Do elite women have their periods?

i have to agree with others that it is not normal -

my wife is an elite runner. she is 5'9" and weights 119lbs and she is as regular / as consistent as a clock. she is a low mileage elite, 60 to 80 miles per week, but she eats constantly.

if she wasn't regular we would be worried. i know that is just a sample of of one, but it does tell me that it is possible to be a highly competitive, thin, muscular runner with regular periods

given that paula and deena got pregnant fairly quickly after training, my guess is they weren't missing many periods either.... neither of them put on weight or anything before getting knocked up

My girlfriend missed her period this month. Thank god she runs xc

Are you Alysia Montano?

Nature Boy wrote:

Missed-it-for2years wrote:

Do women with low body fat like Jordan Hasay, Alexi Pappas, Mary Cain, Alexa Afraimson, menstruate at all? They have no body fat.

I'm a junior in college and have missed my period for a year. I'm not underweight, but usually stressed out with school/ high mileage. One of my teammates confronted me about this thinking it was a problem. My response...Sure its probably not ideal, but I highly doubt all those elite women are regular either. Am I correct in this assumption?

Something is off if you've gone that long without menstruating. Seek out a good naturopath who can treat the issue holistically and will consider diet related deficiencies.

Don't see a witch doctor. See an actual doctor. Believe in research, science, and medicine but not witchcraft and voodoo.

Don't listen to the ones who say "it's normal" or "everything is ok". It's not.

It's called evolution. If the body feels that you don't have enough energy to sustain yourself let alone two humans, it basically shuts down the possibility of a pregnancy. This is your body trying to survive. You think that is healthy?

Women should aim to keep their BF% above 15% at all times, anything else will result in hormonal disruptions.

Also, make sure to eat enough fat, especially saturated. Many female runners avoid animal fat at all cost. BIG MISTAKE.

Vaginal intercourse is not allowed for religious reasons. Back door penetration and oral only. I am not on birth control.

"oes amenorrhea actually cause osteoporosis, though?"

Research says there is nothing inherently wrong with amenorrhea, and many hormonal IUD's cause this, with no actual side effects. Bone density issues can be caused by higher levels of progesterone, but after some decently long studies on IUDs like Mirena where users frequently do not menstruate, there was no decrease in bone density.

I don't see a problem with not having a period, as long as everything else feels good.

I have gone years without one (combination of IUD and running) and feel much better than when I had a monthly period (which only happened when I took an estrogen based Birth control pill, which also gave me awful head aches.)

itsnotnormal wrote:

It's not normal. Go see a nutritionist and have him/her take a look at your food intake compared to how many miles you're running. If you have a significant calorie deficit (as in, you're burning more than you're taking in), you're not going to menstruate regularly. And it is NOT normal to go several months and especially not several years without your period. Women of child-bearing age should menstruate and need some fat on their thighs/hips to maintain healthy bone density. If you're not menstruating, your risk for stress fractures is MUCH higher. And if you think you "can't" eat more than you already do and it's far less than you ought to be eating for how much you run, go get counseling, seriously. That's signs of disordered eating, and it's not a path you want to go down.

Based on what I've read, I think I'm going to try upping my healthy fat intake (avocados, nuts, olive oil, and fish...any other good sources?) for the next 5-6 weeks and see if that helps. If not, I guess I'll try the nutritionist!

BTW there is almost 0 chance I have an eating disorder, a parasite is more like it. I already said I eat more than anyone I know, but let me elaborate. Having a piece of fruit for a snack usually means an apple or banana but for me, it's an entire watermelon, pineapple, or cantaloupe. For most people, having oatmeal for breakfast means a bowlful...for me it's the whole pot-3 cups of oats, 1 cup of crushed peanuts, 1 cup of dried coconut, cocoa powder, milk, honey... and still with a giant veggie omelet on the side. Even though I run like 90 minutes a day and bike another 90, a calorie deficit is almost impossible; last I checked I have 22% body fat.

Can't eat any more wrote:

Based on what I've read, I think I'm going to try upping my healthy fat intake (avocados, nuts, olive oil, and fish...any other good sources?)

Coconut oil, fatty cut of grass fed beef, Greek yogurt, eggs. Yes, these are all sources of mostly saturated fat. But saturated fat is actually good for you. When controlled for processed meat (sausages with chemicals etc.), there hasn't been a single study that shows that saturated fat or red meat is bad for you.

If you think there is a chance of a parasite, might be something to get checked out...

Success!!!!! This is unreal, after only 2.5 days of eating extra fat, my period has returned after 6 months without it!!!!

This is all I had to do, fat-wise:

-Eat a Guatemalan sized (like twice as big as in the US) avocado every day

-Eat 1 pound of cashews

-Eat 1/2 pound of macadamias

-Eat 1/2 pound of almonds

-Eat 6 servings of sardines

-Eat eggs and yogurt as usual

Also my training friend told me this tip yesterday that supposedly helps with period irregularities: boil water with the pit of an avocado and drink it. I also took a big bite out of the boiled seed, since apparently it's super healthy, but didn't finish it since it was gross!

Anyway thanks whoever posted about Paula Radcliffe. I'm SOOO glad I don't have to stop training or start taking birth control pills, and hopefully my quick success story helps other people with the same problem. I can't believe it was this easy.

p.s. just joking about the parasite, big appetites just run in my family

A year is a long time. I once had one of my female runners say, "I could be getting pregnant all over the place, I haven't had my period in 6 months." OK- talk about TMI!

But she did get it soon after that.