Many girls choose to be a manager for the football team, baseball team, etc. In high school I chose to be the manager for the wrestling team. I never realized how much some fellas focus on their weight until I met these fellas. They were skipping meals, not drinking any liquids, etc. to try to keep their weight down before "weigh in" prior to a match. On top of not eating they had "4 lb. practices" or even "6 lb. practices," meaning they planned on losing at least 4-6 pounds in the two hour time limit they had.
It was horrifying knowing what they were doing to their bodies.
In my mind they were suffering from anorexia nervosa and some even suffered from bulima nervosa. Yet, as my best friend explained to me, these boys draw an even "finer line" between training and eating disorder, as did their parents. When a boy crossed that line the coaches and his parents worked together to help treat his disorder by seeking professional help, raising him a weight class, and keeping a close eye on him. Sadly, when I began managing many of the boys had kept the habits outside of the wrestling season. By the middle of my junior year the coaches worked with the captains to make it a team effort to face these issues head on. A lot of people believe that men aren't as susceptible as women are to eating disorders. However, as the National Eating Disorder Association states, some disorders are just as common in men as they are in women.
Fellas + Eating Disorders
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Really great example and very good points made. I think wrestling is particularly problematic in this way...
This was a very good post. I had two best friends in high school who were on the wrestling team. Every year, our high school wrestling team made it to state so they always felt the pressure even in the off season. After graduating high school, I moved into a house with three guys who wrestled at a Division 3 college, one of which was my best friend from before. I had never dealt with anorexia before and have never seen or known about anyone struggling with it. However, it is scary knowing that in order to keep under weight for the weigh-ins, some of these guys would eat only a piece of lettuce all day! I have seen it before that the only thing my roommate ate all day was a spoonful of cottage cheese! I'm glad that the coaches and parents are becoming aware of the problems that the wrestlers deal with.
This blog was very interesting and held my attention throughout the entire thing. Wrestling is a great example as many people can relate to it. My uncle wrestled in high school and had to cut weight weekly, and he has major after affects. His doctor tells him that he is so short because his growth was stunted from cutting weight so frequently. Seeing my uncle go through that I would never want my kid to experience something that intense.
It is very interesting to read about boys getting anorexia nervosa because of their requirement. It seems extreme for me to lose at least 4-6 pounds in 2 hours. I think it is possible if you run for 2 hours without drinking any water. However, it may bring life-threatening condition because their bodies are extremely dehydrated.