Female athletes may begin to diet in order to enhance their performance in sporrts. Sports that require a lean body weight include long-distance running, gymnastics, swimming, diving, figure skating, dance, cheerleading, wrestling and lightweight rowing.
A cross-country runner may want to lose weight in order to become lighter and faster. A gymnast may want to lose weight because she is being judged by her size and shape.
Sadly, that performance can improve with thinness is further from the truth. While it is possible to enhance your performance with weight loss, not enough calories to fuel the extra energy and exertion by the body can affect performance negatively.
Coaches of female athletes may also play a part in encouraging eating disorders. To push their students to do their best, they may unwittingly cause them to excessively exercise. At the same time, coaches may themselves believe that any ounze of fat will cause a corresponding reduction in scores. Students are at risk of not being coached in the proper way about nutrition. This is vital information to them especially if they are on the path to sports excellence.
