Exercise Bulimia: When working out becomes an obsession
Posted July 12th, 2007 at 6:30 PM by Katie Drummond
Section: Health & Fitness, Exercise
For many busy women, it can be a struggle just to fit in that recommended thirty-minute daily dose of physical activity. But for a growing number, an effort to get regular exercise has been replaced by an obsession with burning calories and fulfilling rigid workout quotas - to the point of skipped work, depression, and potentially fatal harms to physical health.
While a fit body needs activity, exercise bulimia – an obsessive illness with serious consequences for the body and the emotional psyche - is becoming increasingly common. Experts estimate that at least 4% of Americans struggle with excessive exercising, but the diagnosis of exercise bulimia is rare in a culture that celebrates trim physiques and a disciplined dedication to workouts. In fact, most sufferers from exercise bulimia aren’t diagnosed with any medical problem until symptoms of more common eating disorders, namely anorexia and bulimia, rear their heads. And unfortunately, they often do, as most of those who struggle with one of the three will battle the others at some point in their lives.
It can be easy for exercise bulimia to go on for years under the radar –
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Tags: amenorrhea, anorexia, athletes, bulimia, compulsive exercise, disagnosing exercise bulimia, eating disorders, exercise bulimia, exercise bulimia signs, exercise bulimia symptoms, exercise bulimics, female, heart failure, low body fat, low body weight, obsession, osteporosis, overtraining, psychological counseling, recovery, rest, undereating, women
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The Final Sprint
It can go on a very long time. My name is Trisha Gura and I am author of “Lying in Weight: the Hidden Epidemic of Eating Disorders in Adult Women” (Harper Collins, May 2007). Once started, nearly 2/3 of individuals with eating disorders do not fully recover. The illness, or some remnant of it, remains, triggered by stresses and huge life transitions, i.e. marriage, pregnancy, parenting, mid and late life. The oldest woman in the book is 92.
Trisha Gura
July 16th, 2007 at 3:30 pmwww.trishagura.com
trisha@trishagura.com