why does my body do this to me?

in 2007, I lost a bunch of weight and I lost my period at the end. by the way, I wasn't underweight at that time. I was 5'3 and 143lb.

In 2008, I started to binge - for some reasons and stress- and I ate really all kind of junk food cakes, cookies, TONS of nuts and fatty icecream. and my period started to come back and regular.

in 2009, I started eating healthy again and taking the weight loss slowly, working out much less than before like 3 times a week only instead of 6 times.

two months after eating healthy and feeling good overall, my period didn't come.

so what ?????? do I have to be an obese woman to please that stupid body?

and by the way,  I eat 1500 cals. my burn meter is 1800. I work out 3 times for one hour only. very light cardio not very hard work. I also increased my fat intake.

I have an apt to see the doctor in NOV. 09. that is her earliest availabily. Until then, no period, no information.

Nov 2009? If I were you I would find another docter thats ludicris, obviously your health is not important to her.

Good heavens, what kind of third world country do you live in that you can't see a doctor for six months?!!  If I were you, I'd say it was an emergency.... which it is.  Maybe that will get you through the door more quickly.

There are many reasons for irregular of periods.  Overexercising, poor/inadequate nutrition and being underweight are three common ones but there are othes besides.  If you're not overweight, not overexercising and if your diet is balanced and contains sufficient calories then your doctor should explore those other reasons with you.

In the meantime, try to make sure your 1500 cals includes plenty of fats, carbohydrates and iron-rich foods specifically.  Good luck

Safina, I've seen you...in fact I'll see you again before you see this doctor and I'm 3,000 miles away!  You are lovely (you really are ), but being underweight is not the issue here, you're at a normal weight and I doubt that it was the cause of losing your period given that your lowest weight is well within the healthy BMI range.  There has to be some other problem. 

Is there some reason why this particular doctor is the one you have to see?  Medical plan/known for being particularly good/need a referral, etc?  Does your medical plan allow you to see any doctor that you choose or do you need a referral?  My primary care physician is an internist and I highly recommend them as they are curious and will happily order extra tests whenever something is off.  If your medical plan allows for it, I'd definitely suggest seeing any doctor that specializes in internal medicine or gynocology who has openings sometime in the next few months.  I know that female gynocologist are often booked up months in advance, but getting a list of possibilities to research and some tests run sooner would be best imo.

hey, i had the same situation with my new doctor- had to wait 4 months-

so i called back and said i thought had a urinary tract infection and needed to be seen as soon as possible

then when i got there i said as of that morning it seemed to have cleared up and must have been something else, but since i was already there......

;)

thats the world we live in

I have been through something similar. Several years ago I was 150 lbs (I'm 5'5"). Through increased exercise and really cleaning up my diet, I lost (rather gradually, nothing drastic) weight and body fat, gained muscle, and found myself at a low of about 125-130lbs. I loved the way my body felt and was super happy with my weight, and was probably eating about 2000 calories at the time.. but I also lost my period. Actually, I came off the pill after being on it for several years and simply never regained my period.

Fast forward to the present- I am still without my period, over two years later. I've had a million blood and other medical tests, my estrogen levels come back somewhat low (as expected) but everything else is normal. My doctor, for lack of any other suggestions, told me to gain some weight. So I did- not binging, just eating more. I found myself up to around 135lbs. No period.

So here I am today, 5'5", and somewhere between 135-145lbs on any given day, eating between 1800-2200 calories (I don't know what my "calorie burn" is, I don't use this site for that) and I lift in the gym 3x week with an addition game or two of ice hockey every week or two. I have been trying over the past several weeks to eat a lot more (healthy) fats and simply make sure to eat that amount and not go under 1800 calories, (don't know how I even settled on that number) and I've just in the past couple weeks started to have signs of hormones cycling.. things like cravings, bloating, discharge.. but still no period.

So! My point is, get to a doctor to eliminate any other endocrine or reproductive problems/causes, but if they don't have any magical answers, it may not be a matter of your weight- you might just need more calories. I wish it wasn't the case but I'm suspecting I just have to be eating more calories to get mine.. which is disappointing because I'd prefer to be back around the leanness I was at 125 lbs (which was around 19% body fat as opposed to 23% now).. but maybe it's just in the cards.

EAT MORE! And give it a few weeks, ignore the scale for a month, then check in and see what happens..

Original Post by smwhipple:

Safina, I've seen you...in fact I'll see you again before you see this doctor and I'm 3,000 miles away!  You are lovely (you really are ), but being underweight is not the issue here, you're at a normal weight and I doubt that it was the cause of losing your period given that your lowest weight is well within the healthy BMI range.  There has to be some other problem. 

Is there some reason why this particular doctor is the one you have to see?  Medical plan/known for being particularly good/need a referral, etc?  Does your medical plan allow you to see any doctor that you choose or do you need a referral?  My primary care physician is an internist and I highly recommend them as they are curious and will happily order extra tests whenever something is off.  If your medical plan allows for it, I'd definitely suggest seeing any doctor that specializes in internal medicine or gynocology who has openings sometime in the next few months.  I know that female gynocologist are often booked up months in advance, but getting a list of possibilities to research and some tests run sooner would be best imo.

 Dear Sara, Of course I am not underweight. In fact, I am OVERWEIGHT and I know it. It drives me crazy that everytime I try to lose weight, I lose my period in the process and I am not even at my healthy BMI just yet. But I know everytime, I try to lose weight and change my diet, something happen to my period. the proof is when I ate tons of fatty food last year ( cakes, chocolate, nuts ) I got it back.

I eat avocado, nuts, fish, and flaxseed. I try to increase fat and protein more often. you know ... I am aware of the danger of rapid fat loss so I am taking it slowly this time. YOu see my posts in the recipe forum LOL I am fond of baking recipes now. In other words, I don't see any thing wrong with my diet and my light workout.

I have a primary physician who asked me to go and see a  gynocologist  because she doesn't know about this.

my blood test shows that everything is perfect.

I am frustrated. :(

Gi-Jane,  LOL. I live in the US and my primary physician doesn't know the reason for this so she asked me to go and see a  gynocologist .

she gave me a list of doctors to call. everyone is super busy. I have to wait months to get an appt.

it sounds like I have to say it is an emergency but what if she asked me what kind of emergency? obviously, I don't need to go to the delivery room. lol

Gabby, the UTI idea sounds good but what should I say exactly ? :) I don't know the symptoms. LOL

vectoranalysisgo: I am sorry that you had to go through this. did you get your period back? I know if I eat my junk cakes and cookies, I will get it back but no. I can't face the depression  and guilt I felt because of the weight gain. there must be a solution.

Original Post by safina1:

what if she asked me what kind of emergency?

Can't you get your doctor make the referral appointment?  It's usually the GP that puts the patient onto the waiting list for the specialist... otherwise the legions of 'worried well' would be clogging up the gyno appointments rather than those who genuinely need help.

Our system over here in the US that I've dealt with is that typically the patient makes the appointments, this has been true for every insurance plan I've had over the last 20 years.  Every now and then there's a scheduling office for a major medical institution, but even then you have to explain to the scheduling receptionist that you really do need an appointment urgently and it's usually easier just to do it yourself.

I have scheduled an appointment to see my primary physician again but it will take a long time to see a specialist. Until then , I am hoping to get some help from CC members. what should I do? what is the recommended fat percentage for a 162 lb woman who is 5'3 and 34. 

my fat intake goes anywhere between 17% to 20% a day.

P.S. I know I will not get it back unless I eat butter,  and cakes everyday. :( 

What are your dietary restrictions?  As I recall you were having some GI issues.  I did a brief google search earlier and came up with a site for fertility once I added in a normal body weight.   Which lead me to this article:

http://www.newsweek.com/id/73354

Interesting, perhaps bunk, but interestng.