Fainting can also be the result of very low blood pressure. Low blood pressure is associated with EDs. Obviously the dr. in the ER doesn't mention it so maybe it's not the case. But I had a teammate with an ED collapse and faint after a race because her blood pressure was so low.
Also, it's not entirely clear that the antagonist has an actual ED.
no, I don't get the impression that she has an eating disorder. She doesn't seem too neurotic about food intake or talk about having body dysmorphia. If anything her eating pressure seems external.
Then again, maybe she does have disordered eating..
What the blog sheds light on for me is the discrepancy between coaches/parents expectations Vs. medical advice on what's healthy.
The girl is getting feedback that she needs to LOSE weight and eat LESS from coach and family while a medical doctor is pointing to a stress fracture and amenhorrhea as warning flags that she is either underweight or undernourished and if anything needs to eat MORE. It is apparent that they suspect an eating disorder when the examine her knuckles (for scarring - sometimes present with bulimia).
I think the girl mentions at the beginning of her blog that she comes into the year at 5'8" and 120. This is already low end of normal, getting close to underweight. So (unless she gained a lot of weight during the season) how much weight can they expect her to lose??!!
BTW: Protagonist is the word, not antagonist.
nice blog wrote:
I think the girl mentions at the beginning of her blog that she comes into the year at 5'8" and 120. This is already low end of normal, getting close to underweight. So (unless she gained a lot of weight during the season) how much weight can they expect her to lose??!!
Yeah that was totally crazy. Hopefully whoever those coaches were, they are long gone at this point.
nice blog wrote:
I think the girl mentions at the beginning of her blog that she comes into the year at 5'8" and 120. This is already low end of normal, getting close to underweight. So (unless she gained a lot of weight during the season) how much weight can they expect her to lose??!!
5'8" and 120 is very underweight, especially for an athlete that should have a lot of muscle. I had amenorrhea, stress fractures, female athlete triad symptoms at 5'5" and 115 which is a healthy BMI.
.p9iuyghvbv wrote:
5'8" and 120 is very underweight, especially for an athlete that should have a lot of muscle. I had amenorrhea, stress fractures, female athlete triad symptoms at 5'5" and 115 which is a healthy BMI.
It's really not possible to make categorical statements like that. Keep in mind that BMI is more of a population measure, and it's hard to apply it to individuals because people have such different body types. I am 5'7" 120, despite the fact that I currently do more lifting than running so I have more muscle than I used to. In college I raced at around 115 and never had any weight-related health issues, so it's certainly possible for the author to be healthy at 5'8" 120 (that being said, it's equally possible that that's not a healthy weight for her, but you can't judge solely on the numbers).
New entry up.
I don't think 5'8" and 120 is horribly underweight, but apparently it was low enough in this runner to cause amenhorrhea and to have medical professionals alert for an eating disorder.
I think the point is really that it is not sane for the coaches to ask her to lose more weight when she is already at a weight at the very low-end of the healthy range. One of the anorexia criteria is a BMI of 17.5. And it sounds like the coaches were pushing runners to get to this point. 5'8" and 120 is a BMI of 18.2.
Did your coaches tell you to drop 10 lbs when you were 5'7" and 115? hopefully not. maybe that was a healthy weight for you, but it wouldn't be for everyone, and to go much below that would cause problems for a lot of runners.
reader wrote:
.p9iuyghvbv wrote:5'8" and 120 is very underweight, especially for an athlete that should have a lot of muscle. I had amenorrhea, stress fractures, female athlete triad symptoms at 5'5" and 115 which is a healthy BMI.
It's really not possible to make categorical statements like that. Keep in mind that BMI is more of a population measure, and it's hard to apply it to individuals because people have such different body types. I am 5'7" 120, despite the fact that I currently do more lifting than running so I have more muscle than I used to. In college I raced at around 115 and never had any weight-related health issues, so it's certainly possible for the author to be healthy at 5'8" 120 (that being said, it's equally possible that that's not a healthy weight for her, but you can't judge solely on the numbers).
Agreed. When I started high school, I weighed around 140 (5'7), then became anorexic and dropped 30 pounds to 110-115 my freshman year. This wasn't a red flag to anyone (outside of my family) because I didn't start running until I was already thin. I looked relatively normal to other runners, but this was definitely not my natural size. I had amenorrhea for 4 years, which I didn't see as a huge problem since I ran so much and thought that was normal for runners. Even a doctor told me it was "normal." I got up to 120-125 in college after more strength training. Again, I looked healthy and was not underweight, however I still had amenorrhea and come to find out (after a few stress fractures) that I had osteopenia. You can't just look at someone or their weight and know they have a problem. This is why I think eating disorders are often ignored/overlooked, but are so much more prominent than you might think. Just look at how many women have commented about this blog being similar to their experiences.
my one and only complaint about this blog:
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/SaidBookism
i just saw this thread today, and am catching up on the blog as fast as i can. this is some wild stuff - good to see light shed on this sort of thing.
nice blog wrote:
I don't think 5'8" and 120 is horribly underweight, but apparently it was low enough in this runner to cause amenhorrhea and to have medical professionals alert for an eating disorder.
I think the point is really that it is not sane for the coaches to ask her to lose more weight when she is already at a weight at the very low-end of the healthy range. One of the anorexia criteria is a BMI of 17.5. And it sounds like the coaches were pushing runners to get to this point. 5'8" and 120 is a BMI of 18.2.
Did your coaches tell you to drop 10 lbs when you were 5'7" and 115? hopefully not. maybe that was a healthy weight for you, but it wouldn't be for everyone, and to go much below that would cause problems for a lot of runners.
I agree with everything you've said here - while she may not be unhealthy at her weight, it certainly was not appropriate for her coaches to tell her to lose more weight. When I was 5'7" 115 I was never told by my coaches to lose weight, and while I felt healthy and ran well at that weight you're also right that I wouldn't have wanted to drop any more.
My point was a more general one - i.e., that you can't tell purely from the numbers if someone is healthy or not. However, you're right that in the blogger's situation that's kind of beside the point in that her coach and her parents are telling her to lose weight when they shouldn't be.
Yeah. I'm really a believer in coaches leaving weight alone and where they suspect it is an issue delegating that to nutritionists, therapists, etc. because, really, how can a coach know what is a good weight for a runner? 5'7" and 115 may work for as a healthy weight for one person and it might be borderline anorexic for the next person.
I've run on teams with eating disorders and sometimes the really skinny girl is not the one with the greatest problem. Often it's someone with a heavier build whose eating is the most disturbed.
I've always hovered around 5'2" and 100 lbs but run against teams where runners seemed to be about 20 lbs lighter than me - to an extent where there is just no way that can be healthy. I really think it's sad that so many coaches have this idea that their runners should all be stick thin (even if they're not built that way) and could care less about the health risks that might entail.
Sounds like free birth control to me - sweet.
It's still possible to get pregnant if you have amenorrhea, genius.
yeah, thanks for pointing that out. A lot of people are ignorant to that fact.
One study found that abortion rates were higher among women with anorexia. While the study gave no definite explanation on why that was the case, one theory was that there is a tendency for people who are anorexic (and amenhorreic?) to not use birth control (thought process: I don't have a period, so I can't get pregnant.), leading to unplanned pregnancies.
There is a HUGE misconception that without a period one can not get pregnant. In reality, people with anorexia do have lower estrogen levels. However, period or no period, If you are still ovulating you can get pregnant.
Ladies, please speak up. I honestly want to know: WHY are so many of you so crazy? No, c'mon now, this is not a cheap shot, but a serious question.
-Um, no. That is totally a cheap shot, and so is this: Sorry your girlfriend left you for another man and that you now hate women.
Besides that cheap shot, his question is legit, I think.
I ran on a dII team in college many years ago. College running is much different than high school. It could be very draining dealing with all the different personalities. We had one girl who was a religious fanatic and stood out side bars handing out pamphlets, another one who had to be hypnotized before races, two feuding cousins from the same hometown, one girl who ran three times a day and never ate in front of anyone but was a closet eater, a bulimic, and three girls who loved to party. The girl with bulimia had an older sister on the team who denied it and the coach ignored it because she was running well. The blog brought back a lot of memories for me. I am actually relieved my 14 year old daughter doesn't enjoy running and prefers other sports where weight is not such an issue. Unfortunately in running, many of the girls doing well are very young, undeveloped, or unusually thin.
damn, i'm getting impatient waiting for the next post. i want to know about the meeting with the AD
sex edumacation wrote:
Ladies, please speak up. I honestly want to know: WHY are so many of you so crazy? No, c'mon now, this is not a cheap shot, but a serious question.
-Um, no. That is totally a cheap shot, and so is this: Sorry your girlfriend left you for another man and that you now hate women.
You've got to be kidding me. "So many of us" are "crazy" because of the pressure society puts on us. And this goes so far beyond just the imagery (i.e. ads, Barbie, etc.,) I'm talking about the pressure from school, trying to train while still living a normal life...
Eating Disorders have virtually nothing to do with the food or the weight- they have to do with control. It's not that we're crazy- women struggle silently with ED's in a world where expectations of them are often too much to handle.