Latest / Nourished Fertility / Fit Women with Infertility, You Need to Listen to This

Transcript

Fit Women with Infertility, You Need to Listen to This · Nourished Fertility

• 0:00
  Welcome back y'all to the Nourishing Women Podcast, your go-to podcast to
• 0:04
  get your peer back and get pregnant.
• 0:05
  I'm your host, Victoria Myers, peer recovery specialist, fertility,
• 0:09
  dietician, and owner of the virtual coaching Practice, nourishing
• 0:13
  Minds Nutrition, where we work together to restore your fertility.
• 0:17
  Did you know that up to 50 percent of active women struggle
• 0:22
  with menstrual irregularities?
• 0:24
  That is exactly what we're going to address in today's podcast episode.
• 0:28
  If you are a fit, active woman, you love to exercise.
• 0:32
  Yet you don't have a monthly reliable period.
• 0:35
  I wonder if you've ever considered that how you eat and how you exercise may be
• 0:41
  playing a role, especially, especially, especially, especially if you were having
• 0:46
  a challenging time getting pregnant.
• 0:49
  Now, I want to just kind of start today's conversation by addressing like.
• 0:53
  What do I mean by fit girl?
• 0:55
  Like, what do I mean by someone who's fit and healthy and active?
• 0:59
  So let's talk about it.
• 1:00
  I would describe a fit girlie, a fit woman, as someone who
• 1:05
  plans their exercise in advance.
• 1:07
  Now, Most active people have to do that.
• 1:10
  I know that I plan my exercise, but there's a flexibility and an ability to
• 1:14
  listen to my body that I feel like fit girls with infertility may struggle with.
• 1:19
  You know, if you plan your exercise in advance, you always
• 1:23
  stick to it, no matter what.
• 1:24
  That's the kind of person I want to talk to today.
• 1:27
  You go hard.
• 1:28
  Always you go like 110%, even if again, you're sick, You don't feel very well,
• 1:35
  maybe you are, um, struggling with a lot of stress in your life and you take
• 1:40
  out all of your stress on exercise.
• 1:43
  You don't modify, you're always in competition with yourself and
• 1:46
  with others around you and you always push things to extreme.
• 1:50
  Does that sound like you?
• 1:51
  You always go when you've planned to exercise.
• 1:54
  Even if you feel like shit, like I just shared, you probably also rarely take
• 1:58
  rest days or something I'm seeing all the time lately is this like active rest days.
• 2:04
  So maybe you don't, you know, do your typical Running, training for a
• 2:09
  marathon or, uh, your CrossFit or your HIIT style exercises or your strength
• 2:15
  training when with Tabata's in between your sets, but you on your rest days
• 2:21
  are still walking 15, 20, 000 steps.
• 2:24
  Does that sound like you?
• 2:25
  You feel guilty on rest days.
• 2:27
  Do you have a really challenging time?
• 2:29
  I have a client just the other day who shared with me, it is so hard to
• 2:32
  not exercise because I immediately feel such intense negative.
• 2:37
  Thoughts about my body.
• 2:38
  It feels as if I've gained like 50 pounds in one hour if I don't go exercise.
• 2:43
  I wonder if you can relate.
• 2:45
  Uh, you also probably, many HA ers can relate to this.
• 2:49
  You fidget, you stand, you walk.
• 2:51
  You'll do anything to avoid sitting or avoid resting.
• 2:55
  Being someone who like sits and watches tv, that's really hard for you.
• 2:58
  And while I understand that you have just always viewed yourself as this
• 3:01
  like fit, active, strong, disciplined person, that, that may be the very
• 3:08
  reason you cannot get pregnant.
• 3:11
  So if you are unfamiliar with period loss or period pain, Period
• 3:15
  irregularities caused from a condition called hypothalamic amenorrhea.
• 3:19
  Let's just real quick do a debrief on that because I think that's important
• 3:21
  if you've never heard of that before.
• 3:24
  That is the people that I work with.
• 3:25
  I work exclusively with women who have lost their periods or who have irregular
• 3:29
  periods from a very unique hormone condition called hypothalamic amenorrhea.
• 3:34
  And what makes this condition so incredibly unique and specific is
• 3:38
  that it is directly caused from you undereating and overexercising,
• 3:42
  putting too much stress on the body.
• 3:46
  While you can lose your period from being underweight, you can have this also
• 3:50
  happen at any body size, and you can also lose it just from simply under eating.
• 3:55
  But I do think that most people who struggle with HA have this really
• 3:59
  strong tendency to be an over exerciser, to be someone, as I was
• 4:04
  describing before, like you, you think of yourself as the fit girly.
• 4:08
  I bet your friends, your family members, your co workers, your partner.
• 4:13
  would also describe you the exact same way, right?
• 4:16
  Like, Rain or shine, you were always exercising.
• 4:20
  And these are the people who tend to struggle the most with hypothalamic
• 4:23
  amenorrhea, who struggle the most with period irregularities, and who
• 4:28
  may very well have no idea that that may be the very thing that's making
• 4:32
  it very hard for them to conceive or having unexplained infertility.
• 4:37
  Now, I want to be really thoughtful here.
• 4:39
  Infertility is such a hard conversation to have because it is such a personal,
• 4:43
  deep, vulnerable conversation.
• 4:45
  But if there is a lot of information out there telling people that, um, and I
• 4:49
  can say this really confidently, I work with so many clients that are just told
• 4:53
  from their doctor, the only answer to their infertility is going through IVF.
• 4:58
  And it is incredible that we have that as an option.
• 5:01
  It is a miracle option.
• 5:03
  And Hypothalamic amenorrhea is simply a case where we need to eat more and
• 5:09
  exercise less to get our periods back.
• 5:11
  IVF is not needed.
• 5:13
  You can get pregnant naturally by getting your period back.
• 5:17
  So if you are a fit girly and you've never even considered that maybe you're,
• 5:21
  you know, period that's been gone for years, or you got off birth until recently
• 5:26
  and you haven't had your period back.
• 5:28
  Or even if you just have menstrual irregularities, meaning that maybe
• 5:32
  you have a period every 45, 60 days, 90 days, you would describe your
• 5:36
  period as like, You kind of never know when it's going to happen.
• 5:39
  It's unpredictable.
• 5:40
  It's unreliable.
• 5:41
  It's infrequent.
• 5:43
  That is important to address because that may very well be the thing that's
• 5:47
  leading to your unexplained infertility.
• 5:50
  In fact, the less you ovulate, the less often chances you're going
• 5:53
  to have to try to conceive, right?
• 5:55
  I want you to consider could your exercise that you feel like is so necessary to
• 6:01
  be this healthy person you want to be Is that the very thing that's preventing
• 6:05
  you from your goals of getting pregnant?
• 6:07
  And let me be crystal clear.
• 6:09
  I get that taking away exercise altogether will feel impossible for you.
• 6:14
  And it may very well actually be impossible.
• 6:17
  Years of working with clients in period recovery has shown me that Asking you
• 6:21
  to simply stop exercise altogether is so much easier said than done.
• 6:26
  Like I said a little bit ago that, you know, HA recovery work
• 6:29
  is simply eat more exercise less, but it is obviously not simple.
• 6:34
  The reason why we struggle with our relationships, so food with exercise,
• 6:38
  with our bodies, it is incredibly complex.
• 6:40
  So while it is simple.
• 6:43
  To eat more, exercise less, you know, if you're listening
• 6:46
  to this, that it is so hard.
• 6:47
  If you cannot simply take a rest day from exercise without immense guilt,
• 6:52
  shame, having to go for a walk to kind of deal with your anxiety about it.
• 6:57
  This is who I'm talking to.
• 6:58
  This is something I want to talk to you about.
• 7:00
  I get that it's easier said than done to take away the exercise.
• 7:03
  And while technically speaking, the gold standard to getting your
• 7:08
  period back from this condition called hypothalamic amenorrhea is to
• 7:12
  completely pause all exercise, that may or may not be possible for you.
• 7:20
  You've been told you need to gain weight, stop exercising or do IVF
• 7:25
  to get pregnant with no period.
• 7:27
  What if I told you that's not actually true?
• 7:30
  You're tracking your food, working out, trying everything to be healthy,
• 7:34
  but your period is still missing and now pregnancy, it feels impossible.
• 7:39
  I know exactly how that feels because I've helped hundreds of women get their
• 7:44
  peered back and get pregnant naturally.
• 7:47
  Inside my free training, I'm walking you through the exact five step
• 7:51
  method that's helped women like Lex.
• 7:53
  Lauren and Stephanie restored their fertility in 90 days or less.
• 7:58
  Without extreme weight gain or giving up on movement, you'll learn what's
• 8:02
  really causing your missing period.
• 8:04
  Why food freedom is essential for fertility and the customized approach
• 8:09
  that actually works even if you've tried.
• 8:11
  Everything.
• 8:12
  If your dream is to see two pink clients and hold a baby in your arms,
• 8:16
  this training, it's your first step.
• 8:18
  Click the link in the show notes to watch the free training.
• 8:21
  It's time to restore your period, your fertility, and your hope.
• 8:25
  Now let's get back to today's episode.
• 8:27
  What I've learned from clients is that for many of you, exercise, like the
• 8:31
  reason why you are this fit, healthy girl, is is because it is the one and
• 8:35
  only coping mechanism in your life.
• 8:37
  You probably even feel like you control your life more with
• 8:41
  exercise than you even do with food.
• 8:43
  I often find for my clients, like changing their eating is much, much
• 8:48
  easier than changing the exercise.
• 8:51
  If it is your one and only coping mechanism for the stress, And anxiety in
• 8:55
  your life, it would probably feel very out of control to lose exercise, right?
• 9:00
  It's your, really your only sense of control in the life that
• 9:03
  feels very much out of control.
• 9:05
  And yet, period recovery asks that we trust our bodies and trust that
• 9:12
  we can come back to a more strenuous exercise routine when the time is right.
• 9:17
  We believe here in a philosophy called wellness without obsession.
• 9:21
  And part of that of course is moving your body because if you
• 9:24
  Feels good to move your body.
• 9:26
  I want to be so clear here that I love exercise and I do not want to
• 9:30
  take away exercise from you long term in the grand scheme of your life.
• 9:34
  I want you to be an active, healthy, strong person.
• 9:39
  I just also want you to trust your body and know that there's a time
• 9:42
  and place for exercise and simply hypothalamic amenorrhea or a period
• 9:46
  loss caused from dieting and exercise.
• 9:49
  It's not that time.
• 9:51
  It is not the time to push hard and to push so intensely on your body.
• 9:57
  The truth is, is that your body desperately needs this break.
• 10:00
  It's sending every single possible signal to you that your body's in survival.
• 10:05
  That's why you have a missing period or a super irregular period.
• 10:09
  It's also probably why you struggle with libido.
• 10:12
  going to the bathroom, uh, bloating.
• 10:15
  You struggle with your energy.
• 10:16
  You probably wake up every day and feel so tired and fatigued.
• 10:20
  Uh, all of these symptoms are a condition of the energy imbalance that
• 10:26
  your body is going through from not eating enough and exercising too much.
• 10:31
  So I want you to choose to Take a break, choose to pause, or even
• 10:37
  simply just choose to reduce exercise.
• 10:40
  You could theoretically exercise if you kept it to low impact,
• 10:45
  low intensity exercises.
• 10:48
  So that means Pilates, barre, yoga is definitely my favorite
• 10:52
  to recommend to clients.
• 10:52
  And then walking, but this does not mean I'm going to a Pilates reformers class.
• 10:58
  This does not mean going to multiple bar classes in a row.
• 11:00
  This does not mean hot power yoga or walking for 20,000 steps a day.
• 11:05
  We still need to modify and reduce the total length and duration and
• 11:09
  intensity of your exercise and also take.
• 11:11
  complete and total rest days in that.
• 11:14
  So again, the gold standard is to completely pause everything.
• 11:17
  But if you cannot, I just gave you some ideas of what you could consider
• 11:21
  and also keeping in mind, keeping your heart rate below a hundred, if you can.
• 11:26
  And again, choose to trust your body that once you get your period back,
• 11:30
  it's kind of like, um, sometimes I'll describe it to clients.
• 11:32
  Like you've got to earn the right, you've got to earn the right to come back to
• 11:35
  exercise and Once you get your period back and get three consistent periods, you
• 11:40
  enter into that wellness without obsession phase that I just described earlier.
• 11:45
  And in that you can come back to any form of exercise that you love.
• 11:49
  If you love super intense exercise, that's awesome.
• 11:51
  We get to come back to that, but we're always going to be a lot more
• 11:54
  flexible than we were once before.
• 11:57
  We're going to take rest days.
• 11:58
  We're going to listen to our bodies and even know, even if we do have days where
• 12:02
  we go and exercise and go to a class, maybe we need to modify it based off of.
• 12:06
  What our body is asking for us that day,
• 12:09
  wellness without obsession means being someone who is motivated and wants to
• 12:13
  be healthy, who has the values that believes that a healthy lifestyle helps
• 12:18
  you be the best version of yourself.
• 12:21
  And it also means trust in the body and flexibility above all else.
• 12:26
  Okay.
• 12:26
  One last thing I want to share.
• 12:28
  If you're struggling with this idea of taking a complete pause from exercise,
• 12:31
  or even just simply reducing your total exercise or the intensity or duration
• 12:36
  of your exercise, I want you to keep in mind, since I mentioned earlier, that
• 12:41
  it's often a coping mechanism, right?
• 12:42
  Like it is the way that you find control in your life.
• 12:46
  And if you only have one and only one coping mechanism for
• 12:51
  the stress, the anxiety, for the control that you seek in your life.
• 12:56
  It's probably time to consider more tools in your toolbox.
• 13:00
  You know, relying on one thing is never a good idea because
• 13:03
  what if something happens?
• 13:04
  Let's say maybe it's not period loss, but it was an injury.
• 13:07
  What would happen if you only had one coping mechanism
• 13:10
  for the stress in your life?
• 13:12
  And that was taken away from you.
• 13:14
  Inevitably throughout your lifespans, there's going to be periods of time
• 13:18
  Where you need to go without exercise.
• 13:20
  It is healthy and normal to note that that is okay.
• 13:23
  And that you will come back to it.
• 13:24
  And you trust that you're going to be someone who comes back to it.
• 13:26
  Cause I think that's also part of it, right?
• 13:28
  You fear if you stop, you're never going to return.
• 13:31
  And that is simply just not true.
• 13:33
  And again, coming back to this idea of healthy coping mechanisms, since
• 13:37
  we don't want to only ever rely on one coping mechanism for the rest of our
• 13:40
  lives, I think this could also be such a great time to consider other hobbies and
• 13:45
  activities that you have likely neglected in your overall wellness journey.
• 13:49
  Like, could you put that time and effort that you put into exercise
• 13:52
  into, uh, skincare or getting massages or getting your nails done.
• 13:58
  And while those things feel silly and like, you know, like they are a
• 14:01
  little bit more like bougie wellness activities at the same time, if it
• 14:06
  helps fill the void, that's fine too.
• 14:08
  Maybe for you, it's getting a hobby, like becoming someone who goes to
• 14:12
  pottery classes or who volunteers your time, or maybe it's reading books.
• 14:18
  I've gotten so deep into fantasy books this year and
• 14:20
  it's It's been so freaking fun.
• 14:22
  I would love to invite you to join my fantasy land of all the fantasy books
• 14:26
  I've been loving reading recently.
• 14:28
  Maybe for you, it's just becoming someone who can simply sit and
• 14:31
  watch TV with your partner because I know that's really hard for you.
• 14:35
  As I'm wrapping up today's episode, I want to remind you, if it feels too
• 14:38
  Impossible, like you are unable to move forward this idea of pausing or reducing
• 14:43
  your exercise to support you getting a consistent, reliable monthly period
• 14:48
  and to support most importantly, your fertility and your abilities to conceive.
• 14:52
  This is really a sign that support is likely needed.
• 14:55
  And I would love to work with you inside of period recovery, private coaching.
• 14:59
  Most importantly, I want you to know above all that you are strong
• 15:03
  enough to sit in the discomfort of changing your exercise routine.
• 15:06
  Anything that is unfamiliar to us is going to cause discomfort,
• 15:10
  but that is all that it is.
• 15:12
  It's just unfamiliar.
• 15:13
  You've always exercised every day of your life for years and years and years.
• 15:18
  You are strong enough to sit in the discomfort.
• 15:21
  And in doing so you're going to become truly healthy.
• 15:24
  You are going to become strong, Physically, but also mentally to
• 15:29
  you're also going to guarantee your ability to stay active throughout
• 15:32
  the rest of your life span.
• 15:33
  Yes, we're taking a period of time of a rest and pause or reduce of exercise.
• 15:40
  But over the grand scheme of your life, this is actually the very thing
• 15:43
  that's going to allow you not only to reach your goals of fertility,
• 15:46
  but also to ensure that you can stay active for the literal amount of time.
• 15:50
  rest of your life.
• 15:53
  We know that hypothalamic amenorrhea has some pretty hefty consequences, and
• 15:58
  especially if you're exercising on top of period loss or period irregularities,
• 16:02
  you're only increasing the likelihood of negative impacts, especially to your
• 16:06
  bones and the stress your body is under.
• 16:09
  So know that again, taking this Period of time over the grand scheme of your
• 16:13
  life, you're going to be this active, healthy fit person, but taking this
• 16:17
  period of time off is what's going to allow you to be that person.
• 16:20
  I know you want to be, which is an active person for your entire life.
• 16:25
  Again, you're strong enough to sit in the discomfort as Glennon Doyle
• 16:28
  always says, you can do hard things.
• 16:30
  Thank you so much for listening to today's episode.
• 16:33
  I'll be back as always for another episode next week until then love to each of you.