Why you should pay attention to your Menstrual Cycle as a woman - A breakdown of "The Women's Book Vol 1" by Lyle Mcdonald /w Eric Helms

[dawn16]

@linamali I'm 39 and have found the exact same thing, that these phases seem more extreme now and I struggle in that last week. ugh

 

[casapollo]

@great_depression Well now I’m really curious as to how I kept growing until I was 19/20 yet got my period at 12. I knew my body tends to buck the norm, but dang.

Thanks for all of this, btw!!

 

[linamali]

@casapollo I was thinking something similar. I was 14 when I got my period, but I was only 4'11. Thank goodness I grew those extra 3 inches by age 22.

 

[soverinth]

@great_depression Awesome! I love Eric Helms!

 

[dawn16]

@great_depression Not sure about that statement re: eating disorders. Completely ignores the social, psychological, and brain development factors which factor into EDs. Plus, as far as I know, men also develop EDs around the same time in life. Just seemed extremely speculative with very little supporting info.

 

[dawn16]

What statement? I'm trying to find it in the OP but I don't see anything about EDs.

 

[great_depression]

@dawn16 I removed it. It was an over simplified version of this:

But most overt ED's occur in women under the age of 24 and tend to develop at puberty which suggests a biological factor.

And that biological factor, simply, is estrogen more specifically the increase in estrogen that occurs at puberty which is when the majority of true ED's develop

 

[valshantal]

@dawn16 Yeah, there is a biological component to eating disorders, but not in the way he’s saying. There’s evidence for genetic predisposition and brain changes in relation to eating disorders, but age isn’t the cause. Plenty of older women and men and even young kids (

 

[great_depression]

@dawn16

Completely ignores the social, psychological, and brain development factors which factor into EDs

He does not. I did. It is a 400 page book. He goes deeply into it. This is a summary. It is not supposed to be me posting his entire book. I am knowingly butchering things. This thread is a summary of just the menstrual cycle chapters and it's not even all of it.

He goes into all of it.

Here is a quote from one of his chapters on it:

Plus, as far as I know, men also develop EDs around the same time in life.

A quote from one of his chapters on eating disorders.

Unbelievably, some studies indicate that 95% of true ED's are seen in women which is simply enormous (6). Quite in fact, for some time it was actually thought that ED's occurred only in women. We now know that this is false as relatively more men are developing some form of ED in the modern world.

But most overt ED's occur in women under the age of 24 and tend to develop at puberty which suggests a biological factor.

But focusing on women, there is absolutely no doubt that environmental and cultural issue that play
into this with factors such as a mother with an ED, early dieting practices, stressful environments, being
teased about body weight, media images or being involved in traditionally female sports such as
gymnastics, ballet and ice skating that stress thinness and low body weights that are present (9)

The next chapter following eating disorder is "Prenatal Hormone Exposure"

In this case, the effects of pre-natal hormone exposure and programming
determine how a woman's biology will be impacted by changes in her hormones later in life. Returning to the topic of eating disorders, Binge Eating Disorder (BED) which is far more prevalent in women is
thought to be related to the combination of a relative lack of androgen exposure during fetal development that puts a woman at higher risk for developing BED at puberty when estrogen levels increase

He continues to go into brain developmental factors

 

[cjbravo]

@great_depression This was a fascinating and insightful read, thank you!

 

[erxomai]

@great_depression Thanks for the summary! This is super interesting stuff.

I think you have a little typo in the early luteal section. You wrote 1000-3000 calories instead of 100-300 in one of the bullet points

 

[great_depression]

@erxomai Thanks! I meant an extra 1000-3000 burned by the end of the phase. Corrected.

 

[erxomai]

@great_depression That makes sense! Thanks for clarifying

 

[oligarchy]

@great_depression When you're breastfeeding and your cycle hasn't returned for a while, do you know what stage are you most similar to?

 

[pt27587]

@oligarchy That's a really complicated question and I suspect there haven't been enough studies on exercise during breastfeeding for us to know the impact on training response. The hormone profile is well described but complicated and even having done a bit of revision just now, I suspect I am oversimplifying to the extent of making errors, but --

From this paper

For lactating women, FSH in the 1st year is in the high normal range and in the 2nd year it is in the normal range of the follicular phase. The luteinizing hormone (LH) remains low during lactation but at weaning, LH concentrations increase as prolactin levels decrease.

To put that into the hormone profiles described by OP, FSH stimulates oestrogen production and LH stimulates androgens. Both rise sharply before ovulation in a typical menstrual cycle.

But -- probably the biggest difference in hormone profile in breastfeeding women is high prolactin, and prolactin keeps oestrogen levels low. So, during breastfeeding, I suspect both oestrogen and progestogen levels are relatively low. That would maybe be closest to the late luteal stage.

Still, it's going to be more complex and interesting than that. I have read (can't remember where, sorry) that during breastfeeding is the one time women's preferential fat usage is for fat storage in the lower body (which is the norm for men and one of the reasons for different body fat distribution in men and women). Just using that as an example, we can see there's going to be some interesting and complicated differences going on with hormones during breastfeeding, probably quite distinct from any of the menstrual cycle stages.

 

[oligarchy]

@pt27587 Thank you!

 

[great_depression]

@oligarchy I believe that is Amenorrhea unless I am misunderstanding.

 

[dawn16]

@great_depression Thank you for taking the time to make this post for us! I just wanted to add that the app FitrWoman is also an excellent way to reference info on the 4 phases of the menstrual cycle. The US women's soccer team supposedly uses the app to inform their training.

 

[jyledh]

@dawn16 Thanks! I was looking for a période tracker and I was overwhelmed by the choices ad the girly aspect of the app... I'll check out FitrWoman

 

[meowkittyxo18]

@dawn16 Came here to say this!! It's a great app and I use it daily.