Under Eating, Weight Loss, and Fertility (Episode 457)

Full Transcript: Episode 457

Lisa Hendrickson-Jack: Welcome to the Fertility Friday Podcast, your source for information about the Fertility Awareness Method and all things fertility. I’m your host, Lisa Hendrickson-Jack. I’m the author of The Fifth Vital Sign and the Fertility Awareness Mastery Training Workbook. I’m a certified fertility awareness educator and holistic reproductive health practitioner with over 20 years of experience teaching women to connect to their fifth vital sign through menstrual cycle charting, balancing hormone health, and optimizing the menstrual cycle without hormones. I’ve been consistently outspoken about hormonal birth control and its impact on fertility and overall health because you have the right to know how your body works and how artificial hormones disrupt that natural process. I teach women’s health professionals how to use the menstrual cycle as a vital sign in their practices, and I host live coaching programs to help women achieve optimal fertility and health.

This podcast is designed to empower you to take full control of your cycles, your fertility, and your overall health. Today I’m sharing my interview with Kaely McDevitt, where we explore under eating, weight loss, and how weight loss goals and fertility goals intersect. Over the years of working with women and menstrual cycles behind the scenes, I’ve seen a clear trend of unintentional under eating. Many women are not trying to under eat, but a combination of diet culture, exercise expectations, and calorie-focused messaging leads to eating less than is optimal. One common example is weight loss. Women are often encouraged to make themselves smaller, leaner, and slimmer, without realizing that increasing activity often requires eating more. The menstrual cycle is a powerful marker that helps us see when our actions are not aligning with our health or fertility goals.

Kaely McDevitt is a registered dietitian specializing in women’s health. She owns a virtual practice where she and her team help clients overcome hormone and digestive issues through personalized nutrition. Having experienced the pitfalls of a conventional approach to women’s health firsthand, Kaely is passionate about empowering women to take the driver’s seat in their health and well-being. I’m excited to be here today with Kaely. Welcome to the show.

Kaely McDevitt: Thank you so much for having me. I’m excited to be here.

Lisa Hendrickson-Jack: Before we dive into metabolism and burnout, tell us how you got into the women’s health space and what led you to this work.

Kaely McDevitt: My path really started with my own hormone health journey. I went into dietetics thinking I would work in sports nutrition because I was an athlete in high school. Ironically, during my training, I was dealing with significant hormone issues and had been on birth control since shortly after getting my first period to manage symptoms. By the time I was finishing school, I had tried many different birth control pills and never felt like myself. I realized how little I understood about my cycle, how birth control worked, and how nutrition influenced hormones. When I came off birth control, I went through a difficult transition period and began educating myself extensively. That’s how I found your work. Learning about the menstrual cycle completely changed how I understood my body. I began sharing my experience through a blog, and over time, I realized how many women were searching for this information. That naturally led me fully into women’s health.

Lisa Hendrickson-Jack: Many listeners resonate with this experience. Even as a professional, you had to learn this outside of your formal education. Can you speak to that challenge?

Kaely McDevitt: It was frustrating and honestly angering. Dietetics training includes years of anatomy and physiology, yet menstrual cycles and hormone regulation were barely addressed. I felt inadequate as a professional because I couldn’t even help myself with what I had been taught. I realized I was trying to manipulate nutrition instead of supporting my body. There was a major disconnect between nutrition education and women’s health, and I had to take responsibility for learning what wasn’t taught.

Lisa Hendrickson-Jack: You mentioned your post–birth control transition. What helped you during that period?

Kaely McDevitt: I had access to functional lab testing early in my career and discovered widespread nutrient deficiencies despite following conventional nutrition advice. That forced me to unlearn calorie-focused thinking and shift toward nutrient-dense, real foods. I increased how much I was eating, reduced intense exercise, focused on sleep and stress regulation, and was gentler with myself. Over time, my hormones improved, although progesterone took the longest to normalize after years on birth control.

Lisa Hendrickson-Jack: You’ve described this as a transition rather than a syndrome, which is an important distinction.

Kaely McDevitt: Yes. It doesn’t mean the body is broken. Weight gain can happen during this phase, and in my case it was necessary. It helped my body feel safe enough to ovulate consistently again, and it’s something we often need to normalize.

Lisa Hendrickson-Jack: This leads directly into burnout and metabolism. What are you seeing in your practice?

Kaely McDevitt: Burnout is really about a dysregulated nervous system. Stress isn’t just emotional—it includes under eating, lack of sleep, blood sugar instability, gut health, and circadian rhythm disruption. Women are especially sensitive to energy availability, and when the body doesn’t feel safe, ovulation and hormone production are downregulated.

Lisa Hendrickson-Jack: You’ve talked about shifting from using food to manipulate the body to using food to support it.

Kaely McDevitt: Food was taught as math—calories and macros—which disconnected us from nourishment. Food provides safety signals and raw materials for hormone production. When women shift toward nutrient density instead of restriction, their relationship with food and their hormones changes dramatically.

Lisa Hendrickson-Jack: What happens when a woman wants to lose weight and also wants to conceive?

Kaely McDevitt: Those goals can’t be pursued at the same time. Weight loss requires an energy deficit, while fertility requires adequate energy. We prioritize metabolism and hormone health first, often pausing weight loss goals so the body can recover.

Lisa Hendrickson-Jack: Many women under eat unintentionally, especially when exercising heavily.

Kaely McDevitt: Short term, stress hormones increase. Long term, metabolism downregulates. We see low basal body temperature, infrequent ovulation, digestive issues, fatigue, and slow recovery. Minimally effective exercise and adequate nourishment are key.

Lisa Hendrickson-Jack: How do you define burnout?

Kaely McDevitt: Burnout is a nervous system that can’t cope. It shows up as low resilience, poor sleep, irritability, and slow recovery. Even positive events add stress, and women are not designed to be on all the time.

Lisa Hendrickson-Jack: Charting the cycle helps women see these patterns as communication rather than failure.

Kaely McDevitt: Exactly. Low hormone states are adaptive, not broken. With nourishment, rest, and awareness, balance can be restored.

Lisa Hendrickson-Jack: As we wrap up, any final thoughts?

Kaely McDevitt: The female body is incredibly resilient. When hormones are supported, metabolism, fertility, and overall well-being follow. There is so much within our control.

Lisa Hendrickson-Jack: Thank you so much for being here today.

Kaely McDevitt: Thank you for having me.

Lisa Hendrickson-Jack: Thank you for listening. You can find the show notes for today’s episode at fertilityfriday.com/457. Until next time, be well and happy charting.