I use the term under eat, because this is not an eating disorder, it does not mean you have a problem with food, usually, the issue lies in the fact that you are training hard and you’ve never been taught to adequately eat for it!
Here are 10 signs and symptoms along with what this actually means in the body.
1. Body fat. It’s true. When you chronically under eat, your body starts holding on to fat more for preservation. Your metabolism slows down here too because all of your resources get allocated to your general organ function, keeping you living and breathing.
2. Inflammation. It’s our bodies way of telling us something is wrong. Our body is working in overdrive to keep up with our fitness, general organ function, digesting food, etc. without proper food we weaken the systems in our body lowering the threshold for immunity.
3. Hormones get wacky. Chronic under eating signals cortisol to increase. If our body is chronically stressed, our bodies can use progesterone to create more cortisol.
4. Increase cortisol. Chronic increase of this leads to blood sugar issues & lack of hunger cues (No hunger but also binge cycles)
5. Training Regression. Your body needs ample energy to lift heavy & go the distance. Once your energy stores are depleted, which chronic under eating leads to a constant, your body will start dipping into muscle to pull energy. Not only that, your resources are allocated to general body function, anything other than that, your body
6. Muscle & Bone loss. (stress fractures) Continue to dip into your muscle & protein for energy, bone density begins to decrease which often leads to stress fractures. {Hi, I lived this life}
7. Always Cold. Yes, some people are just always cold but chronic under eating takes cold to a new level. No matter what you do, you can’t get your body to regulate.
8. Hair loss &/or thinning. This is simply from nutrient depletion.
9. GI issues. Your body is smart, it will learn to adapt to the circumstances provided. Going through periods of low food intake will lead to constipation and/or diarrhea when you do eat. You’e not absorbing nutrients at this time and your gut microbiome has been compromised.
10. Moody AF. With everything you’re body is going through, it’s hard to believe you would feel anything other than Moody. Usually your mood improves when you workout, serotonin boost and then goes right back to nasty or worse after that high wears off.
If you think you are experiencing some of these symptoms or you know you are, here are a few things you can do right now to support your body.
>>Start tracking your food intake. How much are you eating and what are you eating? This will give insight into next steps.
>>Increase your protein. Even a protein shake after a workout or some BCCA’s to give you a little boost during your workout is better than nothing.
>> Increase your carb intake by 10-20 grams around your training.The slightest uptick in food can work wonders for your body.
It’s really easy to under eat when training volume increases, it doesn’t mean you have a problem, it just means you need to be more aware to support your body better!
You’re not the typical woman.
You work hard, train hard, you need to eat to support those lofty goals!
If you found this helpful and you’re ready to learn more ways to level up your nutrition to get the body & performance you desire, check out Women’s Nutrition Catalys
** If you feel like you may be teetering the line of eating disorder or you have know in your heart eating more is what you mean but is too terrifying to process, please reach out to a licensed professional to help you navigate. I’d be happy to guide you.
