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When is the best time in your menstrual cycle to start a diet, run a marathon or quit smoking?
By Linda Andrews for MSN Health & Fitness

Synchronize your efforts
Your body may be especially primed for eating less, running farther, giving up cigarettes and doing other healthy things at certain points in your menstrual cycle. Hormonal fluctuations seem to be the key. Of course, you can cope perfectly well with any of these challenges all month long, thanks to your innate ability to adapt. But success might come a little easier when you can synchronize your get-healthy efforts with your menstrual cycle. (Keep in mind: Hormonal contraceptives such as birth control pills, which alter your natural hormonal patterns, may influence these effects.)
Read on to find out how your menstrual-cycle phases affect appetite, athletic endurance, nicotine withdrawal and more.