lost weight too fast/no periods

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spark409
spark409 Posts: 96
in Food and Nutrition
Hi so I lost a lot of weight this year 65kg --> 52.
Im 162cm, bmi 19, bodyfat % = 24.

I have been told by my doc to gain some weight, but she really was not helpful and I have an appointment with a new doctor next week.

Meanwhile I was wondering if anyone can give advice on the following.

is there a right way to gain weight? (im assuming healthy cals, etc.. is there a rate at which i should aim to gain?)

also when i reach my goal (54-55kg), approx how long do you think it will take for periods to resume.

finally i was wondering about any long term complications, especially things like permanent infertility and pre-menopause.

(also when i had by body comp measured, i was told i had very high bone density, beyond the normal range actually so osteoporosis isnt a risk factor for me)

also when i had blood tests done, my oestrogen came out normal but i had low testosterone.

any comments appreciated.
thank u!

Replies

  • AzhureSnow
    AzhureSnow Posts: 289 Member
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    Gaining weight should be done at the same or slower pace as losing. I'd say gaining half a pound a week would be safe. That would mean eating an extra 250 calories over your maintenance level every day.

    Don't eat crappy carbs and sugars and processed foods - eat a lot of protein and healthy fats like nuts, seeds, and avocado.
  • spark409
    spark409 Posts: 96
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    so my bmr is 1350.. so you reckon i should up that to 1500 approx?
    yup ok sounds reasonable.
  • kimothy38
    kimothy38 Posts: 840 Member
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    Being female aren't you supposed to have low testosterone? I lost quite a bit of weight in a short time and stopped periods also. Only took a month or so to restart when I regained some weight. Took quite a few months to normalise though but that could be related to having children.
  • animatorswearbras
    animatorswearbras Posts: 1,001 Member
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    so my bmr is 1350.. so you reckon i should up that to 1500 approx?
    yup ok sounds reasonable.

    No you'll still lose you need to calculate your TDEE and add 250 cals, my BMR is similarish to yours and my sedentary TDEE is around 1750cals so you should prob be eating around the 2000cal range if you eat 1500 you'll continue to lose, also eat back any exercise cals to gain. Good luck! Adding things like an extra big splash of olive oil to your food, avacados, nuts and basically anything with good oils should help up your cals without making you feel too stuffed. :)
  • spark409
    spark409 Posts: 96
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    correction: abnormally low testosterone for a female.

    thanks ill check out a tdee calc online.

    lots of sites telling you to gain weight. not one site telling you how, how much extra you should eat, what sort of exercise you can do, etc...
    i dont know.. maybe its common sense to some people, but im confused.
  • animatorswearbras
    animatorswearbras Posts: 1,001 Member
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    It's basically the principals of dieting to lose weight but backwards to lose 1 pound you need a deficite of 3500cals on your TDEE, so to gain a pound you need to eat 3500 extra calls on top of your maintenance expenditure, again you can exercise as much as you like as long as you eat back the calories you burn. :)

    So say for example your sedentary (eg you have an office job) TDEE is 1750 and you burn 500 cals at Zumba and you want to gain half a pound a week, you would need to eat 1750 + 500 + 250 = 2500 calories that day. Hope that helps :)
  • TavistockToad
    TavistockToad Posts: 35,719 Member
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    Gaining weight should be done at the same or slower pace as losing. I'd say gaining half a pound a week would be safe. That would mean eating an extra 250 calories over your maintenance level every day.

    Don't eat crappy carbs and sugars and processed foods - eat a lot of protein and healthy fats like nuts, seeds, and avocado.

    this.

    BMR is not the same as maintenance.
  • spark409
    spark409 Posts: 96
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    might be a silly question
    but why does the weight gain have to be slower or as slow as weight loss?

    my biggest struggle is that this seems like permission for me to eat whatever i want to reach my goal. (although i am good so far)

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