Regaining my hormones.
- Catherine Jackson
- Sep 19
- 5 min read
The story behind my mission.
My Story; Key Points:
I was just trying to be healthy!
I was reading and listening to health influencers on podcasts and reading books, and I’d had formal education and training in health and fitness.
I had always enjoyed being active, exercise training and sport. Following the trends, I also ended up intermittent fasting; restricting my food to between around midday and 8pm. I had the usual life stressors of work and family challenges.
Initially, I felt really good – I ‘did well’ in some running events and I felt strong. I wasn’t going for aesthetics but I felt confident in my body.
However, over time, this was not sustainable and my improper fueling of my activity led to my body (as is the survival mechanism) trying to ‘conserve’ – down-turning my reproductive hormones, preserving fat mass and using lean tissue (muscle and bone) to fuel itself.
With that, it was difficult to maintain any strength gains and overtime I became weaker and less powerful. My running times didn’t necessarily deteriorate though – I think with 5km and 10km type distances, a lighter body overall (because of the unfavourable shift in my body composition) actually can benefit – to an extent – until it doesn’t!
Despite the fact my body was struggling underneath, people around me thought I was ‘super healthy’ and I fell into this misconception as well – after all, I was following the popular health advice.
Being skinny and being able to run a reasonable ‘Park Run’ time are not necessarily good markers of health!
Only in hindsight was I able to acknowledge there were clear signs of a problem; my sleep was poor and disrupted. More and more, I had to use coffee to help support my energy levels. I also found my appetite turn towards craving simple carbohydrates and sugars and I had a decreasing ability to feel satiated even after eating a good meal. I also had a lot of bloating, reduced bowel movements.
The alarm bell for me was the absence of my menstrual cycle. Initially this absence had been masked by the use of the pill. However, I had decided whilst I was trying to eat natural (non-processed) foods, the synthetic pill didn’t fit with my values, so I came off it.
My GP told me my absent menstrual cycle having being off the pill for a few years wasn’t a problem and I should just come back if I wanted to have children. Ironically, I was also offered the pill again!
To me, this shows a complete lack of understanding of what our reproductive hormones do for our whole body. Luckily, my friend, a functional medicine dr encouraged me to force the issue with my GP, requesting my hormone and bone health were checked.
My hormones were akin to a woman in menopause – ie. Oestrogen, progesterone and testosterone were through the floor (I was in my early 30’s at the time) and my bones in the osteoporosis range – bad news when you should be at peak bone mass. My LDL cholesterol (considered bad cholesterol) was also elevated – a likely sign of disrupted metabolism and inflammation.
I was trying to do ‘all of the things’ to be healthy, but I was in fact causing my body all sorts of problems – a phenomenon known as LEA (Low Energy Availability), and ultimately RED-S (Relative Energy Deficiency in Sport), which can affect men and women, with women seemingly more at risk. Hypothalamic Amenorrhea (the absence of a menstrual cycle), disrupted digestive function, inability to recover from illness or injury, poor energy levels and sleep, mood issues (often anxiety, depression, lack of resilience to stress), failure to improve strength and power, reduced bone density, accumulation of belly fat, reduced muscle are some classic symptoms.
It’s worth noting, people who have heard of RED-S and hypothalamic amenorrhea tend to imagine a stick thin athlete but this is not necessarily the case (as it wasn’t in mine) – we all seemingly have different thresholds for energy imbalance and overall stress load.
My Mission
My poor body has struggled to recover from these years of insufficiency and I have been blessed with a good support system and a timely pause in my work due to the pandemic, to give extra time to promote recovery. It took me around 8 years of researching, trying different things and seeing a private health practitioner to get my menstrual cycle back naturally.
It would be easier for everyone if we can prevent this from occurring in the first place!
I am now on a mission to help women understand the importance of our hormones and how these hormones support our health; our energy, performance, cognition and more (as well as our fertility). We are often led to believe we can do without them if we don’t want children – this is not the case if we want optimal health and function.
We can easily tune in to our menstrual cycle to give us a vital indication of our health (it is better than wearables!)
Crucially, we need to understand how we know if/when we ovulate – this is described as ‘the star of the show’ when it comes to the menstrual cycle – it’s not just about the bleed!
When we understand our rhythms and how we respond to the different hormones, we can better tweak what and/or how we do – Our exercise/activity, our nutrition, our sleep and other rest.
How I hope to complete my mission:
Support women with the knowledge and resources to track ovulation.
Support women to understand the widespread impact of our sex hormones; oestogen, progesterone and testosterone; the rationale for wanting to support these hormones, whether wanting to get pregnant, or not.
Look out for patterns, which may indicate our body is down-turning our reproduction – losing your period is not the first sign.
How do we support our hormonal rhythms through our lifestyle choices, including.
Support of appropriate nourishment through nutrition.
Support of appropriate movement, activity, exercise.
Optimise sleep and circadian rhythm.
Support our autonomic nervous systems.
**This is not to replace medical advice or interventions, it is with the aim to support females with a better knowledge and understanding of a crucial aspect of our health, often overlooked in our traditional education. Having this knowledge and tuning into our own hormonal rhythms can ultimately empower us in many dimensions of our lives, since these hormones are intertwined with emotional and physical wellbeing.
If you would like to learn more, I coach individuals 1 to 1 online. If you are interested to learn more, email me direct: catherine@rootedlife.co.uk
Catherine Jackson MRSPH
(Health Coach) - Find out more about health coaching
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