amenorrhea subject not allowed?

Sex lives. Most runners do give them up by being skinny and not having bodies impressive to women. funny but true

A woman with body fat under 12% is considered at high risk for developing amenorrhea. Female bodybuilders as well as endurance athletes are the athletes most likely to have a severely low body fat %.

Low body fat in women is also linked to reduced bone density and osteoporosis.

Disordered eating leads to dangerously low body fat and amenorrhea which can lead to osteoporosis.

You don't NEED to give up that body fat to become national or world class. Unhealthy levels of body fat affect the whole person and in fact will likely make you a WORSE athlete because of the brittle bones.

As far as men are concerned, the high levels of training of endurance athletes usually leads to low testosterone which can lead to osteoporosis which leads to bone fractures (ie: think of a runner who always gets stress fractures or who is always injured).

http://www.niams.nih.gov/Health_Info/Bone/Osteoporosis/men.asp

To increase bone density you need to do load-bearing exercises...resistance training such as lifting weights and plyometrics.

Alan

Amenorrhea should not be ignored just because you are a runner. Yes, heavy training can make female athletes have irregular periods, but if you aren't getting them at all (over 3 months) you are not healthy. I know this because I had amenorrhea for nearly 4 years which all started with an eating disorder in high school. I'm not saying that everyone with amenorrhea has an eating disorder, but it does stem from having dangerously low body fat. Now I've just gained the weight back, have low bone density and can't run consistently for more than a few months without getting injured. It's frustrating. You might run fast for a while, but it will catch up to you. The only way to have a lasting running career is to stay healthy.

No, you cant discuss it on here.

http://www.letsrun.com/forum/process_search.php?search=amenorrhea&search_time=0

I think I speak for many serious female runners when I say that I have similiar problems and cannot for the life of me figure out how to gain weight and train at the college level at the same time. I feel like if I ate any more I'd have stomach aches incessantly, and weightlifting has helped but not cured the problem. I'm not asking txrunnergirl to diagnose me here, I am seeing a doctor, but it might benefit all female runners on letsrun if you could enlighten us as to how you gained it back, how you keep it on, and if the injuries have decreased with higher body fat.

I gained it back simply by being repetitively injured and eventually quitting competitive running. But since I cannot train at the level I used to (D1 college), I'm not happy with my weight right now. Since my weight dropped so fast in high school and stayed low for the 4 or 5 years I ran competitively, my body now hangs onto every bit of fat. It really messed up my metabolism and I still can't figure out how to fix it. I still work out and run when I am not injured, but can't seem to lose weight. The injuries have not decreased since gaining weight because the root cause of them, low bone density, muscle imbalances, amenorrhea, etc., started when I was UNDERweight.

There's nothing wrong with being thin, as most elite runners are, as long as you are healthy. If you are underweight at an unhealthy level (according to a medical expert), my advice is to first figure out why. If it's dietary, talk to a nutritionist, if it's psychological (depression, eating disorder, etc.), talk to a counselor, if it's just training related, talk to your coach about adjusting your mileage. Just do something other than ignore it.

Okay, thanks. Greatly appreciate it.

This info is outdated. Recent research suggests that low body fat is not the cause, but rather consistent calorie deficits.

One thing to keep in mind is that amenorrhea is not necessarily always linked to your training. I ran D1 track in college and rarely had my period. I chalked it up to the training, but it turns out that I have Polycystic Ovary Syndrome. So make sure your doctor rules everything out before deciding it's because of training.

I am a semi-competitive female runner (1:19 half marathon, 2:49 full), 5'9" and between 117-120 pounds and I always get my period. My body fat percentage is probably between 12-15, and I run 70-80 miles/week. I am pretty thin and my weight is fairly low for someone my height, but I eat . . . a lot. I also make sure that I get adequate amounts of protein and healthy fats. I honestly believe that competitive female runners can run at a high level and menstruate regularly (Joan Beniot always did!).

If you are struggling, I would see your doctor and a nutritionist.

serious question wrote:

I think I speak for many serious female runners when I say that I have similiar problems and cannot for the life of me figure out how to gain weight and train at the college level at the same time. I feel like if I ate any more I'd have stomach aches incessantly, and weightlifting has helped but not cured the problem. I'm not asking txrunnergirl to diagnose me here, I am seeing a doctor, but it might benefit all female runners on letsrun if you could enlighten us as to how you gained it back, how you keep it on, and if the injuries have decreased with higher body fat.

Try Slimfast or other meal substitute drinks.

That really helped me through college when the cafeteria meats were gross and I couldn't seem to eat enough food to replace what I burned off by running. I would eat until I was full, three meals a day, and have a Slimfast after lunch and one before bedtime. Perhaps there are meal substitutes that taste better, but I was kind of poor and Slimfast was easy to find. It worked well because it had nutrients and protein (unlike popcorn or most snack food), but being liquid, it was pretty easy to get down and didn't leave you feeling uncomfortably full all the time (unlike trying to eat a pizza before bedtime), and it was easily portable.

Hey txRUNNERgirl,

By "working out" do you mean run and cross-train or do you also lift weights? If you do lift weights what kind of program are you on? Given the correct training program you could gain back the bone density and muscle mass needed to sustain a high metabolism and drop the weight.

Alan