High Weight And Weight Loss

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Introduction It is commonly known that athletes sacrifice their bodies for the benefit of the sport. However, the increased demands from coaches, parents, and others motivate these athletes to adopt harmful practices, such as extreme dieting and weight loss. Athletes most often susceptible to implementing such behaviors are body builders, boxers, wrestlers, ballet dancers, and gymnasts. These athletes are notorious for becoming fixated on their weight and body composition. Consequently, there are major concerns regarding the health of these individuals as a result of weight loss techniques utilized to improve performance (Anderson, Barlett, Morgan, Brownell, 1995). More specifically, wrestlers lose large amounts of weight rapidly before competition. Typically, wrestlers lose weight prior to competition in order to enter into a lower weight class division (Kiningham, Gorenflo, 2001). The primary reason for this behavior is to gain an edge on their competition (Kiningham, Gorenflo, 2001). Common methods of weight loss among wrestlers include: food restriction, vomiting, diet pills, and diuretics (Kiningham, Gorenflo, 2001). These extreme dietary habits are often promoted by coaches, parents, and medical professionals (Kiningham, Gorenflo, 2001). As a result of rapidly losing weight, wrestlers are restricting themselves of vital nutrients necessary to provide energy during competition. Some studies suggest that the time frame between weigh-in and competition
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