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beef_bourito
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17 May 2008, 11:34 pm

has anyone here ever had one?

i feel as though i've been on the verge of an eating disorder for the past year or so. many times when i feel full i seriously consider purging, even if i haven't actually eaten too much, simply because i ate more than i wanted to. i've been under stress about dropping weight for rowing, and it's been very difficult. i've read that eating disorders are very common among athletes in smaller weight classes, and moreso in rowing because of the attitude that people generally have in it. the whole thing about rowing is that you push till it hurts, then you push harder. if you can see, you're not pushing hard enough. if you remember a race, you didn't push hard enough. if you're overweight, you're fat. if you row with your shirt off, you're an American (just had to throw that one in).

i'd like to emphasize that i have never purged because i know if i do it once i'll probably do it again, and eventually develop bulimia. i'm hoping that once i lose the weight i won't feel compelled to do it.

edit: i'd also like to add that this isn't a body image issue. i do have issues with my body but that's not what's driving this, it's the number on the scale that's bothering me.



sgrannel
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17 May 2008, 11:47 pm

Don't do it! Why is rowing so important to you that you would consider damaging your health for it? There must be other unhealthy aspects to this activity if it causes its participants to develop eating disorders at a high rate. Where are you going with the sport? Can you make any money at it? Don't sacrifice other, more important aspects of your life for sport. I never got into sports too much in high school because I understood even then that knowing how to fix an engine, or solve complicated math problems would be much more relevant skills to have later in life than catching a ball.


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beef_bourito
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17 May 2008, 11:58 pm

i guess you could say it's one of my obsessions, i think of it more as a passion. you can't make money from it, i don't know how far i'll go, only that i'll go as far as i can. like i said, i haven't developed an eating disorder and i'm very sure i won't. it goes against my morals to do it and i always know that i won't do it, i just feel a strong compulsion to do it.

i row because i like it and it makes me happy. ever since i started i've been happier, more confident, healthier, etc. when i'm in the off season i don't feel as happy, and i often watch olympic races and other rowing vids to ease the pain of not rowing but they don't help much. when i'm on the water i just feel great. the races are unbelievably painful, uncomfortable, crushing if you lose, but i anticipate them more than christmas or my birthday.

the only unhealthy aspects of it are overuse injuries, the dangers that come from dehydration to make weight (which you try to avoid because you don't have enough time to rehydrate and it hurts your performance), and risks that come from intense cardio (heart problems if you have a heart condition, etc). right now i have tendinitis, which i'm treating properly, but that's it right now. i'm seeing a psychologist right now about Asperger's and other things and i'm going to mention it soon.



Brittany2907
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19 May 2008, 12:00 pm

I've never had one.
Although, my mother had anorexia when she was a teenager and weighed at her lowest, 31kgs. She has health problems now because of the disorder (mainly dental) and I can tell that she still dislikes eating to this day, at age 42.

I would advise that if you think you are in danger of developing an eating disorder, get help! Even if you don't have a disorder yet, with treatment, you could prevent one from starting.


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Scheherazade
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19 May 2008, 3:32 pm

First off, eating disorders aren't just bad for your health, they're also bad for your sport. If you're not getting the energy how will you have the stamina to row? If you're not eating, or you're purging what you do eat, your body will start breaking down muscle in order to keep going. Muscle may weigh more, but the power it gives you more than makes up for the extra pounds. Throwing up may make you lighter, but if you lack the energy or stamina to push yourself at a regatta, it won't matter how much you weigh.

I don't necessarily think you need to seek help for an eating disorder. A lot of eating disorder counselors out there have the best intentions but not necessarily the best methods. I met an eating disorder counselor who was a recovering anorexic and who kept saying everyone should eat Doritos. I'm sure if she were dealing with a resistant anorexic patient, she'd probably force the patient to eat Doritos and other unhealthy things just to get over their fear of food. If you're really craving junk food, then you shouldn't beat yourself up about it, but you shouldn't indulge in it just to prove you're over the disease.

If you feel yourself becoming obsessed you might try to channel the obsession. Focus on learning about the foods that help you in your sport and cut out the ones that don't. Usually this means cutting out sugars, junk food, soda, and refined carbs (pasta, white bread). You should be eating protein - poultry, fish, legumes, nuts, tofu, maybe the occasional lean red meat - to help build your muscles and your endurance. Eat whole grains - you can buy sprouted bread these days, or try wheatberry, quinoa (which is like rice but high in protein) and tons of other grains. Eat lots of vegetables, which are low in calories but give you the vitamins to keep you going and boost your immune system so you don't catch colds with all those early mornings on the water. Eat fruit when you need something sweet, and for vitamin C. And drink lots of water. Water can fool the scale - if you drink a lot of water it might look like you're not losing weight or that your weight has gone up - but the fluid really helps your system.

If you want a good resource about sports nutrition, check out Barry Sears' The Zone books. I know it's become a bit of a cheesy diet fad, but Dr. Sears has a very strong understanding of nutritional science. (Before he became a nutritional guru, he was a research scientist who developed some of the most important drug treatments for AIDS). Pick up the original book, Enter The Zone, where he spends his intro chapter talking about how he helped a team at Stanford (I believe it was the rowing team, though I'm not 100% sure) to improve their performance by adopting his diet plan. Basically the plan calls for protein at every meal, and a mix of vegetables and whole grains. Common sense nutrition, but he does talk a lot about how to make nutrition work for performance. There are also several companion books out there that offer recipes and support on how to adapt this diet plan for your life. No matter what your diet looks like right now, you can probably pick up some tips from this book to help you lose some pounds of fat, but more importantly you'll probably pick up tips that will boost your performance - and that's really what you're after.



beef_bourito
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19 May 2008, 4:29 pm

i know what i should be eating, it's just that sometimes i'll eat more than i had planned, i'll feel full and it'll make me feel a bit disgusted. i know that i need the energy and stuff, this is just to drop the weight to get into the other weight class so that i'm not rowing against people who are half a foot taller and 30lbs heavier than me. i've been eating pretty well as of late, lots of fruits and vegetables, some meat, whole wheat bread, etc. and i've generally been eating around the right amount of calories, it's just the odd time when i indulge that it disgusts me and i feel like purging.



ebec11
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19 May 2008, 7:21 pm

I would probably have one if I wasn't as closely monitored as I am. I can't not eat :?



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23 May 2008, 12:52 am

i've had bulimia, although i am now in [rather successful] recovery. it's nasty. my teeth literally crumbled, and it took a year before i could eat without feeling sick.



beef_bourito
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23 May 2008, 6:43 am

a couple of days ago i let my coach know that i can make lightweight (i'm down to 169 from 176 3 weeks ago, i have to get to under 160lbs) and right away he told me "make sure you're doing it right, don't go purge or anything stupid". so i take it he's dealt with a number of people who've done it. i'm not so concerned about eating right now, i don't have to lose a whole bunch of weight so i haven't been thinking about it too much and it hasn't been bothering me at all. i'm also eating a pretty strict diet (because it's easy) of a decent breakfast after rowing, 3-4 fruits, 1 sandwich, and a small portion of dinner after rowing in the evening (my parents usually make big dinners so i have to remind them not to give me too much).



sgrannel
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24 May 2008, 9:58 pm

beef_bourito wrote:
a couple of days ago i let my coach know that i can make lightweight (i'm down to 169 from 176 3 weeks ago, i have to get to under 160lbs) and right away he told me "make sure you're doing it right, don't go purge or anything stupid". so i take it he's dealt with a number of people who've done it. i'm not so concerned about eating right now, i don't have to lose a whole bunch of weight so i haven't been thinking about it too much and it hasn't been bothering me at all. i'm also eating a pretty strict diet (because it's easy) of a decent breakfast after rowing, 3-4 fruits, 1 sandwich, and a small portion of dinner after rowing in the evening (my parents usually make big dinners so i have to remind them not to give me too much).


What is your height, and to what bmi does the 160 mark correspond? The reasons for your target weight are someone else's guidelines for how much you should weigh to participate in a certain sports bracket, not your own goals for fitness or health guidelines, and this seems very wrong to me. The brackets are intended to keep small, younger people from competing with larger, older people, not to prompt otherwise healthy people to lose all their fat, and then continue losing weight by losing muscle and bone.

I myself could lose 5-10 lbs of fat, but as I exercise I am putting on muscle while losing fat, so I will never get below 180, and I am OK with that. If getting below a certain weight for other than healthy reasons requires you to suffer inordinately in a region of diminished return, maybe it's not worth it and you and your coach should settle for rowing in a higher bracket. You won't be 12 years old ever again, a friend of mine will never fit into a size 8 dress without doing bad things to herself, and I will never get back to my high school weight of 165, and these are things we all have to accept and make the best of it.

Think of it this way. Would you do anything different if the cutoff for lightweight were 170? What would you do in the absence of any bracketing? Even if you could be classified as lightweight without losing muscle or performance, or suffering adverse effects, would it be fair for you to compete with in the same bracket as the smaller, shorter athletes?

And the coach says: "make sure you're doing it right, don't go purge or anything stupid" That's real sensitive (not). OK so he knows this is going on and he's covering his butt by saying this when his athletes approach him. Something's really rotten here.


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Last edited by sgrannel on 25 May 2008, 12:07 am, edited 1 time in total.

beef_bourito
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25 May 2008, 12:04 am

BMI is meaningless as anything other than a relation of height vs weight. you can't just take that relation and tell someone they're over/under weight. that being said, my bmi would be in the "normal" range at 160.

i'm 5'8.5", if i don't get down to 160lbs i'll be competing against guys over 6'2" (because 90% of the people under 6'2" cut to lightweight) and over 200lbs. and the fact of the matter is that there is a weight bracket. it really doesn't matter what i would be doing if there wasn't one. i'm going to lose the weight, it's entirely possible even though my natural weight is probably around 170. the only issue is the pressure is messing with me but i'm not going to give in to it, i know it's not the most effective way to do it anyways.



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25 May 2008, 8:06 pm

I was going to ask about this.

I was diagnosed with Anorexia Nervosa (formally type I, became type II) a number of years ago and wondered if it may be linked to AS(?) I've been obsessed with my weight and what I eat for a number of years. The extent of my eating disordered behaviours have fluctuated in severity and I 'recovered' (was a healthy weight) for a brief period of time last year.



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25 May 2008, 8:43 pm

I have heard of the esophagus rupturing when people purged too much, I think it overdistends it and makes it thinner from all that pressure coming up from below... so I imagine all of that vomit ends up going into where their lungs and heart sit 8O

And the problem is, once you get started on purging, it will be harder and harder to stop because it feels "satisfying" and "cleansing" for a short time after you do it.



beef_bourito
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25 May 2008, 8:55 pm

Metalwolf wrote:
I have heard of the esophagus rupturing when people purged too much, I think it overdistends it and makes it thinner from all that pressure coming up from below... so I imagine all of that vomit ends up going into where their lungs and heart sit 8O

And the problem is, once you get started on purging, it will be harder and harder to stop because it feels "satisfying" and "cleansing" for a short time after you do it.

that's exactly why i don't want to start. not only would i have to force myself to eat something after purging to get the right amount of food in, but it causes all kinds of bad stuff (lots of damage to teeth on top of what you mentioned) and i know that once i start it would be hard to stop.



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26 May 2008, 8:04 pm

I have B.D.D which often causes me to stop eating/become a serious calorie counter.



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06 Jun 2008, 1:10 am

for anyone who doesn't know B.D.D is body dysmorphic disorder, it basically is when you have a distorted view of yourself. Usually people with it become obsessed with a certain area like their nose or mouth and become obsessed with plastic surgery or think that by gaining/losing weight they can 'fix' this hate.

I'm the second type.