very thankful you don't coach my daughter wrote:
Because it often leads to disordered eating and potentially life-threatening health issues you dim-witted moran. That's why.
I hope you are nowhere near high school girl athletes.
Talk about healthy nutrition. Don't talk weight. It's not that difficult.
You still don't get it. No one is saying to pull teenager girls aside and tell them to lose weight if they want to run fast. Run a 6 minute mile and be happy. Run a 25 minute 5K and be happy. But, DO NOT tell someone that wants to achieve the highest level that they can do so without weight AND nutrition being part of the equation. ANY elite female knows this, they just won't say it out loud because if they did, they would get exactly the same reaction and be accused of causing girls to have eating disorders.
I have a girl that's 5'4" and 125 lbs and she's been killing it running PRs of 4:56 & 10:49. You act as if I am suggesting that we have a discussion about losing weight to make her faster. That IS NOT what I am saying and NOT what happens. That's her body type and she's going to get into the school that she wants to and everyone is happy. Yeah, that's right, I hate to break it to you, but I coach HS girls. And, since I'm a female, a runner, a board certified endocrinologist and have actually been through it all, I speak to my athletes about this issue all the time. I also speak to them about menstruation, sex, contraception, boys, drugs, violence, rape, childbirth, movies, clothing, dating and a whole bunch of other stuff too. You WISH I was your daughters coach!
You sound like one of those simpletons that think girls are made of sugar and spice and will melt when spoken to. Some girls want to be warriors and will push themselves to be the best. You act as if all girls are the same and come in a cute little pink package marked fragile. To tell a highly motivated girl that dropping a few pounds naturally during our build for state will greatly improve their chances, might sound horrible to you, but only if you buy into the fragile, melting girl bullshyte. The hype is that if you mention weight to a girl she is so mentally unstable that she will go spiraling into "disordered eating and potentially life-threatening health issues.'" Only a true dimwit would actually believe that. You have been so programmed to believe this nonsense. You clearly have no idea what girls talk to each other about. If you do have daughters, they clearly don't trust you enough to open up about these matters with you. Apparently boys can handle putting weight on for football, taking it off for wrestling, being told to hit the gym because they are scrawny, being told to lose weight because they are heavy but girls are unstable anorexia time bombs ready to go off at the mere mention of the word "weight." It's stupid, sexist and simply untrue.
And as a disclaimer: I am in no way minimizing the issue of eating disorders. Eating disorders are complex and to suggest that any single event would be a trigger shows a deep ignorance. Eating disorders deal with obsession, weight, appearance, body image, hormones and there is now compelling evidence to show that genetic factors contribute to a predisposition for eating disorders.
Don't sell your daughters short, outfit them with the right tools for success. As with most things in life, how you say it is as or more important than what you say. Girls are badass and a lot tougher than you think.
Get a clue!