Do you need to diet to lose weight during menstruation? The harm of dieting during menstruation

Some people used to say that you won’t gain weight no matter what you eat during your period. At the time, I thought this was a benefit for girls who were losing weight. But is it true that you won’t gain weight if you eat anything during your period? Let’s take a look below.

After the menstrual period, it can be said to be a golden period for weight loss. During the menstrual period, under the control of the pituitary gland, the secretion of estrogen and progesterone in women's bodies will decrease, which is a relatively good physiological adjustment process. Moreover, women's hormones fluctuate greatly during the menstrual period, which can affect fat burning. During this period, the body's ability to break down fat is much higher than usual. In addition, the needs of women during menstruation are about 30% higher than usual. Even if they eat normally, they can consume 30% less energy, so they can lose weight without deliberately dieting.

1. Irregular menstruation

If you diet to lose weight during your menstrual period, the most direct harm is that it will cause irregular menstruation, menstrual disorders, scanty menstruation, dysmenorrhea, etc. In severe cases, it may cause amenorrhea or even infertility.

2. Decreased immunity

Women's immunity is already low during menstruation. If they go on a diet without supplementing their nutrition, they will not get enough nutrients, which will make their immunity even lower. They will be more likely to feel tired, weak, and even have back pain, colds, etc.

3. Hair loss

If you diet to lose weight during your period, your nutrient intake will be insufficient to meet the body's needs, causing abnormal metabolism in the body, dry and yellow hair, or even hair loss.

4. Rough skin

The skin may also become rough and develop acne due to abnormal hormone metabolism caused by dieting during menstruation.

5. Rebound

Even if you lose weight by dieting during menstruation, the weight will rebound quickly after you resume your normal diet. In addition to losing a lot of muscle, dieting also causes a lot of water loss, so weight loss is fast. Once you resume eating, your body will absorb calories faster and store fat, and your weight will rebound quickly.

Although eating less or even dieting is a common way to lose weight, dieting is very harmful to the body during the special period of menstruation. Women are weak during menstruation and need to supplement nutrition. If they diet at this time, it will not only fail to lose weight, but also make the body weaker and even cause anemia. Therefore, do not diet to lose weight during menstruation.

Although you don't need to diet to lose weight during menstruation, it doesn't mean you can eat whatever you want. Many people say that you won't gain weight no matter what you eat during menstruation, because the body's metabolism speeds up during this period, which is why it is misunderstood as: you won't gain weight no matter what you eat. But in fact, metabolism is only about 30% faster than usual, so it doesn't mean you won't gain weight no matter what you eat?

Metabolism will speed up but not by much. 30% is too high. One possible reason is that women gain weight before menstruation due to hormone balance and increased water in the body. After menstruation, due to menstrual blood discharge, breast shrinkage, endometrium and blood discharge, plus the reduction of water in the body, weight should drop. This drop may make up for the weight gain caused by eating, so it is said that you will not gain weight no matter what you eat.