How our female rowers ate more and triumphed

.....In 2018, Dunshea-Mooij tested the female rowers to find out their energy availability, which she describes as "the energy available to the body - from food - after the costs of exercise have been accounted for." So what`s left over to run your body for the day. 

The athletes made a food diary to see how many calories they were consuming, used their watches to calculate their energy expenditure, and had DEXA scans to determine their fat-free mass. 

“When we saw the data, we were shocked,” Dunshea-Mooij admits.

She drew up a risk model based on the IOC consensus statement on RED-S, with three coloured zones - red for high risk, orange for moderate risk, and green for low risk of RED-S. "Only one of our females was in the green,” she says.

RED-S can cause issues with bone density, fertility, immunity, and metabolic and cardiovascular function. (Most of the rowers had "excellent bone density", also measured by the DEXA scan.).....

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Bethany`s Notes: The best article of the week. Please read this article and share with others. Changing the wording from lean to strong makes a difference.