Let’s talk about something that’s quietly wrecking the health and performance of way too many women: Low Energy Availability (LEA).
If you’ve been training hard, fueling “clean,” and still feeling flat, irritable, or like your body has suddenly stopped cooperating, this might be the missing link. And if you’re in menopause — natural or surgical — you’re even more at risk.
First, What Even Is LEA?
Low Energy Availability happens when the energy you’re putting in (food) doesn’t match what you’re burning (training + living). You might not be under-eating on purpose — but your body doesn’t care about your intent, only your input.
When energy is too low for too long, your body starts rationing it.
Non-essential systems — hormones, bone turnover, digestion, immunity — get put on the back burner so the essentials (like breathing and staying alive) can keep going.
That’s how LEA spirals into RED-S (Relative Energy Deficiency in Sport) — the broader syndrome that tanks performance, weakens bones, messes with hormones, and drains motivation.
In younger women, we often see it show up as amenorrhea (loss of periods), stress fractures, or burnout.
In menopausal athletes? The red flags look different, sneakier, and easier to dismiss.
Why It’s So Often Missed in Menopause
Here’s the kicker: everything about menopause masks the symptoms of LEA.
Fatigue? Could be low estrogen.
Mood swings? Hormones.
Insomnia? Menopause.
Bone loss? “Just aging.”
It’s not always “just menopause.” Sometimes, it’s chronic under-fueling dressed up as a normal life stage.
And because society has conditioned women to eat less, move more, many midlife athletes carry years of under-eating into a physiology that now needs more, not less.
Less estrogen means slower recovery, higher inflammation, and reduced muscle protein synthesis.
Pair that with hard training and low fueling, and you’ve built the perfect storm for RED-S.
How It Shows Up (and Why Surgical Menopause Is a Whole Different Beast)
In perimenopause, fluctuating hormones make everything unpredictable — cycles shorten, lengthen, skip. You might chalk up poor sleep, weight changes, or slower recovery to “the transition.” But those could just as easily be LEA waving a flag.
In surgical menopause, the shift is instant. Your estrogen and progesterone don’t taper off — they cliff-dive. That abrupt drop magnifies everything: fatigue, brain fog, hot flashes, loss of muscle mass, emotional volatility.
Add in endurance training without adjusting your fueling? Your body is screaming for energy, and all you’re giving it is Gatorade and grit.
The Mental Side: When Discipline Turns Against You
LEA isn’t always about lack of knowledge — sometimes it’s about identity.
Athletes, especially women, are taught that discipline equals control. We thrive on structure, on pushing through discomfort.
But sometimes that discipline — the skipped meal, the “I’ll just do another workout,” the “I don’t deserve carbs yet” — becomes the very thing that breaks us.
If you’ve ever felt proud of running on fumes, that’s not resilience. That’s depletion disguised as determination.
So What Can You Do?
Start by reframing fueling as training support, not reward.
You’re not “earning” food — you’re investing in performance.
Eat carbs. Your muscles and hormones both depend on them.
Prioritize protein — 25–30g per meal minimum.
Hydrate with electrolytes, not just water.
Rest before you’re forced to.
Track energy trends, not just calories or macros.
If you’ve had a hysterectomy or you’re in surgical menopause, your energy needs are different, not lower. You’re rebuilding the entire operating system while still expecting performance-level output. That’s a full-time job — fuel accordingly.
Bridging the Gap
The truth is, LEA in menopausal athletes sits in a research black hole. Most of what we know about RED-S comes from studies on young, premenopausal women. The protocols don’t fully translate. The physiology doesn’t either.
That’s exactly why I built The LEA Protocol: A 4-Week Reset for Athletes in (Peri)Menopause — a framework that helps you recalibrate fueling, stress, and recovery so you can rebuild energy balance without burning out.
And for a deeper dive into how hormonal shifts, training, and recovery intersect, explore the Mastering Menopause Guide. It’s designed for athletes in the gap — the ones still chasing goals while their physiology rewrites the rules.
You don’t have to “wait it out” or guess your way through midlife training. You just need the right system and a coach who actually gets it.