Heyyo, I have not written a blog in
a long, long time since I have been far too busy with classes, my internship,
running, and a little bit of working. I
suddenly have a lot more time now that classes finished up this past
Friday. With this sudden free time, I
want to talk a bit about IUDs. I thought the Mirena was my BFF, but it turns out, it was probably more like Lindsay Lohan in Mean Girls, feeding me Kalteen bars while telling me they will help me lose weight.
I have been frustrated with my
fitness so far this year. While I have
been running pretty well, I am far from feeling like the finally tuned machine
of last year. Of course, some of this is
easily explained by a move, new coach, and grad school, but as of a couple
months ago, I felt like there was still a big piece missing from the
equation. I have been about 10 pounds
over race weight (and 5-8 pounds off my usual training weight) this entire
school year. Usually my body gets done
there naturally, but I have had a hard time the last three years. It made sense to me coming off surgery, but
this spring I started to get really irritated.
No matter what I did, my body was stuck at a weight that felt much too
heavy for racing fast. I checked in with
our team nutritionist, badass steeplechase Olympian Rasa Troup. We added more protein to my diet, had me
start eating more frequently, and made sure I was getting the right balance of
fats, proteins, and carbohydrates. While
my energy felt evenly distributed, I still wasn’t shifting to my usual racing
body.
Which is when we talked about birth
control. In the past, I have taken low
hormone birth control pills, but around the time I had hip surgery 3ish years
ago, I had a Mirena IUD put in. The
doctor told me weight gain was not one of the side effects, and it would
probably work well for my sensitivity to hormones because the Mirena hormones
are localized. However, Rasa said that
despite what doctors report, she has seen large increases in weight in some
people. While a 1 or 2% weight change
may not be statistically valid in medical trials, it can represent a large
impact on women who are trying to compete at an elite level. I did a little more research into the Mirena,
and found that some of the great side effects, like no period, happen because
the device is tricking your body into thinking its pregnant. Unlike pills, the hormones are constant.
My IUD keeping me at my current
weight makes so much sense. Even last
year, when I had no stress and enough time to pay attention to all the details,
I couldn’t get more than 5 pounds off my usual race weight. When I took two recovery weeks at the end of
the season, my weight bounced back to my current weight after only a couple
days.
I want to feel comfortable running
fast, so I got my IUD taken out six weeks ago.
I didn’t feel much difference until this past weekend when I got my
period. Now that my body realizes it’s
not pregnant, I’m hoping it feels okay getting ready to race. It’s still too early to tell, but I will
update with any further conclusions.
A few more thoughts on birth
control: If you are using birth control, and it’s working well for you,
awesome. I think the world is a lot
better place now that women can have more control over when they get
pregnant. I also think when women are
using their bodies for something that require a low percentage of body fat,
they should be given full information about their birth control options. We do not have a lot of information about the
exact consequences of birth control on, say, high level athletes (cause why
would anyone want to study that?), but, at the very least, I should not have
been told with such certainty my body weight would not be affected.