Am I running too much? —Carolyn from NJ

Carolyn, this is a great, and loaded, question. I recently had to have this conversation with myself, so I feel fresh on this thought process!

When we are trying to achieve outstanding health, everything has to work together. Our nutrition, sleep, environment, and exercise health all play into how they affect the most important ruler and rockstar of the body—our hormones. 

Before I go on, thank you for the background! She did give me permission to share it here for the rest of our readers. Carolyn is a teacher who also lifts weights three days a week.  She goes for a walk during her lunch and has recently tried to add running back into her routine at one mile, two days a week with a fellow coworker. Carolyn has been doing really well with her nutrition; she’s eating three times a day beginning first thing in the morning. She’s diligent with water and supplements. She did mention that she’s been eating a lot of sugar and falling back in love with her morning cup of coffee. She also said that her period has been regular since recovering her cycle a year ago and that this is the first hiccup she’s had.

Carolyn, my main thought is that if you’re seeing a difference in your chart, the body isn’t completely happy. Remember that everything we do takes a bit of stress on the body. Our nutrition, lack of sleep, daily job stress, and exercise all create stress. Because you’re seeing some symptoms of hormonal distress (temperatures dipping, acne across the jaw, and late ovulation), change one of your stresses. If you’re truly enjoying that new run with your coworker, eat more. Whatever you’re eating now with the combination of the added exercise (plus your job and other habits) seems to be creating too much of an energy deficit. You could also consider reining in a bit of the caffeine and sugar. It could be that the combination of the running with the increased caffeine and sugar is spiking your cortisol too much. 

Speaking of the sugar, I have no idea what your meals consist of without looking at a food log. It's possible that your body is in some nutritional distress if you’re craving so many sweets. Maybe you need to look again at the fat, carb and protein content to make sure you’re eating enough real food to keep you satisfied. This is vital especially with the lifting and cardio you’re incorporating. 

So in short, you’re currently running too much for your other lifestyle choices. If you adjust those other lifestyle choices, you can keep the running. It also might be a stressful time at school and your body could respond to running better during a time when the students aren’t making you nuts. 

Hope this helps! Thanks for writing!!