Weight Management for Young Athletes

Bridget Snapp: If your child is involved in a weight classmanagements sport like wrestling or an athletic sport like gymnastics. How do you help them effectively and safely manage their weight? We're going to find out today, right here on Clubhouse GAS. I am here, with Diana King, Certified Athletic Trainer at Children's Healthcare of Atlanta, a Registered Dietician and a specialist in Sports Dietetics. We're talking today about, young athletes and weight management. Welcome, and thank you for being here Diane. Diane King: Thank you. Bridget Snapp: So in sports where weight is emphasized, such as gymnastics or wrestling that these athletes are going to feel the pressure to keep their weight down, to be thin maybe to lose weight. Is it safe for them to diet or how do they go about attacking these issues? Diane King: Well, the problem a lot of times is the athletes just don't have the right information about, how to keep their weight consistently low. And so, what happens is they generally just will stop eating. They'll take out all of the fat out of their diets in a way to control their calories. But then, the problem becomes. Now that they have enough energy to actually train and there have been actual studies, that show the weight cycling may actually, increase the potential for an athlete to develop type-2 diabetes, because of the unavailability of sugar coming into their bodies from time-to-time and that starvation kind of mode, that they set themselves up into. There is much safer ways, to manage their weight with working with sports. Bridget Snapp: Okay, so let's talk about, what are some of those safer ways? Diane King: Well, I think the first thing that you have to look at with any athlete no matter, what the sport they're doing and no matter what age they are is, what are they really eating now? So a lot of times the best way, to go about, figuring that out is write things down, for two or three days and really kind of look at it from a trend and a pattern standpoint. The other thing that we really, want to emphasize, even with an athlete that's wanting to manage their weight, is small meals and small snacks to provide their body with energy, so that they train well, and they stay safe and don't hurt themselves along the way. Bridget Snapp: Now we're going to have some athletes who are going to naturally loose weight during the season, but they're not actually trying to do this. Diane King: Right. Bridget Snapp: What do we say to these athletes? Diane King: Well, a lot of times it's just a lack of awareness and what it goes back to is the athlete doesn't feel like eating. So, depending on the length of a season or with athletes that do multiple sports to never really, get a chance to rest and recover. We have to teach them. You need to eat, because that's what your body needs not what your brain things it wants. Calorie dense foods, that don't require a lot of effort for preparation something like a trail mix or even a smoothie or a milk shake can be very helpful, without creating problems from the weight standpoint. The problem with weight cycling is that every time an athlete is losing weight rapidly in order to make a weight, for the end of the week competition or something like that, they lose a lot of water weight. But they also, lose muscle mass and so every time then, when they regain that weight, a lot of the composition is coming back as fat weight So an athlete may in fact, stay about, the same weight but they're actually becoming fatter. The only way we really know what's happing with that child, is to do body composition testing. Bridget Snapp: Okay, and what is that exactly? Diane King: Well, there is lots of different ways to test body composition. You hear about underwater weighing and things of that nature. The easiest thing to do with the child is skinfold measurement. It's giving us just the measure of subcutaneous fat. But it also shows change over time and that's really what we're looking at, because as an athlete grows in ages anyway, their body fat will change naturally. Bridget Snapp: Are any of the associations, the sports associations using these measurements to help regulate their athletes? Diane King: Definitely. Wrestling in particular, is the top of the list with using these products and protocols and what they do is they measure even the high school athletes. So the eighth and ninth graders are still a part of this program within Georgia High School Association as well, as all 50 states. And these kids are brought in, there is a urine specific gravity test which actually, measures their level of hydration. If they are hydrated, they are allowed to continue the test and they have a body composition accesses. And what it does is, it sets up a weight loss protocol for them, because it's preventing them from losing too much weight quickly. It keeps them measuring and recording weights throughout the entire seasons. So that, something unusual is not happening, with weighings and it keeps the kid healthier. Our intent with that is to just limit sudden death episodes. Bridget Snapp: How is the sudden death playing a role in? Diane King: It's usually a factor of hydration and so the kids will put on the rubber suits, so go out and run, they'll sit in sauna instead and things like that in an effort to lose weight, for a weighing. The problem again, is it's not weight mass, that they're losing, it's simply water weight. And when they lose that extreme amount, of fluid, what's going to happen is, it causes a Arrhythmia in the heart and it can actually, cause sudden death in those athletes. Bridget Snapp: What are some of the warning signs, the parent might want to look out for it? Diane King: Well, I think when you're looking at energy availability and low energy is kind of the first and foremost thing, that you're going to notice. Their practices start to deteriorate. They're not feeling well. They complain about soreness all the time. They don't ever seem to recover. They can have a lot of problems with mood and irritability issues. And sometimes, we are thinking an 11 or a 12 year old child is just moody and irritable anyway. But it could be a warning sign. Certainly, an injury history can also lead, us to kind of wonder, is there something going on as far as the bodies ability not to be able to recover. Bridget Snapp: We'll be sure, to keep a look out for these warning signs, and we thank you for helping keep our kids healthy Diane King: Thank you. Bridget Snapp: And safe, and we thank you for watching this edition of Clubhouse GAS. For any more information, see the editor's notes down below. We'll see you next time.