Trained for a half and missed my period

[Aritziades]

Feeling like an absolute idiot because I’ve been training for a half marathon and should have got my (normally super regular) period on Friday but it’s still not happened.

Normally my boobs hurt a couple days before the period and I’ve had nothing. I took a pregnancy test on Monday and it was negative. It’s only just occurred to me that I’ve probably been under-eating while training.

I’m 32 and want to try to conceive this year so I’m feeling extra stupid that I’ve messed up my fertility. And at the same time I can’t imagine eating more than I have been. Calorie intake has always been a point of anxiety for me, so I’d been feeling really proud of myself for just eating what I felt I needed.

As it’s probably going to send me off a cliff to start tracking calories I guess I just need to scale back on the training or stop all together. I’ve been running around 24-30km a week for the last couple of months - maybe this is just too much for me.

Anyone had this happen to them before? I am hoping it will be a one-off (if I can get it together and eat more in the next few weeks) or that the period is just really late.

I only saw a change in my periods when I hit 100k every week....

50k a week is pretty standard for many runners.

Are you very underweight? That's not actually a lot of running, even if it's more than you normally do. This has happened to me before with my periods, but only when I was regularly running 4 x as much as you for years. It seems unlikely you have messed up your fertility with a couple of months of training, so it's probably just a coincidence - and it may well be the case that you could do with eating a bit more anyway, of course.

Running threads are the worst.noone can just come on and offer friendly advice. It's all 'oh you only run 40k a week I do that everyday as a warm up before my 100k run'

Op if your BMI is very low you should probably seek professional advice . Good luck with conceiving

@Menopants it's not so much that, it's just that for this specific issue it's really unlikely that running 24-30k a week is the main factor. So hopefully the OP can take that as reassurance that she hasn't been an idiot, as she fears, and can continue to run if she wants. The bigger factor, as you point out, is BMI so that is the thing to focus on.

Thanks! That is interesting to know @Soootired23 and @BarnacleBeasley you had this but at a much higher mileage. My bmi is 19.4 so I am in the healthy weight category but at the lower end.

OP, I would go to your GP and get this checked out. It's really unlikely that this is down to a couple of months of training at this sort of intensity.

My periods have never been affected by my training even at 50+ mile weeks, but they were affected when my body weight dropped too low (which incidentally was when I was running far less!)

My friend had hypothalamic amenhorea at a BMI of 19 so it’s not impossible. Her cycle returned when she focussed on gaining weight and reduced her exercise schedule. She has managed to increase her exercise back to previous levels and keep her period just making sure she eats enough

BMI is a range though.
People don’t all have the same build. So two people of the same height can have different optimal BMIs. Ethnically and age are relevant too. Teens are often naturally very skinny for example.

So 19.4 might be a suboptimal BMI for you, and unhealthy, even though it’s ok for someone else. You need to take that into account.

If you think you’ve been possibly under-eating, and calorie intake has always been a point of anxiety for you, then I’d guess you’re underweight.

I'm a similar bmi to you and started running last year. I started slow doing around 3 miles. Then I upped my speed and distance and my periods went funny for a few months. Cycles around 6 weeks long when I was always regular at 4 weeks. It settled after a couple of months. I did look into it and decided I wasn't eating enough so added more protein and snacks. Not sure if that helped or if my body just adjusted to the new amount of exercise.

If it's better for you not to look at food intake too closely, do something simple like having a protein shake or banana after runs as your BMI is relatively low. You're not in need of micromanaging it.

If you're looking to TTC in the near future, a bit more margin on your BMI would be good insurance if your appetite gets affected by nausea/ sickness- mine certainly played havoc with me, and I lost weight in the early days when I found food repellant.

If it's any reassurance, to conceive DS2, I had to stop breast feeding to get my periods back which took 2 months from the final feed, and he occured in the 4th month of trying, two of which had sub-optimal timings of DH being away and other events, and that was after 15 month of no periods from DS1's birth.

I doubt that it's the running or the diet unless you've drastically lost weight and/or been very lownon calories for months.

I guess you're pregnant 🤞

Without wanting to be flippant as I totally understand the fertility concerns (been there) but I WISH running stopped my periods!! I find them so awkward when running, plus they affect my performance. I’ve even tried and failed to stop them with different contraceptives!!

Try an Angus cactus supplement, my period went missing for a few months for the first time ever (it's normally clockwork)
I'm not sure if it was low weight or stress or both but it came back within a week of taking Agnus cactus - also tried to increase my weight a little and has been ok since!

Don’t stop running if you’re enjoying it! If you don’t want more food, could you add in a nutritious shake before / after a run?? I can’t eat solids before or after I run, so I make mine in a blender with 300mk milk, banana, 2 tsp peanut butter, 1 tbslp ground almonds, 1 tblsp flaxseed, 1 tblsp hemp seeds and a couple of dollops of Greek yoghurt and a bit of homey / more milk if it needs it. Makes enough for 2 usually and is gorgeous and an easy way to boost calorie and protein intake.

If it happens again, consult a sports med doctor. Your bmi is towards the low end, and it may possibly be that you are not eating adequately for what you are asking of your body. Every body is individual; I have known people at the high end of their bmi (muscle mass) who have struggled with this. A medical diagnosis and a few visits to a dietitian helped a lot to understand that being on the low end of calorie intake for what they wanted to be doing was the root cause. Did not have an eating disorder. Maybe start by adding a banana at the start and a carb/protein snack after exercising.