Parents Low body fat

[reluctant]

My daughter gains muscle just fine, but appears to still have almost no body fat at almost 14. Does anyone else worry about their gymnast daughter's development? Our doctor says it's great to be so lean, but she just does not look like her non-gymnast friends. Does this change as they mature?

 

[Deleted member 18037]

Its not just gymnastics its genetics.

 

[reluctant]

Its not just gymnastics its genetics.

Good point. I guess I was that way as a teen too. Definitely don't suffer from low body fat now .

 

[B&M's mom]

For some it may be more than genetics. My DD didn't really grow until she walked away from gymnastics at 16. She's still thin but has gained some body fat which made all the difference.

 

[reluctant]

For some it may be more than genetics. My DD didn't really grow until she walked away from gymnastics at 16. She's still thin but has gained some body fat which made all the difference.

My daughter is tall over 5'5" with inches to go, just really lean and ropy with muscle. But I do hear about girls getting injured and taking time off and growing like crazy during that time.

 

[Flicfliclay]

My daughter is tall over 5'5" with inches to go, just really lean and ropy with muscle. But I do hear about girls getting injured and taking time off and growing like crazy during that time.

I have seen this first hand with some girls at my daughters gym... they grew all over when they were injured...

 

[tucktwisttumble]

I quit gymnastics at 14 - but didn't grow until I was 16.
If the doctor isn't concerned I wouldn't be either.
It is more of a 'concern' upon leaving the gym (or injury like @Flippincrazy mentioned)- because metabolism changes so quickly in absence of the intense training and weight gain tends to happen rapidly.

 

[GymMom4]

Good point. I guess I was that way as a teen too. Definitely don't suffer from low body fat now .

I don’t have that problem anymore, either.

My gymnast daughter is also very lean. She’s a good eater most of the time but at other times I have to remind her to eat more to make up for the calories she’s burned off at practice.

 

[e'smum]

my gymmie also has a low BMI. she's going to be about 5'4 fully grown, according to her pedi. her growth curve has been in the 30% range since day one and hasn't wavered since starting gymnastics. i have a very small skeleton and she inherited that from me. my older daughter has bigger bones than me (her wrist is bigger than mine).
i was super skinny growing up and ate like a horse. lol
her pedi says her BMI is fine for now but wants it to go up a couple of % points when she gets a little older (to 18%). i don't know if it's possible. she has a 16% BMI right now and i had that thru high school and into college.

 

[gymnastmom05]

I haven't been concerned and still am not too concerned. My DD has hung around in the 10th percentile for weight and has a BMI around 15. She has no fat at all. She is skin, bones and muscles. Both my husband and I were lanky (I'm average height at 5'5, but my husband is 6'4 and was tall from birth) growing up but while we're still thin, there is definitely fat there (boo!). As my DD is approaching her teenage years (September), I am noticing that I was entering puberty at this point and she is not - at all. It has been easy to say that she's following my footsteps but the next year might unravel some of that thinking. I have a half sister that was also a serious gymnast but still started her period at the age of 11 so I just don't know....

 

[Taxidriver]

I have a low BMI of 18 I’m considered underweight and I’m the heaviest I have ever been I weigh well over a stone more than when I was 16 and the same height as I am now. I’ve never had much body fat and as a kid my mum took me to the doctors as teachers questioned my weight but I was told as long as I was eating and my body could make muscle (I use to have a very defined six pack, not anymore) there was nothing to be concerned about. I was not a gymnast but did other sports and that’s just my genetics.

 

[2gymkids]

Genetics definitely play a part but gymnastics does too. My daughter was always super tiny (short and underweight) as a little kid until she kicked up hours in the gym. She bulked up muscle-wise- still thin but on the charts at least, weight-wise. She walked away from gymnastics 6 weeks ago (she's just shy of 11) and the puberty train has slammed her full-force in just that short amount of time without activity. She actually looks like she has some body fat now, and she's sprouted up, and is developing in other ways, too. It will be interesting to see how it all pans out once her body re-adjusts (it went pretty cold turkey, and due to the crappy weather her activity level has been pretty limited since stopping).

 

[honu]

My DD is the same. Age 14 and almost no body fat. We and her pediatrician have no worries. The only one sometimes bothered by this is my DD. She'd like to look more like her peers. She eats plenty and this is just the way she is for now. I was a late bloomer and she is too. Even amongst her gym buddies she stands out as being more lean. Her Dad and I were both very thin throughout our teens and into adulthood. When she complains I tell her look at mom and Dad, it doesn't last forever!

 

[Olga]

DD has always been on the higher end of the charts for height, and the lower end for weight. After moving and picking up the hours in the gym, she is in the “normal” range for her BMI. (5’3” and 88lbs, 12 yo.), lots of defined muscle. Though, she wishes she was less skinny sometimes, as her peers point it out to her a lot.

 

[mls529]

Genetics definitely play a part but gymnastics does too. My daughter was always super tiny (short and underweight) as a little kid until she kicked up hours in the gym. She bulked up muscle-wise- still thin but on the charts at least, weight-wise. She walked away from gymnastics 6 weeks ago (she's just shy of 11) and the puberty train has slammed her full-force in just that short amount of time without activity. She actually looks like she has some body fat now, and she's sprouted up, and is developing in other ways, too. It will be interesting to see how it all pans out once her body re-adjusts (it went pretty cold turkey, and due to the crappy weather her activity level has been pretty limited since stopping).

Yep, exactly true for my daughter too. Was tiny as a young kid, once she made the gymnastics team, she bulked up -- all muscle, 6 pack abs. Was "underweight" based on charts, but totally healthy. At 11, she moved from JO to Xcel -- 16 to 6 hours. She put on 10+ pounds fairly quickly, but is still slim at age 12, not even 80lbs. There is no doubt that gymnastics was playing a role in her lack of body fat until last year. For the first time ever, her reported BMI from gym class at school hit the "normal" range, which I think means above 16, and she has started to look more like her non-gym peers. I think genetics can give you height (or lack thereof) and frame, but I believe gymnastics plays a big part in muscle and fat development.

 

[profmom]

I think it's tough to separate out causes, but I have seen that sometimes when a gymnast gets injured in a way that severely limits workout, s/he will put on some body fat simply because the eating habits don't change to accommodate the significantly lower calorie demands. But I wouldn't be surprised to find that gym selects a bit at the higher levels for girls who are later developing (which is a different mechanism than gym causing slow development).

I hope I am right in my hypothesis that all the weight bearing work these kids are doing will build bone density that will benefit them all the way into the late parts of life.

 

[rjb123]

My ped swears up and down that there is no research showing causation of delayed puberty and gymnastics. DD has little body fat but a BMI in the 30% range as she is quite muscular. She still hangs in the low percentiles for height and weight though (12 height/14 weight) at age 12. Her percentiles have steadily dropped down the older she has gotten- she started around 40-50% as a baby and toddler and keeps on dropping. She also has a chronic health issue which she takes a good bit of medication to control, and there IS evidence that the disease plus medications to control it will cause some stunting of her growth. I do wonder if the intense activity on top of this makes it worse, but at the same time, the intense activity is actually really GOOD for her disease so it is a catch 22. I will say that while there may be no hard evidence, I have noted that DD's former team mates who have moved on from gymnastics and were similarly sized to her (and similar ages) have shot up since quitting. They all do other sports/ activities but not the same number of hours training.

 

[Deleted member 18037]

Yep, exactly true for my daughter too. Was tiny as a young kid, once she made the gymnastics team, she bulked up -- all muscle, 6 pack abs. Was "underweight" based on charts, but totally healthy. At 11, she moved from JO to Xcel -- 16 to 6 hours. She put on 10+ pounds fairly quickly, but is still slim at age 12, not even 80lbs. There is no doubt that gymnastics was playing a role in her lack of body fat until last year. For the first time ever, her reported BMI from gym class at school hit the "normal" range, which I think means above 16, and she has started to look more like her non-gym peers. I think genetics can give you height (or lack thereof) and frame, but I believe gymnastics plays a big part in muscle and fat development.

And at 11/12 puberty begins and body fat goes up in girls.

 

[B&M's mom]

Usually starts. Not for all kids and especially not for my high intensity gymnastics kid. It really didn't kick in until she left gymnastics at 16. For her there was definitely a link between gymnastics and growth. My other kid didn't have the same issue but she didn't do the same high hours/intensity as her sister.

 

[LGnyc]

My daughter is tall over 5'5" with inches to go, just really lean and ropy with muscle. But I do hear about girls getting injured and taking time off and growing like crazy during that time.

Dd's coach was L10 and 5 feet even at ninth grade. She quite gymnastics shortly thereafter. She shot up six inches her first year after and three the next, landing at 5'9". I suspect it's not a typical story, but it always amazed me.