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A violation of the menstrual cycle or the complete absence of menstruation on a diet is a common problem. This can indicate both serious diseases, and that a specific diet and training program are not suitable for you, that there are too many stresses in life, the body is tired and needs rest. To solve the problem, you need to find and fix the cause that caused it. To do this, you will need to pass blood tests and take a break from diet and training. Read more in the article.
How do I get my monthly period back if it disappeared during weight loss?
Many women who are on a diet face certain disorders of the menstrual cycle. To avoid these problems, it is necessary to take into account the peculiarities of nutrition and training against the background of the female cycle, and to return the monthly period, you need to understand the reasons and take urgent measures (calorizer). An increase in the cycle, irregular periods, or complete cessation of menstruation can either lead to more health problems, or signal them.
First, you should make sure that an irregular cycle or lack of menstruation (amenorrhea) is not one of the symptoms of serious diseases such as polycystic ovaries, early menopause, pituitary tumor, thyroid disorders. It is necessary to contact a gynecologist and an endocrinologist to get a referral for blood tests to exclude these options.
Causes of menstrual disorders
In most cases, those who lose weight lose their periods for the following reasons:
- Too much physical activity;
- Too much or / and prolonged calorie deficit;
- Unbalanced nutrition;
- Achieving too low a percentage of body fat;
- Chronic stress.
Too much physical activity can cause amenorrhea. This often happens when girls copy the training programs of professionals, try to set records in every class, or do too much cardio (several hours every day). The body experiences tremendous stress and seeks to save energy due to the function of procreation.
A strict or prolonged diet leads to hormonal disorders – the level of the stress hormone increases, the level of leptin decreases, and after it the level of sex hormones. In such conditions, the body strives to survive, not to reproduce. Leptin is involved in the regulation of the reproductive system. The greater and longer the calorie deficit, the lower the level of this hormone.
The exclusion of whole food groups from the diet, such as red meat and dairy products, as well as a strong restriction of fat can lead to violations of the female cycle. Fats are essential for the production of hormones. Red meat contains iron, and dairy products contain calcium. Women’s needs for these substances are higher than men’s, especially against the background of problems with the cycle.
Low fat percentage and rapid weight loss also contribute to an imbalance in the hormonal background. Here, too, it is worth mentioning leptin, the level of which in the body decreases with weight loss.
Chronic stress is one of the main factors of hormonal disorders. The nervous and endocrine systems regulate immune and reproductive functions. There is a lot of evidence that prolonged emotional turmoil led to menstrual disorders. There is a concept of “military amenorrhea”, when during periods of hostilities, women lost their periods. Many women in their daily lives experience stress at a level that causes their body to “delay” the moment of ovulation. The situation is aggravated by a lack of calories, exercise, lack of sleep, neurosis and complexes, abuse of stimulants.
How to restore the menstrual cycle?
Ignoring the problem can lead to serious consequences – infertility, osteoporosis, cardiovascular diseases that develop against the background of hormonal disorders. First of all, you need to pass blood tests for hormones and undergo an examination that your doctor will prescribe to make sure that you are formally healthy. At the same time, create conditions in which the cycle can recover itself. As you know, prevention is the best treatment.
- Give yourself a break from training for 2 weeks. Increase non-training activity – go for a walk more often, try to be mobile;
- Recalculate the caloric content of the diet from a deficit to maintaining weight, eat within this caloric content for two weeks;
- Balance the BZHU of your diet;
- Each meal should consist of proteins, carbohydrates, and fats;
- Get some sleep;
- Get more rest, use stress reduction techniques;
- Drink a high-quality vitamin and mineral complex, pay more attention to the content of vitamins A and E, iron, calcium, selenium and iodine. Consult your doctor about the choice of vitamin and mineral complex and the need for additional supplements;
- Eat sea fish more often or include Omega-3 supplements in your diet.
After that, you can gradually return to training, but do the following:
- Reduce the intensity of physical activity;
- Recalculate the caloric content of your diet based on the available energy;
- On training days, compensate for the calories spent in the class by eating up to the level of available energy.
The recovery process will not be fast. It can take either one month or four. It depends on how long ago the hormonal background was disturbed. The faster you normalize your daily routine, diet, and mental state, the better it will be for your health.
Thus, in order to prevent menstrual disorders, you should refrain from extremes in nutrition and training, control the level of stress and take into account the characteristics of your body (calorizator). To restore the cycle, you will have to do the same, but this will require taking a break from training and dieting. Perhaps this will take you one step further from the result, but it will give you back the main thing – your health.