This is our “pre-bleed” week and is often associated with cravings and “PMS”.
Our body has been spending a lot of energy and fuel on building up the lining of our uterus and getting it ready for implantation. But by now the body has realised that there is no fertilized egg so it goes through a massive change again. Our hormones (both estrogen and progesterone) are slowly declining through the week causing the growth of the endometrium to stop in preparation for the bleed.
Our body now goes from preparing to house a fertilized egg and grow a human to getting ready to lose our lining and then build another one up again.
This is our hungry week!
It is often the week where we feel we just can’t eat enough. Now, hear me out… this week we need to up our calorie intake. The cravings that we experience this week are the body sending us a message. It is telling us that it needs more healthy carbs and healthy fat to fuel all the internal process’s going on behind the scenes. When we feed our body what it needs (in the correct amounts) we will reduce our cravings and late-night snacking.
Feed those hormones
Lara Briden refers to this as “feeding your hormones dinner” and I think it’s brilliant. This week needs mindful meal prep to keep our body’s needs to be satisfied; if the body is satisfied so is the mind. Keep some healthy snacks close by and eat a proper dinner. A dinner that satiates you will keep you on track.
Hormonal decline
This week we will also start to experience a slow decline in our hormonal levels which will add to the stress our body is facing and cause us to be more irritable and for lack of a better word- grumpy. We don’t want to be hungry and grumpy; that’s a terrible combination.
So how can we work with our menstrual cycle during this week?
- Continue drinking fluid, I feel like water is something we take so for granted in our lives and it is something so vital for healthy functioning our all our bodies systems.
- Nutritionally we should increase our overall calorie intake and maintain a good level of carbs and fat in our diet Foods such as sweet potato, potato, brown rice and butternut will help give our body the fuel it needs allowing us to feel happy.
- Exercise wise it’s an anything goes week. HIIT is great for the end of this week just before we enter the bleed week. Heavy resistance training might be too taxing on your body because the body has a high energy demand this week so preferably stick to moderate resistance training. Listen to your body and see what it feels like doing.
- Mentally and emotionally its the week where things start to irritate you. Things and relationships that were fine before are now NOT. If possible, try to notice what you notice but without judgement. Make a note of what bothered you and return to that thought when you are in a better hormonal and energetic space. If possible avoid any big decisions and lashing out emotionally.
- Have some grace for yourself. A lot of what you feel is because of what is going on in your body.
I hope that was helpful to you. And if it was, I hope that you share the love and share this with a friend. Because ladies, we have got to help each other out.
If you have any questions please send them through and I would be happy to answer what I can.