Thursday, December 29, 2005

The Olympics: On 800 Calories a Day

The 25-year-old Mariash has been a runner for nearly as long as she can remember, and began competing in triathlons in 1998. Like many female athletes, she strictly limited her food -- dipping as low as 800 calories a day -- to improve her performance by losing weight.

But her results were just the opposite.

"I used to wake up really tired," she said. "I used to take a lot of time off training because I was so exhausted."


No shit. Holy crap! 800 calories???

"In high school track, we all starved. That's not how you get to the Olympics," she said. "Now I can train harder, farther. Things I was afraid of, like a four-hour bike ride, are easy now."

Read the rest

2 comments so far. What are your thoughts?

Anonymous said...

To which I say:

D'oh!!!

That high school trainer ought to be fired if he/she told athletes to eat 800 cal. (as opposed to the athletes getting this stupid idea on their own)

NancyP 

Posted by NancyP

Winter said...

800 calories! When I had anorexia my aim was to eat no more than 500. I don't think I could have done much excercise on less than a 1000. You just feel so ill. Where on earth do they find any strength to train?

 

Posted by Winter