Why Weight Gain Happens During Hypothalamic Amenorrhea Recovery
Weight gain is the number 1 biggest concern among women who need to recover their menstrual cycles because the process of HA recovery basically requires it. When the pursuit of weight loss is what brought you into this situation in the first place, the idea of undoing all of your hard work feels incredibly challenging.
But let’s take some time to really understand why weight gain happens during hypothalamic amenorrhea recovery and why it is actually a sign of healing.
Your metabolism is healing
During a typical weight loss or weight control journey, you eat less and do more. You ask your body to run on less fuel. In hypothalamic amenorrhea, this goes even further. Most women with HA have been asking their bodies to run on fumes. We are talking lots of high volume veggies, lean proteins, almost no fat and very little else while also doing regular intense workouts.
Over time your metabolism becomes more efficient and down regulated. It runs your basic systems as best it can with the tiny amount of material you have been giving it, even if it is far from optimal. So when you finally start giving your body more food again, but your metabolism is still down regulated, weight gain is going to happen.
And remember, that down regulated metabolism did not happen overnight. You were consistent and chronic with it. Which means you need to be consistent with eating more for a while in order for your metabolism to respond the way you want. Eating more without weight gain is something that only happens after the body trusts you again.
Recovery takes time and patience. We recommend women stay in a recovered body for at least a full year before even thinking about intentional weight loss while maintaining optimal hormone health.
Your hormones are starting from zero
When you have hypothalamic amenorrhea you are basically in a low hormone or in some cases a no hormone state. Your reproductive hormones can flatline. I have seen tests come back literally at zero.
Just like your metabolism, hormones take time to rebuild. Several hormones involved in your appetite, fertility and metabolism depend directly on body fat. Leptin, ghrelin and estrogen all need healthy levels of body fat to be produced and communicated around the body. If the healing process requires weight gain, that is simply what your body needs.
You’re eating more than you used to
To recover from HA you must eat more than you were before. This puts you in a caloric surplus regardless of where your metabolism is at. Combined with the down regulation we talked about above, what should have been maintenance calories for you a long time ago is probably a surplus now.
And that is completely ok. It is temporary.
The weight gain phase is temporary even though it is scary
We have been coaching women with HA for 5 years and we see this pattern constantly. The weight gain phase happens, it lasts a little while and then it stops. Many women naturally reach their set point weight again once their hormones stabilize. Others choose to intentionally lose a little weight in the future, but now they know how to diet safely, without falling back into period loss.
The same method we use to help women recover their periods also gives them the skills to reintroduce exercise and nutrition safely if they want to pursue body composition changes later. But that comes much later. Right now patience is everything.
This video breaks down a lot of the mindset needed in order to get back to that place. Enjoy!
If you want to learn even more in depth about the role of weight gain and body fat in recovery you might be a good candidate for our Holistic HA Practitioner Certification.
