One of the hardest parts of hypothalamic amenorrhea (HA) recovery isn’t always knowing what you need to do. It’s actually being willing to do it.
You may have gathered from social media that you need to eat more, exercise less, and give your body more rest to start getting your period back. But when it comes to the eating enough part.. it can feel incredibly scary for women.
Not spiders, not heights, not your bank account after a weekend away and buying too many little matchas. But just eating enough seems to be-horrifying.
If you've ever wondered why women start to feel this way about food, I believe it has something to do with the fact that from a young age we've always been told that smaller is better. Smaller meals, smaller bodies, smaller apetites. So when it comes to having to eat an actual adult size of food or eating enough to satisy us- we feel like we are doing something very wrong.
Because for many women with HA, food has become something they feel better about when they control it. Just like their body image, their exercise, and their routines. Control = safe.
We start to think "How could I need THIS much food??"
If you're in HA recovery, I would bet you've spent a good amout of time worrying about the possibilities of:
● Gaining weight
● Losing control around food
● Eating too many carbohydrates
● Feeling overly full or bloated
● Losing the body you’ve worked so hard to maintain everyday
● Having to permanently change the way you eat or exercise forever
These fears can totally make eating enough feel much harder than simply just adding more food to your plate and calling it a day.
But if I could give you any advice and to answer your mental question. Yes, you really do need this much food to recover. This is just how it goes and we can't out supplememt it either!
Why eating enough really matters for period recovery
Your menstrual cycle requires energy.
When your body consistently receives less energy than it needs,especially when combined with high exercise and stress demands, the brain can interpret this as a signal that conditions aren’t ideal for reproduction.
This can affect the hypothalamic-pituitary-ovarian (HPO) axis, the communication system between your brain and reproductive organs. With inadequate energy availability, in simplte terms, the hypothalamus reduces its functioning. This can ultimately interfere with ovulation and estrogen production and hellooo HA.
That’s why HA isn’t simply a problem with your ovaries. Your brain is just responding to the overall energy and stress environment of your body. Adequate nutrition helps communicate that your body has enough resources to support reproduction, ofcourse, but all the other vital functions aswell.
Eating enough gives you the energy to:
● Support hormone production & ovualtion
● Support digestion and keep things moving
● Produce adequate estrogen and progesterone
● Maintain bone health
● Support thyroid and metabolic function
● Keeps you strong and helps build stress tolerance!
● Support cellular repair and recovery
● Fuel your brain and nervous system
● Meet the demands of exercise AND everyday life
And this is why simply eating “3 healthy meals” a day isn’t always enough to get you where you need to be.
You can eat your idea of nutrient-dense foods and still not provide your body with enough total energy for the day. Nourishment isn’t just about the quality of your food. It’s also about quantity and consistency (IYKYK).
But what if eating more feels..terrifying?
HA recovery can become a mental and emotional process, not just a nutritional one.
If you’ve spent months or years believing that eating less is "healthier", weight gain is bad, or exercise needs to compensate for food. Eating enough may feel like you’re doing something terribly wrong to your body and you find that you cannot comprehend how it could possibly be good for you.
But in HA recovery, the behaviors that once made you FEEL “healthy” may not be the behaviors your body currently needs to actually BE healthy. See what I mean?
More food doesn’t mean you’ve suddenly lost control.
And rest doesn’t mean you’re lazy. Weight gain doesn’t mean your metabolism is broken. Eating enough doesn’t mean you’ve stopped caring about your health.
Sometimes, eating enough really is the healthier choice.
Also-you don’t have to instantly stop being afraid of increasing your intake before you start recovering you know. Recovery is a process for a reason.
You can be scared and feel uncomfortable and bloadetd and alllll the things..and still make the chosie to nourish yourself in order to restore your period. Recovery doesn’t require you to suddenly love every change and intervention that your asked to do.
It just requires you to understand WHY your body needs more in the first place. Then you can make the concious decision to make steps towards recovery and gradually learn to trust that providing adequate energy to your body is an investment in your long-term health.
That way, eating enough wont feel so scary anymore.
If reading this made you go "this is me" and lit off some lightbulbs in your head- I encourage you to book your first call with me.
Considering joining my private 1:1 period recovery coaching? Reach out when youre ready and we'll get you started on REAL recovery ASAP.
Discalimer: This article is for educational purposes and isn't a substitute for individualized medical or nutritional advice.
Rebecca Pinho
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