Mallory Cooper is a devoted wife to her husband, Colton, of five years, a proud dog mom to her two golden doodles, Dood and Doodette, and, most recently, a loving mother to her little miracle boy, Hendon. She is passionate about her faith, cherishes time with family and friends, and embraces every opportunity to soak up the sunshine.

In this Episode:

• The toxic environment of them gym when battling exercise addiction
• Why a missing period should be a red flag for disordered eating support
• Unpacking the financial and emotional costs of IVF
• Moving out of denial and into alignment with your true values
• Advocating for yourself and why permanent period loss is a myth  
• Using recovery tools to support your body postpartum 
• The importance of addressing your relationship with exercise  
• How to go from no period to pregnant in 5 months without fertility treatment 

Transcript:

Lindsey Lusson  00:00

Before we started working together, you told me a story about how you were working with a fertility clinic at the time, and they wanted an ungodly amount of money up front just to start an ag retrieval process. I believe, for an IVF cycle. 

Mallory  00:15

Yeah. So we were like, we’re gonna have to take out a loan for this. Like, this is crazy. They were telling me, like, this is the only way that I know that you’re gonna get pregnant. They told me it’s gonna be X amount of money. But also, because your hormones are so low, you’re gonna have to pay this amount of money for the hormones on top of this. 

Mallory  00:34

And we were like, so if this doesn’t work, we’re gonna be paying this off for a long time. Or maybe it would have worked, and that would be amazing. But also, how are we going to have enough money to build a nursery? And so in my head, I would rather invest in my health. And even if it doesn’t work, at least I have a better relationship with food and exercise. Then the major plus would be like also being able to have a baby.

Lindsey Lusson  00:57

Welcome to the Period Recovery and Fertility Podcast. Here, we discuss the challenging, rewarding and life changing process of recovering your period and finding freedom with food and exercise. Whether you’re hoping to regain your cycle to get your health back on track or you’re ready to become a mama, this podcast is for you. While the recovery process isn’t always rainbows and butterflies, it’s my hope to bring you both information and inspiration during your own recovery journey. I’m your host, registered dietitian and fellow HA woman, Lindsey Lusson.

Lindsey Lusson  01:28

Mallory Cooper is a devoted wife to her husband, Colton, of five years, proud dog, mom to her two golden doodles, dude and Dudette, and most recently, a loving mother to her little miracle boy, Hendon. She is passionate about her faith, cherish his time with family and friends, and embraces every opportunity to soak up the sunshine. 

Lindsey Lusson  01:47

All right, y’all welcome back to the Period Recovery and Fertility Podcast. I have a special guest and Mama with me today. Welcome Mallory!

Mallory  01:56

Hi. Thank you for having me. 

Lindsey Lusson  01:58

So happy to have you. And we were just chatting about how your little man is going on for months. Will be four months on Valentine’s Day. What has been your favorite thing about becoming a mom so far?

Mallory  02:10

Gosh, I feel like I could go on for literally ever about this child. I love him. But I think definitely just watching him learn all of his new things and just all the different phases, watching him just grow in his little brain to work. Also, just like seeing little bits and pieces of myself and Colton, my husband, in him. It’s just such a sweet blessing. I just… we look at him and we just are just tickled to death. He’s just an angel. 

Lindsey Lusson  02:37

It’s so fun, too, if you’re first because all of the milestones. You’re just like, Oh, they’re really doing it. And they change so much. Literally, like, week to week in that first year. There’s just so much going on and so much to celebrate. And, like, ooh and awe over. It’s so much fun. 

Mallory  02:52

Yes, in particular, this last week has just, we’re like, Whoa, he’s turning from his back to his belly. We’ve never seen this. And we’re like, Whoa, this is amazing. Where I’m like, Colin, come look, come watch. So it’s just super awesome. And it’s just like I said, such a blessing. He’s wonderful.

Lindsey Lusson  03:09

Well, let’s backtrack a little bit. Because your pathway to pregnancy wasn’t the easiest one. We’re gonna get into your story a little bit more as we get into the episode. But why don’t you start us off by talking a little bit more about your pathway into period loss and kind of what even led us to come to a point where we work together. 

Mallory  03:30

I’ve had quite the history. I started out in high school. I was super active in sports all the time.Competitive cheerleader, gymnast, softball, whatever I could do. And so my periods were never super regular ever since I started. Definitely more regular than they had become in the future. But then I got into college, decided that I wanted to try and be a personal trainer. So I got my NASM certification in personal training, and that’s kind of where it really started to get bad. I noticed it was such a healthy outlet for me at the beginning. And then I just became obsessed with it, because I was working out beforehand. Then I was working out with all of my clients, and then I was eating very clean. 

Mallory  04:21

You go to the gym and they’re like, you’re gonna eat that candy bar. Like that Apple has a lot of sugar in it. You’re like, you better be careful. So you hear all those things, and it just becomes your whole world. And so with my personality as it was, I think I just became addicted to the whole environment.Which eventually got me down to I was having no period at this point, but I continued to lose weight. 

Mallory  04:22

And so I was fixing to get married. I was also like trying to fit into my wedding dress, and I wanted to be perfect. But I ended up being a little bit too thin to where people were noticing it at this point. It’s so hard at the beginning, because people don’t notice that you’re struggling because you’re not an unhealthy BMI. After my wedding, my husband was like, we’ve got to do something. This is not good. I can tell that your habits are unhealthy. You look unhealthy… All the things. And so I ended up actually being hospitalized. This was years ago. So they got me back up to a “healthy weight”.But I never got my period back,

Lindsey Lusson  05:30

Yeah. And so it sounds like, growing up, we felt like we didn’t really have issues with food. We played sports. We were active and college, we didn’t play sports, but got into personal training. Is that right? 

Mallory  05:44

Correct. Yeah. 

Lindsey Lusson  05:45

And it’s interesting, right? Because I do find, especially having worked in several gyms just over the course of one off jobs and then early in my career as a dietitian, even, that the culture in gyms can be very toxic. Not only from a trainers and their clients talking about food or I was so bad this weekend. But also too, with just like, how easy it can be to hide an exercise addiction working in a gym. Because working out is your job. You’re going through workouts to plan for your clients, and then you’re working out on the side, and you’re moving around. I mean, there’s just a lot of energy expenditure in that. 

Lindsey Lusson  06:24

So it makes sense that with the way that things were talked about and your expenditure, especially where there was a lot of clean eating, that things just didn’t equate. Talk us through prepping for your wedding, and where your mindset was there too. You mentioned in hindsight, I got too thin for my wedding. Do you feel like during the wedding prep you were like, I’ve gone too far, but I’ll deal with this after I get married? Or in your mind, where you like, I don’t have a problem. I’m so healthy. Look at me.

Mallory  06:54

No, I definitely knew it was a problem, but it was one of those things that I kept kind of pushing back. Like I’ll definitely, I’ll worry about this after the wedding. And then after the wedding, it was still bad. Then I kept saying, like, next week I’ll be better. And I’m sure a lot of people can relate to that. It’s just like, one of those things you’re just in your comfort zone. Like, you’re in control of it, and you feel powerful in that, I guess. And it was just so hard for me to break from that without getting the help that I needed.

Mallory  07:23

 I think also I was so undernourished. Like my brain wasn’t thinking properly as well. But it was definitely like, Okay, I’ll do better next week, or I’ll eat more next week, or I’ll stop exercising as much next week. Did I ever do that? No, it wasuntil I need someone to actually force me to stop. So that’s kind of where it led me to the hospital and all of that kind of stuff.

Mallory  07:47

For sure. And when we’re talking about somebody doing hospitalization, we are talking about a pretty extreme level of malnourishment. And hospitals always kind of meant to be like a temporary… let’s get this person stable and then discharge them to partial inpatient or intensive outpatient. Did you follow up and do those steps of eating disorder recovery as well?

Mallory  08:09

I did. We ended up moving me and my husband. He went to grad school in Tampa, so I left, which was also kind of… Itwas a blessing. And it was also hard. Because it was like, Okay, this is a new beginning. And there was a place down there that I could do partial… I could go in for the day kind of thing and hang out and then go home still. But I took me a while to make myself do that again. Because I felt some freedom. And I was like, I got this, I can do this off my own.

Mallory  08:37

And then it was just sort of a little bit of a relapse, and then I went back. But yeah, with insurance and stuff too they let you go before you’re completely ready.  I kept getting an inch closer to feeling confident. But then it was like, every time that phase would end, I would be, oh, it’s so hard to do this on my own. I would get closer, but I was still not getting my period and all things. And so that’s what was so tough, is because I knew that I was still not where I needed to be. Like, I wanted to control kind of where I was at and be like, Okay, I want to be this amount of weight. And I think I’ll be healthy at this point. But I wasn’t because I still wasn’t getting my cycle. You know what I mean.

Lindsey Lusson  09:23

Right. And it’s so hard to recognize that. Because, on the one hand, the missing period should be a big red flag. But when you’ve got majority of the medical community being like, I don’t know, this isn’t a big deal. Just go on the pill or go into fertility treatment. Which I know is part of your story too. You just don’t really have a lot of people in your corner being like, hey, Mallory, this is a big deal. And if you really want your period back, we need to go back and probably uproot some of the eating disorder stuff that maybe we haven’t done yet. 

Lindsey Lusson  09:59

But you don’t have a lot of people advocating for stuff like that. And so how did you get to this place where it actually did become important for you to not just be somebody who lived in a functional, quasi recovery, and somebody who really desired full recovery from an eating disorder?

Mallory  10:18

Definitely joining your program, my motivation was I just really wanted to have a baby. That was big for me. But also just having such a good support system, family, friends, my husband and my faith for sure.

Lindsey Lusson  10:33

For sure. Before we started working together, or it might have been, actually the first time that we visited, you told me a story about how you were working with a fertility clinic at the time, and they wanted an ungodly amount of money up front just to start an ag retrieval process. I believe for an IVF cycle. Can you tell us a little bit more about that story? 

Mallory  10:54

Yeah. So we actually were like, we’re gonna have to take out a loan for this. Like, this is crazy. Because they were telling me, like, this is the only way that I know that you’re going to get pregnant. Because my doctor was saying it could be permanent period loss. And that was a thing, supposedly. And I was like, There’s no way that it’s permanent. I’m a female. I know I can get my cycle back. And also in my head, I was thinking, okay, but I’m exercising a lot. And I wouldn’t admit that at the time. But I’m exercising a lot and I’m eating really clean. Like, I definitely not eating enough for how much I’m exercising.

Mallory  11:32

And like, I knew I wasn’t feeling good, so in the back of my head I was like, I know that there’s more that can be done iswhat kind of how my brain was thinking through it silently. But yeah, they told me, it’s going to be X amount of money. But also, because your hormones are so low, you’re going to have to pay this amount of money for the hormones on top of this. And so we were thinking… We were trying to crunch numbers. And we were like, okay, but so if this doesn’t work, we’re giving out this much money, and we’re going to be paying this off for a long time. And maybe it would have worked, and that would be amazing. 

Mallory  12:12

But also, how are we going to have enough money to build a nursery. So in my head, it was like, I had seen your page and I had kept telling Colton, like, I don’t know, I just feel like God’s nudging me this direction instead. Like I would rather invest in my health. And even if it doesn’t work for some reason, at least I have a better relationship with food and exercise. Anything. And then the major plus would be also being able to have a baby. He was like, Well, if that’s what you want to do, then I’m all for it. Very supportive. So that’s what we did. 

Lindsey Lusson  12:54

So it sounds like for you that some of the biggest deciding factors were not just the money, but the idea that you kind of knew in the back of your mind that your relationship with food needed some support. If you’re comfortable, just so people who might be in a similar boat, weighing the pros and cons of what they might be out… Because I don’t feel like this is like public knowledge. Like how much it could cost to do in IVF cycle and the financing of it. I don’t feel like that’s public knowledge. Are you comfortable with sharing, just like, some numbers that were shared with y’all?  Just to put things in perspective.

Mallory  13:31

Yeah, I want to say that it was probably between 12 to 15,000 just to start. Like, before we could even start the process at all, it was okay. You have to put this down right away, or we can even schedule your appointment to begin with. Then it was like, 1000s and 1000s of dollars for the hormones and stuff that I didn’t know. Maybe a few of them would work. Maybe we’d have to do more. And that was just like we would have to pay cash. There was no insurance coverage or anything like that. And then it’s just this chance that it’s not going to work, which is just terrifying. 

Lindsey Lusson  14:10

Yeah, I mean, there’s a difference in, like, taking out a loan to buy a house. Like you need a place to live. And at the end of the day, at some point, you’re going to have a place to live. Whereas, IVF can very much be a little bit of a gamble. I mean, we like to believe in medicine, and we like to believe that there’s research and statistics with medicine. But it’s not perfect science for every single person. And it sounds like even for you, aside from the cost, it was like, Okay, this is going to be financial stress. 

Lindsey Lusson  14:36

But it sounds like you almost even felt like maybe a bit of a God thing, being like, hey, Mallory, you don’t need this, and the baby is bonus. What we’re pushing for now, what you were feeling called to do was to really start healing your relationship with food. So tell us more about that. 

Mallory  14:55

That was like… What was in the back of my head too, is just like going through and listening to all of the Yes, it was expensive and stuff. But it’s also like, Okay, I know that there is more to this, because I know what I’m doing is not… It’s still not healthy. Yes, I look healthy, and people say I’m healthy and all the things. But I know my obsession with food and exercise, the times that I ate the things that I ate, the amount of movement I had to do every day, or I was anxious. I knew there was a problem there.

Lindsey Lusson  15:28

How do you think you’ve got to that awareness? Because I do visit with people more often than I wish I did that kind of think their habits are super healthy. They don’t necessarily see that there’s a problem. Like, there’s just a huge disconnect and a denial. Maybe you had a point where you went through this too. I think everybody does have a bit of a denial period. But how did you move to this place of like, this is a problem and I need to do something about it? How do you feel like you moved there and got to that place?

Mallory  15:58

Well, definitely, honestly, just getting my labs drawn, where I’m like, okay, my estrogen is tanked. This is not good. Like, I said, my husband would be like, do you have to go on a walk today? Is that super necessary? And I’m like, Yes, I need to go. And he’s like, that’s kind of a problem. Don’t you think that’s kind of a problem? I was definitely in denial a little bit like, no, it’s just healthy. Like everyone, you should exercise. Doctors tell you you can never walk enough. It’s so good for your heart kind of thing. But you can, it’s true, and I’m the living proof of that.

Mallory  16:36

So, yeah, I think I definitely did live in denial for a while, just with certain things like that. But also, I don’t know… I still think in the back of my mind, I was always like, Gosh, I wish I just didn’t let this control me. I wish this wasn’t taking over control of my life. But I don’t know if that’s another part of just my faith and being like,  God didn’t design us to be in this state. He wants us to take care of our bodies and fuel our bodies. And yes, exercise and Yes, eat good Whole Foods. But you have to be able to be your best self to serve Him. And that’s like, what His whole purpose is about. That’s his whole purpose for us here.

Lindsey Lusson  17:19

For sure. And not to take a total turn into spirituality here, or maybe we are going there. But from a faith perspective too, is it’s kind of like, well, anything that’s taking up that much time and that much energy and taking you away from being present with others is an idol, right? Like, not, not what Exercise and Movement and healthy eating is designed to be. And so when it’s become an obsession, then it’s no longer healthy.

Mallory  17:49

Right. And I think I was having some spiritual warfare there to where that was really tugging at my heart a lot as well. 

Lindsey Lusson  17:59

So tell me what led you to eventually reach out to me. And what was most alluring and made you feel like, okay, this is what I got to do. These are going to be my people. These are the people that are going to help me.

Mallory  18:08

Yeah, I just had been following your page for a long time. And it had been on my heart. It was just like I’m going to do one or the other. And so once we decided IVF is crazy, like we can’t do this right now. It’s crazy, because I knew there was another issue. I was like, Colton, I think this is what I need to do. And he’s like, Well, let’s do it. Let’s try it. Let’s see what we what we can do. And so, yeah, I messaged you that day, and I think I started the program, the next week. So…

Lindsey Lusson  18:34

We did get started really, really quickly. You knew what you wanted, and we we got to work. And good for you, because I think that there are a lot of people in similar situations that maybe don’t have the knowledge to advocate for themselves. You had a doctor that was telling you have permanently lost your period. There’s no other option like IVF, is it. And you have the knowledge and the wherewithal to advocate for yourself and say, You know what? This isn’t it. There is something else I can do. And I actually know exactly why I can’t get pregnant. I just need the tools and the resources and the support to start doing some things right again and kind of re nourishing my body. 

Mallory  19:12

I think I kind of  shocked her a little bit when I continued to go back. I was getting… it took me longer than your program to get my period back a lot longer, actually. So it was, it was discouraging, but I’ll talk about that later, I’m sure.

Lindsey Lusson  19:27

Yeah no, bring it in. So Mallory, that’s back when we were running our eight week program, and when we were doing that, I mean, we would definitely have probably 50% of our clients who would get their period back in eight weeks. But then we noticed, like, hey, not everybody does. And even to this day, if I have somebody who doesn’t have their period back in 12 weeks. Really not like scratching my head. So three months, I’m not like, Oh my gosh. What are they doing wrong? What are we doing wrong? Some people’s bodies just take a little bit more time. So all in all, how long did it take you to get your period back?

Mallory  19:54

It took me about four months to get my period back.

Lindsey Lusson  19:58

Did that feel like an eternity? 

Mallory  20:00

It was a really, really long four months. Yeah, it definitely was. But the community that you provide in your program too… I’m a big extrovert. So the friendships that I made, it was so awesome to be able to reach out to people who understand what you’re going through, and just have that community still. Even though I wasn’t in the program the last couple of months. Just so awesome.

Lindsey Lusson  20:25

I think when you have a longer recovery time too, you do need that community. Because there’s going to be a little bit of the getting in your head about, like, what if this doesn’t work for me? 

Mallory  20:34

I was like, I’m absolutely broken. I really think I am. Like, everybody says that you’re not broken, but I think that I’m actually the one that is broken.

Lindsey Lusson  20:42

But let’s talk about coming into the program and things that you actually did have to change. I mean, obviously time was a factor for you. But there were actual things that you had to change about your movement, about your exercise, about your mindset. What do you think were some of the most impactful things that you learned that allowed you to be able to get your period back naturally?

Lindsey Lusson  20:42

Yeah, everybody’s body just responds so differently. There’s not always necessarily a rhyme or reason. I mean, granted, if somebody’s starting with an estrogen of five versus an estrogen of 25, I would anticipate the person with the lower hormones to recover and take longer. But four months is actually the tail end of what I’ve seen as normal for period recovery. 

Mallory  21:19

Definitely eating an hour in between that hour period of waking. I did not do that. I would try my best to wait as long as possible to eat something. Which I’m sure a lot of people can relate to. It’s just like, you wake up and you’re like, how long can I go until I  actually need something. That was a big thing for me, so waking up and just having peanut butter and a bagel on my way to work before I had overnight oats or something after. I had to really get comfortable with that. Because I was super uncomfortable for me waking up and eating right away.

Mallory  21:53

Because I felt like I didn’t need it, and especially at the beginning, your hunger cues are so off. May not have any just because you’ve gone so long without eating breakfast. So that was hard for me, but that was definitely one thing that I think, even now post postpartum, that I’ve had to reteach myself. Because I’m like, Oh, I have a child. Let me take let me do this, this and this, before I get to that point. And so it’s been really helpful being able to use your tools that you’ve given us beforehand for me to relearn. Postpartum is also super difficult to navigate.

Lindsey Lusson  22:27

Postpartum can be really hard, and we actually end up working with a lot of clients, either again postpartum, or they’ll come to we didn’t work with them previously. This is kind of the more likely scenario. But if you don’t have the tools on how to fuel yourself properly for period recovery. Let’s just say that you’re one of those people who turns two levers and your periods back and you’re healed, and then the next thing you know is you’re pregnant. You may not have actually gotten the tools and the foundation down on how to fuel yourself properly postpartum. So relapse can happen. 

Lindsey Lusson  22:55

And so eating first thing in the morning, important for postpartum, super important for period recovery. What were some of the other major things that you needed to change about your lifestyle or about your mindset that allowed you to be able to get your period back?

Mallory  23:08

Um, definitely having a rest day. Taking rest days that is so hard for me still to this day. I love being out in the sun. I love being outside. I’m like, it’s just the walk. But it’s not. You need to be able to tell yourself, like, okay today this is good for me. You need to eat the same things, you don’t have to restrict because you’re not exercising that day. So definitely Rest. Rest is hard, but it’s so necessary for your body to heal, I think. 

Lindsey Lusson  23:38

You brought up two things Mallory, that I don’t even know, that you necessarily meant to. But I want to pull out here for a second. And it’s the idea that I really love exercise, but the intentionality with the exercise: Because I feel like I have to, because I’m trying to change my body, because I feel I’m comfortable in my body. And I think that that’s where a lot of people get it wrong in getting good into compulsive over exercise is because it becomes a coping mechanism for body image issues. 

Mallory  23:38

And I was really never, ever taking a single rest day. I was just working my body to the court.  So I learned how tired my body really was. When I did start resting more in your program, I was like, dang, my body is exhausted. And you just go through that phase once you start eating a lot more than you’re used to, and exercising less, you’re like, Okay, well, maybe I really did need to take some steps back here.

But yeah, rest for sure. And then just exercising when you feel like it. When you genuinely feel like it. When you really feel like, okay, I want to do this because I’m going to enjoy it. Not because I have to, because I need to, because I want my body to look a certain way. So just being able to remind yourself. I had to put sticky notes on my fridge, on my mirrors. And just be like either Bible verses or just kind of words of affirmation, or anything that was just to keep me mentally in the right head space.

Lindsey Lusson  25:09

So yes, exercise is good and we want to move our bodies, but our intentionality with why we’re moving might be the broken part that drives us into HA. Right? Because if it’s always about being leaner, if  it’s about coping with emotions, we’re not really exercising for the purpose of getting stronger or improving our mental health. We’re actually using exercise as an unhealthy coping mechanism for something bigger.

Lindsey Lusson  25:36

 And then the other thing that I wanted to tease out here for a second is, you brought up resting was hard. And it sounds like part of the reason why we’re resting was hard because, in your mind. You had it associated with, if I rest, then I need to eat less, and you had to unmarry those two things. Was th at hard for you?

Mallory  25:52

Right. And I was already eating so little. I mean, I was already not eating enough for how much I was doing. So yeah, if I were to take anything else out,  I’m like, I don’t think I could. And so it was definitely a mental thing. I would just bite my nails and, shake my legs all day long if I wasn’t doing that. And I’m like, this is just not the life that you want to live. You don’t want to you don’t want to be older one day and be like, Oh,  I skipped out on this fun dinner, because I was worried about what I was gonna eat, and so I just didn’t go. Or certain things like that. That’s just not how you should be designed to live your life. It’s just not fair. It’s not worth it.

Lindsey Lusson  26:36

And it sounds like for you that that was kind of the thing that shook you out of all of this was recognizing that like, this isn’t actually who I want to be. This is not a core value or belief for who I am, or the life that I want to live. And I think that that’s actually where we have to get to finally overcome these things, is to recognize that we are not acting in accordance with our core values. And that’s when the magic and change can really happen. 

Lindsey Lusson  27:00

So after the four months, the four grueling months that it took you inside… There’s gonna be somebody listening to this podcast episode thinking like, oh my god, I would kill to get my period back in four months.  Everybody’s journey is different. But when you’re in it, four months can feel like an eternity. After you got your period back, how long did it take you to get pregnant? 

Mallory  27:18

I actually got pregnant in my first cycle. It was long and it was grueling. But it was like, whoa, this is crazy. Everything just kind of… my hormones shot up. Everything just like started… I was saying, My doctor was just completely shocked. She was like, Okay, what is happening? This is crazy. And I’m like, I’m telling you all I’ve been doing different is eating more and exercising less. That’s literally what I’ve been doing. So it’s just, it was just crazy. It was crazy to see.

Lindsey Lusson  27:47

You said your doctor was shocked. Were you still working with the same reproductive endocrinologist, or was this your OB?

Lindsey Lusson  27:54

And so were they, like, oh my gosh, this is so rare. You’re so lucky. Or did they agree with you? Like, yes, this was probably the problem all along. 

Mallory  28:03

I think it opened their eyes a little bit. To be honest. She was like, this is kind of shocking. So it was kind of encouraging to me too. Just because I was like, I just kept telling her, like, I’m doing this program. This is what I’m doing. I really think if I just keep doing this, like, I’ll just keep getting my labs drawn. We’ll just keep seeing. I think she was more humbled by… I think she was really just in shock by it. She wasn’t

Lindsey Lusson  28:26

It was something that she didn’t think was gonna happen and something that she didn’t necessarily believe would be possible. 

Mallory  28:33

I felt like she believed in me during the process. It was just at the beginning. So I am thankful. She was great all along. It was just at the beginning of them being like, this may not happen. Like, we’ve seen permanent period recovery. And I’m like, let me meet this person, because I bet they have some problems.

Lindsey Lusson  28:51

Yeah. I would love to meet someone with permanent period loss. 

Mallory  28:55

I was like, there’s definitely some issues going on that. So You hear that from doctors and you listen to them, though. I mean, you really do. If I wasn’t in your program, and  getting all the facts, and like, learning from you, I would have been like, this is what my doctor said. I just have permanent period loss. Like, guess I’ll just keep doing what I’m doing. And that’s what I did for years.

Lindsey Lusson  29:16

  Yeah, it’s a huge disservice to the patient. I was actually told something really similarly before I learned about HA. It’s kind of funny too, because I went to school for seven years and learned about HA from Google searches in a book. But I was kind of told something similar. Like, some women just never get their period back. So you know, you’ll be on birth control and you’ll probably need fertility treatment when you want to start a family. And what that information did to me was led me down another five years of restricting food and over exercising. 

Mallory  29:46

So it’s like it almost makes you feel like it’s okay, that what you’re doing is normal.

Lindsey Lusson  29:50

To the detriment of the patient. So we need to bridge the knowledge gap, and stories like yours are helping us do it. So what advice would you give to someone in a similar situation? Somebody who’s been told, Hey, you can’t get your period back. This is it, you want to get pregnant. Like, IVF, is the only way. What would you say to someone now being on the other side, being a mom of an almost four month old, a pregnancy that you were able to have naturally, with no fertility interventions? What would you say to somebody?

Mallory  30:20

I would just definitely advocate for yourself. If you know that there is some underlying issue. Even if you don’t want to admit it. If deep down you know there’s something going on there. You owe it to yourself to really dig into that and fight for that. Because I look at my little boy, and I could tear up just talking about it. But I look at him and I’m like, I don’t want him to see me in a way that. If I were to have done IVF, first off, I wouldn’t have had the little boy that I have now. It would have been completely different. 

Mallory  30:53

But also I want him to see me exercise because I want to. Or eat ice cream with him on the weekends and not be so anxious and stressed about it. Or eating different meals. Like, that’s just such a big reason to do it. Like, it’s just even that, just having the mindset behind it. But I definitely just think you shouldn’t. You don’t want to feel like you have to struggle with food and exercise your whole life. You owe it to yourself to just fight for what you know is really true and just work on it. And as cliche as it sounds, just don’t give up.

Lindsey Lusson  31:29

Yeah, yeah, for sure. I think it starts with that first honest conversation, and then even thinking to like, hey, if I have no period, regardless of how healthy I feel in my habits, my body’s telling me a different story.

Mallory  31:47

Or regardless of how healthy people or doctors may tell you that you are like, Oh, you’re so healthy. You eat all the healthy things you exercise. Doing great, don’t change anything. I mean, that was literally my whole life. I’ve been active, and doctors have always been like, you’re fine. Until I was way too thin. They were like, Okay, there’s a problem. But if I would have just been able to get that help sooner, before I got to that point.

Lindsey Lusson  32:13

For sure. I know there’s a big gap in asking the right questions. But it’s also too… Patients are going to have their walls up when you’re really deep in it. You’re going to have their walls up with being honest about and answering those questions. And so, yeah. I do think that while we never want period loss to have to go on to the point where somebody’s being faced with, hey, here’s $15,000 to have a baby. 

Lindsey Lusson  32:37

Well, we never want it to come to that. I do think that fertility is a really, really great opportunity to take a long hard look at your habits and what you want for your life and in your situation. Save a ton of money and still be able to become a mom. So we just absolutely love, love, love your success story. Thanks for coming on today and sharing the joy around and giving some people some hope who might feel a little bit stuck today. We appreciate you, Mallory.

Mallory  33:02

Yes, thank you so much for having me. 

Connect with Lindsey:

Instagram: @food.freedom.fertility

Website: foodfreedomandfertility.com

Twitter: @lindseylusson