Amenorrhoea while Intermittent Fasting and Primal page

[JackieD]

Hi there all Primal People!

I have a question for Mark and perhaps someone out there has experienced similar symptoms as I have.

I have been a competitive fitness athlete for about 4 years (i am now 38). I started utilising the IF (Leangains) approach a year and a half ago, with huge sucess. I have always remained lean as I was a gymnast my whole life and athletic. Last year while training for a fitess comp here in Cape Town, South Africa, I developed a hip injury which has put me out of competitive fitness comps indefinately. I had microfraction surgery in my hip joint in August 2011 and am on my way to having a hip replacement due to irrepairable trauma induced cartilage damage on the femur head. After the surgery last year I considered Paleo/Primal eating and started in Jan/Feb this year with the elimination of grains, dairy and sugar. Being an athlete grains were a large component of my diet.

Since going paleo/primal I have stopped mentruating and this concerns me. I am fasting quite long daily (16 to 17hrs) but really eat up with the typical primal meals in my eating phase (2pm to 9pm). Is the conjunction of IF with a low carb diet stressing my body to the point if feels it needs to hold back on my cycle? I do moderate training now, very primal according to Mark. I do pilates 3 x a week, yoga 1 or 2 x a week, 2 upper body weight training sessions, and 1 to 2 HIIT sessions a week on the spinning bike since I am unable to run. I am also seeing a biokineticist (2 x a week) for rehab on the affected hip joint to encourage stability and strength in the joint. However, my training intensity is nothing like it used to be while I was a competitive athlete. Any ideas what may be the problem? I do refeed ocassionally with the cheese cake and chcocolates (very non-paleo!!! I know) so do not think my leptin levels are too low??? Help!

Regards
Jackie

[Analog6]

Jackie, what is your height and weight? You probably have a very low body fat. Maybe spreading your food out a bit more over the day would help. I have a huge breakfast round 7am or so and then usually go through to dinner - round 5-5.30 pm (my hubby is a shift worker who gets up at 2am for work, so we eat and retire early), with a very occasional snack (piece of cheese or ham or a handful of nuts) if I feel starving.

Do you eat much fat? Perhaps looking at that ratio as part of your total intake and increasing it somewhat might help.

[NDF]

Amenhorrea is usually due to a few things:

1) low body fat levels
2) inadequate fat, starchy carbs and calories
3) stress: mental and physical

IF'ing is a stress
If you are eating low starchy carb that could be part of it
If your body fat levels are low, that could also be part of it.

[JackieD]

Thanks NDF and Analog6. I love my eating regime but perhaps its too rigid as I am a worry wart and get stressed easily. I am 58kg at 1.72m. I do mainatin a low BF% (easy with IF) and especially since I have cut out the typical clean grains and dairy (I call myself a pseudo-paleo as I do indulge in the odd non-paleolithic foods from time to time). I will consider that I should i increase my fats, perhaps some coconut milk in a smoothie and extra cocout oil while I cook. So thanks for the advice.

JackieD

[Analog6]

Avocados are good for a fat boost too - I have at least 1/2 one a day