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117. Do You Have to Gain Weight to Get Your Period Back? · Eat More Carbs | A Period Recovery Podcast

0:00
Hey girlies, just a quick reminder before we dive into
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today's episode. The information shared on this
0:04
podcast is intended to be general sports nutrition advice
0:07
and education related to period. Recovery for female athletes.
0:10
This is not specific. To anyone individual and it may
0:12
or may not apply to your situation.
0:14
If you are looking for personalized guidance, be sure
0:16
to apply to our RBSN Period Recovery Nutrition Coaching
0:19
program. Our four month period recovery.
0:21
Program is designed to help you sustainably.
0:23
Get your period back and keep it.
0:24
You can apply now to get started in our program and we'll leave
0:27
the link for the program below if you're not quite ready for
0:29
that one-on-one approach that's. Exactly why we created the
0:31
Period Recovery guide it's designed to support.
0:33
The girlies working on period. Recovery, specifically if you've
0:36
lost it due to. Hypothalamic amenorrhea.
0:38
The full. Period Recovery Guide is finally
0:40
out now and we will leave all of the information for it in the
0:43
podcast show notes. This is the Eat More Carbs
0:45
podcast. Hello and welcome back.
0:52
This is the EAT MORE. Carbs podcast it's.
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Jenna here with Riley. We're both dietitians and we
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talk every Thursday about sports nutrition for the girlies.
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I am so excited for today's episode because this is a
1:01
question that we get not only from athletes in our period
1:04
recovery program, but from all of you.
1:06
The question that we are answering today, much
1:08
anticipated, is do you need to gain weight in order to get your
1:12
period back? Before we get into today's
1:14
highly anticipated, highly requested episode of the Eat
1:16
More Carbs podcast, we are going to do our high and low.
1:19
So sharing about our week, the good and maybe the parts we wish
1:21
just a little bit differently. And at the end of the episode,
1:23
we will provide our training update.
1:24
Riley and I are both running a lot right now.
1:26
So sharing a little bit about the running that we are doing.
1:29
So Riley, kick us off high and low.
1:31
What's going on this week This. Week, I thought I would do a
1:33
little high, low situation from my 5K this past weekend.
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I've been sharing a lot about how I have been training and
1:41
doing a couple races in preparation for the New York
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Marathon, which is coming up really soon.
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I mean, it's like 4 or five months away, but I feel like
1:48
it's going to be here before I know it.
1:49
I kind of wanted to share a little kind of recap and we can
1:52
definitely do a full recap if that's something that y'all want
1:54
to hear about. I guess the high was that this
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is my first 5K in like a really long time like since high
1:59
school. So it was really fun to go out
2:01
there and do it. I also shared a little bit too
2:03
like on my Instagram that I actually got the first like
2:06
overall female spot, but I wasn't expecting that.
2:09
That was fun to like get out there and race and I got a free
2:12
pair of shoes and like a pint glass and a gift card so like I
2:15
don't know hey yay let's do it. That was the high.
2:18
It's really interesting though, because my low from the race is
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kind of linked to my result. Even though I was able to get
2:24
first overall, I didn't perform as well as I wanted to.
2:28
I think this just goes back to we all have our own ceiling and
2:32
we all have our own goals and sometimes we can really fall
2:36
into that comparison trap I think because we just don't
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really, I guess like know what other people are doing or know
2:41
their journey or know their goals.
2:43
Yes, I won my heat, but I didn't perform as well as I was hoping
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to and I think I know I just pull so many pairs from running
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and the running journey I'm on right now to a lot of the work
2:55
that we do with our period recovery athletes.
2:57
Oh yeah, I feel very similarly about how my marathon went,
3:01
where so many people reminded me that it was still a marathon and
3:03
it was still a great finish and great time, but it wasn't what I
3:06
was looking for. So there was like that very
3:08
weird internal turmoil of wanting to celebrate the
3:11
accomplishment but also feeling sad about not getting exactly
3:15
what I wanted. Yes.
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And I think there's like a lot of learnings and that's
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something that we always talk about like on this podcast and
3:21
in our period recovery program. But there's like a lot of
3:23
learnings and everything that we do, we have to figure out how we
3:26
can navigate sometimes. And I feel like manager own
3:29
expectations where we can celebrate the wins that we have,
3:33
but then like also like manage our expectations.
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I wanted to go faster. I was hoping to see like a six
3:39
at the beginning of my mile pace and I was at like 7 O one.
3:42
That was like a little discouraging.
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I'm in a certain period of training right now where I'm not
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training for A5 Ki decided to find sign up for the 5K like 2
3:50
days before the 5K and I had run like 10 miles like the day
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before. Like I wasn't, you know, at peak
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rest. I hadn't done any type of taper.
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I hadn't practice any pacing for A5 Ki know I could go faster but
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like I wasn't necessarily doing the things that I needed to to
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go fast and not specific race. Kind of like period recovery is
4:07
going to be so individualized for every single person that we
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work with. And the changes that each person
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needs to make to get where they want to be as far as goals is
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going to look really, really different.
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And your goal is running a marathon and doing it quickly.
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It's not running 5 KS for time, which if that becomes your goal,
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great. You would change some of those
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things that you were doing, but that wasn't the purpose of this
4:27
race. So still like a great
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accomplishment for sure, but it wasn't like the end goal and it
4:32
was supposed to be a learning experience.
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I know that like we had talked offline about how it was really
4:37
important for you to kind of nail down like pre race strategy
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and what that feels like and what that looks like for you.
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So that way it becomes more familiar and more comfortable on
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the day that it actually matters.
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Yes. And I can kind of give a full
4:48
recap on that because I actually felt like I have that down,
4:52
which is really exciting. And I even have been sharing a
4:55
little bit too, like at least on Instagram and Jenna with you
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offline about like navigating some of that pre performance
5:00
anxiety. And I feel like that was
5:01
starting to be a little bit better too.
5:03
Like I woke up at like 3:30. I didn't have to get up until
5:06
5:30, but I was able to go back to sleep.
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And like that usually doesn't happen.
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So like there's like lots of learnings throughout this, like
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entire journey in my preparation for the marathon.
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And again, there's just so many parallels of this to.
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Carried recovery. I love this.
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Well, Congrats again on the finish.
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Thanks that was enough about me. How was your week going?
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Highs and your lows? 1st, I have to share that I had
5:26
another athlete start their period this week, so just have
5:29
to celebrate that win. That's always a high and just
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like huge Congrats to that athlete for working so hard and
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getting her period back. So yay, that definitely is part
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of my high for sure. Back-to-back weeks.
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I know have so many people who are so dedicated to getting
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their period back and it's so fun to celebrate that win with
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them. Huge Congrats to her.
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Very proud. Very happy for her.
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I'll still share the high and low that I was planning on
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sharing before yesterday when she started her period, which
5:54
is, I have to be honest, I have another podcast as in like I am
5:58
part of another podcast. It's not an external facing
6:01
podcast. It is an internal podcast.
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My best friend lives in Maryland and we are on opposite sides of
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the country, which makes it really, really hard to
6:09
communicate, to stay in touch. Like we'll try to call each
6:11
other, but like our hours don't really line up as far as working
6:14
hours, awake hours, sleeping hours and things like that.
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So there's like this trend. I think it's maybe on TikTok or
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Instagram, not really sure. But you create a shared.
6:21
Album and then you record like a short video about something
6:24
that's happening in your week and you upload it and it's a
6:26
shared album between the two of you And then you can comment on
6:29
it and like just like provide quick updates.
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So I've been doing that with my best friend for a couple of like
6:34
months now and it has just been so fun.
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And she sent me a video yesterday that just was like
6:38
exactly what I needed to hear. Like such like an uplifting,
6:41
like funny video, but also just like made me still feel like we
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were living in the same city and seeing each other every day.
6:47
And I just like my highest technology and that like people
6:49
come up with these like very silly things that can allow us
6:52
to stay in close connection to the people that we don't like
6:54
physically live close to anymore.
6:56
So that's my high. My low was literally that you
6:59
had started another podcast. Like I just, my heart just went
7:03
down. I was like, Oh my gosh.
7:05
I don't know if. There's anything that I.
7:06
Could talk about that long on a podcast other than like
7:10
nutrition and period recovery, Like otherwise it would just be
7:12
like, here's what I ran today. People would be like, that's not
7:15
interesting. I was like are we losing the Co
7:18
host to the eat more carbs podcast right now?
7:20
Like I don't. Know if I can handle this?
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Never, never the. Eat more.
7:24
Camera covered, not going anywhere.
7:25
I'm not actually Co hosting another podcast, I'm just
7:28
literally uploading videos of myself to my friend in a shared
7:31
album on iCloud. Don't worry.
7:33
Oh. Jenna, you.
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Gave me a little jump scare this morning.
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I always got to keep you on your toes.
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That was a good one. OK, I'm sorry.
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My low is running related and it is running related because I am
7:46
still working through my hamstring situation and I'm now
7:49
dealing with the summer heat. So as my hamstring starts to
7:53
feel a little bit better and I start to feel encouraged about
7:55
being able to run more again, the weather is not allowing
7:59
that. So I am feeling very frustrated
8:02
with my lack of running, which means that I'm not feeling super
8:05
confident about signing up for another race.
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So my low is that like I haven't signed for another race.
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I've looked at a whole bunch of them.
8:11
I've thought about a whole bunch of different ones about what
8:13
would timeline work best for me. But I'm trying to remove the
8:16
pressure of that. And I'm just gonna like pull a
8:18
Riley and sign up for a race last minute if it feels right.
8:22
And then I'm not gonna worry so much about like the time.
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And when I say last minute sign up for a race, I don't mean like
8:26
a marathon or anything like that.
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Like got a train for that for sure.
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I, my low is just like I don't have the same training that I
8:32
typically do and I don't have something to train for right
8:34
now. And I think that can be hard
8:35
sometimes when you don't have like a training goal.
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I think that can be really challenging to navigate to
8:40
because like we're such like goal motivated people and
8:43
sometimes like when we don't have like a goal or such
8:46
structure, it can just feel really overwhelming.
8:48
Yeah, I'm like, what am I doing? What am I training for?
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It makes me lose motivation to train.
8:53
I'm not gonna lie though, I really liked the 5K setup, but
8:56
because it was just really nice, because it was a smaller race.
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And I think something that you and I have done is like, we've
9:01
trained for a lot of like bigger races, but like the idea of not
9:05
having an Expo, like picking up your bid the morning up, it
9:07
being much more casual and like just going out there and like
9:10
racing. I was thinking about this
9:12
because you had kind of shared like on a previous episode, like
9:15
when you raced the OC Marathon afterwards, like a lady gave you
9:19
her jacket. Every time you go to a race, I
9:21
feel like everybody's in a good mood.
9:22
Like everybody's just out there, everybody's happy.
9:24
Like even if they don't meet their goals, like they still
9:26
accomplished something. And I just feel like everybody's
9:29
just so nice at races. It's that like camaraderie and
9:32
accomplishing something together, the running community
9:35
on race day is unlike anything else.
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And I'm like super thankful that we get to be a part of it and
9:39
experience it. We are very excited for today's
9:42
episode and the topic of today's episode.
9:44
Like I mentioned already, highly anticipated, highly requested
9:47
episode. I am pumped to talk about this
9:50
today. When we look at our period
9:52
recovery like applicants and our athletes, the biggest thing that
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is holding them back is this fear of weight gain and their
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body changing. And I'm really excited to kind
10:02
of address this with you today, Jenna.
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I'm so excited. If you're a new listener to the
10:06
Mark Harps Podcast, first of all, welcome.
10:08
We're so happy that you're here and we're glad to have you here
10:10
talking about period recovery and getting your period back.
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Riley and I talk a lot about Lea and HA, so low energy
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availability and hypothalamic amenorrhea.
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Riley, can you just define HA&L EA real quick before we get into
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some of the details of getting your period back in weight gain?
10:24
Yes. First off, we'll start with HAHA
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or hypothalamic amenorrhea is the absence of the menstrual
10:29
cycle for three or more months. So basically you don't have a
10:32
period. It's not cycling the way that it
10:35
needs to be. There's two types of amenorrhea.
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We have primary amenorrhea, which is defined as not getting
10:40
your period by age 15 or secondary amenorrhea where you
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will have a normal onset of your period before age 15 and then
10:48
you experience irregular cycles. So again, missing that period
10:52
for three or more months. Both primary and secondary
10:55
amenorrhea are going to often show up in athletes due to low
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energy availability. So low energy availability or
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like Jeanette just said, we'd like to call it LE A.
11:05
Is this low energy availability state for the body?
11:08
Basically, your body isn't an energy deficit and there's just
11:11
not enough energy to go around. There's an imbalance between the
11:14
energy coming in through food and fluids, and then there's too
11:18
much energy going out through exercise and movement.
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When this happens we see a down regulation of certain parts of
11:24
the body like their reproductive system in a way to protect the
11:27
body because your body is basically in starvation in this
11:31
low energy availability state. Riley and I are dedicated to
11:33
making sure that you get your period back and helping you
11:36
correct Lea to make sure that we restore a normal cycle.
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The biggest hurdle like Riley mentioned at the beginning of
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this that so many athletes come to us with as far as fear goes
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is fear of gaining weight or fear of body changes.
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So Riley, for once and for all, can you clear up this question
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that we have been asked so many times?
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Do I need to gain weight in order to get my period back?
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You are going to want to come get me everybody who's listening
11:57
to this episode, but I'm going to tell you it is going to
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depend. But you are most likely going to
12:03
see a change in weight with period recovery.
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But that doesn't mean that it's always going to be adipose
12:09
tissue. And I think it's really, really,
12:11
really important that we have this conversation and we dive
12:14
into why that is. So I'm so excited to kind of
12:17
chat about that today and that you all are here.
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It is something that is holding so many people back in period
12:22
recovery. If it's not adipose tissue,
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where is this weight coming from?
12:26
Oh, so glad you asked that question, too.
12:28
So when we think about fueling our bodies, oftentimes we forget
12:33
that food has weight. If you eat more food, there's
12:36
going to be more food in your GI tract, right?
12:38
If we want to quickly kind of go over digestion really, really,
12:42
really fast, we can think about digestion starting in the mouth.
12:45
Our food is in our mouth, it goes down our esophagus, it goes
12:47
into our stomach, and then our digestion process, an absorption
12:51
process of our nutrients really kind of begins in the small
12:54
intestine. We do have some digestion
12:56
happening in the stomach, but most of our digestion and
12:58
breakdown is happening into the small intestine.
13:00
And until the body breaks down those nutrients and starts
13:04
absorbing them through the intestinal lining, that food is
13:06
actually considered outside of our system.
13:08
It's considered outside of the body still, which again, is kind
13:11
of like a weird concept because it's literally inside our body.
13:13
If we're eating more food, there's going to be more food
13:17
going through our digestive tract and sitting there waiting
13:19
to be digested. There's nothing wrong with that.
13:22
But if you are somebody who has started fueling your body with
13:26
more energy, with more volume of food, with just more food in
13:29
general, you might see an increase on the scale just
13:32
because you're eating more food, but that doesn't mean that it's
13:35
automatically being made into adipose tissue.
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Your body is just utilizing that fuel to give your body the
13:41
energy that it needs because it's an energy deficit right
13:43
now. Exactly not that we recommend
13:45
weighing yourself at the beginning and the end of every
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single day. But theoretically, if you were
13:50
to take your weight at the beginning of the day and then
13:52
take your weight again at the end of the day, you would see an
13:54
increase in weight simply because you fueled with food and
13:57
with water. And that's like Riley said, in
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your system. But like technically outside,
14:01
but because we've consumed fluid, we've consumed food and
14:04
that has a weight associated with it.
14:06
But if we think about that, even if it's under fueling that still
14:09
has weight to it, it's still going to show up.
14:12
In that sense, what else could potentially be causing an
14:16
athlete to feel like they are gaining weight during their
14:18
period recovery journey? Additionally related to the
14:20
digestive tract is the GI is going to be one of the processes
14:24
that gets down regulated when you are under fueling.
14:27
We have to basically kind of up regulate the GI again, right?
14:30
We have to kind of teach the body to be able to accept more
14:33
fuel. I think this can also be a
14:35
really confusing topic and concept because because we
14:39
think, OK, if we need more fuel, why can't our body accept it?
14:42
And our body is really good at adaptation.
14:44
So it's again down regulated. The GI, because it doesn't need
14:48
to be activated all the time. If you're not feeding it, it's
14:50
not functioning the way it needs to.
14:52
So with the sound regulation, right, it only makes sense
14:55
because what happens is like, why do we need to fuel something
14:58
and give something energy and nutrients to function properly
15:01
when we're in a state of starvation?
15:04
What we have to do is we really have to start kind of slowly
15:07
teaching the body to be able to accept more, more fuel.
15:09
And that can feel really uncomfortable at first because
15:12
digestion might not be happening as quick as we're used to.
15:15
And there could be some like maybe undigested food kind of
15:17
sitting in our gut. And that can just feel
15:19
uncomfortable. It might not translate over to
15:22
actual weight gain on the scale, but it could just feel kind of
15:25
uncomfortable when you're bloated.
15:26
Maybe your clothes feel a little bit differently and it can make
15:29
you almost like think you've gained weight, even though
15:31
that's not actually the true state of affairs.
15:34
I'm so glad you brought this up because the change in digestion
15:37
that we see when we actually under fuel can cause some type
15:41
of uncomfortable symptoms. But then the change in digestion
15:43
once we start adding more fuel and we working towards positive
15:47
energy balance and period recovery can also cause a lot of
15:50
bloating. Because like you said, the body
15:51
is adapting to then being able to digest and accept more fuel,
15:55
which can feel a lot like bloating or heaviness.
15:58
And that often is what athletes say that they are feeling when
16:01
they think that they are gaining weight is just an adjustment to
16:04
digestion. It's something that we
16:06
experience, but just because it's happening does not mean
16:09
that it's permanent. And I think your feelings are
16:12
totally valid if you are listening to this episode and
16:14
you're like, I'm having this digestion problem.
16:16
I'm having this bloating, but it's so hard for me to eat when
16:19
I'm bloated because, yeah, that feeling is weird.
16:22
Sometimes it's kind of uncomfortable.
16:24
I mean, you know, when I'm super bloated or I don't feel like my
16:27
digestions going great, I might not really have that much of an
16:29
appetite. And I have my period, right?
16:31
So I think I could just be really challenging to navigate.
16:34
Definitely that digestion component does play a really big
16:37
role in it. What are other other factors
16:39
that could be making an athlete feel like they are gaining
16:42
weight? Or what other factors could be
16:44
impacting weight changes when working towards period recovery
16:47
and restoring positive energy balance when you're in a state
16:50
of low energy availability? This one is really specific to
16:52
athletes. The main source of fuel that
16:55
your body wants to utilize for high intensity exercise is going
16:58
to be carbohydrate and we store carbohydrate in the muscle in
17:01
the form of glycogen. If we're under fueling, we are
17:04
not going to have full glycogen stores.
17:06
And once you start incorporating carbohydrates into your fueling
17:10
plan, you're going to start actually making glycogen, right?
17:13
So this is going to help your performance.
17:14
This is going to help your energy levels.
17:16
This also might make you feel a little uncomfortable because for
17:20
every gram of glycogen that you are going to synthesize, you're
17:23
also going to hold on to about 3 grams of water.
17:26
That's not a bad thing, right? Hello hydration, hello glycogen.
17:30
We're going to see so many performance benefits from that,
17:32
but that is going to add a little extra weight onto the
17:35
body. Again, not a bad thing, actually
17:37
a wonderful thing. It's just, it can be, I think
17:40
overwhelming, especially if weight gain is something that
17:42
you're, you know, kind of navigating or worried about.
17:45
It's so valid to feel concern about weight changes or fearful
17:50
of weight changes that might be happening, especially if you are
17:53
navigating period recovery. This is your first attempt at
17:55
trying to increase your energy availability.
17:57
And those initial things that you might start to feel like
18:00
Riley just mentioned are very overwhelming for sure, like
18:03
being uncomfortable and bloated, feeling like you are putting on
18:06
weight even if it is glycogen in your muscles.
18:09
All of those things, they're good things.
18:10
Both can exist at the same time. We can have those valid feelings
18:13
of like, this is scary and maybe uncomfortable, but it's also
18:16
good. And I know I'm working towards a
18:17
good thing. Yes.
18:18
The reason that we wanted to bring those up today is because
18:21
these two things, this digestion and this glycogen piece, are
18:25
things that can happen relatively quickly.
18:27
And I think that can be really scary because you start feeling
18:30
your body properly and you're immediately going to have these
18:33
feelings for somebody who's struggling with the idea of
18:36
weight gain, to almost feel like you immediately gain weight
18:39
after, you know, eating some carbohydrates or eating a little
18:42
bit more food can put a dent into your recovery process.
18:45
There is a big component of Lea and what our body attempts to do
18:50
from a preservation standpoint. You always say that when we're
18:53
in a period of low energy availability, when we have HA,
18:56
your body is in a starvation mode.
18:58
But when we say that, what does that actually mean, Riley?
19:01
And what is the body's like protection mechanism in that
19:03
state? We're in a protective mode when
19:05
we think about what our body's priority is.
19:07
Our body's priority is to live. It's going to, I keep saying
19:11
this word, but it's going to prioritize what is important for
19:15
survival. That means like brain, heart,
19:17
vital organs. And it's going to do whatever it
19:20
can to make sure that those systems have fuel.
19:23
And if you're constantly fluctuating between a positive
19:26
energy balance, a negative energy balance, or just
19:28
chronically in a negative energy balance, that is a really
19:31
dangerous place for your body to be.
19:33
And it's going to do things like store excess fat to make sure
19:36
that those vital organs and those really important systems
19:39
have a fuel source available. The reason that your body kind
19:42
of does this is because it's anticipating another period of
19:45
low energy availability. So when you do provide it with
19:48
fuel, it wants a reserve, It wants a backup because it's
19:51
fearful that we are going to experience another period of
19:55
prolonged low energy availability and it knows it
19:58
needs something to keep the necessary systems fueled to keep
20:02
you alive. Our body is smart, it's
20:03
adaptive, and it will do everything possible to keep you
20:06
surviving. Starvation is a mode that.
20:09
We can survive in, but it is not one that we thrive in.
20:11
Exactly. And I think this can be
20:13
something that's really hard to grasp as well.
20:15
It's just a very complex concept because people don't understand
20:19
that, like how you can be in a negative energy balance and you
20:21
could still be gaining like fat mass.
20:23
I think it's really confusing it.
20:24
Kind of like works the opposite way that we think it would.
20:27
It does. And I think people also assume
20:29
in the other direction where like if you start eating more
20:31
food, you're going to immediately gain fat mass.
20:34
That's not always the case. And I think it really does
20:37
depend when we look look at that mass or adipose tissue and that
20:41
gain in period recovery, because I'm not gonna lie to you, some
20:45
athletes, they do need to gain weight.
20:47
From a safety perspective, from where they need to be as far as
20:51
in order to support their body systems, yes, I'd agree
20:54
sometimes it is necessary for certain athletes.
20:56
And sometimes it's 1 LB, sometimes it's £5, sometimes
21:00
it's £10, sometimes it's 15. Like I could keep going because
21:03
every single person and every single athlete in this journey
21:07
is going to be different. We don't want you to hold
21:10
yourself back because you think, Oh my gosh, I have to gain 20
21:13
lbs to get my period back because so many of the athletes
21:15
that we work with in the period recovery program are so close to
21:19
getting their period. It's just a couple little tweaks
21:21
here and there, a couple little additions, maybe 1 or 2 lbs of
21:24
weight gain and they get their period back and they maximize
21:28
the performance while doing it. And the reason why is because we
21:30
have taken such a close look at their fueling and at their
21:33
exercise and their training plan, and we have matched their
21:36
fueling to reflect what their training needs.
21:39
Under feeling, we talk about this all the time, can look so
21:41
many different ways than just chronically not consuming enough
21:44
food. Under feeling can look like
21:46
training a workout in a fasted state that's still under
21:49
fueling. So correcting anything like that
21:51
to make sure that there is adequate energy available when
21:53
your body needs it. If this is your first step in
21:56
working towards period recovery, first of all, like so proud of
21:59
you. That is such a wonderful thing.
22:00
Riley, do you have any tips for someone who's maybe a little bit
22:03
fearful of weight changes that might occur during the period
22:06
recovery journey to get them started or kind of overcome
22:08
those fear that they might be having?
22:09
I think the. Biggest thing with period
22:11
recovery is to start small. Even if weight gain is something
22:14
that you are worried about, I would highly recommend starting
22:17
small because you have to gain some trust with your body and
22:21
your body needs to gain some trust with you.
22:23
I would start small and start fueling pre and post workout to
22:26
help really maximize your energy availability and your energy
22:30
levels during training. Making these small sustainable
22:33
steps can really almost like ease in to period recovery
22:38
because Jenna, you mentioned this on a previous episode, but
22:41
the recovery of a period, that goal can seem really big and
22:44
really daunting. Breaking it up into smaller
22:46
steps and having smaller goals and smaller wins can really help
22:50
you stay motivated on your journey and give you some
22:52
positive reinforcement that you're doing the right thing
22:55
with fueling your body at this increased.
22:57
Level, I think that's such a great tip.
22:59
I want to add on to that, that there is such a strong mental
23:02
component when it comes to period recovery and the
23:04
challenge of what might happen to changes with your body.
23:07
They're so valid. One of the things I like to
23:09
remind people if they are experiencing some changes like
23:12
bloating or digestion changes and things like that, just
23:15
because it's a change doesn't mean it's permanent and it also
23:17
doesn't mean that it's bad. It's a sign that we're regaining
23:20
trust with your body and that your body is working towards
23:22
restoring a healthy cycle. It can be so challenging, but
23:26
making sure that we approach it from the standpoint that feels
23:28
comfortable for you and making those small and sustainable
23:31
changes to just slowly make that progression there and reminding
23:34
yourself along the way that just because there is change doesn't
23:36
mean that that change is bad. And the change isn't also always
23:39
forever too. I think that's something that is
23:41
a really good reminder is like, you're not going to have to gain
23:44
weight. You're not going to have to be
23:45
in this like you're not going to have to do some of these things
23:47
for the rest of your life. It's temporary.
23:49
That doesn't mean that it's not hard temporarily, but you can do
23:52
this. You can do hard things.
23:54
If Riley and I can live in Las Vegas and survive the Dietetic
23:57
internship, you can do this. Yes you can, I promise.
24:00
And we're cheering you on every step of the way.
24:02
Like we mentioned at the very beginning of this, Riley and I
24:04
are both running right now. Well, Riley, definitely more so
24:07
than me, but you just ran your 5, you have your half marathon
24:10
in a couple of weeks, you start your marathon training here
24:13
really soon. So how is everything going?
24:15
How are you feeling about everything this week?
24:17
I know my half is actually June 21st, so like a week and 1/2
24:20
from this episode goes out, which is crazy.
24:23
As of today I have like only four runs left until my next
24:26
half which gives me a little like butterflies thinking about
24:29
it, but I'm really excited. We'll see, we'll see how it
24:32
goes. I feel like this is my last real
24:34
week of training and actually it's looking really forward to
24:36
my taper week. Like I'm my legs are toaster
24:39
right now and I've never been this excited.
24:40
I feel like to taper a couple more runs and here we go.
24:43
We're so excited to hear how that race goes and I'm even more
24:46
excited to hear about how like the strategy for morning of the
24:50
race and fueling goes for you. Have you decided what you're
24:53
going to do for inter run during the half marathon?
24:55
So something that really works well for me is I like doing like
24:58
20 grams of fuel every 20 minutes.
25:00
I like to rotate between gels and gummies.
25:03
I have found a couple gels that I really like.
25:05
I like the SIS ones. I've been playing around with
25:07
you can, which I know you and I have talked a lot offline about
25:10
like do we like those? What's the science behind them?
25:13
Like stop hiding the science. But I do like that you can take
25:16
both of those without water because I just like having that
25:19
flexibility. Even though I do take them both
25:22
with water. I just like the flexibility of
25:24
not having to rely on water with those.
25:27
So I will be aiming for 20 grams.
25:29
Have carbohydrates every 20 minutes.
25:31
I love that. That's fantastic.
25:33
I know you're a running dietitian so let me know if you
25:35
have any modifications to that. Definitely don't try anything
25:38
now because we're too close to race day.
25:40
I know, I know, I know, I know. But I have been really
25:43
practicing and even this morning I did like a three mile at race
25:46
pace and I even took gels and stuff during that three mile to
25:49
practice, like consuming food during race pace.
25:51
I love that. I think that's always one of my
25:53
bigger recommendations is on your shorter runs and on shorter
25:57
runs that are maybe at race pace is practicing your fueling.
25:59
Because on race day, if you haven't practiced at race pace,
26:03
it feels different opening the package that you're going to be
26:07
taking, opening the gel that you're going to be taking,
26:09
practicing taking that while you're running that fast.
26:11
If you don't plan to slow down or you don't plan to walk
26:13
through an aid station or walk when you are taking it, you just
26:16
need to practice like all of it, like truly practice all of it.
26:18
So I love that. Plus practicing on a shorter
26:21
distance like you've mentioned before is a great way to like
26:23
kick start recovery on the other side.
26:24
It's never a waste and I think that's also a big misconception
26:27
is like it's never going to go to waste.
26:29
It's all part of the bigger fueling fan here.
26:32
Oh wow, love that, absolutely love that.
26:35
So you shared at the beginning that you're not really training
26:37
for anything right now, but I feel like I've seen you on
26:39
Instagram like doing lots of fun things.
26:41
So what is training and like movement look like for you right
26:43
now? I'm not running as much, which
26:45
is really hard, and it just feels different not to run as
26:48
much, especially coming off of a marathon.
26:50
But I know that the most important thing is that like, I
26:52
take a pause, make sure that I am allowing my body to heal so
26:56
that way I can run again. I would much rather take time
26:58
away from running now then continue to run on an injury and
27:02
then have to inevitably take more time off later on because I
27:06
continually injure myself. So I'm doing a lot of like
27:09
different things. I actually I have a hard time
27:11
sometimes when I'm in the gym, just like motivating myself to
27:14
like train outside of that, unless I have like a specific
27:17
lift I know I'm doing, which kind of gets old and monotonous
27:20
for me. So I actually this is so silly
27:23
but I started the the Apple fitness videos.
27:28
I love that. Because they're like 20 to 30
27:31
minutes of like an easy lift or something like that.
27:34
And if I'm doing like a heavier lift and I need like a little
27:38
bit extra to kind of get my heart rate up, but it's more
27:40
weight based rather than like a true run.
27:42
I've been using those. It's just working because I have
27:45
something. But like somebody to tell me
27:46
what to do right now. And sometimes that's what you
27:48
need. I love that you sometimes you
27:49
just need like some guidance or at least like some sort of
27:53
structure. We do have a subscription that
27:55
we're working on right now to help provide that for the period
27:57
recovery curlies, but just having that like little
28:00
structure, it just can be so helpful.
28:02
Sometimes that's what you need, like it's that extra boost of
28:04
motivation because you know that you don't have to think about
28:06
it. Love that.
28:07
Thank you so much for listening to this episode of the Eat More
28:09
Carbs podcast. If you do have questions for
28:11
Riley and I over our running journey or period of recovery,
28:14
please reach out to us. You can find us online.
28:16
You can find Riley at Easy Sports Nutrition and you can
28:18
find me at Jenna Fischer Nutrition.
28:20
Thanks again for listening. Please make sure you rate,
28:22
subscribe and review. And as always, remember to eat
28:24
more carbs.