07/27/2021
FEMALE ATHLETES 🚨
This is for YOU! Have you ever had or known someone that’s suffered a stress fracture? What about experiencing loss of period for an extended amount of time or irregular cycle? Have you ever wondered why? Or just passed it off as a one time incident?
Let me explain the “Female Athletic Triad”.
Simply put it’s a combination of disordered or restricted eating (whether on purpose or as a result of over training and falling into extreme calorie deficit), menstrual disturbances, and decrease in bone mineral density.
Each condition whilst they stand alone, are all interrelated and have a compounding effect on one another if left undetected.
Hormonal imbalances can occur in females in situations where over training, under eating, or high levels of stress are present.
These imbalances can have numerous side effects such as osteoporosis, amenorrhea, anxiety, depression and more.
I was an “athlete” that went too far. I went through each phase of the triad. I engaged in disordered eating and at times was unknowingly in a huge energy deficit. I lost my period for years, and as a result had significantly low progesterone which caused osteopenia leading to a fractured ankle.
When this happened to me, I was not a professional athlete. I considered myself a social athlete, that participated in fun runs and took classes at a gym.
I ignored the warnings. I allowed my healthy life to become an unhealthy one. You don’t have to have an eating disorder to fall under the banner, it’s simply a result of irregular eating or energy OUTPUT being far greater than energy INPUT.
Get to know your body. Understand what it needs, and seek the advice of a qualified dietitian to help you fuel your body. was my saving grace! 💙
Swipe across for a break down of the triad, and a flashback of me in 2019 at week 8 in my moon boot…
Health first, always!