JOHN DOHERTY: Safe weight loss goal of athletic trainers

Safe weight loss maintains to be a goal for athletic trainers.

The National Athletic Trainers' Association (NATA) released a position statement on "Safe Weight Loss and Maintenance Practices in Sport and Exercise" at last month's annual meeting in New Orleans.

Paula Sammarone Turocy, a member of the Assistive Technology Center at Duquesne University and chairperson of the NATA committee authored the statement.

"Active people some times adopt negative behaviors due to a poor body image from misinformation or influences from coaches, parents or peers," she said.

Craig A. Horswill agreed. Horswill is a co-member of the statement writing group.

"Athletic trainers and other health professionals are pivotal in the health of athletes in their programs," he said, "providing hands-on guidance in the prevention and treatment of injuries and advising them on strategies for peak performance."

The guidance from the NATA on weight loss comes in the form of seven points, which contain no short cuts:

• Perform a body-composition assessment to determine a body-weight goal that is consistent with safety, good health and optimal performance in weight-classification sports.

• Repeat body-composition tests to measure progress at regular intervals.

• Weight change should not occur at excessive rates - gain or loss should be steady and at a consistent and safe rate (i.e., 1 or 2 pounds per week for weight reduction).

• Both diet and exercise should be used as part of the strategy to change body weight.

• Enough calories taken in from all food groups should occur during weight change, and metabolic and energy needs for physical activity must be considered when developing a diet for weight management.

• Education on safe dietary and weight- management practices should be conducted on a regular and planned basis. Coaches, peers and family members who are untrained in safe weight management should not attempt to provide information or participate in diet, body-composition or weight-management practices.

• Athletes should be cautious with the use of dietary and weight-management supplements, or when using any techniques that lead to rapidly changing body weight through unsubstantiated methods of weight reduction.

These guidelines are largely -- by rule -- what high school and college wrestlers are supposed to follow. However, at least at the high school level, I see very scant evidence that the rules are enforced once a body-composition assessment (body fat test) is completed at the very start of the season.

Wrestlers, however, aren't alone in unhealthy weight practices.

Louisiana State gymnast Ashleigh Clare-Kearney, a two-time national champion, also appeared at the press conference and spoke of a teammate who starved herself in hopes of keeping her weight down.

Ultimately, not getting enough calcium, the teammate suffered several otherwise unexplained broken bones.

"You don't come back from that completely," Clare-Kearney said. "You're already breaking down your body when you should be building it up. I told my teammates that food is the fuel that energizes the body so you can perform at your peak potential."

John Doherty is the sports medicine columnist for The Times. Reach him at ptatcsport@sbcglobal.net.