At 8% body fat and losing 50lbs, it sounds like you have done a tremendous job. Congratulations.

I stay between 7.7% and 8.3% body fat, and I think for an age grouper who is not about to win a Kona slot that this is a pretty low level of body fat. For a woman, you are at a much lower level of fat than I am. If you still want to lose more weight, you should think real hard about the reasons why. From my very limited understanding, cessation of periods is not necessarily a bad thing (although there are some negatives that you need to consider) however, it should be a warning sign that you are pushing your body very hard.

My wife lost a lot of weight about 3 years ago, though not quite as dramatic as your loss. She has been able to keep at her goal weight for 3 years, and comments that it is not all that hard. She is 5'5" @ 120lbs. She has a desired weight range. Up to 122 she will not worry about it. At or above 122 and she begins to *slightly* restrict her intake. She will never let herself get above 125. If she is between 120 and 122, she eats healthy, but doesn't give much thought to weight loss.

Early on the road to weight loss, my wife bonked hard in her first and only marathon because she wouldn't eat enough GU because she didn't want to gain weight!!! She now recognizes the foolishness of her thinking, but this is an example of how tightly you can get wrapped up in the weight loss mindset.

I definitely find that performance, especially recovery, begins to suffer if I don't get enough calories. Training at a high level simply requires good food. Why don't you set some reasonable weight ranges for yourself, and slowly increase your caloric intake with some high quality food. If you want to be very safe, add 1 snack (say 100 cals) every day for 2 weeks. If after 2 weeks of that extra 100cals/day you haven't gained any body fat, then add another 100cals and wait 2 weeks.

If you'd like to talk to my wife, let me know and I'll put you two in touch via email.

tri-b,

i am going to start this post with a disclaimer that i am not a nutritionist, a doctor, or a psychiatrist, and that this response is not to be considered by any means definitive of your course of action and situation. that being said, let me give you a few ballpark figures and some things to think about:

a woman of your age, height, and weight, would burn roughly 2000-2400 calories per day with no exercise whatsoever (your basal metabolic rate).

a 50 mile bike ride will burn roughly 1200 calories.

a 10 mile run will burn roughly 1000 calories.

a 3000 yard swim will burn roughly 500 calories.

8% body fat for a female is very low. it could be considered dangerously low, depending who you talk to. the fact that your period has ceased is one possible sign that you are malnourished.

for fear of gaining weight, you need to understand that a machine like your body cannot operate for prolonged periods of time without adequate fuel. if you keep giving a race car watered down gasoline, for example, the engine will eventually give out. your body is working ok right now, but most likely will not continue to do so unless you fuel it properly.

you should consider talking to a mental health professional about your situation. a fear of gaining weight is normal, but taken to extremes it can lead to permanent health problems.

be well.

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Marty Gaal, CSCS
One Step Beyond Coaching
Triangle Open Water Swim Series | Old School Aquathon Series
Powerstroke® Freestyle Technique DVD

Tri-B, I'd make this exact same post on cruciblefitness.com's message board. Ellen Coleman will most likely respond to this. she is a nutritionist who has written 4 books (4 editions of one book) on triathlon and nutrition. She also has met with the Lakers for nutritional meetings. She is legit and is VERY helpful with things like this. That is what I'd recommend you do.

It is a good message board and a good training community over there, like it is here at Slowtwitch.com

First of all, congratulations on your weight loss! But, I agree with what Marty said.

One question--what kinds of food are you eating? So-called "diet foods". There is a lot of information on Gordo's forum about this (www.coach gordo.com) and I'd suggest you read through a bunch of those threads. Especially http://www.coachgordo.com/...config.pl?read=35941 and http://www.byrn.org/gtips.htm (see the nutrition tips).

I've totally changed the way I eat and the numbers on the scale are slowly going down, but more important, my body composition is changing.

Good luck.

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clm
Nashville, TN
https://twitter.com/ironclm | http://ironclm.typepad.com

Tri-b,
8% body fat is dangerously low for a woman, and don't believe anyone who says it's okay for an athlete to be amenorrheic. It's an indicator that you are undernourished, not just of function of having low body fat. I think you'll find that if you up your intake of good quality calories to at least 2500/day, that you won't gain weight, but rather your performance will improve. Just try to eat whole foods and healthy fats and avoid processed foods and partially hydrogenated oils. Also, be sure to supplement with at least 1000 mg calcium daily since you are at risk for bone loss due to hormonal imbalances.
I am 5'8", weigh 143, have 13% body fat and I eat a good 3000+ calories per day (and I'm fast in races). I would never drop below 11% body fat because I know it isn't healthy and I would probably die in an Ironman without a little fat to spare.
Just my own two cents.

I also congratulate you for achieving so many goals in triathlon and in your own weight loss, but I have to say with some concern that a 26 year old female who is no longer menstruating is not healthy and is looking at some serious long-term consequences. It does not take a doctor to know this. Please, please get yourself to a nutritionist who understands the caloric needs of a female athlete, and then go to a doctor to get yourself checked out, and get on a plan between the two of them that will achieve the balaance you need. You do NOT have to become 'fat' again and lose all the progress that you've made, but you do need to have enough body fat to function properly as a female. There are plenty of good role models out there amongst the pro and elite women who have had children, therefore are functioning properly, and are still able to train and compete at the top level, with lean, strong, but healthy bodies. Please don't delay, this is important. If the fear of doing long-term harm does not motivate you to get past this mental block, as you called it, I don't know what will. Let us know what happens.

I would ditto this in spades. Very good advice. This sounds like an eating disorder case at first blush.

You may benefit from the services of a professional nutritionist with a specialty in athletes. (I believe a good one was mentioned above.)

All of us have a "set point" for weight, that moves slightly as we age. You have gone below a healthy "set point", PROBABLY.

At 6' and 175 lbs I am tempted to try to get down to 160 so I can climb and run better. But if I lose more than a few pounds I lose enormous amounts of strength. I just can't function well at 160. Right now I'm about 13% body fat, which isn't too bad for a codger. :)

Good luck and congratulations on turning your "fatitude" around! :),

-Robert

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"How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world." ~Anne Frank

at 5'9'', 145lbs. and 8% seems not to work out. Are you very muscular? how did you come about 8%? can you see you abs very define? Shoulder striations? way to low on the calories. if you do not eat enough your body will starve itself. you will store more even if you eat less because your body doesn't know when you will eat again. safety mechanism. you might not be having your cycle because of training or because you lost so much so quickly--you are stressing your body and this could be why.

I would guess a lot of the top female athletes miss their cycle all the time.