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Princess Athletes
Avoiding Potential Body-image Problems By Teri Brown
Pedrotty believes the societal pressure to be thin is another factor that can increase the risk of an eating disorder. Our society teaches young people that if you are thin, you will be successful. Having the perfect body equals success is the message sent by the media, Hollywood and the rest of society.
"Many athletes internalize this message," says Pedrotty. "Just as our society equates the perfect body with success, so do our athletes. It is not unusual for an athlete or a coach to place the blame of poor performance on body weight [or] body fat. In athletics, when body weight equals performance, it can be extremely dangerous. For example, I have often heard some of our athletes say, 'When I was playing my sport or performing, I felt that if I just lost 5 pounds I could be so much better.' What happens in this case is the athlete may lose weight and their performance may improve – this is not necessarily from the weight loss – then they believe if they lost even more weight, they would continue to improve. Once the athlete equals performance with body weight, they may get trapped in the vicious cycle of an eating disorder."
Just because your daughter is a figure skater or gymnast doesn't mean she is going to acquire an eating disorder. It does, however, mean you should be aware and sensitive to signs that your daughter may be developing an unhealthy obsession with the way she looks and performs. "If you are aware of her normal body weight and see a fast drop of pounds, ommon sense alone tells you that some unhealthy preoccupation with thinness is brewing," says Dr. Siegel.
Other signs include:
- Over-exercising to the point of fatigue with little or no time for recovery (though with athletes this is often hard to tell)
- Reliance on caffeinated drinks and substances
- Use of laxatives and diet aids
- Absence of other activities that balance out their lives
- Consistent displeasure and dissatisfaction with her appearance