reasons you're hungry

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The cravings that discriminate by gender.
What makes you hungry: Not to sound like a Cathy cartoon, but studies do suggest that women tend to eat around 100 to 200 calories more than usual (ACK!!!) in the days just before their period, usually in the form of high-carbohydrate sweets. This is probably due to the surge in progesterone that occurs during the luteal phase, and the cravings are felt most intensely by women who are prone to other symptoms of PMS (cramps, bloating, extreme mood swings, etc.).

What to do: Relax, and stop cursing your hormones. As researchers from Weight Watchers point out, this increase in appetite appears to be offset by a small rise in metabolism (around 5 to 10 percent) that occurs during the same time period. So if you keep up your regular exercise plan (which has also been shown to help with cramps), you shouldn't notice any real changes on the scale.