weight

[Bluetree]

Being underweight definitely means loss of performance. Last year after a nasty car accident, I could no longer exercise and burn the calories I was taking in. Afraid of getting fat, my "solution" was pretty stupid... I stopped eating. After a while, the lack of exercise and reduced intake made me lose my appetite all together. I also slept a lot more, my period slowed by half, and I had no energy or inclination to go out and do things. When my weight dipped into the low 90s my parents became so worried that they hinted at an intervention.

The light switched back on after I put on a pair of pants and they fell off. At the time, my chagrin had less to do with my weight and more like, "I paid $250 for these pants so I better be able to wear them!"

After that I started eating regularly again. When it was back to a normal 105-106, I resumed my fitness activities and started feeling healthier all round. Now at around 112, I feel as strong as I have ever been. Much stringer than at 105. And I really don't care about being thin anymore... the feeling of sheer POWER I can feel coursing through my legs offset any vanity or insecurity about body image. And my pants fit again!

Confucious may not agree, but for me DOING is more rewarding than simply BEING.

[spokewench]

Okay, I'm going to tell you my story of weight and it may not seem so hard cause I've never been heavy, but it does describe how being too thin can just not be too healthy!

In my late teens, early 20's, I was an exercise girl on the thoroughbred race track. I wanted to be a jockey, but never quite made it that far (but that's another story). At that time, I was a skinny kid; I never weighed much more than 103 pounds and most of the time closer to 100 (I'm 5'4"). Remember I wanted to be a jockey and that is one profession where being obsessive about your weight is pretty important AND VERY DETRIMENTAL TO YOUR HEALTH. Being a girl and young and just thin naturally helped me out. I didn't have to take Lasix (diuretics), sit in a hot box, starve myself, throw up everything I ate, or anything like that. BUT, there were many days when I was not feeling too good and really should have been eating more so that I could feel strong. Some days those horses would just pull my arms out of the sockets and I can remember one day when I wish I had more strength cause I had a horse bolt right thru the outside rail - talk about scary. (Me and the horse ended up okay, scraped up real bad, but not seriously injured) My sister thought I looked sickly and she was probably right. Looking back, I would have been a lot better off if I had weighed more and had more muscle. The guys were not as lucky as I was since they were mostly bulkier and more muscle bound being the guys they were so they were doing all those things listed above and more! Suffice it to say, most jockeys do not live long and healthy lives because of the practices they have to keep to stay thin

So, later in my 20's when I took up cycling, I was weighing more in the range of 110 pounds and let me tell you this was really a lot better for me. I was stronger, fitter, more full of energy and feeling pretty healthy. However, I was never a very good climber (some of this was because I was a new cyclist, but some of this was because I did not have the strength at that weight). It is different for everyone.

So, in my 30's, I went up to 115-118 and this was probably my ideal weight. I was strong, but still light enough. I got to be a decent climber at that weight.

Now, in my mid 40's, I weigh around 123-125. Wow, that's a lot more than I was when I was young huh. Am I slower up hill - Well, surprise, surprise, No, if I train, I'm just as fast uphill if maybe not faster.

So, remember, weight is not everything. It has a lot to do with training, fitness, strength to weight ratio, etc. Lighter does not mean better!

[hellosunshine]

you darlings!all i need now is a printer,print off these experiences and post them around my room,thatd be fantastic motivation,THANKYOU.


FEEL SO MUCH BETTER BEING HONEST AND SHARING IT ALL.

[Grog]

The following article, and the movie it's about, should interest a lot of us...

http://thetyee.ca/Photo/2006/11/08/Thin/

[hellosunshine]

has anyone any other leads with sports nutritionalists?seem to be getting nowhere,infact eating more and still losing weight so well worried.DR tues,told my coach,eerie response of silence,eeeeeek...............blinking stigma of eating disorders,arrgh.IM DETERMINED TO CRACK IT THIS TIME!

[hellosunshine]

Update (boring soz!)changed diet to better quality foods and adopting the gi method.RIGHT!not gaining weight,so is the best way to increase the diet by a set amount ,its a battle mushing up my brains,an athelete trying to kick hell out of an eating disorder.making me a tadge tired and weepy,,damn damn.sososo wana smack this illness for good,i suppose its a bucket of courage,and a bit of biker bloody mindedness.

[Duck on Wheels]

Hi sunshine,
I can so sympathize. Was a time I went into an uncontrolled weightloss spin (due to intenstinal disorder, in my case). I kept looking for weight-gaining diets, but all the well-publicized ones are about losing more, never about putting some back on. I "bottomed out" at 50kg and I'm 5'9", so you can imagine how little muscle I had on me! I ended up getting help from a nutritionist. Turns out I had lost some key nutrients that had to be gained back -- along with getting the disorder under control, of course -- then the weight came back on. In fact, I overshot the mark but was too nervous about over-losing again to do anything about it until recently. Now I am slooooowly inching my way down where I want to be. Slowly seems to be a key here. So my advice:
1) Don't be too stressed out and impatient about this. Work your way gradually back to where you feel you should be, and listen to your body along the way. You want to put on muscle, not just fat, so you'll need to eat just a tad more than you're burning and keep on working out.
2) Talk to a nutritionist, if you can.
3) Take the time to enjoy your food. Make it look good and taste good. Have nice music on, or a good book handy -- whatever makes it more fun. Eating is not a duty, it's a pleasure. You eat because your body wants to eat, not just because it's the sensible thing to do. So take the time to listen to your body thanking you for the good food.
4) You might want more than 3 meals a day. Multiple smaller meals rather than 3 big ones are less likely to leave you feeling stuffed and uncomfortable.
5) Maybe prepare several meals in advance, so you don't get tempted to skip or postpone meals just because of the time and effort of preparing them.
6) Take along energy snacks when exercizing, and remember to eat them. That's in addition to your regular meals. If you're undernourished, you may be "bonking" regularly and taking that to be a normal state of affairs. That could perhaps explain the tiredness and weepiness. Also a burst of extra energy here and there along the race or ride may give you back some of that speed you're missing.

Good luck to you! Recognizing that you're running out of power and that it may be related to the weight loss, that's a good start. And you're also addressing the problem by eating more. Stick with it and you'll get back in shape, maybe better shape than ever!