—was first published in 2016 to elaborate on how my eating disorder developed as an athlete, and how I recovered.
“The truth is, none of these strategies will solve the problem; they actually risk making it worse by overemphasizing weight or controlling food intake,” Quatromoni says. “The volume of questions on these themes tells me that coaches are in dire need of education on these topics.” Attuning to disordered eating and eating disorders is another responsibility added to the coach’s plate. The good news is that they don’t have to be the experts; they just need to know enough to recognize the warning signs, know when to act, and know where to turn.a coach’s responsibility to know that athletes are vulnerable to physical and emotional distress. We need to reach out to the athletes we suspect may be struggling and connect them to the professional help they need and deserve.
When working with female athletes, it’s important to know that girls losing their menstrual cycle is not normal, nor is it desirable or acceptable. “When this occurs, it is a sign that the body is having a negative physiologic response to undernutrition and/or overtraining, sometimes but not necessarily in the setting of low body weight or significant weight loss,” Quatromoni says.
An eating order diagnosis is sadly overlooked in the medical community as well. They are so conditioned to focus on obesity that they don’t look for the signs in teens and young adults. I was the one who had to insist on a consult for my son when his BMI was BELOW zero!
I hope to see more stories on this extremely important topic and less sponsored content in your mag hawking weight loss product to “eat like a runner [and] lose weight to increase speed.” It sends conflicting messaging.
Over the last number of years I have gotten an inside look at the relationship between high performance athletic coaches, staff and their athletes. I was surprised how casual it was compared to my own profession which is highly regulated.