Female Athlete Triad

You may be experiencing Female Athlete Triad if you are an athlete who needs to reach a low weight necessary for competition. You may be working in the sports industry and over-exercise as a trainer or fitness instructor. You may be a dancer required to maintain a low weight for a performance. Or you may simply be someone who is anxious about your weight and you drive yourself to exercise almost daily.

The Female Athlete Triad is made of 3 interrelated conditions, that cascade like dominos – an energy deficit caused by disordered eating, which leads to menstrual disturbances and amenorrhea, and finally bone loss and osteoporosis.

You may be in a sport or career where there is pressure for you to be thin and a light weight. This can lead to poor body image and a high drive for thinness that cause you to either restrict the calories you consume, over-exercise or perform a purging behaviour either by vomiting or using laxatives. You may feel ashamed about your behaviours, feel guilty for performing them and feel stressed about hiding them.

The energy deficit from the excessive exercise and calorie restriction will cause your periods to become irregular or cease altogether. At this point you have severe disruption to your ovarian function causing menstrual disturbances and amenorrhea.

As your body’s nutrient deficiency and menstrual disturbances continue, you may notice that you start to get stress fractures whilst training in various high-stress parts of your body that are particular to your sport or training regime.

Female Athlete Triad Treatment

For successful treatment for Female Athlete Triad I will to understand your sport or career so together we can assess the pressures you are under from your perspective, and decide an optimal recovery plan for you:

1. We will explore how long you’ve had your symptoms, the requirements you have for any sport/career, and any disordered eating behaviours that exist for you
2. We will create a re-feeding programme for you, that will be nutrient dense, to allow regular menses to recommence.
3. We will work at your pace to ensure you stay at an optimal weight for your sport/career
4. Together we will explore your thoughts and feelings about your body image and your desire to be thin, and how they relate to the exercise that you do
5. I will help you develop a recovery thought plan so that you think and behave in new healthier ways when faced with familiar trigger situations
6. I will help you maximise your potential for optimal performance while at the same time nurturing your body and mind towards optimal health

Female Athlete Triad can be caused by immense feelings of pressure to be a certain shape and weight. It can also cause great feelings of shame, which mean you don’t ask for help until symptoms become severe.