Weight Loss by Athletes and Health Concerns
Waking up, sophomore Mike Fumagalli would peel off the garbage bags and layers of clothing he had worn to bed the night before hoping to "sweat away" some extra weight.
Throughout the day, he would ask teachers to use their trashcans and would spit constantly. Sometimes, he would even cut his hair or sit in a sauna, all to lose a couple more pounds.
Many people may wonder why someone would go to such extreme measures just to lose a few pounds.
For Fumagalli, the answer was simply: "Everyone likes to win. That's why you cut weight."
"Cutting weight" is a term that refers to a wrestler's attempt to lose a certain amount of weight in order to compete in a particular weight
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"In wrestling, you're not necessarily going for permanent weight loss. Weight loss isn't the goal but a means of attaining the goal," said Holman.
Health concerns
Rachel Haas, a registered dietitian at Provena St. Joseph Medical Center, says she discourages wrestlers from cutting weight because it is very "detrimental" to the body.
Health complications such as lowered blood sugar, increased use of muscle tissue, reduced ability for muscles to use oxygen and reduced ability for the body to regulate temperature could all result from rapid weight loss, said Haas. In fact, between November 7 and December 9, 1997, three collegiate wrestlers died after trying to rapidly lose weight. The wrestlers were using weight loss methods now prohibited by the NCAA, including the use of vapor-impermeable suits.
A report by Dr. Daniel Remick of the Centers for Disease Control said the three wrestlers, having practiced weight-loss techniques such as vigorous exercise in hot environments, lost an average of 30 pounds from the pre-season until the times of their deaths.
"Under such conditions, particularly when dehydration is involved, there are no established limits for safe weight loss," said Remick.
"The sudden deterioration and resulting deaths of previously healthy, young, well-trained
Maintaining weight is what makes wrestling truly differ from the rest. Maintaining weight is probably one of the greatest reasons it is considered the hardest. People think wrestlers
This leaves a person feeling too tired, weak, and lethargic to train the way they are used to training. Dieting and exercising with weights is generally good for people, but they may not see the results they want do to muscle loss, protein breakdown, and limited protein synthesis as a result of their fitness efforts.
I woke up that morning walked up to my scale dropped all my clothes and suspensefully stepped up onto my scale, and slowly looked down to see a daunting but expected result 177 lbs. 7 pounds, I needed to lose 7 pounds. What did I do, well I did what any wrestler would do; I try to drop as much water weight as possible. I had spit two full water bottle while chewing cinnamon gum; sat in a sauna while wearing 3 trash bags, 2 jackets, and 2 sweatpants; I hadn't eaten all day but that should be a given I mean I'm a wrestler after all. This self-abuse some would call; essentially, was all in the name so I could walk on a mate for three periods then get my arm lifted(when you win a match the referee lifts your arm up) and walk off. I'm getting ahead of myself. Before I could wrestle in a half-dead state: I had one measly task in front of me. I needed to step onto an officially weighed scale and make my class weight. As
They seek to replenish fuel their bodies, which has been depleted from the weight cut they just put themselves through. Many of these men had lost 10 pounds since the day before. The process of losing that much weight is agonizing, imagine feeling the sickest you have in your entire life. Your legs feel like anchors weighting you down. Your head is throbbing like a guy waking up from a heavy night of drinking at a bachelor party the night before. Your stomach is past the point of growling in hungry instead it is roaring. But despite all these pains you must keep pedaling the stationary bike you are or put your left foot in front of your right while you are on a
As much as I love the sport of wrestling is probably how much I hate cutting weight, if not more. When I was younger like second and third grade I didn’t cut or lose any weight. Even into fourth and fifth grade I didn’t really cut weight. When I
However, the important factor may not be dieting per se, but rather the situation in which the performer is told to lose weight, the words used and whether the athlete receives guidance. It is very worrying to experience how unprofessionally some professional teachers and trainers may behave. There is anecdotal evidence of how they set their own standards for body shape and weight, and pass on abnormal eating and dieting myths to the new generations of performers.
Being overweight and being in sports is a hard aspect of the game to overcome. Many of the athletes in different sports go through tough training and conditioning. Some athletes are under great pressure to make a certain weight in order to stay on the team. If the players are overweight they might be fined or even benched for the certain events. All of the sports that are out there have a lot of competition for staying on teams. There are the athletes that struggle each week to keep their job from younger stronger players coming in. So it is a question of were they turn to get an extra edge over the other player. Most of the time it is with diet supplements or
Rapid and extreme weight loss can lead to hyperthermia, dehydration, heart arrhythmia, and cardiac arrest. In 1997 there were 3 cases of college athletes dying after extreme weight loss for a competition. Due to this, new policies were created to keep athletes safe and healthy. Hyperthermia is dangerous overheating of the body, which occurs when the body produces or absorbs more heat than it can dissipate. Common contributors to this are athletes wearing extra, or non-breathable clothing, or working out in a heated environment.
This can also be dangerous for weight lifters because if they lift the weight and they hold it up above their head and then suddenly don’t have enough energy to control the weight they could drop in bad and this could harm others and themselves. An example of a weight lifter that has to be careful is Kim Un-guk. So Kim UN-guk by not having enough energy to perform the weight lifting this will affect the performs performance and cause them to fail when lifting a certain weight. This will cause him to lose points as he had failed to perform at his best abilities.
Hungry for Change is a documentary that suggests the idea that the ultimate answer to weight loss is detoxification. This film interviews Jon Gabriel, who lost more than 200 pounds of weight by detoxification. He realized that burning calories was not the right way to the weight loss he was looking for. He explains that the human body holds on to fat in order to defend itself against toxins. After he started detoxifying, the weight he had been aiming to lose starting coming off once he started detoxifying, the weight started coming off all by itself.
Muscle is an exceptionally insatiable tissue. It requires a considerable measure of calories just to exist and gives the body something to do bringing about a higher digestion system. Therefore, muscle is an imperative player in weight reduction. Since fasting requires a timeframe without noteworthy sustenance consumption (counting protein), some dread that it would bring about muscle misfortune. While long stretches of fasting will bring about the body to swing to muscle for vitality, brief periods (24 to 48 hours) are not going to bring about critical muscle loss.
On Jennifer Cassetta's website she explains more about herself including that she has worked with some pretty big stars including Carrie Fisher, Jenny McCarthy and Marie Osmond. She taught them how to defend themselves while still wearing their high heels because obviously they could be caught out on them. Jennifer Cassetta offers DVDS, books and more on her website if people want more information on her diet or on defending themselves. There is also a 21 day diet plan you can use to get started.
Even though fighters have trainers to help them make the massive weight cut, there can still be problems that arise during this dangerous procedure. There have been a handful of deaths that has happened while fighters try to lose the last few pounds. The most recent death was in December 2015 when Yang Jian Bing died at the age of 21 years old (Perez). This unfortunate death was the second of 2015 that was due to weight cutting for a fight (Perez). Death is the worst outcome to come out of weight cutting; however, many fighters can be seriously harmed as well during the process. Renan Barao, former UFC champion, had to pull himself from his fight because he fainted during the weight cutting process and was sent to the hospital (Huang). Another UFC fighter, Johnny Hendricks, was hospitalized due to intestinal blockage and kidney stones the day before the weigh-ins due to cutting weight (Perez). A study published in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research in 2013 reported that 39% of the 40 MMA fighters it studied had “significant or serious dehydration” 22 hours after weigh-ins (Perez). Serious dehydration can lead to many health problems such as low blood pressure, kidney problems, seizures, and even death. With 40% of combat sports athletes experiencing serious dehydration when they cut weight, it is not surprising that there have been serious injuries and deaths associated with the weight cutting process.
- Realistically lost weight because initially, she was eating 3282 calories in snacks alone, plus three meals a day
For people who want to lose weight when they exercise they need to take a completely different approach. Instead of doing high-intensity workout for short periods of time, they need to do the exact opposite. Brian Parr from the Department of Exercise and Sports Science at the University of South Carolina says: