low body fat percentage

sunshine119

I've been exercising 5-6 times (mostly P90X and occasionally running 3-4 miles) since September. I'm not looking to lose weight, just to get into great physical shape. I've got a small frame and have always been thin. I'm actually at my heaviest now (115lbs). I'm female, 5'5" and 25 years old. I've gained about 5lbs (in muscle I assume) since September. However, I think because I've gotten into good shape, my body fat percentage is so low that I haven't had my period since the end of January (and I'm not pregnant).

I joined MFP to make sure I was taking in enough calories. I set my goal to "maintaining" and it tells me to eat about 1600 calories. I make sure I eat almost all of my exercise calories back (though I don't know exactly what I burn because I don't have a HRM).

So, as nice as it is to not have my period, I know it's not safe and would like to get it back. Does anyone know the best approach? I'd really like to keep doing P90X and build up my endurance running, but also want to be healthy. Plus my husband and I are thinking about starting a family in the near future. Should I just try to eat more calories than MFP is telling me to eat? If so, how many would you recommend? Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Megooo19

I'd see a doctor just to make sure nothing odd is going on. When you have such a low body fat percentage sometime peoples bodys respond by getting rid of the period. No need to have a baby if there is no fat to make sure that baby will survive. A doctor will probably advice you to gain some weight if you want to get pregnant, which may be a bummer when your working out so hard. I'd also say if you are doing P90x everyday and are fairly active you can probably eat 2000 a day for maintaining. I know when I workout everyday I burn somewhere between 2400-3000 calories. I'm a little bigger than you 5'7 145 lbs.

sassyg

You probably want to look at your daily activity level you gave MFP. I assume, with 1600 for maintenence, you said sedentary.
However, if you're working out 5-6 times a week, you're probably more in the active category.
This accounts for the extra muscle you have, compared to someone who really IS sedentary, which burns more calories AT REST.
Exercise is additional calories to this, too.
Maintenence would probably be more like 1900 calories per day, plus whatever you burn doing purposeful exercise on top of that.

Hope that makes sense, I can try to explain it better if it sounds strange (no its no "double dipping" if you really do exercise regularly)

sunshine119

Thanks to both of you for your responses. I did set my activity level at sedentary because I sit at a desk all day and the only physical activity I really get is my hour or so of exercise a day. So do you think I should change my activity level?

sassyg

They way I understand it is:

you work out regularly. Compared to someone your weight, height, who also has a desk job but doesn't otherwise exercise, you have more muscle and a higher metabolic rate as the muscle burns more calories at rest than fat.

So that means, even when you're sitting, doing nothing, you're burning more calories than the non-exercise - truely sedentary - person.

So even before you work out, you've burned more calories just because you *do* work out. Does that make sense? I'm not very good at explaining myself sometimes.
Then when you do your workut, you keep that muscle going, and burn some more calories doing it, too.

The extra calorie going up an activity level gives me, I'm a bit bigger than you but its an indication, is 150 for each bracket.
Some people think that these activity levels, cover exercise, instead of logging it, but they go nowhere near it when you think about what you actually burn in that hour you do work out.
Its to account for the increased metabolic rate from having more muscle than a real couch potato of the same size would.

sunshine119

That makes perfect sense. I think you explained yourself very clearly. I kinda wondered that when I set my activity level, but the way they have it set up, it seems like they kind of separated your daily activity level from how much you exercise. So do you think I should choose lightly active, active or very active?

sassyg

I don't know.
I've put myself as active and it seems to work well for me. I do 30-60 minutes of my training bike 5-6 times a week, and my job is half walking/standing and half sitting.

I guess all you can do is try one for a few weeks to a month, and see how it works for you and how you feel. It took a while for me to find my good spot too.