Why Do Women's Progesterone Levels Drop After Giving Birth?

[LadyRae]

Progesterone would increase over time and maybe you just settle into it quickly. My period returned sooner with each child - with the first I never had it when nursing. But I still think I had low progesterone even when I had a regular cycle.

I was also cruising through life on those lovely nursing hormones. But eventually I’d get depleted because, knowing what I do now, I wasn’t eating enough.

When I started working on rebuilding my metabolism I was 3 years in nursing my 3rd. After a few months I started taking a bit of progesterone and right away I got the urge to wean (which I needed to do anyway to fully regain my strength). I don’t know if it was the hormonal shift, or if progesterone just gave me the fortitude I needed to make the transition.

My metabolism was like a hot coal furnace then... Until I started experimenting with keto, running, and intermittent fasting about 6 years ago...

When I was breastfeeding I was easily eating 3,000+ calories a day and sleeping 9-10 hours a night. No exercise other than walks with a stroller, or a baby in a backpack, usually alongside a toddler (so you know how vigorous those walks were).

Dieting and running screwed everything up

 

[Peachy]

My metabolism was like a hot coal furnace then... Until I started experimenting with keto, running, and intermittent fasting about 6 years ago...

When I was breastfeeding I was easily eating 3,000+ calories a day and sleeping 9-10 hours a night. No exercise other than walks with a stroller, or a baby in a backpack, usually alongside a toddler (so you know how vigorous those walks were).

Dieting and running screwed everything up

What an optimal lifestyle for nursing! I wish all women did this. Good thing you didn’t try the keto shenanigans at that time.

 

[LadyRae]

What an optimal lifestyle for nursing! I wish all women did this. Good thing you didn’t try the keto shenanigans at that time.

I was eating like a lumberjack.

Fortunately, over the past 2 years I've been slowly getting back to this kind of metabolism. Initially when I quit exercising so heavily and cutting out carbs, I think I gained about 10 pounds but I could still wear the same clothes. Now, I'm easily eating twice as much as when I was doing keto and running a bunch and those 10 lb have come off...

When I quit breastfeeding about 5 or 6 years ago, I think that it was a difficult adjustment for me because I wasn't as hungry and I fell into the social mindset trap of thinking that I had to make some sort of major shift in my behavior and food consumption... It's not like I started putting on a bunch of weight or anything either! But for anybody that was into health and fitness at that time, keto was all the rage and everybody that was "healthy" ( Thomas Delauer)was doing it... Hypothalamic amenorrhea soon followed...

 

[Peachy]

I was eating like a lumberjack.

Fortunately, over the past 2 years I've been slowly getting back to this kind of metabolism. Initially when I quit exercising so heavily and cutting out carbs, I think I gained about 10 pounds but I could still wear the same clothes. Now, I'm easily eating twice as much as when I was doing keto and running a bunch and those 10 lb have come off...

When I quit breastfeeding about 5 or 6 years ago, I think that it was a difficult adjustment for me because I wasn't as hungry and I fell into the social mindset trap of thinking that I had to make some sort of major shift in my behavior and food consumption... It's not like I started putting on a bunch of weight or anything either! But for anybody that was into health and fitness at that time, keto was all the rage and everybody that was "healthy" ( Thomas Delauer)was doing it... Hypothalamic amenorrhea soon followed...

Sounds like we had sort of opposite experiences. I was inadvertently undereating while nursing - not focusing on my own needs and running around with the other kids, not sleeping much. No wonder I had “mom brain” and would fall asleep wherever my kids activities were.

Then as I was phasing off of nursing I dove into metabolism healing. I gained about ten pounds too, maybe 15, but I needed it.

I think the fact you were able to run and do keto shows your metabolism was in a good place. I couldn’t have done it if I’d tried.

 

[Peachy]

Come to think of it, I did try running to “gain more energy”. I would hit a wall after short distances and started coming down with frequent colds, the last one being the “Wuhan” covid strain. I know because I lost all sense of taste in a bizarre unprecedented way. Then I stumbled on the Energy Balance podcast and they set me straight.

 

[LadyRae]

Come to think of it, I did try running to “gain more energy”. I would hit a wall after short distances and started coming down with frequent colds, the last one being the “Wuhan” covid strain. I know because I lost all sense of taste in a bizarre unprecedented way. Then I stumbled on the Energy Balance podcast and they set me straight.

Well you're lucky you didn't keep pushing.

For the past five or six years my sister-in-law has been suffering from midsection weight gain and all sorts of hormonal disturbances. Her doctor actually told her that she has to buckle down and exercise variously for an hour a day . And they put her on an antidepressant and estrogen.

The only time she can lose any weight is when she cuts out all alcohol and diets strenuously. I saw her in October at Disneyland and she looked pretty good, she was excited about her 12 lb weight loss, but it came at an incredible cost. She says that when she starts drinking again or eating any carbs she balloons back up in 2 weeks.

Totally criminal "doctoring" going on