Dangers of Rapid Weight Loss/Gain in Athletes

Educating Athletes on Healthy Ways to Increase and Decrease Weight

Oct 5, 2009

Intentional weight gain and weight loss are accepted practice in young adolescent male athletes. The key is keeping it healthy and safe.

There are unhealthy and unsafe methods of both gaining and losing weight used by high school athletes. Athletes look for quick methods to achieve their goals, but these methods may be unsafe for the athletes and may place these athletes at risk.

Dangers of Rapid Weight Loss

Wrestling is one sport that requires strict weight classes in order for the athletes to compete. Athletes may be encouraged by their coaches to lose weight in order to compete at a lower weight class. Losing weight can be done safely over time. However, there are some dangerous methods to rapidly lose weight as reported in The Male Adolescent Athlete: Specific Concerns (Diamond, A, Gregory, A, Pediatric Annals, November 2007).

According to Diamond, A., and Gregory, A. (November 2007), a number of physiological risks can occur from the use of the above methods. These dangerous practices can lead to dysfunction in the following systems due to severe dehydration and restricted calories:

Guidelines for Weight Loss in NCAA Wrestling

The American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) teamed up with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) to establish a weight control program and guidelines after the deaths of three collegiate wrestlers. These rules include:

Just as there are sports in which athletes try to lose weight to enhance their performance, there are sports in which athletes are encouraged to gain mass to improve their performance. Football is a prime example of a sport in which athletes are encouraged to gain mass.

These athletes need to be educated how to properly gain muscle mass (not just fat mass to increase their weight). Athletes need to gain lean muscle mass. This can be safely accomplished through a healthy intake of protein, carbohydrates and fats in combination with a strength training program.

Gaining weight the safe and healthy way takes time, and unfortunately, some athletes opt for a quicker solution. Athletes competing for positions against larger peers may compromise healthy practices for a quick solution.

Some of the more dangerous weight gain practices include “overeating, overtraining, and the use of non-licensed or illegal supplemental ‘aids’” (Diamond, A. & Gregory, A., Pediatric Annals, November 2007). Overeating can add extra fat to an athlete’s body composition. The addition of extra fat can hamper an athlete because the athlete’s muscles still have to power the athlete’s mass regardless of the composition of the body. Carrying extra body fat will slow an athlete down and can lead to microtrauma injuries in the bones and joints of the lower extremity.

Overtraining can lead to overuse injuries because the body does not have enough time to repair and rebuild the muscles prior to repeated stress. Accepted strength training practices need to be followed including lifting every other day for specific muscle groups in order to give the muscles time to rest and repair.

Use of supplements to increase mass is a known practice in adolescent athletes. The danger is that supplements are not regulated by any governing body which means that no research is done to ensure that the supplements contain what the company says they contain and that the product’s claims are accurate and valid.

All personnel working with young athletes need to educate themselves as to the safe practices of weight gain and weight loss as well as the risky behaviors of each so that they can in turn educate their athletes. Healthy athletes perform better with less injuries than those who choose the quick fix options and risk their health.

The copyright of the article Dangers of Rapid Weight Loss/Gain in Athletes in Sports Medicine is owned by Terry Zeigler. Permission to republish Dangers of Rapid Weight Loss/Gain in Athletes in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.