“DO YOU REALLY EAT 2500 CALORIES AND DON’T GAIN MORE WEIGHT?” – I get that question sometimes.
A lot of women with Hypothalamic Amenorrhea (no period due to overtraining and under eating), take this number, 2500 calories, very seriously and think this is the upper limit. This is the number of calories needed for recovery, they think, so they hold onto it. And they're also very scared of it, because 2500 calories seems like a lot!
It’s great to have this guideline but it’s also important to know that this is not the maximum you're allowed to eat. It’s an estimate of the bare minimum that’s needed.
2500 Calories Is Not That Much
Secondly, 2500 calories is not a huge amount of food. It just seems like it because all these years of conditioning by the diet & fitness industry have lead us to believe that it’s something enormous. Sure, it may feel like it, if you’ve been eating 1200-1500 calories a day and burned at least 300-500 off with daily intense and/or long exercise, leaving you with 700-1200 net calories to use per day.
This is exactly why you lost your period. But for an active person, 2500 calories is not that much and if you had eaten 2200-2500 most of the time, you would likely still have your period. But don't worry, you can and will get it back. Reach out here if you need help with it.
I Eat About 2500 Calories A Day – And I Don't Gain Weight
I’ve mentioned earlier that that this number — 2500 — is roughly how much I probably eat in a day. I don’t know exactly, but when I tracked just out of curiosity, my calories were around 2300-2600 daily.
I’m recovered from Hypothalamic Amenorrhea and my metabolism is restored. This is how I’m maintaining my current body and health. I'm not losing anything, I'm not gaining anything, at least not significantly – I don’t weigh myself but I say that based on what I see and how my clothes fit.
A Healthy Metabolism Needs Plenty Of Calories
All this is possible when the body is healthy and balanced, when it knows what to do with the energy it’s taking in, when it’s metabolism is working the way it should. The body knows how much food it needs. All we have to do is listen, not try to manipulate it.
So know that even though at the beginning when you start working on food restriction and hypothalamic amenorrhea, you may gain weight quickly, then later, you can maintain that weight. You get to eat like a human, don't have to be hungry, and enjoy your life – and have a period.