Paleo Diet and Paleolithic Diet Questions & Answers

Question

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For those of us here that are trying to lose weight and are of the menstruating age: Do you find that you have difficulty releasing weight the week of your cycle?

For the past few months, since I've been trending my loss, I've noticed an irritating pattern: "Steady" loss for 3 weeks, then a week of gains and plateau without a change in eating habits (yes, I tracked intake to double check). Eating the same number of calories, same carbohydrate, same protein, same water intake and activity level... A day or two post-cycle weight loss resumes and all is fine, but there is never any "catch up" to show it's all just retained water and I'm still losing.

It's irritating, to say the least. And just to check I'm not an anomaly... Have any of you others out there noticed this? I'm guessing it's some weird hormonal thing that prevents fat loss, but you'd think... In a calorie deficit... Doing HIIT... Losing from 2-3 pounds every week consistently before and after... It shouldn't be possible, damnit :)

flag	asked Jan 15 2011 at 20:16 Katie 2,237●6●14

	may i ask what your typical macronutrient breakdown might be? after a typical week? – being Jan 15 2011 at 20:43
	20-25% protein, 5-7% carbs, the rest from fat. – Katie Jan 16 2011 at 16:16

Beastie Girl · Answer 1 · 2011-01-16 07:59:31Z UTC

I have the opposite problem, personally! I will lose weight the week before my period, quite a bit too - between 1-1.5 kilos (2-3 pounds) then the second my period starts, wham. It's back on.

The only thing you can really do in this case is breathe, smile and accept! It's a signal from your body that things are going well - that you're healthy and ready to bear children. There is no way it's fat you're gaining so it's not 'true' weight so what does it matter in the greater scheme of things?

Accepting your body and its cycles will get you further down your path than fighting it!

familygrokumentarian · Answer 2 · 2011-01-15 20:57:37Z UTC

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Just a shot in the dark/speculation - but could it be that although your water intake remains the same, your body conserves some of that water over the week in order to create new blood because your system is ridding itself of some blood that particular week?

answered Jan 15 2011 at 20:57

familygrokumentarian
12.4k●4●25●87

I thought that... But I don't seem to drop a number after the fact that would indicate it's purely water retention. If I were losing fat during this period and was matching fat loss with water retention, you'd think I'd be losing the excess water and the numbers would show that in the next week or so. But they don't... It's graphed as showing I just enter some sort of weird inter-dimensional state in which fat loss is suspended... And then resumes per usual afterward. Or something :) – Katie Jan 16 2011 at 16:22

sherpamelissa · Answer 3 · 2011-01-15 20:38:29Z UTC

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It's extremely common. You are lucky you don't go up and down. That can be even more frustrating!

When I was actively losing it didn't happen every cycle, but it happened often enough that I know exactly what you are talking about.

answered Jan 15 2011 at 20:38

sherpamelissa
18.6k●1●21●69

Cara · Answer 4 · 2011-01-16 01:09:38Z UTC

I have water retention the week of my period, so that's normal, with food intake being the same. Annoying, yes, but normal and natural. Because I indulged over the holidays, my current period has been super painful and worse than usual. Since going Paleo I've had painless periods, like, I had no idea they were even coming! Another sign that I went a little overboard this holiday season ;)

Cara http://primroseandpaleo.wordpress.com

Women and Weightloss

4 Answers