Latest / Eat More Carbs | A Period Recovery Podcast / 153. Gained Weight but No Period? 3 Things You Might Be Missing

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153. Gained Weight but No Period? 3 Things You Might Be Missing · Eat More Carbs | A Period Recovery Podcast

0:00
Hey girlies. Just a quick reminder before we
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dive into today's episode. The information shared on this
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podcast is intended to be general sports nutrition advice
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and education related to period. Recovery for female athletes.
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This is not specific. To anyone individual and it may
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or may not apply to your situation.
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If you are looking for personalized guidance, be sure
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to. Apply to our period.
0:17
Recovery nutrition coaching program.
0:19
Our four month period recovery. Program is designed to help you
0:21
sustainably. Get your period back and keep it
0:24
you can. Apply now to get started in our
0:25
program and we'll leave the link.
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For the program below, this is the Eat More Carbs podcast.
0:34
Hello and welcome back. This is the More Carbs podcast.
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We are a team of dietitians and we talk every Thursday about
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sports nutrition for the girlies.
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My name is Jenna and I host this podcast.
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And my name is Riley. You're also see me on this
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podcast. I am the owner and founder of
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Steady State Performance Nutrition.
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We specialize in helping female athletes recover from low energy
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availability and together along with Lily Rhymer, we are team
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steady state. Before we get into today's
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episode, we are going to do our high and low.
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So sharing just a little bit about our week, the good and the
1:01
parts we wish have gone a little bit differently.
1:03
Riley, as always, can you kick us off?
1:05
Yes. Hello, I'm so excited that you
1:06
all are here with us today. I usually start off with my.
1:09
High. But I'm actually going to start
1:11
off with my low. Both my high and my low this
1:13
week have to do with my 2 year old daughter Charlie.
1:15
Love sharing a little bit about Charlie on the podcast and also
1:18
a little bit on Instagram. And it's just so fun being her
1:21
mom and watching her grow, develop her little personality.
1:25
One of her I guess least. Favorite activities Right now,
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this is Milo. I'm one of her least favorite
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activities is brushing her teeth.
1:31
Which I get it, it's a. Weird sensation.
1:34
It's new. It's hard to kind of teach.
1:36
Her that, but that has actually. Been kind of like one of the
1:39
goals that we've been working on this last month is trying to get
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more of a routine with her brushing her teeth and get
1:44
better at her brushing her teeth.
1:46
So we do have a Charlie toothbrush in our bathroom with
1:49
her toothpaste and we do also have one in her bathroom because
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at this point I'm like wherever I can get you to brush her teeth
1:55
is totally fine. So she has her toothbrush.
1:58
In our room and we also have her, her toothpaste in our room.
2:02
And I don't know if you remember this, but when you went to the
2:04
dentist as a kid, like they would give you like a bubble
2:07
gum. Fluoride or whatever, so.
2:09
She has a bubble gum. It's like bubble juice, bluey
2:12
toothpaste. Like literally I'm like whatever
2:14
I can get you to do to brush her teeth is fine.
2:16
And she like loves it. The other night I was going to
2:20
brush my teeth. The lights are off.
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We have been sick. Rob's was asleep and so.
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I was kind of just going off of like muscle memory.
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I grabbed my toothbrush. I grabbed my tooth paste and
2:30
then I start brushing my teeth and I literally spit everywhere
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because I had bubble gum toothpaste in my mouth and I was
2:38
just not ready for it because I had accidentally grabbed her
2:42
toothpaste instead of mine. You know, I know kids love it,
2:45
but there is nothing quite like the disgusting flavor of like a
2:49
bubble gum flavored toothpaste mouthwash situation.
2:53
So that just made me feel so I would have had the same
2:56
reaction. I just like.
2:57
Wasn't prepared for it. Like that was the problem I was
3:00
expecting like, you know, whatever the mint Colgate,
3:03
whatever, Crest toothpaste and I got bubble juice, bluey
3:07
toothpaste and I just I was like, well, at least I have a
3:09
low to share in the podcast. It's always the good part about
3:12
having a low is that I'm like, well, at least I have something
3:14
to talk with Riley about things in our lives that just like,
3:17
like that that happened that you just have to laugh about, even
3:20
though in the moment you're like, my gosh.
3:22
Yes, yes. So that is my low.
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My high, like I shared, also has to do with my daughter Charlie.
3:27
She's really growing into her personality, like being an
3:29
independent woman. It's really funny because she's
3:32
like pretty bougie. Like I'm not like mad at it, but
3:36
like I, I don't know, it's just so funny because like the things
3:39
that they pick up and she is obsessed.
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I should actually like give you a multiple choice and you should
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guess which of these things she would be obsessed with because
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you would never guess. But she's super obsessed with
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essential oils. I know, I know, I know, I know
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I'm like, I cannot deal with you right now.
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Like I cannot deal with you. So we have like diffusers in our
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home. We have a diffuser in our room
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and then now foods has a super cute like dog diffuser.
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It's like for kids and it has a night light on it.
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And they sent me one when she like was born or when I
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announced pregnancy. We've been recently like over
4:13
the last couple of months we've been using it in her room.
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She loves it because it like blows out the air from the dog's
4:18
mouth and she thinks it's like bubbles and then it has a night
4:21
light on the top. So it's like flowers or stars or
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whatever the graphic is on the ceiling.
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She like, loves it. We like have her, you know, pour
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the little essential oils into the diffuser.
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And I kind of made the mistake a little bit ago trying to like
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make baths more fun. And so I put essential oils in
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the bath. And now she refuses to take a
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bath without essential oils. She like puts them in, she puts
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her bubbles in and she like does it herself.
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And I'm like, what? I just created a monster.
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But she's like obsessed. We, we call it a smelly bath.
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And she literally is like smelly bath and like runs and goes and
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gets the essential oils from our bathroom and brings them into
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her bathroom and like pours them in and I'm just.
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I just. I'm just, I can't.
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Kind of, I kind of love this. Like what a great way to like
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get her to take a bath though, You know, like just like with
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the toothpaste, you have to find something that's like fun or
5:09
interesting or she's involved with.
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I would assume that that's what you need to do in order to help
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your daughter feel like this is an interesting task that I want
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to complete. Does she have a specific smell
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that she always uses or always wants?
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Or does she kind of like, does that matter?
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Not really. We kind of rotate and like to be
5:26
honest she just pours them all in the bath.
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So like you can smell it like in half of our house, like Rob's is
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like there she goes again. Like I can smell it in the
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kitchen because we have such a smelly.
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Bath. She's like.
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Lemon lavender doesn't matter, it's going in.
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You collect this. Peppermint.
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I'm like, OK, fine, get in the bath and she's like bubbles.
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Mom, mom, mom. More bubbles and I'm like you
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are so like bougie. I can't deal with it.
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But like also this is a great great idea.
5:53
Great idea. Yeah.
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That's what's going on over here right now.
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I love it. How's your week going?
5:57
Have another high and low that's kind of the same story years ago
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before Nolan and I were even dating he was gifted a hand me
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down Dyson vacuum cleaner and that is the vacuum cleaner that
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we have had the entire time that we have been together.
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And I have said from the very beginning, like this Dyson
6:13
vacuum cleaner, like it is such a good vacuum cleaner.
6:16
Like I know this is such a silly high and low, but I always said
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like, if this thing clunks out like a questions asked, I'm just
6:22
going to buy another one. Like that's that Ours is a
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little bit falling apart because it is a hand me down.
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So there are some pieces that maybe don't look as nice or kind
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of like chipped or falling apart.
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We've replaced the battery where you replace the filters.
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Like we do all the things to keep this Dyson alive.
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And our Dyson took its last trip around our house this past
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weekend, which I was really sad about because not even like sad
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about, but like I was just, I was like, man, are you kidding
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me? Like of all things, it's not a
6:51
fun purchase to make. And especially like since I've
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been saying since the beginning, like it doesn't matter.
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I would just buy another one immediately.
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Nolan was like, all right, let's go to Costco and get another
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one. So high of the day is that
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Costco at least has a reasonably priced to Dyson.
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And then I felt like I was stepping into the future with
7:09
the Dyson and I was like, was my house dirty because this Dyson
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picks up so much more dog hair. And I was like, Oh my gosh, have
7:18
I just had a disgusting house this entire time and had no idea
7:22
because I was like, we used it right when we got it cause of
7:24
course it's fancy and fun and new and like, that's an adult
7:27
fund purchase, I guess. So, you know, Charlie with her
7:29
essential oils and me with my vacuum cleaner, you know, the
7:31
small things in life. And I was like, I cannot believe
7:33
I, I had just tried to use like I had just attempted to vacuum.
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And the amount of dog hair that this picked up specifically off
7:41
of our rugs. I was like, was this old Dyson
7:44
not working and for how long? Is it one of the hand ones?
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Is it like the skinny one? It's the one.
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That you like, you charge and then you take it off the charger
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and then you use it. Yeah.
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We have that one too. It's so nice.
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You know you're officially old when you're like, I went to
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Costco and I bought a vacuum. I bought a vacuum and at first
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time you're old. No, I am now, but like no,
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that's like an like that's like an old excited thing to be to
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share as my high. But I was talking with Lily, who
8:09
is younger than me, and I was like Lily, I got a vacuum
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cleaner this weekend. I was like, that is like the
8:14
peak of my weekend. She was like, wait.
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And then she was excited about her vacuum cleaner that she had
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gotten. So I felt validated because Lily
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is quite a few years younger than us, so I felt really good
8:25
about it. I'm pretty sure Lily's 10 years
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younger than me, and that's I'm not.
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Yeah. We don't talk about it.
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We love you. Lily.
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Amazing. Anyway, that's my high and my
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low is my Dyson vacuum cleaner. On today's episode, we're going
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to talk about something that we get asked about all the time,
8:38
which is weight restoration during period recovery.
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So excited to be. Chatting with you about this
8:43
today because this is one of the most common questions that we're
8:47
getting asked from you all. And then also our period
8:50
recovery athletes and clients. I just think that this is so
8:53
nuanced and it's so different for every single person.
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So I'm really glad and excited for us to kind of jump in and
8:58
chat today. Me too.
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I think this is also a question that we get asked a lot from
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applicants, from current clients about how much weight am I going
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to need to gain in order to get my period back.
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Everybody wants to know that number.
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So, Riley, how much weight do you need to gain to get your
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period back? I was actually talking with a
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local physician the other day and she asked me this exact
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question. She was like, on average, like
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how much weight do your clients gain and your athletes gain?
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And I don't know about you, Jenna, but I didn't actually
9:24
have an answer to that question just because it is so
9:28
individualized. And I think that's why this
9:30
process is so overwhelming and so frustrating for so many
9:33
athletes and so many clients is because there is no standard or
9:38
criteria where we can be like, just gain 2 to 5 lbs and you'll
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get your period back. It just doesn't work like that.
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It would be wonderful if it did. I wish I had a crystal ball that
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I could tell every single person that applies to the period
9:50
recovery program. This is how much weight you're
9:52
going to need to gain during this process.
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This is how long it's going to take.
9:55
This is exactly what you're going to need to do.
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This is exactly what you're doing wrong right now.
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But unfortunately, that doesn't exist.
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I wish it did. I wish I had a way of sharing
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those things because I think it would make it a little bit less
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intimidating if we knew what to expect.
10:07
But I think that's one of the really hard things about period
10:09
recovery is that there is a lot of unknown, especially when it
10:12
comes to weight restoration and the duration of time that it
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takes for someone to restore their cycle.
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And that can be really, really scary for athletes.
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So how do you help athletes kind of navigate that process of
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weight restoration when there is a large like unknown component
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to it? I think it's very individualized
10:29
to something that you actually said on our recent episode,
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Jenna and I stole it. I use it all the time now is you
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are running a race where you don't know the distance.
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And I think that one of the biggest and most important
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pieces of this is figuring out, no matter how long that race is
10:44
or how much you need to change from a physical perspective or
10:48
from like a feeling perspective as you figure out a way to make
10:51
it sustainable. With our period recovery program
10:53
and the advice that we share on this podcast, we are really
10:56
trying to help you make sustainable and realistic change
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because that change is going to be what helps you get your
11:03
period back and keep it. And then also get back to your
11:06
athlete lifestyle. If you are trying to make too
11:09
many big changes too fast or you're like I'm going to stop
11:12
training and I'm going to get gain 10 lbs, this is like a
11:15
really big change for the body and can be super overwhelming.
11:18
You might not need to gain 10 lbs, you might need to gain 5 or
11:21
you might need to gain 15. And I think if you just take a
11:24
big jump or focus too much on like a big goal, it becomes
11:28
really overwhelming and almost does more harm than good.
11:31
Completely agree with you. I love the analogy of you're in
11:35
a race where we don't know where the finish line is.
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I know that's a really scary thing to think about because
11:39
your race could be a 5KA10KA, half a marathon and ultra.
11:43
But the most important thing is that you always are making
11:46
progress towards your finish line.
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And I was actually talking with a client about that specifically
11:50
today about the progress that she's making.
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And if we start to think about this, we don't know where your
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finish line is. Every step that you make towards
11:58
your finish line shortens the distance between where you are
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and getting your period back. Even if that means that some
12:04
days those steps are smaller. Some days you might run a little
12:08
bit faster. Some days you might need to pull
12:10
over to the side and ask for help.
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But as long as you're making progress to in that distance
12:14
between where you are in your finish line, that's a super
12:17
important part of period recovery.
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I think that also kind of helps to highlight the consistency
12:21
piece because when we're talking about these small sustainable
12:24
changes, it's not that we make one small sustainable change and
12:27
then we stop that one and we add a different one.
12:29
It's that we're building on all of these small, sustainable
12:31
changes that we're adding to make sure that we're always
12:34
making progress. Yeah, weight restoration and
12:36
also changing your feeling habits is really scary.
12:39
It can be really intimidating, especially because you probably
12:44
lost your period because you were trying to do the right
12:48
things. We talk about this all the time
12:50
about how often you are trying to make improvements with your
12:54
feeling and your nutrition to become a better athlete or to
12:57
become healthy. And often times it just goes too
13:00
far. So then you end up with relative
13:02
energy deficiency in sport and or hypothalamic amenorrhea.
13:05
It can be really challenging to kind of go against a lot of
13:08
those beliefs, especially those things that are consistently
13:12
taught in our society as things that are healthy or good.
13:15
I think it also can be really challenging because a lot of
13:17
times people get that almost novice effect with weight loss
13:21
when they start to see improvements in performance at
13:25
first, when they initially maybe start to lose a little bit of
13:27
weight, which reinforces the idea that smaller equals faster
13:31
or smaller equals more performance and those types of
13:33
things. But what really tends to happen
13:36
is, even though that might appear that way in the beginning
13:38
and you might be receiving positive feedback from coaches
13:41
or fellow athletes, eventually that's going to stop and your
13:44
body will start to fall apart because it can't keep up with
13:47
that. And what your body actually
13:48
needs is to be restored weight wise and then also optimized
13:53
from a nutrition perspective for you to also get better and excel
13:56
in your sport. I think the hardest part about
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that is that it's going to take your body a little bit of time
14:00
to catch up before that happens. We typically see the weight
14:04
restoration component happen first before we start to feel
14:08
the improvements or the benefits of that.
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And that can be another really challenging piece because if
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we're talking with athletes about if we wait restore and we
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get your period back, your performance is going to improve,
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it doesn't necessarily feel like that immediately or right away.
14:22
And that's another piece that I think is really, really hard for
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a lot of athletes because of that.
14:26
And that kind of and honestly like working against itself, but
14:29
it just doesn't make, it doesn't really add up when you start to
14:32
think through it. And that's really hard.
14:33
You bring up so many good points there.
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And to kind of circle back up on your original question before I
14:38
started, like tangenting, per usual, is like how to navigate
14:42
like the weight restoration piece.
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And like a #1 tip for that is we have to stop thinking about
14:47
weight restoration or weight gain as a bad thing in our
14:50
society. We are so reinforced with the
14:53
idea that smaller is better, smaller is faster, and that a
14:57
weight loss solution to a problem is the right way, right
15:01
way to do things. And that weight restoration or
15:04
weight gain is a negative thing. Generally, like you just
15:06
highlighted, there's so many performance benefits you can get
15:10
with weight restoration or weight gain.
15:13
If your body is shutting down because you are in a smaller
15:17
way, this isn't the body size for you.
15:20
Like your body knows what it wants.
15:22
It wants to be healthy, it wants to function optimally.
15:25
If gaining a couple pounds is what you need to do to
15:27
accomplish like optimization, then there's nothing wrong with.
15:31
That I think that idea can be really difficult because for
15:34
such a long time like we have been so hyper fixated or hyper
15:37
focused on what an athlete looks like from the external side of
15:40
things. And we could go into like, a
15:43
whole what drives those bananas about this.
15:44
But hopefully you can help me summarize this post a little bit
15:47
better. But an Olympian posted about,
15:49
like, comments she received on her body size or on how her body
15:53
appeared. And I think that just really
15:55
goes to show that, like, people are forming judgments based on
15:58
people's outward appearance, but that's not what actually
16:01
correlates to performance and health.
16:03
Yes, and we've seen that a lot too with the appearance of
16:08
skinny talk where we assume that somebody is healthy because they
16:11
are skinny with air quotes or in a smaller body and body size is
16:15
not equivalent to health. And we have to stop that like
16:19
rhetoric because it's it's not true.
16:22
And I don't know how we got like this as a society or this
16:25
obsession of being in a smaller body.
16:27
We do a What Drives us bananas episode where Lily talks about
16:32
how when we look at like the geriatric population in general,
16:35
like we see better health comes when individuals if they have
16:38
more body size compared to those individuals who have a higher
16:41
body. There's a reason why our bodies
16:43
change throughout our life cycle.
16:45
It's preventative. It's effective in making sure
16:48
that we're optimized through our lifespan.
16:50
I like to kind of talk to clients about it who may have
16:52
lost their period several years ago and they may have reached a
16:55
point in which their weight is very similar to what it was the
16:58
last time that they cycled, but the last time that they cycled
17:01
being 5-6, maybe 7 plus years ago.
17:04
And they're like, I don't understand.
17:05
I'm at the same weight that I was when I last had my period.
17:08
But when you last had your period, that was seven years
17:11
ago, what your body needed when you were seven years ago old
17:15
might not be what your body needs today.
17:17
And I think that's a really hard, I keep saying that this is
17:20
really hard, but I think that's difficult because we expect that
17:23
our body, especially once we've reached the age of like post
17:26
puberty, would just function the same way the rest of our lives.
17:29
But we wouldn't expect like the nutrient needs or our fueling
17:33
needs when we were four to be the same that we would they
17:35
would be when we were 14. Yet we somehow are attempting to
17:38
apply the same things that we did when we were 16 to now being
17:42
26. And what your body needs at 16
17:45
and 26 is different and that's OK.
17:48
But we just have to recognize that you are always in an aging
17:51
process, which I don't love that.
17:52
If anyone finds a fountain of youth, let me know.
17:55
Would love that, but I haven't found it yet.
17:57
And we're always constantly evolving as a person and we have
18:00
to keep that in mind with weight restoration piece, I think with
18:03
period recovery because what your body needs now might be
18:05
different from the last time that you cycled.
18:07
Why is high school bodies like the gold standards?
18:11
I don't know. I don't know about you, but
18:13
like, school was a little bit of a rough time for me.
18:15
I was not cool at all. I don't want nothing.
18:18
I don't want to be anything like I was in high school.
18:20
No, I just like think about like there was such of like this fear
18:24
when I transitioned from high school sports to college sports
18:27
about like putting on weight, right, putting on mass, and I
18:31
just don't understand why there. Was such a focus.
18:33
On like, well, in high school you weighed this or like your
18:36
short size was this. And I was like, I was a better
18:39
player in college than I was in high school.
18:41
I was more powerful. I was faster, right?
18:43
Like I also needed that speed. I needed that power because the
18:47
game was faster, because everybody was better.
18:49
So I don't understand, like why we have this.
18:52
You can change all your life until high school and then your
18:55
body has to stay like that for the next 60-70, eighty years.
18:59
Who wrote these rules? Oh my gosh, I'm so glad you
19:01
brought that up, because I think that so many young women who are
19:04
transitioning from high school into college are worried about
19:07
the freshman 15. And I think what they're
19:10
forgetting is that they're now 18 years old, are not in high
19:14
school anymore, and your body might be changing.
19:16
It might not have anything to do with fueling in the calf or
19:20
changes in training or changes in schedule.
19:22
It might simply be because your body needed something different
19:26
now than it did last year. I hate just as much as you do
19:29
that we're using the high school body for females as the gold
19:33
standard, yet we want nail athletes to perhaps progress
19:37
past that. The.
19:38
Same thing could be said though for like postpartum like I was
19:41
just. Thinking about this right like
19:43
I. Look different than I did before
19:46
I had a baby, but like I. Literally created life like I
19:49
don't know what you guys want from me like I literally created
19:52
a child in my body like of. Course I'm going to look
19:54
different, like this is a massive change.
19:57
And I think it's just. So ridiculous because there's
20:00
all of this, you know, noise out there.
20:02
It's like get your postpartum or your pre baby body back and it's
20:06
just like I looked great before, I look great now.
20:08
Leave me the F alone. Like I created a person like
20:11
leave me alone. No, but really I think it's just
20:14
it's crazy that we expect our bodies to go through things and
20:18
appear the same way despite what it's gone through.
20:21
Obviously, like pregnancy and postpartum is a huge example,
20:24
but like even when we experience changes in body composition,
20:28
when you go from like an intense marathon training block to
20:31
exclusively weight training, the you're putting your body through
20:33
something different. Your body might look, way,
20:36
appear, feel different during those times and what you need to
20:40
feel for those times might be different as well.
20:42
Yeah, I also think too. Like if you're moving into a
20:44
different phase of life or like you're moving into a different
20:47
sport for the aesthetic purposes, I think you're doing
20:50
it wrong. Oh, on that note, we get a lot
20:52
of questions about weight restoration and gaining the
20:56
exact amount of weight that people need in order to get
20:59
their period. Back this is my question for
21:01
these people, what is the perfect amount?
21:03
Are we getting stressed about an imaginary number or something
21:07
that we have made? Up because I see.
21:09
So many people being held back or being so close to during
21:13
their period, like they're like 8080, five, 90% of the way
21:18
there, but they cannot fully commit because they are scared
21:22
or they're trying to do it perfectly or they're trying not
21:25
to overshoot. And the issue is, is if that's
21:28
you, you're not going to get your period back.
21:30
It's such a hard truth about period recovery, but you have to
21:33
be willing to understand that there are going to be things
21:35
that are outside of your control that are simply just your body's
21:38
reaction, and it's what your body needs.
21:40
We like, think our body's lying to us.
21:42
And I do think that, you know, especially if you've had a
21:44
disordered relationship with food or you've had an eating
21:47
disorder, it's really, really hard to trust your body and
21:49
you've ignored your body for so long.
21:51
We forget the fact that our body wants the best.
21:54
For us, your body is going to attempt to function optimally.
21:57
It wants that, and if we're constantly trying to fight what
22:00
optimal is, we will never reach optimal, and optimal includes
22:04
having a normal. Period, yes.
22:06
I do think though, that this journey is really, really hard
22:09
and I was actually talking with one of my athletes earlier this
22:12
week. She is on cycle, she's on her
22:14
second cycle. End of 2025 was really
22:17
challenging for her. She was really just really
22:20
frustrated with the process. There was some weight
22:22
restoration that happened and you know, it had been a really,
22:25
really long time since she'd had a normal cycle, so it was taking
22:28
a little bit longer. She's also super stressed from
22:30
school. She's a premed student.
22:32
She was going through it. I remember her like.
22:35
Not wanting to give up, but just we, we're consistently talking
22:38
about how hard it was, you know, at our call this week because we
22:41
were kind of reflecting on like how the first quarter of the
22:43
year had been going. And then, you know, how much
22:46
different she was feeling in Q1 of 2026 versus, you know, end of
22:50
end of 2025. And I was like, I honestly
22:52
thought you were going to give up.
22:53
Like you were going through it. And she said those were such
22:57
hard moments, but I knew that anything that was hard is worth
23:01
doing. And she's like, I knew that I
23:03
couldn't give up. And she goes, it was getting
23:06
harder and I knew I was getting closer because my body was
23:10
trying to tell me something, but my brain was resisting because
23:12
it didn't like the change. But like, I knew I was getting
23:15
closer because it was getting harder.
23:16
I'm super proud of your athlete, first of all, and Congrats to
23:19
her for being on cycle #2 If you've ever asked me a question
23:22
about period recovery, if you've had ever had a discovery call
23:24
with me about period recovery, If you've asked me how much
23:26
weight am I going to need to gain?
23:28
Any question that I might, that I might respond with, like it
23:30
depends. And I don't know.
23:31
The answer that I always give is I can't tell you that right now.
23:35
But the one thing I can tell you is that the period recovery
23:38
journey is incredibly hard. But hard doesn't mean that it's
23:42
impossible. And I, I think that that's like
23:44
such a good thing to remember during this process if you're
23:47
working through period recovery, is that when it gets hard, those
23:49
are the most important moments to keep going and you can do
23:53
hard things. I know that's like really cliche
23:54
to say, but that's the truth. Like you are an athlete, you've
23:58
done hard things before. You can do hard things like
24:01
this. That doesn't mean that we give
24:03
up in hard moments. It means we push.
24:04
Harder. I also think that it's worth it.
24:07
Like no matter how hard this process is, it's worth it.
24:10
I've never had an athlete that got their period back for
24:13
multiple cycles and been like, Nah, it wasn't worth it.
24:16
Like, I don't think I've ever had anybody say that.
24:18
I definitely have had athletes that are getting close to
24:20
getting their period back who experience the same frustrations
24:22
it sounds like your athlete was. And I think that's partly
24:25
perhaps a hormonal response to feelings and emotions and things
24:29
like that that are kind of occurring at that time.
24:31
But I feel like the number one thing that I hear after someone
24:33
gets their period back is like, I am so much happier.
24:36
I am so much freer now and I'm enjoying life so much more,
24:39
which are huge things. It's so amazing to see people
24:43
who recognize and understand that like there is way more to
24:46
life than attempting to live life and exist in a smaller
24:49
body. I will never forget one of my
24:51
athletes who actually had never had her cycle before she was 24.
24:55
She got her cycle for the first time, which was crazy super
24:58
exciting for her. The biggest impact of like her
25:01
getting her cycle back wasn't necessarily like the monthly
25:04
bleed, but it was how she would reflect on like how it had
25:08
changed life outside of sport. She gave the example of like,
25:11
she didn't realize how in the past she would be sitting at the
25:15
dinner table and her family would be laughing around her and
25:18
she didn't realize that she was almost lensing in or taking it.
25:21
Like she felt like she was looking in.
25:23
And then with her healing of, you know, her relationship with
25:26
food, getting her period back, she was able to finally
25:29
participate. Like she was no longer looking
25:31
in from the outside, but she was able to laugh with her family.
25:34
She wasn't just, you know, a sideline participant anymore.
25:37
And I think things like that are what make it worth it, even
25:41
though. It is a very, very.
25:43
Challenging process. I think about like even
25:45
conversations you and I have shared about food journeys in
25:48
the past and how we maybe had skipped out on certain social
25:52
events or not gone out to eat or been afraid to go out to eat.
25:55
And those are like some of my favorite things now.
25:56
I love going to try new restaurants and try new dishes
25:59
and then attempt to maybe sometimes failed attempt to
26:02
recreate those dishes in my own kitchen.
26:04
But like, that's part of life that I enjoy that I was missing
26:06
out on before. Life is far too short to miss
26:10
out on life. There's so much more that you
26:12
can get out of life when we break the tie between your only
26:17
worth in life is directly tied to the body in which you are
26:19
experiencing it in. I just clicked in my brain like
26:22
that. You're such a foodie.
26:24
And like, I'm not a foodie. Yeah, it's kind of true.
26:26
Like I used to. Think I was a foodie?
26:29
Because I felt like every time I ate, I had to make it worth it.
26:32
So I was very particular about what I ate because I, and I'm
26:35
not saying this is what a foodie is, but I'm just saying like I
26:38
used to make a big deal about stuff because I was so
26:40
restrictive and I couldn't eat at certain like all this stuff.
26:42
But I don't even think about it. Like if you asked me to do a
26:45
three day food log, I couldn't tell.
26:47
You what I ate because I don't ever think.
26:49
About it anymore, like I just. And that just works for me.
26:51
I'm like, yeah, I like to go out to eat and all that stuff, but
26:54
like I'm not a foodie. I think that that's.
26:56
It's interesting because like I don't think I could give you a
26:58
three day food log either because a lot of times I'm just
27:00
like, I know I'm going to go running in 30 minutes.
27:03
I know that I need X amount of carbohydrates based on the time
27:06
that I am have to digest it, how long I plan to run and my
27:09
intensity. And I just do it like there's
27:11
way less stress around it because I just understand how I
27:14
need to fuel for what I'm doing that day.
27:16
But I think that also just like opens up the opportunity where
27:19
I'm like, OK, I'm going to grab my Welcho snack packs and I'm
27:22
going to eat them while I'm talking to my husband while
27:24
we're getting ready to go run. And like before, that might have
27:27
been something that was really stressful to like, think about
27:29
that and I might have had to focus on it a lot more or try to
27:31
find the exact amount where I'm like, OK, I might have had five
27:35
more grams of carbohydrate and I'm cool with that.
27:37
Yeah, I don't know. I just, I do think, and I know
27:39
we're kind of getting off track from today's episode, but I do
27:42
think that the like psychological impact and just,
27:46
you know, with the weight restoration, right, there's just
27:49
such a negative connotation around it.
27:50
And it's not a bad thing. But if you are still somebody
27:53
who has sees. It as a negative thing.
27:55
We've listed so many positives of weight restoration and weight
27:59
gain and getting your period back.
28:01
And I do think that like psychological peace is something
28:04
that is really overlooked because when your body is in a
28:07
state of low energy availability, all it wants to do
28:10
is get out of a state of low energy availability.
28:12
Like when you're in low energy availability, like you're are in
28:16
starvation, I'm not going to scare people, but that's
28:18
literally what's happening and our body doesn't like that.
28:20
So what's it going to do? It's going to signal your brain,
28:24
hey, we need to eat. You aren't listening to the
28:26
hunger cues I'm giving you. So I'm going to start telling
28:29
your brain specifically to think about food all the time and
28:32
hopes to prompt you to eat. I'm so glad you said this.
28:35
I think it's like brings up a really good point that if you
28:38
are on a period recovery journey and you are constantly thinking
28:41
about fueling, you're constantly thinking about how is this going
28:45
to impact my body? And then you're constantly
28:47
asking, is this enough? Why haven't I gotten my period
28:50
back yet? I've been at this for so long.
28:52
You're not actually working on period recovery.
28:55
You're not really in it. It's so easy to like start some
28:58
of the pieces like, yes, of course, like we talk about all
29:01
the time fuel before you train. We never want a fasted workout.
29:04
But if that's the only thing that you've changed and you have
29:07
remained at the same weight and you haven't seen any changes
29:09
with your hormone levels, you haven't seen changes in other
29:12
signs and symptoms that your period you might be coming,
29:14
you're not actually working on period recovery, asking is this
29:16
enough? Why am I not seeing signs when
29:18
you're unwilling to change more than just one or two things?
29:21
Like you're not committed to the process, Yeah.
29:24
You have to be ready. You have to write ready for it
29:25
to be really hard. And I don't just mean hard when
29:28
weight goes up a pound or two. Hard in the fact that like
29:31
weight restoration changes that you're going to experience,
29:34
fueling pushes that you might need to make might feel really
29:36
uncomfortable. Yeah, I, I do agree with this
29:39
because, you know, we are always giving ranges with our
29:42
recommendations and especially when we're talking with you here
29:45
on social, it just, everybody's so different, right?
29:47
And just saying like X = Y, like that's a bad science.
29:50
And it's anybody who's saying that is a huge red flag to me.
29:53
So obviously we're providing Rangers because everybody's
29:55
different. We want to give you a good
29:56
starting point. If you find yourself
29:58
continuously at the bottom of the range, I don't think you
30:01
have two feet. The recovery process.
30:02
And again, like I actually told this to everybody on my like
30:05
discovery calls is like, I'm never going to lie to you.
30:08
Like I'm going to tell you how it is because like, that's the
30:10
only way that we're going to work together is like, you have
30:12
to be honest. I have to be honest, if you are
30:14
thinking I can get away with the bare minimum or like Riley and
30:17
Jenna said, 30 to 60 grams of carbs per hour, I'm going to do
30:21
30 grams, right? If you find yourself
30:24
continuously going for the minimum recommendation, that
30:28
goes back to trying to do this perfectly, trying to hit the
30:31
exact amount of weight, trying to not overshoot, and it's going
30:34
to hold you back from getting your period.
30:36
So true. If you're not ready, if you're
30:38
not willing, it's not going to work, no.
30:40
But it is possible. I mean, we have helped so many
30:43
people, so many of you all who are listening to the podcast
30:46
have reached out and talked about you have gotten your
30:47
period back. It is possible.
30:49
And again, we're just giving you some hard truths right now.
30:51
We're being a little giving you a little tough love.
30:53
But it is worth it. It's going to be hard and you
30:56
can also do it. Exactly.
30:58
I'm so glad that we got to talk about weight restoration today.
31:00
I think it's a piece of period recovery that maybe we don't
31:03
even talk about enough. If you enjoyed this episode and
31:06
you want to hear more about weight restoration specifically,
31:08
please let us know in the comments of this episode and we
31:10
would be more than happy to talk more about weight restoration
31:13
and period recovery and some of the other things that we might
31:15
need to do in order to help you get your period back.
31:17
If you do have questions specifically for Riley and I,
31:19
you can always find us online. You can find Riley on Instagram
31:22
at Riley dot Beatty dot nutrition.
31:24
You can find me at Jenna dot Fisher dot nutrition.
31:27
Thank you again so much for listening to this episode of the
31:29
Eat More Carbs podcast. Please make sure you rate,
31:32
subscribe and review. And as always, remember to eat
31:34
more carbs.