels shoot up enough, your appetite for carbs and fats increases.

Try foods high in essential fatty acids Food high in essential fatty acids, such as salmon or safflower or canola oil mayonnaise, “slow absorption of carbs, stabilize the blood sugar, and stop cravings in their tracks,” Lark says. Try tuna with a little low-fat canola-oil mayo on a rice cake, she says, or a couple of tablespoons of flax meal in a protein shake.

Drink plenty of water Eight or so glasses of water a day help to flush the body out and reduce bloating, Peeke says.

Shun salt Not only will a diet low in salt reduce bloating and fluid retention, but it also can help reduce your risk of high blood pressure, Wurtman says.

Continued

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What You Can Do

If youre a health conscious woman who works out and eats well take note: Losing your period isnt something to take lightly.

If your menstrual cycle becomes irregular or stops altogether:

  • Make sure youre meeting your bodys energy needs.
  • Increase calories or reduce exercise by a little bit.
  • Ensure youre getting enough rest.
  • Consider taking a high quality vitamin/mineral supplement.
  • Consider adjusting your carbohydrate intake to consume a handful of slow-digesting carbs at most meals.
  • Check your head. Mindset matters. Hormones respond to thoughts and feelings along with nutrients or activity.

And see your doctor to rule out underlying problems.

Its never too late to start making healthier choices. Because, while you may not want to start a family today, youll want to be walking on those bones. For life.

This Diet Tailored To Your Menstrual Cycle Could Help You Lose Weight

Whether you’re a man or a woman, postmenopausal or on birth control, your hormones control your energy and appetite. And everything from a poor night’s sleep to a stressful day at work can mess with those hormones in ways that sap your energy or stoke your cravings for junk food.

So the idea that hormonal shifts tied to your menstrual cycle could play a role in weight loss isn’t farfetched. In fact, some research has already borne this out.

“As hormone levels naturally change, women’s bodies experience increased drive to eat during certain phases that are then offset by a decreased drive to eat during other phases,” says Pamela Keel, PhD, a clinical psychologist at Florida State University.

One example: During the “luteal phase” of a woman’s cycle, “energy intakes and energy expenditures are increased,” says Nina Geiker, PhD, a nutrition researcher with the University of Copenhagen’s Herlev and Gentofte Hospitals.

Women also experience greater cravings for foods that are high in carbohydrates and fat during the luteal phase, Geiker explains.

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Using this knowledge to inform their study, Geiker, Keel, and their colleagues split 60 overweight women into two groups. For 6 months, both groups stuck to a restricted-calorie diet. But for one of the groups, the researchers adjusted the diet’s macronutrient makeup based on the stages of the menstrual cycle.

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Does Period Affect Your Weight

A womans menstrual cycle can be affected by either weight gain or weight loss. However, the opposite may also happen. It may often feel like you have put on some weight during that time of the month. However, menstruation may be not the cause of changes in weight. As much as there may be secondary connections of menstrual cycle to weight gain or loss, there is no direct impact.

Premenstrual syndrome comes with food cravings and changes in appetite, which could affect weight. Studies have shown that women will consume more calories during different phases of the menstrual cycle. They tend to crave foods with high carbohydrate and fat content during periods. Some women also experience bloating, a temporary PMS symptom, which makes them feel heavier. Salty foods can cause water retention in the body, which depicts temporary weight gain on the scale. It is important to keep off very salty foods during and after your period. Eat healthy by including plenty of fruits and vegetables in your diet. Take lots of water to reduce the bloated feeling.

Other Factors That Can Affect Your Period

How To Lose Weight While On Your Period by Katie Palmer ...

Can weight loss affect your period? Yes, it can. And there are many other things can interfere with your period other than weight:

  • Medication: Medications sometimes interfere with your menses. Always confirm with your pharmacist whether missing your periods is one of the side effects of any medications.
  • Stress: Your regular menstrual cycle and evolution can be messed up by high stress levels. Delayed ovulation may lead to late periods. You may lose your period if you do not ovulate at all.
  • Exercise: Low body fat or stress on your body caused by strenuous exercise may interfere with your menstrual cycle.
  • Thyroid Disease: An underactive thyroid can alter the production of certain hormones and result in missed periods.
  • Changes In Shift: If you suddenly change your work shift from night to day or your work involves constant changes in shift, there may be a change in your menstrual cycle.
  • Breastfeeding: Hormones that aid in milk production can sometimes block ovulation or interfere with your cycle eventually causing you to stop menstruating.
  • Contraceptives: Irregular periods can also be due to the use of contraceptives. Some contraceptives change your flow so that it looks like you have missed your periods while others like Yaz or Seasonique stop your periods for a few months or up to one year.
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    Is It Harder To Lose Weight On Your Period How Your Menstrual Cycle Affects Weight Loss

    You’re probably here because you want to lose weight, get in shape, and feel more comfortable in your own skin. But there’s a monthly spanner in the works. So you’re wondering if it really is harder to lose weight on your period. Or are you doing something wrong?

    You’re not alone.

    But you’re in luck. Because this article is going to answer all your questions.

    Here’s what you’re going to find out.

    • How hormones change during the menstrual cycle and what that means for weight loss.
    • The point in your monthly cycle where hunger is likely to increase.
    • Practical tips to navigate your period and still lose weight.

    So, is it harder to lose weight on your period? It’s time to find out…

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