Hi ladies,
I don't mean to ask such a personal question but have any of you noticed a change in your monthly cycles since you started excersising or eating differently? Sorry if its too personal to ask, its only that I've been working out pretty hard last week and this week and I was a few days late in my time of the month. I'm usually pretty on schedule because I'm on the Pill and that regulates it rather well, but I was just wondering. If anyone wants to answer, I'd appreciate it!

Well, maybe you should've added a warning for the guys in the topic I have PCOS and I am on the pill, I have noticed my periods are heavier actually which is kind of annoying to say the least. That is the only change I noticed and I guess when my next yearly appt comes up, I'll talk to the doctor about it.

I am on the pill as well and always have irregular cycles when I either do more exercise or lose a bunch of weight. I'm sure it's completely normal but you may want to discuss it with your doctor to be on the safe side!

Yes, in the begining I was very irregular and I'm on the pill! If I missed one, I'd start-not just spot but completely start. Yuck! Oh, well, it eventually evened out. I'm a little heavier then I used to be but back to being regular.

I did ask my gyn. She said something estrogen being bound up in the fat and when we lose the fat, we have extra estrogen floating around in our systems for awhile and not to worry too much about it. Unless it goes wacky for several months, then she would adjust my birth control pills. But it did work out so...

I had irregular periods all through my teenage years, and then when I gained weight, they kept being irregular and I didn't think anything of it. I had been getting it every 6-8 weeks for the past year or so, and my gyno wasn't worried. She said that the extra weight was probably throwing off my cycle.

Sure enough, after I lost 12 pounds the first month of dieting, my period started coming like clockwork--every last Thursday of the month. Well, in my program, you have monthly weight-loss goals and you have to make them by the last meeting of the month. We meet on Thursdays. That's right--every month since then, I've carried water weight to the scale every time. Like I need anything else working against me that week!

I've been super irregular since I've started this diet/exercise. So have my two SB buddies. But it doesn't hurt to get a real medical opinion!

My periods were getting heavier when I was at my heaviest but I put it down to getting older. They have always been very light especially during my teenage years. Once I started losing weight they became a lot lighter. I don't think it is the exercise because I have always exercised. Perhaps mine is lighter when I am smaller. I have a friend who is very obese and hers are very sporadic and extremely heavy when they do arrive. She doesn't exercise at all or eat healthy food so it is hard to tell what is causing this for her. Perhaps it is just her.

Great question, Usagi! I have the same one...my TOM came a couple days early (Tuesday instead of Thursday)the first month of SBD, but it was still during my "sugar pills" in my birth control pack. Last month was similar, but on Monday of that week instead of Thursday. This month, though I didn't skip a single pill, I had spotting for all of my third week, and started my full fledged TOM on Sunday. I think I need to call my doctor...she'll probably just change my pill, but I want to be sure I'm okay and still protected.

I figure it has a lot to do with estrogen. If I remember right, estrogen becomes pretty wonky when you are overweight...it has something to do with fat absorbing or not absorbing estrogen (I can't remember...). So it would make sense that as we lose, we are likely to have a different schedule.

Wow, good thread. I started SB 7 weeks ago and immediately went into menstrual chaos. First a two-day period, then a week off, then one day, then a week off and then a THREE WEEK period that just ended. I'm in the midst of tests, ultrasound next week, to see whether there is some tangible cause. I had asked my doc if SB might be the catalyst for this but she said no, only a severely low cal diet would be suspected which wasn't the case with me. I'll go through the tests but it's good to know that there's a common pattern out there.

Has anyone got the SB membership online? Anyone able to ask Dr. Agatston about this?

Well, I called my gyn and she said it was nothing to worry about as long as I still got it and it was during the sugar pills, it was probably just my body saysing "What are you doing?!" hehe. she said it started again next month (If I'm striong enought o make it to next month on SB! hehe) and it was during the regular pills, I could switch the script. But I like the ones I am on, so I think I'll stick with them.
Thank you so much you guys for your replies! They helped a lot in letting me know mt body isn't a lone in its quest to make me worry, . Thanks for the support!

This sounds ALL TOO FAMILIAR. (Please, no jokes.)

When I started Ph1, I started MAJOR flow. I was about 24 hours from being done with my period, and then WHAMMOOOOOO!!!!!! Ph1 hit a gusher. 18 days straight. They put me on the pill even though I'm on medicine for hypertension....guess it'd be better to die of a blood clot than to bleed to death out your crotch, pardon the expression.

Good luck to you!

Hi Usagi, I too, am on the pill. These things have stopped my period:

1) if I lose quite a few pounds in a fairly short time
2) if I have a stressful situation in my life (not everyday stress,
but something major)
3) as I got in my 40's, I started missing a few periods. Doc prescribed
a stronger dosage but I still miss some periods along the way. My doc
didn't seem to think this is a problem. I think this is called perimenopause.

Bottom line is check with your doctor. I know I wasted money on a few pregnancy tests but I wanted to make sure I wasn't pregnant (you hear of people who say they were on the pill and still got pregnant although it has never happened to me).

I am not giving any medical advice...just stating what happened to me. Hope this helps. If you are concerned, it wouldn't hurt to just ask your doctor.