amenorrhea, gained weight, binging everyday

Hey guys,

I lost my period for about 8 months now and I've been trying to get it back. I went to the doctor and my horomone levels are all normal.

I thought that maybe if I gained weight and increased my body fat, I would get my period back, but no! It has already been a month since I started eating a 2500 calorie diet everyday.

8 months ago, I started eating about 1400 calories. (My stats are: 5' 4", 115 pounds, 13% body fat, run 5 days a week for 15 minutes). But on that 1400 calorie diet, i was always depressed, I kept binging and being really emotional.  When my period stopped, I didn't take it that seriously, but now i am!

After I decided to stop restricting my calories a month ago, I feel fat. that's because I'm eating about 800 calories worth of nuts EVERYDAY (from pb, mixed nuts, and i've already finished that entire container of nuts from Costco in 1 week). :( How long will binging go on for? In addition to that, I've been eating tons of salmon, avocado, and fish oil daily. I feel so fat. but I still can't stop eating so much.

I know it sounds weird because I was restricting calories and now I'm not restricting but binging EVERY FREAKING DAY. I feel so helpless.

were in the same situation

I'm Ashley, 5'1 and 89 lbs, 14 yrs old.

I lost my period in October and I hardly even noticed it was gone. I was restricting myself and dropped to 89 from 115. Ive been trying to get my period back for 4 months, eating CRAP LOADS of pb (finish a jar in 2 days) and been adding good fats to my diet. i havent gained yet but hopefully i will soon. Ive heard iron supplements or iron rich foods help. drink milk because calcium and vitamin d also play a big part in your period. it will help to keep gaining weight because your still very light for your height keep up with the good diet and it will be back soon.

hope this helps, good luck!

:D

Can you set up a meal plan that is more balanced and more varied? 2500 calories a day if eaten balanced for many is what they need and not a binge. I can see where 800 calories in nuts would make your stomach turn so can you think of other  fats that you can eat? Like olive oil,dressing,cream cheese. If you try to balance your meals and snacks through the day it will feel like more structure and hopefully it will help your body become healthy again. It takes time but lack of period is serious for any period of time so it is something that needs to come back.

i dunno how many cals you're eating now. but the likelyhood is that your bf% is too low. at my lightest i was about 11-12% bf, i was on a weight gain diet of about 3500 cals but no sign of my period. it wasnt until i went to hospital a second time and was put on absolute bed rest and ate 2300-2500 that it came back. i was in hosp for 4 months then.

it came back really when i just copped on and stopped exercising and ate a healthy 2000 and let my body repair itself. really you need an additional 250-500 cals on top  of your output to ovulate and menustrate.

ashley64 you are eating 1300 cals. it doesnt matter if you only eat pb for those 1300 cals, cals are your problem not fats. no matter how you try to get around this you are undereating and until you decide to take some responsibility for this illness things will not get better for you.

Abbi - in case you're about to - dont bother lecturing me about my tone

Thanks for all the great input.

I think my problem now is (besides that I have amenorrhea) is that because I restricted myself so much from food before, I overeat everyday. I literally have to stop myself because I don't know how to listen to my body. I'm too busy counting calories and just thinking, oh, I have 200 calories left before I hit 2,300, so I can eat more! And at the moment I think that I have leftover calories, I start to "psychologically" feel hungry!

I don't know if the body fat thing really is accurate because I am NOT skinny, just to let you guys know. When I got my body fat taken at the gym, I was pretty thick and meaty, just not flabby. Ohhhh... when I think about it, I don't want to get "fat"... I just want to stay the way I am right now, but I want my period back too!