Ever wonder how your monthly cycle might affect how your body processes food?

As you probably learned in 8th grade health (but might have forgotten), your body experiences
substantial changes as you move through your cycle. Those pesky PMS symptoms have very
real physiological causes.
• Your hormonal profile fluctuates. In the phase leading up to ovulation, your body
increases estrogen levels, peaking at ovulation and then declining. Progesterone peaks
after ovulation. So, the days before your period (the luteal phase) are marked by low
estrogen and low progesterone, potentially resulting in depressed mood and heightened
anxiety and irritability.
• Your basal metabolic rate increases in the luteal phase, by as much as 500-700 kcal per
day, making you feel hungrier.
• Glucose metabolism changes, in such a way that you might feel less satiated by your
normal amount of food in the luteal phase.
• At the same time, hormone-related brain changes can cause you to be hyper-aware of
all the tempting baked goods, chips, ice cream, and pizza in the world.
• Hormone receptors in the brain respond to these hormonal changes in the luteal phase,
causing altered mood, less resilience to stress, and extra vulnerability to triggers for
anger, anxiety, and sadness.

All these factors can help explain why you might feel extra hungry, have cravings for
sweets/carbs, feel less able to resist those cravings, and be generally cranky and low. This is
likely not the best time to be restricting calories. Rather, make sure to get plenty of protein
and whole-food, slow-digesting carbs.

On the upside, and contrary to common wisdom, you might actually feel—and be—extra
strong once your period starts and over the next couple of weeks. This is the time to work on
heavier loads when you lift and go into negative calorie balance if you’re trying to get leaner.

So, the next time someone “accuses” you of PMSing, you can say “thank you for
understanding!” Even though they probably really don’t.