ovulation hunger and cravings

[LindaTuck19]

I had my period the week after I started the Whole30, and I am currently on day 25, so this is my first ovulation experience. It's really, really hard. My hunger is through the roof and I am literally shoveling any compliant food in my face. Waaay too many nuts, fruits, and "snacks" but meals can make me feel like I am going to throw up first thing in the AM, and then I wait too long and become even more ravenous.

Anyone have this problem?

My cycle was easy the first week, and ovulation tends to be more "PMS-y" than my actual week of my period.

 

[AmyS]

Our official advice is to eat. I don't get the ovulation hunger, but my PMS hunger leads to six FULL meals a day for a few days before my period. Eat full meals, mini meals, more full meals, more mini meals. Eat. Really.

[juliedee]

I find that an intense workout like burst-training, helps kick ravenous cravings to the curb. It's worth a shot anyway... and if the cravings don't subside at least you'll eliminate the extra cals

[Karen]

Between ovulation and your period, your body has to assume it's pregnant. So, your body does a lot of things in preparation for supporting a baby that are considered typical pms symptoms: slows down digestion so you absorb more nutrients (constipation), holds onto more water so you stay hydrated enough to support a pregnancy (bloating), etc. All that preparation takes a lot of energy. Thus, your body needs a lot more energy. It's instinct, not lack of willpower, that drives this. You can't ignore it, you can't exercise it away, and you shouldn't beat yourself up about it. It's your DNA doing what it needs to in order to help perpetuate the species.

So, listen to it in a compliant way. Eat more compliant carbs to head it off, and add more fat if needed. If you can, head it off next month by eating more just prior to when cravings typically hit. Give your body the extra fuel it needs!

[LadyM]

Karen gave wonderful advice.

 

I get a hunger spike during ovulation and right before my period. Plenty of sweet potatoes, squash, and other root veggies really help, as does red meat (for me) especially in the week leading up to my period.

[ladyshanny]

Yes to all, my body definitely needs carbs leading up to my period. It's not "hunger" perse but a deep need for more food. As soon as I stopped thinking I was weak and that I had to resist and started understanding that it's totally acceptable and normal, I was able to really dial in to my body. It's not by mistake that the cultural joke is that women want chocolate at period-time....but it's misleading and disrespectful for marketers to play on that need for carbs as a joke towards women.

ANYWAY, rant over. Food does not = virtue, eat up.

PS. There is a handy app called Period Tracker Lite that allows you to chart your periods and symptoms to get a better impression of what is normal for *you*.

[ATL_Jen]

Between ovulation and your period, your body has to assume it's pregnant. So, your body does a lot of things in preparation for supporting a baby that are considered typical pms symptoms: slows down digestion so you absorb more nutrients (constipation), holds onto more water so you stay hydrated enough to support a pregnancy (bloating), etc. All that preparation takes a lot of energy. Thus, your body needs a lot more energy. It's instinct, not lack of willpower, that drives this. You can't ignore it, you can't exercise it away, and you shouldn't beat yourself up about it. It's your DNA doing what it needs to in order to help perpetuate the species.

So, listen to it in a compliant way. Eat more compliant carbs to head it off, and add more fat if needed. If you can, head it off next month by eating more just prior to when cravings typically hit. Give your body the extra fuel it needs!

 

I just about about cried reading this. For SO long I was a staunch calorie counter, and if we're only looking at weight loss as numbers on a scale, it worked! But if we're looking at quality of life, or having anything approximating a "normal" relationship with food, it was an abejct failure.

 

I can't tell you how many times I suffered through my monthly hunger. NOT cravings, not really, but honest hunger. but I white-knuckled through because I was beating my body into submission, forcing it to do more work with less fuel, and telling myself the whole time that I was terrible, undisciplined person just because I wanted more food. After all, didn't my body know that I only needed 1400 calories each day, every day?

 

Thank you for sharing this, and reminding that there is more freedom in eating in this "restricted" way (not that I find it at all restrictive) than I ever had in the calorie counting ideal of "everything in moderation."