Is it true broken down fat cells release estrogen?

Mrs18566
Mrs18566 Posts: 1 Member
edited November 2024 in Health and Weight Loss
I've been on a fasting diet for one week - eating 8 hours a day and fasting 16. I know I've been below my daily calorie goal because I just can't eat that much in 8 hours. After one week, I started spotting (mid mentrual cycle) which I NEVER do. Is it possible I'm actually successfully burning fat, which is releasing estrogen and causing this disruption in my normal cycle?

Replies

  • Yi5hedr3
    Yi5hedr3 Posts: 2,696 Member
    You don't state your macros, so you may not be eating keto, or at least low carb, which is pretty much needed for fat burning.
  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 28,052 Member
    How much weight have you lost? What's your total calorie deficit for the week?

    There are so many things that can disrupt the menstrual cycle that there's not enough info to pin point the cause. In the 30 plus years I've been menstruating, my cycle has changed many times.
  • Yi5hedr3
    Yi5hedr3 Posts: 2,696 Member
    Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm..........................
  • mkakids
    mkakids Posts: 1,913 Member
    Did you recently begin exercising? That can cause spotting, or make you skip a period too.

    could you be pregnant? Mid cycle spotting can be ovulation or implantation, depending on what part of your cycle you are in.

  • emmycantbemeeko
    emmycantbemeeko Posts: 303 Member
    This sounds like the theory the nation's finest broscientists would come up with if they ever turned their bro-ttention to possible explanations for menstrual cycle variations during diet and exercise changes.

    There are a lot of reasons it sounds implausible at every level, but the most basic one is: estrogen causes the endometrial lining to thicken/ultimately triggers the luteinizing hormone that causes ovulation and the subsequent release of progesterone (which also preserves the uterine lining). A slight increase in estrogen shouldn't cause spotting- mid-cycle spotting, if it is estrogen-related at all, would be due to a *decrease* in estrogen. Very high sustained levels of estrogen can lead to long periods of no menstruation followed by heavy break through bleeding, but that's not something you'd see in a week.

    There are soooo many other variables that could cause spotting. The change in your diet and activity might even be the reason. I just seriously doubt it's because you burned so much fat in one week that it seriously altered your hormone profile.
  • cJOYv6881
    cJOYv6881 Posts: 72 Member
    When I first started MFP, I was on a 1200 cal diet for a month (I've since increased that limit because it was too low for me), and went from never exercising at all to exercising every day. For over 17 days that month, at the risk of TMI, I bled. Four days here, then a week of nothing, then a week of bleeding, than three days of nothing, then one day on, two off, etc. It's since leveled out, but, long story short, I would guess that definitely a change in diet and exercise routine can unbalance that whole cycle!
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