27 Feb How To Get Your Period Back
You might think losing your period during fat loss is normal, harmless, convenient or part of being lean.
In reality, losing your period is a biological warning signal, not a badge of discipline.
The last thing you should do is stress about it though, that won’t help you get it back.
If your period has disappeared your body isn’t broken, it’s protecting you.
This artcile, I’ll help you understand why you lost your period as well as how to reverse it safely (without taking pills).
PART 1: Why You Can Lose Your Period
What It Actually Means When Your Period Stops
A number of distinct but interrelated organ systems run the human body to keep it alive and in a state of balance.
For example, you have your cardiovascular system delivering oxygen and nutrients around your body, your digestive system breaking down food for energy, and your immune system defending against infection.
Then there’s your reproductive system. It receives hormonal signals from the nervous system to do things like produce your period.
Each of these systems need energy to function.
When threre isn’t enough energy available, your brain will start to down regulate non-essential functions to make sure it has enough energy to keep you alive.
Reproduction is NOT an essential function, especially in a state of stress. Your brain doesn’t want you making a baby if it thinks you’re unsafe.
Your brain will always prioritise survival over reproduction.
This is an inbuilt protective mechanism, not your body malfunctioning.
If you want the deeper science behind what’s happening…
Losing your period is often termed hypothalamic amenorrhea because the root cause of losing your period starts with your hypothalamus. This is part of your brain that is responsible for regulating functions like temperature and reproduction.
When your brain senses stress, whether through actual psychological stress, low energy availability or too much intense exercise, it will reduce production of Gonadotropin Releasing Hormone (GnRH) from the hypothalamus. This master hormone would normally go on to signal to your pituitary gland to produce other hormones (Luteinizing Hormone and Follicle Stimulating Hormone). Less GnRH means less LH and FSH which means ovulation stops and so does your period.
The good news is that with time and dedicated effort, this is reversible.
What Is Energy Availability
Many women lose their period due to low energy availability.
You might be underweight, have an eating disorder or go through extreme/ prolonged dieting.
Energy availability is not about whether you’re eating enough. It’s about whether you’re eating enough for your output.
For example, if you eat 1700 calories but burn 600 through training and activity, your body may only “see” 1100 available for basic function.
Energy Availability = calories eaten − calories burned in training, relative to body needs
Low energy availability could be due to simply not eating enough and being underweight. It can also be a result of fat loss phases that are more extreme.
For example:
- aggressive calorie deficits
- high cardio volume
- low carb intake
- low fat intake
- rapid weight loss
- high life stress
- poor sleep
- “clean eating” under-fuelling
- long dieting phases with no breaks
Of course you need to be in a calorie deficit to lose fat.
The deficit isn’t the problem.
It’s the extent of the deficit combined with how much stress the body is already under.
Not every lean woman loses her period. Risk rises when deficit + stress + output stack together.
Some warning signs of low energy availability include:
- constant fatigue
- poor recovery
- low libido
- hair thinning
- feeling cold
- poor sleep
- plateaued fat loss
- irritability
- frequent illness
- stalled strength gains
Losing your period is often the last signal of low energy availability. You’ll likely feel other signs first.
That’s why it’s important to be focusing on feeling better during fat loss. If you’re starting to feel consistently worse, then you’re doing something wrong that will have consequences on your health.
Part 2: How To Get Your Period Back
Nutrition Factors To Get Your Period Back
The first step to get your period back is to eat more food. This is easier said than done when you’re used to restricting yourself.
It’s important to NOT RUSH this. You need to let your nervous system feel safe eating more.
You’ll feel full and bloated at times. This is normal and not a sign to eat less.
Having a structured approach for your nutrition works well to ensure you follow the right signals.
This isn’t about calorie counting to control or limit yourself. It’s about ensuring your’e eating enough and building that baseline of food up.
Your period won’t come back straight away. The scale will go up very slowly.
You might feel better but becasue you’re so in your head and uncomforable with eating more, you might not realise this.
The main indicator of progress here is seeing you’re being consistent with hitting your higher calorie target.
Tracking your food gives you this data and evidence of consistency.
Your initial calorie target can be 200-300 calories above what you’re currently eating.
Once you get used to that increase (after a few weeks), you can increase again by 100-200 calories. Continue to do this until you’re eating what your estimated maintenance calories would be if you were at a healthy weight for your height.
A structured intake is also helpful to also ensure you’re getting a balanced amount of macronutrients.
Each of these have their own roles in helping you get your period back.
You don’t want to prioritise protein and end up under-fuelling altogether. You also don’t want to eat too little fat or carbs.
Dietary fat is crucial in sex hormone production as cholesterol forms the backbone.
Low fat diets will suppress hormone production and can prevent you getting your period back.
For fat intake, you can aim for 0.8-1 gram of fat per kilogram of bodyweight. Eating more is fine too, but make sure you also include enough carbs.
It’s important your body has enough carbohydrate available to support thyroid and reproductive signalling. You should not be limiting carbs if you are trying to get your period back.
To summarise your nutrition, you need:
- adequate calories- build these up slowly from where you’re currently at
- structure to follow so you know when to eat even if you’re not hungry
- high enough fat (0.8g per kg of body weight minimum)
- enough carbs
- protein but not at the expense of total calories
Training Adjustments To Get Your Period Back
Training adjustments will depend on what your current workout routine looks like.
You can skip this part if you’re not really doing any intense exercise.
If you’re someone who is weight training 3-4 days a week and walking most days, you can likely keep this up, so long as you increase your food and ensure your life stress is low.
You will need to reduce your activity if you do more than 3-4 weight training workouts a week and more than 10k steps a day.
This includes limiting cardio and HIIT, keeping weight training moderate (not some super high volume program), and making sure you have 2-3 full rest days a week.
You can keep walking. This isn’t a stress on the body unlike other forms of intense exercise. But you don’t need 20k steps a day. Stick to 8-10k and enjoy your walks, they shouldn’t feel hard.
If you’re someone who overexercises, then you also need a mindset shift:
Stop trying to chase calories burnt and start focusing on fuelling your training.
Stop exercising to punish your body, and start exercising to feel good.
PART 3: The Process Of Getting Your Period Back
How Long It Takes To Get Your Period Back
This is the hardest part.
It can take months to get your period back, sometimes over a year.
Your period will come back when you’re not forcing or stressing over it.
It’s very important you don’t let anyone panic you or try to rush the process.
One of my clients who recently got her period back spent almost a year sending me her food each day to ensure she was eating enough.
When she still hadn’t got her period, she went back to the doctor who did freak her out.
There was no need for this though. She got her period the next week.
I had a similar experience when I lost my period.
The doctor told me to go back on the pill. At that time I was always stressed and I was very underweight. Going back on the pill didn’t make sense to me, so I didn’t.
I got my period back when my body not only had enough energy to produce a period, but it felt safe to do so.
This required me to consistently eat more, especially carbs. I had been restricting these because I thought they’d make me fat. I also switched from doing HIIT classes 4 days a week to low volume weight training.
It took me another year to get my period back after I first went to see the doctor.
It’s normal for it to take time. You have to stay the course and keep going even when it looks like its not working.
But make sure you’re being honest with yourself… are you really CONSISTENTLY eating more and resting enough?
Mistakes To Avoid When Trying To Get Your Period Back
Remember when I said energy availability is not only about eating enough.
You will not fix low energy availability if you start exercising more to make up for the increased food intake.
One of the biggest mistakes I see women make when trying to get their period back is to increase their steps or activity whilst increasing their food.
In most cases you will need to decrease activity depending on your current levels.
Other mistakes women make include:
- still dieting “a little”
- partial fuelling some days
- adding supplements instead of calories
- chasing hormone hacks instead of energy balance
- staying in a physique-first mindset
- letting their fear of fat gain run the show
This is not an easy journey. Your mind will try to trick you.
The scale will go up but that doesn’t mean you end up fat.
You can gain weight, get your period back, keep it, and get leaner.
It just takes time. You can’t rush the physiology of the human body.
Finally…
The journey to get your period back is mentally challenging. It will feel uncomfortable to eat more, exercise less and gain some weight.
I would highly recommend working with a coach or therapist during this phase to keep you accountable with sticking to your plan and for support when you want to go back to old habits.
You don’t need to give up on your long term physique goals. But you do need to get your period back for your health. If you do things right, you’ll end up being happier with your body at a heavier weight too.
If you need support getting your period back you can reach out for coaching here.