Do you actually allow yourself to indulge when on your period?

[Teree]

So I’ve lost 30 pounds. My weight loss was spurred on by a cruel comment from a close family member. I think I have used it as a stick to beat myself for months. But today I’m starting to question how cruel I’ve been to myself.

I always allowed myself to indulge when I got my period. I get very painful cramps and really do need a pick me up. But my husband and I were talking and he made it seem like this was disordered and not the norm. What does he know?? I told him I think a lot of women with healthy relationships with food use food for comfort during their periods.

This is normal right?

I just got my period and have had 5 horrible periods previously where I stuck to salads and chicken breast.

But now I’m thinking fuck it. I’m a human being who needs comfort occasionally.

I am hungrier in the lead up to my period, so I will eat more in total.
I don’t mean to come across like a pious dick because I’m certainly not judging, but since you did ask, no, I don’t really use food for comfort in the way you describe ie you had cramps and needed a pick me up, rather than actually being more hungry.

But that doesn’t mean I think you’re wrong, and I wouldn’t call it disordered eating either.

Eat your chocolate and tell your husband to shut his mouth.

I adjust for my period, but also at other times when a small indulgence helps to make me feel better.

I’ve just had a delicious custard tart, I didn’t need it, I wanted it, and that’s ok within a balanced week of eating.

@Daisyvodka
No idea if it's true, sorry! My own might-be-might-not-be, is that I think (for me anyway) your oestrogen rises just before a period, causing the bloat/heaviness; and testosterone is higher in the week after, so that, plus losing the weight of the womb lining, always makes me lose a quarter stone. So I would always eat the chocolate because I know the weight loss will follow anyway!

ShesTheAlbatross

I'm.similar.

If I want to eat something, I eat it.

I don't make excuses for it though.

So, if I'm hungrier around my period, I'll eat more (or up my magnesium intake) but I don't eat stuff I wouldn't normally eat or junk food and use my period to justify it. I don't think I've ever used food as a 'comfort', no.

So is it normal?

For some women, yes.

For others, no.

It's not a universal thing.

I do it's too hard to not 😂😂

I'm starving before my period, always have been but then I lose my appetite so presumably it balances out

No, I eat and drink the same as always. Life goes on period or not

What would your (presumably) male husband know about the norm, when it comes to eating during a period?

Eat what you like, 1 week a month when the cravings strike won't hurt.

I need to lose a little weight, but that won't stop me eating a decent sized steak when my body craves iron or a chocolate bar because it's all I can think about.

And try to work on being less cruel to yourself. You've achieved an incredible weight loss x

When your husband starts having periods, then he gets to have opinions about them. Until that happens he can stfu.

I am and always have been a healthy weight. I have a good relationship with food. I also stuff my face with carbs three days a month. It helps me not murder the people I live with.

When your husband experiences his uterine lining falling out once a month (or more often if you're unlucky and close to the every 21 days cycle) then he can have an opinion on what is and isn't normal.

But yes. I eat around 200-300g of chocolate a day on my period. But I am strict the rest of the time. Usually have chocolate covered strawberries and/or lots of ferrero rochers (a small box a day, minimum).

Honestly, OP, I hate to say it but it actually sounds more like he doesn't want you to gain weight again more than anything else. I'd have taken it as a 'if you do this, you'll get fat, other women don't do it' type comment.