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Do I Have to Stop Exercising to Get My Period Back and Restore My Fertility? · Nourished Fertility

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  Welcome back y'all to the Nourishing Women Podcast, your go-to podcast to
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  get your peer back and get pregnant.
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  I'm your host, Victoria Myers, peer recovery specialist, fertility,
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  dietician, and owner of the virtual coaching Practice, nourishing
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  Minds Nutrition, where we work together to restore your fertility.
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  Today we're gonna talk about some questions you have
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  been asking me on Instagram.
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  In my dms, I've been getting a lot of feedback about dealing with
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  uncomfortable fullness and peer recovery.
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  When can you listen to your body to listen to your hunger and fullness?
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  And even a lot of you who really want to practice intuitive eating,
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  I think that's freaking awesome, but like when do you get to do that?
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  Maybe for you, you are even using intuitive eating, potentially using
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  intuitive eating or your hunger fullness cues in your period recovery.
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  And I hope by the end of this episode you're gonna know not to do that.
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  And that like right now, is just not the time to focus specifically on body cues.
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  So I wanna just start first by saying that the uncomfortable fullness
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  in peer recovery is probably one of like the two to three hardest.
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  Difficulties and challenges that I hear from my clients time and time again.
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  I feel like uncomfortable fullness, gaining weight, and the unknown of it all,
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  like when will you get your period back?
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  Those are probably the three biggest hurdles for people.
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  And when it comes to uncomfortable fullness and pure recovery, this can
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  be a really tricky and challenging sensation to deal with because a
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  lot of you are trying to heal your relationship with food, and you're like,
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  okay, well, you guys are telling me to listen to my body, and that my body has
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  all this wisdom and to trust my body.
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  Then you're also telling me I have to eat how much, but every time I try
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  to eat that much, I'm like so full.
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  I can't even stand it.
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  Let's talk about it.
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  The first thing I want you to know is that your overwhelming
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  sensation of fullness does not.
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  Does not mean that you were overeating.
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  I want to remind you that fullness is a normal and healthy feeling for the body
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  to experience, but for you specifically, your overwhelming sensation of fullness
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  is a consequence of your body's adaptation to inadequate intake For you specifically.
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  If you have a missing period, you either suspect or have been
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  diagnosed with hypothermic, amenorrhea, or ha you are not, not
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  listening to your hunger right now.
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  This is not a sign to stop.
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  I know you're like, okay, well what if I'm eating too much?
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  What if this is my body trying to tell me this is too much food?
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  And I promise you that's just like not true for you.
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  If you have a missing period, you are not.
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  Overeating.
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  You instead have to normalize yourself to the sensation of fullness and
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  that eating enough and eating normal portions is healthy because that is not
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  something you have been doing, and I have so much compassion for you that.
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  You feel like your fullness is a reason to stop eating, but I just
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  promise you that is not true.
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  In fact, with all of our peer recovery private coaching clients, we do not have
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  them listen, like at all to their hunger and fullness cues in the beginning.
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  When we're in peer recovery and we have not yet had three consistent cycles,
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  which of course is true for like all clients that come to work with us
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  initially and throughout most of the time together we're working to get there.
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  So for them, with intuitive eating counseling, we focus on the principles
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  that are not specific to your body cues.
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  Until you have been all in for six months and until you
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  have three consistent cycles.
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  Once you have had those two things, you've been all in and you have
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  gotten three consistent cycles.
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  That's the main thing that I look for.
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  That is when you can both start to exercise again and start to play around
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  with how much exercise your body can handle with still getting a monthly
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  period, but also like listening to body cues like hunger and fullness.
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  In my opinion, this is really the wellness without obsession
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  customization piece, right?
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  Like how do we keep your period monthly and play around with things like
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  the intuitive eating principles, uh, your exercise, your health habits,
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  wellness, all that good stuff, right?
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  So, uh, if you were to look at the 10 principles of intuitive
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  eating, reject diet mentality.
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  Honor your hunger.
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  Challenge the food police.
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  Make peace with food.
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  Discover the satisfaction factor.
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  Feel your fullness.
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  Uh, cope with emotions, with kindness, body respect, joyful movement,
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  and finally, gentle nutrition.
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  It's the honor your hunger, feel your fullness and joyful movement.
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  Those three of the 10 principles are the ones that we are primarily
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  not focusing on until the wellness without obsession, customization.
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  Portion of our time with our clients.
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  So as you can tell, there's still so much of the intuitive eating framework
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  that you can use and so much of these guidelines that become how you eat,
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  exercise, and live your life, you absolutely have available to you.
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  During your peer recovery journey, so just be excited by that.
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  Like there's so much you can focus on, and it's just for you
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  that you are not focusing on your body's cue specifically right now.
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  What I also want to encourage you to consider as you're dealing with the
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  uncomfortable feeling of fullness is that for you, you need to learn how to not
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  only get used to eating these amounts.
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  Adapting your body to eating this, these amounts again, but also
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  learning how to sit in the discomfort.
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  And here's why I say this.
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  For most people, the fullness causes them to feel physically full in their bodies.
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  I actually had a client last night who shared with me that she, just because
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  she's eating more and because she feels actually full at mealtimes now,
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  although we're like not focused on that, but she's obviously feeling that.
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  Uncomfortable fullness, feeling that you are likely feeling right now too.
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  So we're talking through that.
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  It makes her feel larger in her body.
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  It makes her feel physically bigger in her body, which leads to the
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  perception of body change or maybe the actual reality of body change too.
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  Obviously both can happen in period recovery, which then leads to negative
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  body image, thoughts, perceptions, feelings, thoughts and behaviors.
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  Are the four aspects that affect body image.
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  This is perception and also behaviors.
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  Fiddling sauce.
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  I mean, they're kind of all influenced by the feeling of fullness in our bodies.
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  So because of that and because it affects all four aspects, no
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  wonder then that you're having negative body image thoughts.
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  So you can not even actually gain weight.
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  You could just have that perception that you've gained weight from
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  simply feeling full one single time.
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  And negative body image thoughts can become pervasive because it's affecting
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  how you physically feel in your body.
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  With that, I typically use both brain and body-based body
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  image tools with my clients.
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  You've been told you need to gain weight, stop exercising or do IVF
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  to get pregnant with no period.
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  What if I told you that's not actually true?
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  You're tracking your food, working out, trying everything to be healthy,
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  but your period is still missing and now pregnancy, it feels impossible.
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  I know exactly how that feels because I've helped hundreds of women get their
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  peered back and get pregnant naturally.
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  Inside my free training, I'm walking you through the exact five step
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  method that's helped women like Lex.
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  Lauren and Stephanie restored their fertility in 90 days or less.
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  Without extreme weight gain or giving up on movement, you'll learn what's
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  really causing your missing period.
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  Why food freedom is essential for fertility and the customized approach
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  that actually works even if you've tried.
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  Everything.
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  If your dream is to see two pink clients and hold a baby in your arms,
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  this training, it's your first step.
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  Click the link in the show notes to watch the free training.
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  It's time to restore your period, your fertility, and your hope.
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  Now let's get back to today's episode.
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  So for example, with this client, we talked about reframing what fullness
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  means to her, challenging herself to remember that the feeling of fullness
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  will get easier in time as she adapts to it, but also body-based tools.
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  So.
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  Specifically for this client, we talked about taking really
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  hot or really cold showers.
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  The difference in temperature can help you to regulate your nervous system.
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  You could even hold like, um, ice cubes in your hand.
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  We also talked about going outside for a walk and we talked about box
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  breathing, which is breathing in for four, holding for four, uh, exhaling
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  for four and holding for four.
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  Um, so just different like tools of nervous system and regulation, which
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  are forms of body image coping that we use to help her adapt to fullness.
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  So a lot of times with my clients, with a feeling of fullness, we're
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  focused on actually other things.
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  Like what I'm sharing with you right now, even wanting ice cubes as a means of
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  dealing with this uncomfortable fullness.
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  And I say that because I'm gonna guess I'm gonna gander, there's someone listening
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  to this episode who's like, okay, well if I'm feeling uncomfortable fullness,
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  I obviously need to be eating less, or I need to, um, you know, fix something
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  with my digestion or this and that.
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  And it's like, no.
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  Most of all, it's learning how to sit in the discomfort.
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  It's teaching your body to adapt to this amount of food.
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  Again, and I will say sometimes, just sometimes there are tools that we will
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  use specifically supplementation that will help with the intense feeling of fullness.
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  I only use those with clients that I suspect may have some
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  amount of gastroparesis.
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  So that's muscles weakening in your GI tract or gut motility issues because
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  honestly, that can happen quite a bit in disordered eating and eating disorders.
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  However.
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  That is like a case by case basis and certainly not all clients that need that.
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  I actually say that's more the exception than the norm, uh, for the dealing with
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  the feelings of fullness for most people, I think it's more just adaptation,
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  time, practice, and patience, as well as learning how to sit in the discomfort
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  of how that feels in your body and how that may be impacting your body image.
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  When it comes to fullness, I also wanna encourage you to focus on what you'll
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  gain by getting used to and feeling familiar with a feeling of fullness.
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  Ugh, that even right there, like saying that reminds me of how
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  unfamiliar, it's not only that it's uncomfortable, it's unfamiliar, right?
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  Like so many of my clients have never actually felt the feeling of fullness.
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  So yes, you can be uncomfortably full because you're eating more
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  and your body has to adapt to that.
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  But even for a lot of you guys, you just have literally.
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  Never felt fullness.
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  So learning how to deal with an unfamiliar sensation, your body can cause even
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  more negative thoughts about your body or otherwise, and I just think
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  that's even important to recognize.
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  It's just unfamiliar and it's much harder to deal with uncomfortable
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  sensations when they're unfamiliar.
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  So as part of that, again, I want you to focus on what you will gain by learning
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  how to cope with a feeling of fullness.
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  Remember, you're gonna feel so much more energy.
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  I mean, my God, the way you will have more energy.
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  You're gonna have less thoughts about food.
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  You're no longer gonna be cold all the time.
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  You're gonna sleep like a baby.
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  You're going to poop so much better.
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  I promise.
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  All these things, in addition to getting your freaking period back, right?
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  Like how cool is that?
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  You're gonna get your period back.
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  You're gonna restore your health and fertility.
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  And you are gonna feel so much better mentally and
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  physically, I promise you that.
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  So I hope that helps you as you're dealing with the feelings of uncomfortable
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  fullness and period recovery.
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  Again, I just wanna remind you that when it comes to listening to your body and
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  even practicing all 10 of the principles of intuitive eating, you can do that.
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  You just don't wanna focus on that specifically during your period recovery.
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  You wanna be all in for about six months and more specifically, what
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  three consistent cycles before you start listening to hunger and
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  fullness and applying all 10 of those principles of intuitive eating.
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  With that shared, I want to wrap up today's conversation on the podcast
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  with a combo, a like motivational conversation for you about.
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  How disruption always follows intention, and what I mean by that is.
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  When we are setting a goal for ourselves, for example, getting your period
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  back, we have this intention, right, of like, I'm gonna do these things.
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  I'm going to eat more.
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  I'm gonna pause on exercise in order to get my period back.
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  Right?
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  That's your intention.
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  What I think we don't remind ourselves of enough though, is that
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  disruption is always gonna happen.
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  Like I said, disruption always follows intention.
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  The disruption may mean that you're feeling the uncomfortable
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  sensation of fullness.
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  It may mean that like you didn't pack enough food for the day, um,
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  while you'll be at work and now you don't have enough food to eat.
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  It may mean that you really wanna exercise and you're really uncomfortable with the
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  fact that you don't get to, and like you actually end up going to go exercise.
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  It could be so many other things, of course, uh, like maybe a high stress,
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  something, you know, unfortunate happens in your personal life.
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  Like all to say disruptions happen all the time.
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  They are inevitable along the way.
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  And I think if you can remind yourself of that in your peer recovery
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  journey, you can remind yourself not to let them become excuses or like
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  reasons why you don't follow through.
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  Now, I may no longer be in my own period recovery journey, however.
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  I'm always on a journey with something.
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  'cause that's just like how I do life.
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  I love a growth mindset and more specifically, like I'm always working
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  on goals with my business, uh, with just like how I do life, right?
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  Especially in business though, and reminding myself consistently that
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  disruption always follows intention, allows me to see the disruption
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  for what it is, is like, oh, you're trying to, you're trying to stop me.
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  From reaching my goals and like that simple shift of reminding yourself,
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  that simple statement I find for me at least reminds me so easily, like,
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  oh, don't let that get in the way.
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  Like, don't let that become a thing in your head where you use it as a reason
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  to almost self-sabotage and not follow through with your goals and take.
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  Actions that are necessary to make that happen.
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  So remind yourself of that in your period recovery journey.
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  And alongside of that, we've had this conversation about
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  compassionately challenging yourself here on the show before.
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  I actually have a bonus episode specifically on this, but I just wanna
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  like remind you to come back to this idea specifically if disruption is
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  following your intentions or if like.
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  Just things aren't going as you thought they would, and things
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  aren't going as planned because again, that's always gonna happen.
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  So what do you do when that happens?
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  Or what do you do when like goals are harder than you thought?
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  I think that's true of most period Recovery journeys, honestly is
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  it seems easy, but in fact it is.
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  The exact opposite of that.
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  I want you to compassionately challenge yourself.
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  What does that mean?
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  Most people who struggle with disordered eating and missing
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  periods are perfectionists.
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  People pleasers, oh my God, am I right there alongside of you guys?
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  And you're type A, right?
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  That's so cool.
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  In so many ways.
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  It's allowed you to be so driven and so motivated.
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  Ever.
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  It also means that you are typically very harsh and critical with yourself.
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  So if you don't meet goals, you just give up entirely, or you talk so much
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  shit to yourself, um, and just, you know, really berate yourself honestly.
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  That's gonna make it really hard to heal your relationship with food,
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  with exercise, with your body.
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  Part of the many reasons that I love this process of healing and of recovery is that
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  it's such a journey of self-discovery to becoming and living the life that you want
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  and become the type of person you want.
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  And I know for me, I want to be someone who treats myself with so much
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  love and kindness and graciousness.
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  And when I say that, and all of this is like goal setting stuff, right?
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  Like you have to do things.
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  That are hard things in order to get your peer back.
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  When I talk to people about being compassionate with themselves, they
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  see it as like the exact opposite of being critical with themselves.
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  So they're like, uh, it's okay that I didn't meet my goals today.
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  It's okay that I didn't take action.
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  It's okay.
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  This and that happened.
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  And again, almost allowing it to be become an excuse, like, I'm just
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  being kind to myself and I just wanna offer this idea to you today.
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  That not only do you need to expect disruption to happen, but you
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  need to compassionately challenge yourself to not allow it to stop you.
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  When we compassionately challenge ourselves, we are always kind
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  loving to ourselves 'cause that is what we do in this world of
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  intuitive eating and healing, our relationship with food and bodies.
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  But that doesn't mean that we, like, we use that as an excuse or
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  we give up on our goals because I think that's how you view it.
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  I really do think that's how you view it.
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  So when you are compassionately challenging yourself, you're
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  saying, Hey, I love you and I see that you're having a hard time.
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  You can do this.
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  Do not stop just because it's hard.
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  Keep going.
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  Stop being a perfectionist.
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  You can do this.
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  Or as our lovely, Glenn and Doyle will tell us all we can do hard things, right.
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  That is a wonderful example of compassionately challenging yourself.
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  Hey, I see that you're struggling right now, but you can do this, and I just
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  wanna remind you that it's so much easier to deal with the disruptions, but
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  also compassionately challenge yourself and specifically learn how to do that.
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  If you come from a more critical, harsh, like self-talk and narrative.
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  With support with private coaching.
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  I mean, gosh, do I spend so much time talking to my clients about how they
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  talk to themselves because it affects so much of your actions, and I really
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  do hope through listening to the podcast, you can so clearly see that.
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  That is it for today's podcast episode.
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  Thank you so much for listening.
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  We'll be back for another episode next week.
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  Until next time, love to each of you