female triad??

Question

I used to be a extreme runner, and lost alot of weight doing it. That put me at the unhealthy end for my weight and I stopped running. Now i'm gaining back the weight, although now i'm not sure if that is what i want...

Is it better to be healthy? Or better to be good at a sport you really like?

P.s. I'm in High school.

Answer 1

you can run and still be healthy just make sure you eat like 6 small meals a day because you are burning tons of calories running. why not have both a healthy weight and doing what you love?

Answer 2

You can do both if you figure out a diet that has enough calories. I talked to my doctor, who had me keep track of all the foods and portions I ate over a two week period, and it turned out my caloric intake was about 2500-3000 calories per day, which was pretty high, but apparently not high enough since i could not maintain a healthy weight. I am guy that is 6' 3" and this was not enough calories with strenuous exercise. My doctor recommended that I increase the calories to about 5000 per day, and see what happens. 5000 calories turned to about right for me at the time. I found that eating a big bowl of granola for breakfast made a big difference, and I also snacked on nuts between meals. Some of the energy bars - like cliff bars, power bars, Luna bars, etc. are packed with calories, and I usually don't have any problems with eating energy bars during exercise. Kashi Go Lean bars have 290 calories that come from a good mix of fat, protein and carbohydrates. When I really want to load up on the calories, I eat a bunch of nuts, drink chocolate milk, and follow up with a cliff bars - that makes a snack of about 800 calories, but its not exactly the healthiest approach.

You might try searching the web for diet info. Here's a web page to get started with:
http://www.thedietchannel.com/Sports-Nutrition.htm