[burnzraiser]

Hello
I am a guy, and I have a few questions about this.
My girlfriend is currently not on her period, and she is almost a week late I think.
she took a pregnancy test about 6 days ago, and it was negative, then we tested it again about 4 days later, and still negative.
The test said 6 days before, but I am not sure when exactly she had her last period.
I have been doing more research about it. About half way through june until early july, she was not taking birth control because she was taking antibiotics, and we had sex right after she was done with the medicine. But then took birth control again afterwards, and we used condoms ( i know that taking birth control right after does not help because she was a month off it)
I know some factors that can cause a missed period, some of the things that could have caused it was is that she is overweight, she only eats pizza and fast food everyday, she is really stressed out about moving away from her family in with me and she is really family oriented, she is also stressed out because she went from living a luxurious lifestyle to a really bad one, for example, it gets up to 115 F here and we have A/C on minimum settings, bugs all the time, no tv, and terrible internet. And apparently she has gained more weight in the past couple months, maybe 20 more pounds, and she was already overweight.
We do use condoms, but since i do not last long, so she stays on longer (and I cant tell her to get off because she gets angry) and sometimes the condom stays inside, so I am not sure if she pregnant or not.
Her symptoms are is that she obviously missed, she was very emotional today, but she has been emotional for a few months because of the move, her back is in pain (mainly her lower), but that might be due to her weight already, she vomitted once about 2 weeks ago, so maybe almost 2 weeks after conception, fatigue, but again work/diet/sleep could contribute to that and her fatigue has seemed like it has always been there, and she has been eating pizza more often, but again, that might be due to her diet and the lack of food she likes at the house.
A few questions
How often can a bad diet affect menstrual cycle? What about if you are overweight?
And what about a combination of a bad diet, stress, just starting her contraception again? If one can maybe cause it, would the chances increase?

[angelap99]

Hello and good questions.

To answer your questions: A bad diet has a HUGE and I mean HUGE effect on menstrual cycles! I cannot stress that enough...What I count as a "bad" diet is large sums of food that are high in processed sugar, dairy, fat, and starchy carbs. Overeating in general does damage to the body and throws hormones out of wack too. So, being overweight has an effect as well.

And certainly a combination of a bad diet plus stress and contraception will all effect her mood! The stress compounds it all.

Here are some tips your girlfriend can use to feel better soon:

A. ELIMINATE dairy products. This is important. No milk, cheese, or icecream. These are terrible for menstruating women. Substitute if necessary with almond milk based products.

B. Replace any processed sweets and processed snacks (like chips) with fresh fruits that are sweet like grapes, melons, or whatever her favorite fruits are. So long as they are fresh.

C. Eat small meals regularly throughout the day, i.e. eat a few small snacks that consist of a steamed or raw veggie like broccoli with some olive oil or a fresh fruit. And during meals, eat 300-400 calorie meals.

I hope this helps~

[burnzraiser]

Hello and good questions.

To answer your questions: A bad diet has a HUGE and I mean HUGE effect on menstrual cycles! I cannot stress that enough...What I count as a "bad" diet is large sums of food that are high in processed sugar, dairy, fat, and starchy carbs. Overeating in general does damage to the body and throws hormones out of wack too. So, being overweight has an effect as well.

And certainly a combination of a bad diet plus stress and contraception will all effect her mood! The stress compounds it all.

Here are some tips your girlfriend can use to feel better soon:

A. ELIMINATE dairy products. This is important. No milk, cheese, or icecream. These are terrible for menstruating women. Substitute if necessary with almond milk based products.

B. Replace any processed sweets and processed snacks (like chips) with fresh fruits that are sweet like grapes, melons, or whatever her favorite fruits are. So long as they are fresh.

C. Eat small meals regularly throughout the day, i.e. eat a few small snacks that consist of a steamed or raw veggie like broccoli with some olive oil or a fresh fruit. And during meals, eat 300-400 calorie meals.

I hope this helps~

She actually just go her period today.

I dont know how to get her to start eating healthy, like I made chicken, salmon, and pork(i know that this is fatty), and salad, but she wont eat anything like that. Like she got cereal (cinnamon toast crunch) with the intent to start eating a healthier breakfast, but she falls back into the same routine and eats either a deluxe breakfast or a couple sausage mcmuffins and hash browns at mcdonalds every like 3-4 days. And she works at a movie theater so that is not that good, and she would eat pizza/burgers or nothing for dinner.
Based on that diet, was that one of the main causes of that?
And how will the combination of both affect future periods, would it always be late if she keeps eating like that? If so, would she get her period a different time every month, for example sept 21, then oct 25, then nov 30? and keep on being late?

[angelap99]

I see...I am very positive that this diet is the most major cause of her menstrual cycle issues. There may be other issues too that contribute, but this kind of diet certainly has a disastrous effect on cycles. It does not have to be a 'perfect' clean diet for relief and regular cycles btw, i.e. she can measure out a cup of cinnamon toast crunch cereal (with no milk) to have as a dessert because that is exactly what I count sweet cereals as--just dessert.

To be honest, this won't be easy to get her to start eating healthy. It is wonderful that you are at least trying to help her out, but like with anything else in life, the person him or herself has to be the one who wants to do it. If not, it will only be temporary if at all. You should maybe speak to her about some research you did into this because you have concerns. Talk in a caring and non judgemental manner of course. And keep stressing the positives it will have on her health overall. And that you are willing to help make it easier. This is a good start. And yeah it is probably very hard to resist the junk at the movie theatres if you work there. It's not easy.

You are basically going to first have to win over her mind with wanting to make the change and truly desiring it in her heart to do so, or everything else will not work. It all starts with what you want to do in your heart.

[burnzraiser]

Thank you for the information about the menstrual cycle. And I know that diet can also be a factor in miscarriages as well. On the note where you said about the eating differently, where exactly could I go to ask a few questions and suggestions on how to talk to her about it in the forums? I mean about how to help her eat more healthy?

[angelap99]

Sorry for the late reply. I would go here if I were you to ask for more tips from some other folk:
Nutrition