TOO MUCH FITNESS CAN BE BAD FOR YOU
“You may be shocked to hear that there is an ugly side to extreme fitness. For women especially, the damage from overtraining can be permanent.
Osteoporosis can make your bones brittle. It usually occurs later in life, buTwho train too hard and eat too little are much more likely to experience osteoporosis even in their twenties. Some women athletes in this age group have actually been found to have bone density similar to an eighty year old.
A common stereotype is the “gym rat”- the woman who focuses so much on weight loss and training that it causes a decline in estrogen levels. This decline is seen when menstruation stops or becomes irregular. Too many women accept this as a sign of successful training, when quite the opposite is true. What is happening is permanent and has lasting repercussions on a woman’s health, making the ability to maintain the same level of activity in later years impossible. You are at risk if you believe “you can never be too thin”. The truth is that even obese women can be fit – and after all, the goal really needs to be health – as determined by you; not society’s perceived notion of the ideal woman”.
Mary, now I feel so much better. All the pressure is off. I can breathe a sigh of relief and let go of all the work-out guilt as I enter the gym knowing I never work out hard enough to put my bones at risk or have any effect on the limited amount of estrogen left in my menopausal body. Now I can be OK with the minimal amount of effort I put forth within my one hour quest to be healthy………….and look with sincere concern upon all those women who sweat profusely, groan loudly and have the need for the defibrillator and Fosomax at the end of their hour…or hours!!
Lorraine