What is an appropriate weight for a female thirteen year old gymnast? I weight around 140 pounds and I am really healthy and fit but I have some concerns. Some people have called me fat, sometimes even as a joke, but now I look in the mirror and I don’t know what to think. My thighs are awful. Not jiggly or anything actually quite compact and strong but big… I have thought about quitting comp. because of the leotards and the shaming from my sister and other kids. What to do? Please help
me.
Thx
Thirteen is a hard time and kids are mean. Bodies are different, and frankly some women do get thicker when they get fit and strong but the same is true for men as well. It's just the nature of the human body.
This body
and this body
are both insanely fit and capable of things that almost no other human can do.
Regarding the leos -- I get it. I see the older girls on my daughter's team pulling on their leos looking uncomfortable with it. Have you thought about shorts?
Additionally, RE the point about asking your doctor above -- regular doctors aren't really trained to assess weight in athletes. They typically go by your body mass index (BMI). By BMI, this dude
would be considered overweight bordering on obese at 5'8 175lbs.
Additionally, as an athlete, or even just as a person, your body changes a lot day to day. When I'm really on point with my diet, eating a bunch of salty chips makes me retain so much water that I look like I gained 5 pounds of fat overnight. Clearly, that's not possible -- it's just water retention. But water retention on top of muscles makes you look... big and soft.
"Love yourself for who you are" is trite advise, but the older I get the more I agree with it. Your body probably isn't perfect, but if perfection is the only acceptable standard you're going to have a very hard time in life.