Hypothalamic Amenorrhea and How To Exercise

First, know this: hypothalamic amenorrhea (also
referred to as the Female Athlete Triad) is often a result of over-exercising
and/or under-eating, which leads to an overall negative energy balance for an
extended period of time. The body senses that you are, essentially, starving
and says “Righteo, no energy for reproduction, then” and bids farewell to
your monthly lady holiday.

So, taking this into account, you can see
that exercise is perhaps contraindicated in the treatment of hypothalamic
amenorrhea. Right? Right! 

Chronic exercise = no good. BUT movement = good!

Prior to actually deciding to do something
about my infertile situation, this is what my exercise looked like: 

• Monday: Body Attack (1hr) followed by Body
  Pump (1hr). I might have walked ~1/2 -1hr too
• Tuesday: Maybe a walk, maybe a weights
  session (maybe both), maybe a cardio session
• Wednesday: Body Attack (1hr)
• Thursday: Body Step (1hr), ½-1hr walk
• Friday: Body Attack (1hr), weights (1hr)
• Saturday: Body Step (1hr) – every second
  Saturday
• Sunday: Body Step (1hr)

Holy crap. I am exhausted just looking at
all of that! So much time wasted in the gym! Granted, it was my job, which made
it more “legitimate”, I suppose, albeit no less damaging to my health and
fertility.

I realised that this was unsustainable and
would leave me in my infertile state if I were to continue. 

Yes, thank you for your wisdom, Albert. For a while, I was insane. I thought I
could just throw herbs and vitamins at the situation and it would sort itself
out. But, after spending thousands of dollars (literally), I realised this approach was no
bueno. So here is what I did…

I progressed quite gradually, and it helped
that it coincided with my dietetics placement, so I had an excuse to no longer
teach a lot of my classes.

Stage 1

• Monday: Body Pump
• Tuesday: Walk
• Wednesday: Weights (functional training
  1hr)
• Thursday: Yoga
• Friday: Weights (functional training 1hr)
• Saturday: Body Step (every 2^nd
  weekend)
• Sunday: Body Step

 A considerable change, but probably not
enough. Cue stage 2.

Stage 2

• Monday: Body Pump
• Tuesday: Walk/yoga
• Wednesday: Weights (8 minutes – YES, you
  read right EIGHT minutes – 8 sets of 3 clean and presses; sets 1 min apart)
• Thursday: Walk/yoga
• Friday: Walk/yoga, maybe a Tabata session
  (4mins of cardio)
• Saturday: REST
• Sunday: REST

So, now that my cycle is getting back on
track, how do I exercise? Well, it depends. I try and get outside as much as
possible for a gentle walk/hike, as I now live in the nature-lover’s playground:

Image by Lake Wanaka Tourism

But if it is raining outside, and I feel
really good, and my stress levels are low, my week might look like this:

• Monday: Weights (1hr – 10 min mobility warm
  up, 30 min weights, 20 min stretch/yoga)
• Tuesday: 1hr yoga
• Wednesday: Body Pump
• Thursday: Tabata
• Friday: 1hr yoga
• Saturday: Hopefully the rain has stopped by
  now and I can go for a hike!
• Sunday: Rest

Now please note, this was MY journey. This
gives you a general idea of what worked for me. It may or may not work for you.
Listen to your body. If you have exercise/stress/lack of food-induced
amenorrhea, then you probably need to pull right back on the exercise to start
with, then take baby steps along the way, depending on how everything is
tracking along.

Final note – as always, be kind to
yourself. x