Dr. Vonda Wright

We get weaker.

And this is one of the very first things that people complain about to me.

I don't have power.

I don't have strength.

My grip strength's gone.

I don't know.

But their body composition hasn't changed yet.

So if we think about lifting heavier loads, it's a neuromuscular response, and that direct stimulus creates the adaptive change in myosin that now estrogen isn't responsible for.

It's a different external stress that creates that change in myosin to go, yep, I have to grab onto actin and have a very strong contraction.

So we see that this dysfunction happens first before we start seeing a change in our lean mass development.

So if we are already in the habit of lifting heavier loads, then we can offshoot some of that myosin dysfunction that occurs with the estrogen change.

So in my niche of active women, we see there's a very, very high incidence of recreational active women and low energy availability.

meaning they're not eating enough to support daily life as well as their training.

So the subclinical aspect of not eating enough creates a myriad of issues that does create lower bone density, menstrual cycle dysfunction, greater inflammatory responses.

So

you know, the end result would be hypothalamic amenorrhea, so their periods have stopped, which is that low estrogen standpoint.

So, you know, keeping track of your period, make sure you're eating enough is one of the first stopgaps that we have in the athletic realm.

It's like, we want you to eat enough.

And if you're looking at bookending our calories on either end of the day, that's not appropriate.

We have to look at how your circadian rhythm works because the circadian rhythm, like we talked about in the first half, was about the pulses of our hormones.