Eating disorders encouraged?!?

Thanks for all of the responses. I feel a lot better about the situation after reading all of the advice, and hearing a lot of people have had to deal with the same thing. I am going to try and continue what feels right for me, run fast times, and if my coach really starts bugging me about my weight. I'll let him know, transferring is a consideration, if he's going to be crazy.

Thanks again

Are you on scholarship? If not, I would just tell him no thanks but you will not allow him to weigh you. I was on a scholarship and looking back I wish I had the guts to refuse the weigh in. Not sure if the coach could have pulled my scholarship over this refusal. If I weren't on scholarship I think I definitely would have refused.

badabeu wrote:

It's totally hypocritical to think that you need to weigh the girls (and maybe boys) to make them become anorexic.

I'm not quite sure of the aim of this post but at any rate your word "hypocritical" is not being used correctly.

Weighing runners, particularly females, in and of itself probably shouldn't directly cause an eating disorder but I still don't think that a coach should be able to weigh athletes.

Look at the post by "uhhuh" whose coach weighed them EVERYDAY. She said that every runner on the team was anorexic or bulimic. I'm sorry but you can't tell me that weigh ins weren't a contributing factor.

not allowed wrote:

Are you on scholarship? If not, I would just tell him no thanks but you will not allow him to weigh you. I was on a scholarship and looking back I wish I had the guts to refuse the weigh in. Not sure if the coach could have pulled my scholarship over this refusal. If I weren't on scholarship I think I definitely would have refused.

I am not on a full scholarship, but I do have a partial athletic scholarship, the rest is academic. Which I feel if I do fall into depriving myself of food my academics will suffer. Which is the reason I am here. Running is important, but ultimately my academics are my priority.

Do what you have to do to keep your sanity and health. For me, once practice was done for the day I really didn't hang out with the team. My roommates were not runners and I deliberately wanted it that way.

Fallacy of False Cause wrote:

hurr durr human digestive system is same as felines

I hope you are troll.

D1 freshman wrote:

I am not on a full scholarship, but I do have a partial athletic scholarship, the rest is academic. Which I feel if I do fall into depriving myself of food my academics will suffer. Which is the reason I am here. Running is important, but ultimately my academics are my priority.

If academics are that important, why not transfer to a D3 school? You'll dominate most, if not all, of the competition, your new coach will be less likely to encourage weigh-ins (because D3 is somewhat less competitive), and you might be able to find more time to focus on academics.

Did you guys who struggled with an ED experience a lot of "brain fog" and overall fatigue before you "recovered" and got your weight back up to a health level for a few months? I am a 5 ft 8 male and weighed 110 pounds for over a year. I finally woke up and realized the harm I was inflicting upon myself. I have weighed 130 pounds for about 4 months, but still often feel tired and "foggy". I am scared that these symptoms will persist forever. At my proper weight will I gradually come out of this funk? I think I am slowly feeling better.

I highly recommend the book "Fast Track" co-written by Suzy Favor Hamilton and Dr. Jose Antonio.

It addresses a ton of important issues for female runners(catered to young "elites" whereas most female running books seem to cater to middle aged women)

There's a pretty large emphasis on nutrition and chapter 11 is titled: Become a Professional Eater- how the concept of eating clean can revolutionize your training"

I really find it helpful, especially when I need to remind myself that as a scholarship athlete, running is my job and I can't fuel myself with crap or skip meals. The book even includes sample meal plans of hers (although they're way too restrictive for me personally).

I'd actually recommend this as a great nutrition book for all runners, not just females.

Of course, as with all diet/nutrition books you can't take it as being completely correct all the time---but I think some really important ideas are in there such as how not all calories are created equal, and that certain carbs that are high on the GI-index, such as a large white bagel, are similar to pouring table sugar down your throat.

Cheetah's are only good for a half mile tops.

They bonk out after that big time.

Agree that SFH's book is great for young female runners. It encourages healthy- not restrictive- eating, taking care of injuries before they become major problems, and appropriate training for high school girls. She does talk about her own training and running a lot in it, but there is a lot of great info there. I think it would be great for any high school or college age runner to read.

I think you should buy it, read it, then pass it on around your team. It is not all about food and eating, although a large section of it is, so it should not come across as accusatory to the girls who are not eating- but it may help matters.

I ran for Oregon, and Tom never did such a thing. ever. In fact, he was incredibly supportive, and really had a personal interest in his athletes. How dare you comment on him in such a negative light...and I doubt you have met this profound individual.

So before you jump to assumptions or make accusations based on your own idiotic opinions, take it from someone who has the first hand experience of working with this wonderful coach.

I bet you never even ran at the D1 level, and its people like you who disgust me.

help?,

I have had 5 or 6 girls in trouble on the same team before. I was not the head coach but an assistant who was tasked with helping the girl's program. It didn;t help at all that the head coach weighed the girls but that it what happened.

So, you've asked for help. My experience is that being there and listening works well but it didn;t work long term for me (I am a male). The only thing I found that worked was finding a recovering ED female and asking if your friend would be open to talking to her. My suggestion is that it is NOT a professional (at first) and it is a 'social' meeting and it is a female-female meeting.

I didn't figure this out for a few years but once I tried it, the girls really opened up to the receovering ED and she had excellent advice from thier own perspective. Because she had gone through the mental aspects, the physical aspects, etc., they had many things in common. I used the same female 10 times or more and it worked everytime. The solution was not always the same but the initial meetings were incerdibly successful. Solutions included professional help in some cases, getting family involevd in some cases, group therapy in some cases, etc. But the first meeting - the one where the girl could let her secret be known for the first time ever - was a remarkable start. In most cases, it was like a huge weight being lifted from the girl's shoulders.

be aware, in some cases, the athlete canceled more than a few times before they showed. But as someone else has already said, you need to be persistent.

How did I find this person? I went to the nutrition college and asked for an eating disorder group. I approached the leader of the group (a certified clinition) and told her my story. She hooked me up with someone. We are still friends 10 years after I stopped coaching.

hey

i've refrained from commenting on this and also have some reservations about putting it on a public forum, but -

one of the biggest problems i had with my eating problems was not being able to think. it was like i was sitting there but not there some of the time. i have huge chunks of memory missing from when i was getting well. with my worst relapse i went down to 5 stone 10 (80lbs) which at 5 foot 8 was unsustainable. something odd happened to my mind. i do wonder if i suffered some kind of permanent change. i haven't had it investigated - they're more interested in physical tests etc. i still used to get, sometimes, like i couldn't really think (to a worrying level, things wouldn't make sense at all, very basic things). but sometimes things would be so incredibly clear. anyway i relapsed again and the problems with thinking happened way earlier than before. if you think you're feeling better slowly i'd trust that and just go with it. my problems with that did by and large go away when i was well, good luck.

Thanks a lot for the thoughts; that is encouraging. Good luck with getting well! Any other thoughts?

i think it takes a while for your body to adapt to things being different so being patient is important. but if you have any concerns speak to a health professional. and don't feel alone with the unclear thinking thing. it's frustrating. i've had moments like not being able to figure out how to have a shower. just literally not being able to figure it out. or going into a shop and not understanding the shop. i don't know how a shop can't make sense. hard to put it into words. having to break things down into tiny tiny bits in the right order to be able to do it. be patient with yourself. good luck.

beat them at their own game and cut to 1000 cal

thanks, that is a good idea.

tomtom wrote:

[quote]Fallacy of False Cause wrote: "hurr durr human digestive system is same as felines"

I hope you are troll.

He wasn't trolling, he was making fun of the fallacy in your post. You assumed Kenyans are skinny because of their diet without any evidence that their lack of beer guts isn't a result of something else. By your logic, I could argue that drinking tons of Coca-Cola and eating a bunch of fast food like those skinny little skater punks in high school will make you thin. That is not the case.