The more I look into things, the more discouraged I am that she'll get help. She did an interview with Citius where she said she has no teammates, it's just her dad coaching her solo. She says she doesn't mind it but she's looking forward to a college team setting where people are "positive and nonjudgemental."
This would encourage them to be screened earlier in the season as well.
EVERY high school athlete IS screened prior to the season by a physician. Every school requires an athlete to have a physical. If the physician sees any reason why a particular athlete cannot/should not compete, he will not sign off and risk his career. Unlike the people on this board, the physician (1) is medically trained to the highest level and (2) sees more than just a picture on the internet.
Most athletes do not meet the criteria for anorexia nervosa; they are much more likely to meet the criteria for anorexia athletica.
From the American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, the criteria for anorexia nervosa are: 1. Restriction of energy intake relative to requirements, leading to a significantly low body weight in the context of age, sex, developmental trajectory, and physical health. Significantly low weight is defined as a weight that is less than minimally normal or, for children and adolescents, less than that minimally expected. 2. Intense fear of gaining weight or of becoming fat, or persistent behavior that interferes with weight gain, even though at a significantly low weight. 3. Disturbance in the way in which one’s body weight or shape is experienced, undue influence of body weight or shape on self-evaluation, or persistent lack of recognition of the seriousness of the current low body weight.
Most athletes only meet criteria #1.
Common characteristics for anorexia athletica are:
* Reduced body mass (weight) and loss of fat mass is performance related and not related to appearance or body shape
* The loss of body mass results in a lean physique
* Weight cycling (repeated weight gain and loss) is usually present, although maintenance of a low body weight may be seen all year
* Restriction of food intake and/or excessive exercise is voluntary or at the suggestion of a coach or trainer
* The abnormal eating occurs while the athlete is competing but stops at the end of the athlete’s career
The primary difference is the intent: why is the person choosing to maintain a low body weight? For athletes in sports where low body weight is important (distance running, gymnastics, high jumpers, figure skaters, etc.), the intent is usually performance improvement; body image has nothing to do with it.
The sport where this is the most common at the high school level is wrestling. Yes, that muscular 189 lb wrestler who drops from 215 during football season to 189 and then yo-yo's up and down all wrestling season long is more likely to have a disorder than a skinny female cross country runner.
This would encourage them to be screened earlier in the season as well.
EVERY high school athlete IS screened prior to the season by a physician. Every school requires an athlete to have a physical. If the physician sees any reason why a particular athlete cannot/should not compete, he will not sign off and risk his career. Unlike the people on this board, the physician (1) is medically trained to the highest level and (2) sees more than just a picture on the internet.
Most athletes do not meet the criteria for anorexia nervosa; they are much more likely to meet the criteria for anorexia athletica.
From the American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, the criteria for anorexia nervosa are: 1. Restriction of energy intake relative to requirements, leading to a significantly low body weight in the context of age, sex, developmental trajectory, and physical health. Significantly low weight is defined as a weight that is less than minimally normal or, for children and adolescents, less than that minimally expected. 2. Intense fear of gaining weight or of becoming fat, or persistent behavior that interferes with weight gain, even though at a significantly low weight. 3. Disturbance in the way in which one’s body weight or shape is experienced, undue influence of body weight or shape on self-evaluation, or persistent lack of recognition of the seriousness of the current low body weight.
Most athletes only meet criteria #1.
Common characteristics for anorexia athletica are:
* Reduced body mass (weight) and loss of fat mass is performance related and not related to appearance or body shape
* The loss of body mass results in a lean physique
* Weight cycling (repeated weight gain and loss) is usually present, although maintenance of a low body weight may be seen all year
* Restriction of food intake and/or excessive exercise is voluntary or at the suggestion of a coach or trainer
* The abnormal eating occurs while the athlete is competing but stops at the end of the athlete’s career
The primary difference is the intent: why is the person choosing to maintain a low body weight? For athletes in sports where low body weight is important (distance running, gymnastics, high jumpers, figure skaters, etc.), the intent is usually performance improvement; body image has nothing to do with it.
The sport where this is the most common at the high school level is wrestling. Yes, that muscular 189 lb wrestler who drops from 215 during football season to 189 and then yo-yo's up and down all wrestling season long is more likely to have a disorder than a skinny female cross country runner.
Lol, some physicians don’t give a sh!t. Signed, a runner who was clinically underweight and cleared to run during their yearly physical several times during high school.
I know it's not the main point here, but I don't like when commentors on this board bring up football players or wrestlers as a way to minimize concerns about bodyweight and eating in running.
Many of those athletes ALSO have eating and body image issues that severely impact their mental health. You personally may not know any former collegiate linebackers or wrestlers who have divulged how much their sports f**ked up their relationships to their bodies and eating habits, but I do. It's not uncommon to hear those stories if you know people in those sports or go looking for them.
Just because other (traditionally male) sports induce unhealthy obsessions with weight gain or loss in their athletes doesn't mean that runners can't also have problems.
The biggest health problem is the country us obesity. It causes cancer, heart disease, arthritis, dementia, fractures, and death. Yet, a few extremists come on here to call out 2 or 3 of the healthiest young women in the entire country.
Obesity is a huge problem in the US, yes. It’s not just 2-3 girls who are struggling with ED, it’s a ton. Every team in this country has girls w ED’s. The 2 girls who are most recognized right now are not healthy. They look dangerously unhealthy and their parents/coaches are uneducated and enabling the harm. Horrible situations
The biggest health problem is the country us obesity. It causes cancer, heart disease, arthritis, dementia, fractures, and death. Yet, a few extremists come on here to call out 2 or 3 of the healthiest young women in the entire country.
If I had to guess, I would say this is her dad posting, or maybe one of the other frequent commenters/defenders on Instagram posts she's tagged in. This harping on the national incidence of obesity seems to be their main argument to support her ED.
It is so sad that she lost her mother, as she was probably the more likely of the two parents to help her. I am holding out hope that maybe her sister can be an advocate for her health and well-being, because clearly the father is not. :(
Feel free to post some stats. Tens of millions of obese people with health problems. Probably 1000 to 1 compared to health issues from being too thin. You guys are insane. And you aren't even focused on those few who have health problems but instead a few elite runners who are the healthiest people in the country.
Her dad’s responses to the concerned commenters in this post are sickening. Can hardly believe it. So sad I hope things look up.
Many of the instagram comments state she is at risk for stress fractures (due to underfueling / overtraining). Stress fractures are what Allie Ostrander primarily describes were caused by her underfueling. Yet we don't see stress fractures in current thin runners like AL and RB (now at FSU). Is this because they are using better shoes now? Or did they get the right training to strengthen their leg bones sufficiently? Even AT (who won at FLN years ago when it was in Tampa) did not quit crack in her senior HS year due to a stress fracture. She has piriformis syndrome, where a nerve was unluckily routed through her glute and got irrigated when that muscle got bigger and put pressure on the nerve.
I recall the "female triad" (now RED.S) causal path to risk of permanent injury is something like
underfueling -> amennorhea (loss of period) -> lowered estrogen -> low bone density -> stress fractures (not just legs, but sacrum)
Are the risks permanent, or can these people recover from low bone density?
If not permanent, maybe it is OK to underfuel for awhile, win your races, and then get back to normal.
Of course there are serious risks of an eating disorder being persistent. Just ask Molly Seidel.
You seem to have wrangled a bunch of downvotes, but in a sense, you're right.
Young athletes can recover from low bone density. However, once an athlete recognizes that issue, it shouldn't come up again. They should not be okay with persistent training cycles that lead to low bone density.
Also, yes, it is okay to "underfuel" for a while, but I'm going to suggest that it's not, technically, "underfueling". I would call it a caloric deficit. You can be in a caloric deficit by a few hundred calories each day during hard training, but still get enough carbs and protein to fuel your training, so as to not be "undefueled". That's how runners get down to "race weight". They're burning a lot of calories while still providing calories and nutrition to do the work.
As far as race weight goes, that's an individual determination. Some can run lighter, and some can run heavier. There is no perfect weight based on height and gender. It's whatever makes you feel fast and strong. In this instance, it looks like an extreme situation. Either it's an extremely underfueled athlete, or an athlete along the extreme lines of the bell curve of body composition.
To get back to underfueling, this particular athlete looks like she's underfueling, but only time will tell--performance dips and injuries and health issues. If it comes to that, let's hope that everyone can recognize it and focus on the goal of encouraging the athlete's health.
"Lots of people are obese so being underweight is no big deal" is exactly the rhetoric I'd expect from someone who's encouraging an eating disorder. EDs have destroyed the careers of female runners. Excusing it because of temporary success (or worse, some non-sequitur about other people being overweight) is a surefire way to ruin this girl's future. Look at what Allie Ostrander, Emily Infeld, Grayson Murphy, etc. have said.
Lots of people? Try 200 million people as compared to 200 people. You list 3 people who had a career ruined from undereating? They wouldn't have had careers had they been fatties.
Football booster Drs volunteer to do sports physicals. Every girls looks small to them. Everyone gets a listen to their heart, followed by Attaboy/Attagirl and a signature on the form.
Her mother also did not look like her. Her body is diminishing year by year.
It's sad and desperate and nobody seems to be stepping in/ reporting the folks involved. Instead Atlanta Track Club, Dystat, Citeus, and Brooks are celebrating and offering positive reinforcement for the situation continuing.
Lots of people? Try 200 million people as compared to 200 people. You list 3 people who had a career ruined from undereating? They wouldn't have had careers had they been fatties.
I really do hope you are not her father, but based on the father's comments on instagram it wouldn't surprise me. I've been involved in the sport for a long time. There are MANY girls/women who have had their running career cut short due to eating disorders. I am a woman. I have had first hand experience with running at a top level with (and without) an eating disorder. have great sympathy for anyone who is struggling. The longer it continues, the more damage will be done. If ignored, it will not end well. In the meantime I will continue to pray for this young girl.
Their running careers were not cut short because they gained weight. They were cut short because they had the bone density of an 85 year old and could no longer run without getting a stress fracture.
Feel free to post some stats. Tens of millions of obese people with health problems. Probably 1000 to 1 compared to health issues from being too thin. You guys are insane. And you aren't even focused on those few who have health problems but instead a few elite runners who are the healthiest people in the country.
Thinness doesn't always equate to healthiest. And this has nothing to do with individuals who are obese. This is about children, children who love running (like most of us do on here) not being well looked after and not being coached for long term success. And it's upsetting.
Those with eating disorders have a whole slew of eating disorders that potentially show throughout a person's life, even after recovery. The consequences of REDS can include: long term bone issues, thyroid issues, heart issues, reproductive issues.
Here are two facts, since you asked, about eating disorders from Eating Recovery Center:
*Anorexia nervosa has the highest mortality rate of any psychiatric disorder with the exception of opioid overdose.
*Women ages 15 to 24 with anorexia nervosa are 12 times more likely to die from the illness than any other cause of death [1].
These same children can reach the same or more success safely, but it might just take longer than their HS years.
This would encourage them to be screened earlier in the season as well.
EVERY high school athlete IS screened prior to the season by a physician. Every school requires an athlete to have a physical. If the physician sees any reason why a particular athlete cannot/should not compete, he will not sign off and risk his career. Unlike the people on this board, the physician (1) is medically trained to the highest level and (2) sees more than just a picture on the internet.
Most athletes do not meet the criteria for anorexia nervosa; they are much more likely to meet the criteria for anorexia athletica.
From the American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, the criteria for anorexia nervosa are: 1. Restriction of energy intake relative to requirements, leading to a significantly low body weight in the context of age, sex, developmental trajectory, and physical health. Significantly low weight is defined as a weight that is less than minimally normal or, for children and adolescents, less than that minimally expected. 2. Intense fear of gaining weight or of becoming fat, or persistent behavior that interferes with weight gain, even though at a significantly low weight. 3. Disturbance in the way in which one’s body weight or shape is experienced, undue influence of body weight or shape on self-evaluation, or persistent lack of recognition of the seriousness of the current low body weight.
Most athletes only meet criteria #1.
Common characteristics for anorexia athletica are:
* Reduced body mass (weight) and loss of fat mass is performance related and not related to appearance or body shape
* The loss of body mass results in a lean physique
* Weight cycling (repeated weight gain and loss) is usually present, although maintenance of a low body weight may be seen all year
* Restriction of food intake and/or excessive exercise is voluntary or at the suggestion of a coach or trainer
* The abnormal eating occurs while the athlete is competing but stops at the end of the athlete’s career
The primary difference is the intent: why is the person choosing to maintain a low body weight? For athletes in sports where low body weight is important (distance running, gymnastics, high jumpers, figure skaters, etc.), the intent is usually performance improvement; body image has nothing to do with it.
The sport where this is the most common at the high school level is wrestling. Yes, that muscular 189 lb wrestler who drops from 215 during football season to 189 and then yo-yo's up and down all wrestling season long is more likely to have a disorder than a skinny female cross country runner.
Very good points about anorexia athletica (vs the more well known anorexia nervosa) and how high school athletes are already screened by a physician.
So physician screening might be blocking some very underweight runners, but did not succeed in blocking this particular one. It seems that the parent involvement is the most critical factor. If the parent insists there is no problem and got a screening fail, they even could try another physician and probably get a pass. The screening is there for the parent and child to observe, but they need to be willing to listen to it.
And a physician screening is unlikely to block a wrestler doing the weight yo-yo thing. They just won't see that dynamic.