for my gf...

[back2basics]

Normally I'm posting on the anabolic discussion board. I have a question concerning my girlfriend, so I thought this board is the best place to go to..
My girlfriend has restarted bodyboulding for about a jear. Her stats are 127 lbs, I estimate her bf at 22%. She doesn't use as.
At the moment her goal is to cut up. I've made her a diet an a workout program and she's doing great on it.
The problem is the following; During her period she's got, in my eyes, extreme water retention. Her weight is, as mentioned, normally 127 lbs, during her period her weight goes up to 136.4 lbs!! She never had this problem untill roughly 1.5 years ago. Of course this is very frustrating for her because it looks like she gained on fat, while she's working her ass of in the gym...
My girlfriend and I suspect this problem has something to do with the pill she's taking (mercillon), she never had any problems with it before, but she's switched and re-switched from pills.
My question is if you've got any idea what could be causing this problem and is there anything she can do about it??

Kind regards,

 

[Fennec]

Some women just get serious water retention at that time in their cycle. If it hasn't been a problem in the past, it may be the pill she's on. Or it may be the body changing as she gets older. For instance, I never got bad cramps when I was in high school, and I used to think my friend who did was just "taking advantage" when she said she felt really bad with cramps. The older I have gotten, the worse I get cramps, and now I have had days where they are so bad they make me nauseous. So everyone's body can change over time, plus hormones, etc. can play a part.

It's just water and not fat - it will go away in a few days. But she might be able to minimize the problem if she stays away from sodium during this time, and drinks as much water as possible (so the body doesn't feel the need to hold on to it so badly). I know how she feels, sometimes I wake up and find the area under my eyes swollen up like ping-pong balls from holding water around that time of the month. Everything smooths out, and you feel like you're making no progress at all. It's just temporary, so tell her (and show her) you think she's beautiful, and not to stress over it... because stress will make her hold water more! Oh yeah, also if she has been short on sleep lately, that will make her hold more water, too.

Hope this helps!
Fennec