When you’re trying to diet, your period can be a bitch. Am I right?
 
You start the diet, you do really well for a couple of weeks and lose a pound or two, then that time of the month comes… and, all of a sudden, you find yourself half-way through your cookie jar in ten minutes.
 
Maybe you’ve even read my tips on how to control your food cravings, but the allure of that chocolate box is simply irresistible during your period.
 
Are you doomed to never get into shape?
 
Hell no.
 
In fact, you can literally have your cake and eat it: By understanding more about your menstrual cycle, you can lose fat and have chocolate, too.
 
Want to learn how? Keep reading.

When we think “menstrual cycle,” we think PMS, cramps, chocolate cravings, and mood swings.
 
However, the menstrual cycle affects you all the time, not only during PMS week and when you’re bleeding. These hormonal changes can alter the way your body responds to training and nutrition, too.
 
For example, a study from 2018 showed that a resistance training programme and a high-protein weight loss diet, tailored to the different phases of the cycle, may result in higher weight loss than a protocol that doesn’t take the cycle into account.
 
With a deeper understanding of each phase, you can optimise your training and nutrition, learning to predict when you might need more recovery and when you are more likely to smash training and/or dieting.