Warning TMI, haven't gotten my period since I started counting calories
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I've lost mine before, but only when I was quite underweight. Honestly I didn't mind and I was a bit disappointed when it came back :P anyway, I agree that you should see your doctor!0
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MeganMoroz89 wrote: »So definitely not pregnant here, no birth control, no breast feeding. Since I started eating 1200 (60 days) calories a day I haven't gotten my period. Am I missing something in the nutrition department that is preventing this from happening. Don't get me wrong here, not a fan of the monthly visits but I'm having to constantly check if I'm pregnant out of paranoia. I cannot take birth control so just condoms over here.
While I don't know the specifics as to how, I do know that the type of food that you eat/how much food you eat can affect your hormones and I agree with segacs, I think that 1200 is too low for your body. While I'm not trying to lose as rapidly as you are (only .5 lbs a week), my daily goal is 1350 and I'm 5'3'' and weigh about 125. So I feel like your calorie goal should maybe be more around what mine is. -- based off of this, I feel like, since you know that you're not pregnant, that's most likely the reason why you haven't gotten your period since you started your weight loss journey.
Anything can throw it off, including stress. So as much as it's hard not to feel paranoid and stressed out, try your hardest not to - the only times that my period has been late was when I had a reason to question whether or not I was pregnant, which just made it take longer for it to come.
After reading your comments I think I'm going to up my calories at least until I get in to see the nutritionist.
That's a great idea. Are you eating back exercise calories, or just a straight 1200/1400 cals per day?
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It happened to me, turned out it was lack of fat, as soon as I introduced some healthy fats into my diet all was sorted and back to normal!0
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The general guideline my doctor gave me is that once or twice isn't a big deal but more than three or four months without one warrants testing.
Same here. My doctor told me that after 3 months (I think that was the number) without a period, it meant that my body hadn't ovulated. Turned out some hormonal stuff was going on. All is well now.
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The opposite of this happened to me from Sept-Dec of last year. I started out at 170 and lost 15 pounds in 1 month. I wasn't even calorie counting for this loss, I basically realized I was eating way too much food in one sitting, so I cut my portion sizes. I also started eating healthier, cutting refined carbs (I ate a large amount of pasta every day) and all of the sweet tea I was drinking. I'm sure I created a calorie deficit by doing this, causing me to lose weight easily.
Anyways, my cycle went crazy and I was having a period every 12-14 days (bleeding for almost 10 days at a time). Obviously, I freaked out. I went to see my doctor to get checked out and she told me it was my diet and weight loss causing me to not ovulate, but to have frequent and long periods. She gave me a long explaination about what happens to your hormones when you lose body fat, but told me that it would level out and my cycle would go back to normal in a few months. Which it did, I'm back to having a normal cycle every 27-29 days.
I know this was probably way TMI, but I'm just letting you know that this sort of this happens with weight loss. Visit your doctor for reassurance and know that your body and hormones will soon regulate and balance out!0 -
I've heard many women having cyclic changes because of things like stress, or diet and exercise. Personally, though, in the 22 years that I've had my period, going through times of extreme stress, or drastic weight changes, the only thing in my life that has derailed my menstruation was pregnancy.
I do believe that diet is behind many of our bodies issues, though.
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Also, if you're exercising to excess (whatever that is for your body), that could cause amenorrhea, especially combined with a steep deficit. It sounds like you're going to add more calories back in, so if you're exercising a lot, I might scale that back a tiny bit too. You could do it in small increments to find your sweet spot.
Reproductive health is important! I'm glad you're looking into it.0 -
If you are super stressed that may also cause them to not show up. I'm sure constant worry about being pregnant may play a role but I'd maybe go and see your OB/GYN. They may be able to take a look just to make sure everything is okay and they can maybe let you know what some of the possibilities may be. Better safe than sorry!
I hope you find the answers you are looking for!
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I agree with the concensus that it's probably your low calorie intake. Many times I notice a change in my cycle based on how much I'm exercising also... but everyone's different. I would start by upping your calories a little and see if that helps. If not, probably best to ask your doc.0
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if you're not preg or have PCOS/other hormonal issues, i agree that it's likely to be hypothalamic amenorrhea due to combo of stress, diet and exercise. my period decided to go on holiday for 10 months and i went through the same panic of doing multiple pregnancy tests - had to eat more/cut back on exercise quite a bit for them to return. best to see a doc, but here are some useful links that may be useful x
http://paleoforwomen.com/overcoming-hypothalamic-amenorrhea/
http://www.theholisticnutritionist.com/hypothalamic-amenorrhea-2/hypothalamic-amenorrhea-what-to-do-first/0 -
A change in diet and/or exercise may be the reason. I usually find the opposite problem, when I started working out and changing my diet I had a lot of breakthrough bleeding.0
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It's NOT a coincidence 77. Sheesh...
The same happened to me when I started losing weight. It's directly related to eating at a calorie deficit and/or to working out. It's like our bodies get stressed and just focus on dealing with these changes, I guess. Totally normal from what I've read... and I read a lot when it happened.
The most my delay lasted was 54 days. And that time I had a one day long period which was very light. Nice, but odd.
It suuuuuucks when you're having sex though. You can't quite enjoy the "no period" of it all
>
lol0 -
if you're not preg or have PCOS/other hormonal issues, i agree that it's likely to be hypothalamic amenorrhea due to combo of stress, diet and exercise. my period decided to go on holiday for 10 months and i went through the same panic of doing multiple pregnancy tests - had to eat more/cut back on exercise quite a bit for them to return. best to see a doc, but here are some useful links that may be useful x
http://paleoforwomen.com/overcoming-hypothalamic-amenorrhea/
http://www.theholisticnutritionist.com/hypothalamic-amenorrhea-2/hypothalamic-amenorrhea-what-to-do-first/
These are some excellent links. I had HA for a year and a half and I never was really "underweight" but had cut my calories to ~1200 for a year. It took 7 months of eating "normally" and putting on 10 pounds to get my periods back.
That is one of the reasons I'm wary of losing too much weight at once now and why I keep my calorie average higher than 1200.0 -
Thanks ladies, this is really helpful info.0
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SergeantSausage wrote: »We have this word in the English language that, sadly, many folks don't understand.
The word is: "coincidence".
I've even heard of folks blaming toenail fungus on diet. <boggle>
Sometimes random events just happen at the same time.
No causal relationship.
Not even correlation.
Just random ... coincidence.
Now go head on down to your Doc's office and pay an arm and a leg to get a professional diagnosis. Odds are, it's the same.
In fact, it's likely NOT a random coincidence. The two things do seem to co-incide, yes, but not randomly.
OP: It's probably fine (but not a random coincidence).
For everyone in this situation:
it's best to check with your doctor. Have your blood work done if you can. Be sure to tell her how many calories you think you used to eat, and how many you're eating now. If your diet has changed significantly in other ways, tell her that as well.
If your activity level (exercise etc.) has changed significantly, tell her that as well.
I would bet that the missed period is because you're not eating enough.
PS: toenail fungus (depending on the type) may or may not be diet related.0 -
The opposite of this happened to me from Sept-Dec of last year. I started out at 170 and lost 15 pounds in 1 month. I wasn't even calorie counting for this loss, I basically realized I was eating way too much food in one sitting, so I cut my portion sizes. I also started eating healthier, cutting refined carbs (I ate a large amount of pasta every day) and all of the sweet tea I was drinking. I'm sure I created a calorie deficit by doing this, causing me to lose weight easily.
Anyways, my cycle went crazy and I was having a period every 12-14 days (bleeding for almost 10 days at a time). Obviously, I freaked out. I went to see my doctor to get checked out and she told me it was my diet and weight loss causing me to not ovulate, but to have frequent and long periods. She gave me a long explaination about what happens to your hormones when you lose body fat, but told me that it would level out and my cycle would go back to normal in a few months. Which it did, I'm back to having a normal cycle every 27-29 days.
I know this was probably way TMI, but I'm just letting you know that this sort of this happens with weight loss. Visit your doctor for reassurance and know that your body and hormones will soon regulate and balance out!
This was helpful because I've been freaking out over my 22-24 day cycle. Still going to bring it up at my checkup, but I was scared that things were starting way early for me.0 -
He said that they, the doctors, didn't worry about it when you don't have a period; they worried about it when bled too much. < Do not take this as medical advice.
I don't know how long ago this was, but you should worry if you go too long without a period. As someone who was diagnosed with PCOS almost 20 years ago, I spent many years without any periods. My doctors, as I saw several over the years, prescribed medications to induce menstruation. My doctor recommended that I take the medication in order to induce a period at least every 2-3 months.
I'm not suggesting the OP has PCOS, it sounds like you have been very regular before this. I just wanted to point out to anyone else reading this that a lack of periods may be a cause for concern and should be checked out by your doctor.
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If all it takes is counting calories.....man, I'm IN! I'll have to do that before vacation time! 0 -
An abrupt change in calorie levels can sometimes cause your period to stop showing up. I'm not actually sure if it'll come back if you just keep going, or if it'll stay gone. Either check with your doctor, or raise your calorie levels to 1500 for a few weeks to see if it makes a difference.0
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I used to have regular periods, but more recently it's a little more choppy. I can go a few months regularly, and then maybe not see one for 2 months or so at a time. I'm convinced it is my diet - I'm either eating poorly, or like now, trying to sort myself out and eat healthy (which I suppose becomes a slight shock to my body), so it never has an overall regular routine.
It always comes around again, so it isn't something that bothers me hugely.
As some others have said, I'd (personally) wait another month or so and see if it happens.
I actually wasn't going to reply to this thread, but after reading some of the comments, I thought I may as well. Some people seem to miss that the idea of this thread was to ask for other (ideally women) similar experiences. Sometimes it is nice to know that, whatever the reasoning, someone else has had a similar issue to you and to maybe see how they dealt with it. Even more so when a majority on this forum are trying the same thing with calorie counting ; could it have been something that is commonly related to this method of losing weight?
Anyway, good luck and I hope it sorts itself soon for you. 0 -
You're eating 1200 calories which is really low. Are you exercising as well? If you are, are you eating back the calories you're burning? I'm guessing you're just at too much of a deficit for your body.0
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BetterThanExpected wrote: »An abrupt change in calorie levels can sometimes cause your period to stop showing up.
This is true...
taymam , while there are numerous resources which can go into some detail regarding this, the following (from the online materials associated with a university nutrition course) is something I thought I'd go ahead and simply post the link to (along with an excerpt), so that you can at least get a cursory overview of some causes of amenorrhea in "active women", and some nutritional advice associated with such...
...and please note that all of the information associated with the following link (and excerpted below) was (per the relevant credit noted at the bottom of the link's page) excerpted from materials written by Nancy Clark (and per what I discovered, is most likely from her multi-edition -updated "Sports Nutrition Guidebook")... and Nancy Clark (whose name I didn't know until looking at the link-referenced page, and whose credentials I found by looking online) is a Registered Dietician (RD), is board-certified in Sports Dietetics (CSSD), publishes materials that are used by other nutrition professionals, provides nutrition counseling for athletes of all levels (including Olympic athletes), and is the Team Nutritionist for the Boston Red Sex... and thus, this information is from a noted professional source with expertise in nutrition --
http://www.cals.ncsu.edu/course/ntr301/AMNRRHA.HTM
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If you are an active woman who previously had regular menstrual periods but currently have stopped menstruating, you have amenorrhea. You may believe the amenorrhea relates to being too thin and exercising too much, but that may be incorrect. [...]
The question arises: Why are you experiencing menstrual problems [...]? The answer may relate to your eating habits.
[...]
2.If you have weight to lose, don't crash diet. Instead, moderately cut back on your calorie intake by only about 20%. Severe dieting commonly results in amenorrhea, suggesting that amenorrhea may be your body's way to adapt to a calorie deficit and conserve calories. By following a healthy reducing program, you will not only have greater success with long-term weight loss, but will also have energy to exercise well. [...]
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
With 1200 calories being as low as it is, and its likely representing well over a 20% cut in calories from the previous norm, the body (and in particular, aspects of the endocrine system) can seemingly 'interpret' this as the body suddenly experiencing 'starvation', and subsequently engage in what appears to be a form of 'going into survival mode' -- and for women, that can (and more often than many realize) include a likely-endocrinologically-triggered ceasing of menstruation.
And lastly... in case it isn't clear, and just to confirm -- the occurrence of amenorrhea is not some sort of 'coincidental' anything that randomly affects women...0 -
SergeantSausage wrote: »We have this word in the English language that, sadly, many folks don't understand.
The word is: "coincidence".
I've even heard of folks blaming toenail fungus on diet. <boggle>
Sometimes random events just happen at the same time.
No causal relationship.
Not even correlation.
Just random ... coincidence.
Now go head on down to your Doc's office and pay an arm and a leg to get a professional diagnosis. Odds are, it's the same.
^THIS. This is exactly what happened to me. I skipped two periods and my doc basically looked at my like 'and you're here because...' It's nothing to be alarmed over. If you're not pregnant, talk to your mom. She'll probably have a good laugh then tell you a story about the 10 times it's happened to her. Sometimes you just don't ovulate like you're supposed to. As much as I do think you're deficiency is too drastic, I don't think it's related. Once I spent months eating 600 calories a day and still ticked like clock work down there lol.
See a doctor if you're truly concerned because no one her can tell you what's going on with your parts.0 -
You can safely ignore sausage - it's not a coincidence, losing period/period irregularity is very common with weight loss.0
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I had that issue BEFORE I stared mfp I went 3 months with out one I was so scared I went to my gyno he gave me a pill to make it start then I went 2 MORE month without one. 3 days after started exercising and using mfp its back to normal ! I then went back to my gyno and then my pcp to make sure I was ok and they both advised me as long as you have a cycle at least once every 3 months your ok , if longer get checked out . I love mfp0
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girlviernes wrote: »You can safely ignore sausage - it's not a coincidence, losing period/period irregularity is very common with weight loss.
This. At least a girl calling it a coincidence is better than a guy...
, but as many have said, from their own experience: calorie deficits and increased activity affect your cycles. Basically cuz these things are a new stress on the body. 0
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