When I was in my early 20’s, I suffered from chronic, debilitating migraines. Literally every day for nearly 3 years, I had a headache. Some days so severe I was vomiting and couldn’t go to work. Other days more moderate, but distracting nonetheless. At that point in my life, as a newly married woman and with my entire life ahead of me, I hit a really dark place.
I didn’t want my date nights to be comprised of visits to the Urgent Care for narcotic painkiller injections.
I wanted to travel, to work my way up the corporate ladder, and to LIVE!
But that wasn’t the journey in the cards for me.
Instead I went through every form of treatment possible.
I saw headache specialists, neurologists, spinal specialists, chiropractors, and two different general practitioners. I tried Botox for migraine, anti-seizure IV infusions (with a drug that never did make it on the market!), I had 4 cervical spine surgeries, and you name a migraine medication… I tried it.
Nothing was working.
It was in walking with a dear friend one fall day when I reached into my pocket, where my little blue pill (Treximet) always was in times of desperation, when my friend said, “You’ve got to see this new Dr. of mine.”
I rolled my eyes at her. Another doctor, are you kidding me? No way. I’ve seen them all. The next step for me at that point was Mayo Clinic. This little blue pill was the only thing allowing me to function at all, even though it really only took the edge off and helped me sleep.
I burst into tears on the way home that day. I was at a breaking point.
The very next day, I was so full of frustration and pain that I decided I had to make a choice. I could either wallow in the pain, and stay in my bedroom with the blinds closed in bed, or I could find something to distract myself from the pain. That night, at a neighbor’s house, I was introduced to P90X and Shakeology, and I decided to go all in.
I could go into a novel right here on my journey from there, but I’ll skip ahead to the part you likely clicked on this to read… After multiple rounds of P90x (which I used as a distraction from the pain while still IN pain), I became interested in nutrition. After a 21 day detox/reset nutrition plan, I discovered how my body truly responded to different foods. I was blown away. I started to dig deeper into the knowledge of these things, through podcasts and books and webinars, and I started to uncover aspects of holistic medicine I never knew existed. It was at this time that I called my friend up, asked for the information of her local holistic M.D., and started the process of uncovering MY body.
And what we discovered seemed so minute, so simple, yet all these years later, I look back and realize how impactful the discovery was.
My progesterone (female fertility hormone) was essentially nonexistent.
After years on birth control (that’s a story in and of itself), it seems my body forgot how to properly function as a female. While a healthy female should be ovulating, producing natural progesterone, and having a regular period (not just a pill bleed), my reproductive system had been shut down for so long that, well, it stopped doing what it should.
As a result, I was in a constant state of estrogen dominance. (This is when your estrogen to progesterone ratio is off, meaning that my estrogen is too high in relation to my progesterone). When I started this process in 2010, my luteal phase progesterone number was a whopping .08. The standard range was 4.0 and up.
When my doctor started me on bioidentical (meaning plant-based, not synthetic) progesterone cream, within 4 months, my headaches reduced drastically, and I started to become aware of so many other symptoms I’d had that were masked by the pain of my head.
Things like:
- weight gain in my thighs, hips, and lower belly. 25 pounds, to be exact.
- brain fog and vertigo
- lack of deep sleep, feeling wired and tired
- occasional hot flashes at night, where I could wring my shirt out it was so wet
- painful periods
Suddenly, things started to make sense. This one teeny tiny hormone was wreaking havoc on my entire body by simply being in lack, and here I was, being the neurologist’s guinea pig and sticking needles in my arms, testing my brain, and sending me home with 7 different types of drug samples to try.
And so, this supplementation changed my 20’s from dismal and dark to crazy bright, awesome, and life-changing. I started a gym, I hit big strides in my virtual business as a health Coach with the company that started my journey with P90X, I grew my Team of Coaches from 6 to over 600, we adopted my daughter, and I simply felt amazing.
Fast forward to January of 2017, and I was excited to go ALL IN on a new program our company had released: 80 Day Obsession. We had just sold our gym, and I was home full-time with my child, and baby, when I say I went all in with this program, I mean I went ALL. IN.
I embraced the concept of timed nutrition.
I followed the portion control meal plan I had followed for years.
I crushed the workouts for 80 straight days.
And by the end of it, I was in the absolute best shape of my adult life. But I started to notice one thing… My headaches that were previously nearly nonexistent, were starting to creep back.
My life’s nemesis.
I made an appointment with my Dr., at which time she told me to take a “hormone vacation” from the supplementation so we could do some more accurate testing via my saliva to see what was going on. I decided to repeat 80 Day Obsession while doing this, because, well, at this point in my life, I had completed 18 home workout programs and it was part of my lifestyle. I looked forward to that hour every day.
Until one day, around Day 45 of my second round when I almost collapsed to the floor because my legs gave out on me. They literally went numb. It took me forever to get upstairs to my toddler after her nap because I felt completely zapped of energy. I don’t just mean tired. I mean I could hardy move one foot in front of the other.
What was wrong with me? Why was this happening?
I stopped the program and opted for lower impact options for a while. When we received my testing back, my doctor advised that I kick back for a couple months and do some walking and yoga and try to rest my adrenals. We couldn’t figure out why they were suffering, but it was obvious they were.
And so, I did the hard thing for me, and I rested. Trust me, it’s the hardest thing I’ve ever done. But I had no choice! Even yoga workouts made me feel out of breath. I supplemented with additional adrenal supplements and my usual Shakeology, and finally, after months of testing and resting, we figured things out…
At 10 years after my headaches first began in my 20’s, I was undergoing adrenal fatigue and headaches again in my 30’s. The testing and the symptoms all pointed to, yep, you guessed it…
LOW PROGESTERONE.
Throughout this journey (please know I’m giving you the high level story here), I met with experts in the field: hormone specialists, bioHRT pharmacists, new neurologists, you name it). I started reading books about women’s hormones and fitness training, and started to learn something shocking…
Women in fitness have never before been tested on maximizing their physiology for performance. Why? Because, and I quote, “We don’t know enough about men. Why would we test women?”
Dr. Stacy Sims introduced me to incredible new science in the realm of women’s training and hormone health, and the facts align perfectly to my experience and my story.
Things like…
- Why my husband recovers quicker from the same workout
- Why my body requires L-Leucine post-workout for muscle recovery
- What types of exercises (tempo, reps, length of time, etc.) help my body ward off fat from estrogen dominance
- How to fuel my body, and how essential carbs and healthy fats are to me as a female athlete
And so much more.
And so, in spring of 2020, I put all of this newfound knowledge to work… on my own body. I started tracking my ovulation using new technology, which helps me better predict my necessary progesterone dosing in any given month (some ovulatory, others anovulatory). I started a fitness regimen that caters to my physiology, with only 2 days a week of HIIT cardio workouts and the rest slow-motion, time under tension strength training. I started eating differently, with more fats and slightly more carbs. I started using Stacy’s science, and that of Lara Briden’s and other female health experts in the field, and applied it to my lifestyle and my body.
And the results I’m seeing so far are astounding.
In 8 weeks, I lost 6.7 lbs in the right areas (hips/thighs) and 5 inches. I’ve had two migraines in that 8 weeks, which is outstanding for me. I’ve regulated my cycles, and am ovulating more often, which works to my advantage (your cycle is an ergogenic aid for performance, ladies!) I’m stronger than ever, lifting heavier weights. And I’m feeling energetic, my adrenals are well above normal ranges, and I’m feeling optimistic that my late 30’s will be some of my fittest years yet.
So why do I share? Because I want to help other women out there learn for themselves what works best for their bodies in the realm of fitness, nutrition, and hormone health.
The truth is, if you’re finding that your belly fat just won’t go away no matter what you do, or if you’re energy seems to be depleting as you age, or that you are sometimes NOT having periods, or they’re all over the place as far as frequency… Girl, your hormones are at play.
I’m excited to share that I’ll be offering a Facebook group/online course combo to women who want to learn more about this, to follow a training calendar I’ve specifically designed for this, and to truly navigate this journey with me. I’m here to help!
If this speaks to you, submit your info here for more information: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdPbEhkPmB4hUzNjZr3SrDktepxt-W-iDq9anE0hnWLU7W0zQ/viewform?usp=sf_link
I look forward to helping you navigate this rocky terrain we like to call being a female. We are capable of so much, and yet many of us are symptomatic but don’t know where to begin or how to improve. In my course, I’ll be covering:
- Proper testing tips (not just what to test, but how to test and when)
- Best resources for each individual based on YOUR unique body (whether you have periods, ovulate, are on birth control, etc. all play a factor!)
- Nutrition plans to help you optimize fuel for the female body
- 12-week training plan that we will strategically structure around your menstrual cycle
You don’t have to feel miserable. But it does take the willingness to learn, to be your own best advocate, and to try something new.
xoxo,
Jenny Swisher, Founder of Body Electric