Dear MD,
Congratulations on your daughter's success! As you look
toward her future, also consider the larger picture of her
overall physical and emotional well-being.
The most important
factors to understand are food, exercise, genes, and development.
Food should be taken in moderation-no extremes or gimmicks.
There are lots of healthy foods, and lots of junk. I think
we all basically know the difference. We can eat plenty of
the good stuff if we don't eat so much of the bad. Encourage
your daughter to take in a variety of good foods and to cut
back (but not completely eliminate) the rest. Generalized
food restriction (dieting, fasting, etc.) is okay for losing
a pound or two for a day or two (e.g.., weighin) but is definitely
not the way to go for very long. In general your daughter
should pay attention more to what she eats rather than to
how much she eats.
Exercise should also be done wisely and
with balance. Most successful competitors don't train hour
after hour just in Taekwondo-they build a general athletic
base by running, lifting, exercising, stretching, and playing
other vigorous sports, with perhaps equal time devoted to
general athletic and specific Taekwondo training. Maybe you
and your daughter can decide how many hours she will train
during the week, and divide her time more evenly between
do-jang and other crosstraining workouts.
Food and exercise
are only part of the picture, of course. Your daughter's
genes are what they are, so her basic body type is what it
is. Some are tall and some are short, some are slender and
some are stout; different sports favor different body types.
Because Taekwondo has weight classes and emphasizes kicking,
the ideal Taekwondo body type is tall, lean, and longlegged,
with muscle mass mainly in quads and calves rather than upper
body (Taekwondo depends on technique, distance, angle, timing,
and strategy, so the tallest doesn't always win).
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In general one should eat sensibly, exercise hard,
and not focus on the scale. Let the weight be whatever results
from food, exercise, and body type and concentrate on getting healthy,
strong, and skilled. If your daughter is struggling with weight
control, she may be headed in the wrong direction. I think 8 pounds
is too much to lose when you're only 109 and already working out
lots. She may instead do better by training up a weight division,
getting bigger and stronger and concentrating on skill development.
Finally, of special concern are your daughter's developmental
stage and the physical and psychological vulnerabilities that come
with being a young woman. At her age she should be gaining weight,
not losing, especially if she's healthy, eating well, and working
out regularly. Excessive weight loss during these years can permanently
harm her gastrointestinal, musculoskeletal, reproductive, and neurologic
systems.
Moreover, young women are sensitive about their appearance,
even if they don't say so, and they are constantly bombarded with
negative evaluations of their weight and shape. Though young men
are not immune, eating disorders are prevalent among young women,
perhaps especially so among elite level athletes in sports such
as gymnastics, figure skating, and Taekwondo.
Other disorders of
mood, personality, substance use, sexual functioning, and cognition
can also result from excessive adolescent weight loss. It's good
to discuss healthy nutrition and good exercise, but never ever
criticize your daughter's weight or shape, even indirectly.
And
never miss any opportunity to let her know you love her just the
way she is.
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