Let’s get something straight first: you don’t need to be an elite runner to have RED-S (Relative Energy Deficiency in Sport), nor to take action when your period suddenly vanishes.

“A common myth about RED-S is that you have to be skinny to develop it,” Dr Cath Spencer-Smith, consultant physician in sport & exercise medicine, tells Stylist. “Most of my patients who have RED-S are not elite athletes; they work in the city and they decided to kickstart some programme during lockdown.” In fact, she says that you don’t have to be underweight to be calorie-deficient.

When friends learn that I haven’t had a period in over six years, they typically say, “Is that because of all the boxing?” It’s a fair guess and one which highlights just how normal we seem to think exercise-induced amenorrhea is. However, my periods actually stopped around 2014 when I was a healthy weight and running once a week or two between hangovers in a half-hearted attempt at balance.

Period problems: “I haven’t had a period in 6 years – here’s how it affects my health and fitness”