female hormone balance during weight loss

10alliemarie

I lost 10 pounds in a month and found myself with spotting and a heavier period than normal. This really put a damper on the whole weight loss. I was eating nutrisystem during that month and hear that it is heavy in soy. I know soy can cause issues but I don't know if it would be the issues I had. I am afraid to lose weight now even though I have 80 pounds to lose because of the side effects I had. I was keeping my calories to 1200-1500 each day so it wasn't a crash diet. Has anyone had this happen? Does it clear up over time? PS> that is an old picture.

Sued0nim

Sounds like an excuse sorry ..and with 80lbs to lose you can't allow yourself to fall for excuses

hormonal swings happen, spotting is no biggie, there could be manifold reasons

Just keep going but eat real food to a defecit you don't need some system you just need to eat less

Throw in some weight training ...progressive training is excellent for hormonal balance among other things

Edit for typos

janejellyroll

Sometimes spotting and heavier periods happen -- it may have been related to you cutting calories, it may not have been. If it was heavy enough that you're actually worried about your wellbeing if it happens again, I would check with your doctor. But otherwise, I think the health impact of losing the weight would be worth maybe having another heavy period.

Ten pounds in a month is a pretty high rate of loss. You could always try eating a bit more and losing 1 pound a week, which could make it less likely that your cycle will be impacted.

kommodevaran

Losing weight at a healthy rate (no more than 1% of your total body weight per week and stopping at normal weight) is not going to be dangerous to your health. The irregularities may be a coincidence, but do talk to your doctor if you are worried. I really doubt one month of eating foods high in soy can have anything to do with it. There is soy in a lot of food, not just Nutrisystem. There are bigger issues with Nutrisystem.

sarko15

I mean, I would suggest avoiding soy where you can because it is very similar to estrogen and there are a lot of other health issues surrounding a high soy intake such as a higher risk of breast cancer. It could have some influence on your period, or it could not. If you'd like to let a heavy period run your life and prevent you from losing weight, that's fine, but that just means your willpower isn't there to begin with. I have heavy periods with and without soy, and literally nothing in my life changes. I still get my *kitten* to the gym and work towards a healthy weight because ultimately that trumps a minor inconvenience like changing my tampon more often.

If you are still concerned, I'd suggest talking to your doctor. We can't give medical advice, but we can encourage you to follow through with what you set out to do to begin with.

seska422

After losing about 60 pounds, I had a couple of months with a much heavier flow (I had an ablation so I usually barely have anything) and my mood swings were terrible. I think I hit a fat pocket that had stored extra hormones or something. After I got past that, I've been fairly normal and continued to lose weight.

There are negatives to losing a lot of weight, both on the way to goal and later. However, the pluses tend to outweigh the negatives.

janejellyroll

sarko15 wrote: »

I mean, I would suggest avoiding soy where you can because it is very similar to estrogen and there are a lot of other health issues surrounding a high soy intake such as a higher risk of breast cancer. It could have some influence on your period, or it could not. If you'd like to let a heavy period run your life and prevent you from losing weight, that's fine, but that just means your willpower isn't there to begin with. I have heavy periods with and without soy, and literally nothing in my life changes. I still get my *kitten* to the gym and work towards a healthy weight because ultimately that trumps a minor inconvenience like changing my tampon more often.

If you are still concerned, I'd suggest talking to your doctor. We can't give medical advice, but we can encourage you to follow through with what you set out to do to begin with.

Hello -- it sounds like you may have some misinformation about soy. This link has some helpful information: http://ww5.komen.org/KomenPerspectives/Answeringquestionsaboutsoyandbreastcancer.html

It says: "If there’s one solid conclusion from all the data on soy and breast cancer, it’s that eating moderate amounts of soy foods very likely does not increase the risk of breast cancer. The majority of high-quality studies and analyses have found that soy foods do not increase risk, even when eaten at levels much higher than those typically seen in the U.S."

Avoiding soy because of what some studies have shown about a *high* soy intake (much, much higher than what is found in our diets) doesn't really make sense. If those studies are accurate, it would be a good idea to avoid high soy intake (which again, is defined much higher than what most of us are ever likely to eat). If we avoided everything that had a risk associated with *high* consumption, we would consume very little indeed.

Also note that studies of phytoestrogen (the name for the estrogen-similar substance found in plants) show that sometimes (in lab conditions) it actually *protects* us from some of the damaging impacts of estrogen, so avoiding it on this basis doesn't make a whole lot of sense.

On balance, I don't think there is nearly enough evidence to support a claim that we should avoid soy or be worried about a moderate consumption of it.

Ready2Rock206

I think the side effects of being 80lbs overweight are a lot worse than a little extra flow during a month. If you're concerned talk to your gynecologist but by no means should this be an excuse to not lose the weight or gain back what you've lost.

tlflag1620

It's really pretty common for your period to be a little wacky (early period, late period, heavier than normal, lighter than normal, spotting, etc) for a cycle or two after making major adjustments to your diet. Certainly no reason to give up on your plan. Im not a fan of nutrisystem, but if you like it and it's working for you, surely there are worse things you could do. Don't worry about the soy; I have a hard time imagining nutrisystem uses more soy products than any other prepackaged foods do. If the changes in your cycle continue for more than three months, go see your gynecologist to rule out actual medical problems.

sarko15

janejellyroll wrote: »

sarko15 wrote: »

I mean, I would suggest avoiding soy where you can because it is very similar to estrogen and there are a lot of other health issues surrounding a high soy intake such as a higher risk of breast cancer. It could have some influence on your period, or it could not. If you'd like to let a heavy period run your life and prevent you from losing weight, that's fine, but that just means your willpower isn't there to begin with. I have heavy periods with and without soy, and literally nothing in my life changes. I still get my *kitten* to the gym and work towards a healthy weight because ultimately that trumps a minor inconvenience like changing my tampon more often.

If you are still concerned, I'd suggest talking to your doctor. We can't give medical advice, but we can encourage you to follow through with what you set out to do to begin with.

Hello -- it sounds like you may have some misinformation about soy. This link has some helpful information: http://ww5.komen.org/KomenPerspectives/Answeringquestionsaboutsoyandbreastcancer.html

It says: "If there’s one solid conclusion from all the data on soy and breast cancer, it’s that eating moderate amounts of soy foods very likely does not increase the risk of breast cancer. The majority of high-quality studies and analyses have found that soy foods do not increase risk, even when eaten at levels much higher than those typically seen in the U.S."

Avoiding soy because of what some studies have shown about a *high* soy intake (much, much higher than what is found in our diets) doesn't really make sense. If those studies are accurate, it would be a good idea to avoid high soy intake (which again, is defined much higher than what most of us are ever likely to eat). If we avoided everything that had a risk associated with *high* consumption, we would consume very little indeed.

Also note that studies of phytoestrogen (the name for the estrogen-similar substance found in plants) show that sometimes (in lab conditions) it actually *protects* us from some of the damaging impacts of estrogen, so avoiding it on this basis doesn't make a whole lot of sense.

On balance, I don't think there is nearly enough evidence to support a claim that we should avoid soy or be worried about a moderate consumption of it.

For sure. I don't think Susan G. Komen is the best resource either way, though. From my knowledge, the difference is between fermented and non-fermented soy, the latter being much more common in the US (because the thought of eating molds weirds most Americans out) and also much tougher on our systems. I'm not saying that avoiding soy is for everyone, obviously, but it's a good thing to be informed about especially if one is planning on consuming a large amount of it in their diet.

TanyaHooton

A change in flow can be anything. Some women's flows are just a bit more sensitive. It could be the change in food intake. It could be exercise. It could be stress. It could be a cyst (which are very common and not usually dangerous). It could be a weather change. It could be anything, or a weird formula of factors. Whatever it was, your body felt it had some to shed, so it did. Your doctor can check you out for anything unusual, but better to have a bit of extra spotting than be overweight 80 lbs.

janejellyroll

sarko15 wrote: »

janejellyroll wrote: »

sarko15 wrote: »

I mean, I would suggest avoiding soy where you can because it is very similar to estrogen and there are a lot of other health issues surrounding a high soy intake such as a higher risk of breast cancer. It could have some influence on your period, or it could not. If you'd like to let a heavy period run your life and prevent you from losing weight, that's fine, but that just means your willpower isn't there to begin with. I have heavy periods with and without soy, and literally nothing in my life changes. I still get my *kitten* to the gym and work towards a healthy weight because ultimately that trumps a minor inconvenience like changing my tampon more often.

If you are still concerned, I'd suggest talking to your doctor. We can't give medical advice, but we can encourage you to follow through with what you set out to do to begin with.

Hello -- it sounds like you may have some misinformation about soy. This link has some helpful information: http://ww5.komen.org/KomenPerspectives/Answeringquestionsaboutsoyandbreastcancer.html

It says: "If there’s one solid conclusion from all the data on soy and breast cancer, it’s that eating moderate amounts of soy foods very likely does not increase the risk of breast cancer. The majority of high-quality studies and analyses have found that soy foods do not increase risk, even when eaten at levels much higher than those typically seen in the U.S."

Avoiding soy because of what some studies have shown about a *high* soy intake (much, much higher than what is found in our diets) doesn't really make sense. If those studies are accurate, it would be a good idea to avoid high soy intake (which again, is defined much higher than what most of us are ever likely to eat). If we avoided everything that had a risk associated with *high* consumption, we would consume very little indeed.

Also note that studies of phytoestrogen (the name for the estrogen-similar substance found in plants) show that sometimes (in lab conditions) it actually *protects* us from some of the damaging impacts of estrogen, so avoiding it on this basis doesn't make a whole lot of sense.

On balance, I don't think there is nearly enough evidence to support a claim that we should avoid soy or be worried about a moderate consumption of it.

For sure. I don't think Susan G. Komen is the best resource either way, though. From my knowledge, the difference is between fermented and non-fermented soy, the latter being much more common in the US (because the thought of eating molds weirds most Americans out) and also much tougher on our systems. I'm not saying that avoiding soy is for everyone, obviously, but it's a good thing to be informed about especially if one is planning on consuming a large amount of it in their diet.

What are the sources of your doubts about Susan G. Komen and what do you recommend as a better source?

Here is another overview, this one from a vegan RD. I don't know if you don't consider this to be a poor resource either, so I would appreciate you sharing what sources led you to draw the conclusion that we should avoid soy.

http://veganhealth.org/articles/soy_wth

janetennet

After previously losing a lot of weight and having very irregular periods (two a month ) My GP told me that as little as a 500gram difference in your weight can affect your menstrual cycle, as you have lost over this amount this can for sure be the "cause" of such. You have a lot of weight to lose (as do I) and the only way for you to make this change and not affect your cycle would be to speak to your doctor and possibly go on a contraceptive.
If you are worried about the amount of soy in the meals you are eating then the solution is simple. Don't eat them.