Hey girl, let’s talk.
You know the feeling, I’m sure. You’re rocking that keto diet, the weight is coming off so fast that you get on the scale and do a little happy dance. Your daily food log is a shining example of perfect macros. Those ketones are making you feel so clear, focused, and ready to take on the world with all that extra energy. Then, BAM! It’s period time and you begin to feel like it’s all coming undone.
Surviving Your Period on Keto
For many women on a keto diet, periods can often be a time of discouragement and temptation. With cramps, cravings, bloating, fatigue, and all the other symptoms that come along with this time of the month, it’s not always a time where we feel the most powerful and in control.
Weight Gain
First and foremost, stay away from the scale. Lock it up, don’t step on it, and forget about it for the entire duration of your period. In fact, if you’re one of the fortunate women that has a regular cycle and predictable periods, put your scale away early because premenstrual weight gain can begin to appear up to 5 days before the start of your period.
Weight gain before and during a period is quite normal for most women, though the specific reasons still aren’t entirely clear to researchers.1 It’s thought that a combination of hormone changes, water retention from increased estrogen levels, and emotional eating are the culprits.
Cravings
Hiding under a blanket and binge-watching Netflix with a half gallon of ice cream isn’t going to cut it – unless, of course, you’ve made your own keto-friendly ice cream. Many women experience intense cravings for sweets and salty snacks while on their periods, and this doesn’t have to be a time where you deprive yourself of those things if you’re willing to get creative.
Want chocolate? Have a few pieces from a keto approved dark chocolate bar. Want ice cream? Use this opportunity to try out a new recipe. Periods don’t have to mean suffering, even for the keto gals. Making the occasional treat fit into your macros just requires a little extra effort – effort that pays off tenfold when you’ve compromised with your cravings and still stayed on track.
Hunger
Feel like you’re always eating on your period? You’re not alone. A lot of women feel increased hunger while on their periods and eating more isn’t necessarily a bad thing. If you’re making smart choices with your macros, going over your daily calories by a marginal number isn’t going to be the end of the world. Of course, this isn’t a habit you should get used to indulging in on the regular. But, girl, if it gets you through this time, then go for it.
Stay strong, keto sister! Surviving your period on keto is possible, and you’re not alone in this monthly struggle to stay on the right path. Have a great tip for making it through shark week while staying in your macros? Leave a comment below!
NUTRITIONAL DISCLAIMER
The content on this website should not be taken as medical advice and you should ALWAYS consult with your doctor before starting any diet or exercise program. We provide nutritional data for our recipes as a courtesy to our readers. We use Total Keto Diet app software to calculate the nutrition and we remove fiber and sugar alcohols, like erythritol, from the total carbohydrate count to get to the net carb count, as they do not affect your blood glucose levels. You should independently calculate nutritional information on your own and not rely on our data. The website or content herein is not intended to cure, prevent, diagnose or treat any disease. This website shall not be liable for adverse reactions or any other outcome resulting from the use of recipes or recommendations on the Website or actions you take as a result. Any action you take is strictly at your own risk.
- Scottish Government: ‘Obesity Will Be One Of The Great Public Health Challenges Of Our Time’ - September 5, 2018
- Virta Health’s Use of Telemedicine to Treat Diabetics with Keto - September 3, 2018
- New MyProtein Nutrition Bar Disrupts Nutrition Standards - May 24, 2018
Day 21 on keto diet. just started my cycle this morning and my blood strips went from 1.4 yesterday to .4 today. I ate 13 carbs yesterday and I’m following my macros so this must be hormonal… right? Anyone else experience this?
Just what I needed!!! I just got off the scale and felt panicked. Thank you!!
I have the same question Rachel had. I went to bed with high levels of ketones but tested this morning and had low level ketones. Does being on your period result in faulty test strip results?
Day 8 en keto, and my period is 4 days late. But I’m in pain and so aggravated… and yes yesterday when I weight myself I had gained over 2lbs…. so spent most of the day annoyed about it … but this makes a lot of sense…
I keto strip before bed and it shows moderate 4.0, then I sleep and retake keto strip in the morning and it says I’m back to 0.5 trace how is that possible during my sleep. Is this a menstrual false read?
You are fasting while your sleeping, fasting increase the levels of ketones.
How is that possible if she had more ketones on her test before she slept and less the next morning?
Pls i understand what you just said and its encouraging but my flow is not flowing as expected,what can i do
I am keto since 4/10/2018 and I am going to start my first keto menstral cycle. The bloating started three days ago. And my period hasn’t come yet. But, I have the back pain and cramps. So, I know Aunt Flo is on her way.
I am so discouraged because I’m at a 3lb weight gain. And I’m so good about keeping track of my macros! Reading this made me feel so much better that it’s normal. I was on the verge of a breakdown!
Thanks for this! It really helped, I was “on the verge” before reading it!