An Athletes Guide to Training On Your Period

Well referenced article for the ladies who lift:
http://www.strengtheory.com/menstrual-cycle-contraceptives…/

Bloating is a particularly interesting topic. Most women report some degree of bloating during the pre-menstrual period and early menses, but the research is actually mixed. Some indicates that women do retain a few extra pounds of water, while some shows no difference.

There are three possibilities (that aren’t mutually exclusive) for what’s actually going on:

Bloating (true water retention) does occur in some women, but not others, and the differing research findings are due to different mixes of these women being recruited for (often small) studies.

You don’t actually retain any extra water, but shifts in electrolyte concentrations decrease plasma volume and intramuscular water slightly, redistributing it to interstitial spaces, making you feel more bloated without actual increased water retention.

The bump of a few pounds on the scale is actually a readjustment due to water loss through the middle of the LP when progesterone is high. Progesterone competes with aldosterone (an adrenal hormone that increases water and salt retention) for the same binding site on the kidney tubules. When it’s elevated, you excrete more water, so aldosterone levels rise. As progesterone drops toward the end of the LP (during the pre-menstrual period), all that aldosterone that built up while progesterone was elevated causes an overshoot in fluid retention. So if you gain 3 pounds on the scale, it may be 1 pound of “extra” fluid retention, and 2 pounds that made up for the extra fluid loss through the middle of the LP.