Are you on an extreme diet that limits your caloric intake dramatically? Then you may want to stop following it, for the sake of your bones.

Recent research out of Ohio University has found that women who follow strict exercise and diet regimens may harm their body’s ability to form new bone, which can lead to osteoporosis later in life.

The problem is that most women feel if they do not see signs of undernutrition, such as a disruption in menstruation, then they are fine calorie wise, which is not always the case. Appetite, as it turns out, is not a good indicator of how much female athletes should eat, and neither is a regular menstrual cycle. A good rule of thumb for eating while exercising is very simple: The more you exercise, the more you need to eat to stay healthy.

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