arg!

so its that time of the month and i have been eating like a crazy woman! i don't know what is wrong with me! actually, i do. i feel like crap and just want to feel better. i cannot take advil or any effective pain reliever because i'm having my next round of PS next friday and you have to stop those meds 2 weeks before. anyone have any suggestions? folk remedies? a way to stay out of the kitchen and avoid the chocolate??? i couldn't even do my normal workout because of terrible cramps. managed a painful 30 mins on the elliptical but had to cancel my trainer. sorry, just venting. i had been doing so well so i'm upset with myself. andrea

Hi Andrea, You know, today I have been feeling pretty crappy myself. My doctor started me on iron supplements last week and I have constipation from HELL! I have taken MOM on two occassions and even taken a packet of metamucil capsules. I have been miserable, gassy, belly grumbling ALL DAY. It is the end of the school year and I work in a high school. Parents have been bringing in goodies for the office the entire month of June. Today for some reason the brownies/blondies/chocolate chipcookies/candies, etc, began to bother me. Now mind you, I haven't gone off of my program once in the entire 11 1/4 months I've been on it. Not once, I am quite severe with myself. Suddenly today I couldn't coexist with this stuff. I attribute it to feeling pretty crappy. So you aren't alone. I didn't cave, and I'm home now for the day, thankfully. The one thing I can tell you is to remember how sluggish the crappy food makes you feel. You want to go into your PS feeling amazing!!!! Don't go in there feeling all bloated and icky, there will be enough of that when the PS is over. Good luck and keep coming here to vent. Donna

donna - wish i had your strength! unfortunately i fell victim to "june birthdays" cake at work today. i have a weakness for sugary, grocery-store cake. i know, so lame. i started to feel better though after work so i went back to the gym and did 45 more mins on the elliptical. so i'm not going to beat myself up over the cake. hopefully i can stay on track the rest of the week and get rid of all this bloating. thanks for your support! andrea

"Those days" of the month also make me feel more hungry. Instead of feeling full after the meals for hours I get hungry again after half an hour, and I mean like HUNGRY, like I havent had a bite to eat for a week. Luckily I dont get the cravings for sugar as so many do when "aunt rosie comes to visit" (as we refer to it in Iceland ). The thing I do to handle this hunger is to fill my stomach in between meals with vegetable that are high in fiber and low in calories, like all kinds of salads, cucumbers, peppers, just anything that you like, just as long it is high in fiber. It really helps to fill your stomach when you have those hungry spells specially when you drink a lot of water with it. Vegetables are also filled with all kinds of good stuff that can help you cope with the pain and cramps, plus they reduce the swelling in the body we get in those days. Dont wait untill you freak out and buy 5 pounds of candy, start filling that gut with the good stuff and decide that those vegatables are totally unlimitied in quantity for those days. I havent heard of anyone yet that have died because of vegatable overdose Then you also have to use good-ol-fashioned willpower to withstand the cravings. Remember this situation goes over in few days and it is so much better to stand as a winner after that ordeal then a "loser". Remember that if you obey your cravings for the "bad" stuff, the cramps and other uncomfort will actually get much worse, specially if you eat something with sugar in it. Good luck, hugs and kisses from Iceland, Heidrun