If you do not know the Melissa Etheridge song, I Run for Life. Please download it and listen to it in the background as you read this post.
F.A.T. Chicks is an endurance athletics fundraising group working together to run, bike and swim to raise awareness for the female athlete triad and educate these women, their husbands and their children so that they can all stop suffering with the PTSD of being a runner and feeling that running alone will cure all of their problems regardless of the issue. The female athlete triad is a phenomenon that occurs for many female endurance athletes who have a negative energy balance because of exercising too much for the amount that they are eating. These women are afraid that they are always fat and are never truly satisfied with how they look. These women could be unaware that they are causing any damage. These women are your suburban soccer moms and single women who have a lot of talent, a lot of focus, are goal-oriented and want to be the best at everything they do because they would not live life any other way. They are overly involved and spread themselves thin so that they can make the world a better place.
As a result of being busy and highly motivated, they may not take the time to eat when they are hungry and rather than taking a break when they are tired, they continue to keep pushing. This push beyond their normal limits is why they are good maybe even great at anything at all. They know that they can endure more pain than anyone else they know because they are survivors. As a result of not taking a break, their body begins to slowly breakdown; they lose their period temporarily or permanently; they lose bone mass, which may lead to premature osteoporosis and sometimes stress fractures. There are a few women, who are physiological anomalies, that experience a prong of the triad and see no detrimental effects. They are usually elite female athletes.
They are making the world a better place. They are involved in every club in town and they are joyously cheering on their children, baking cookies and thriving as a mom or an organizer or a successful, prosperous young woman. However, because they have a desire to impact others but they have not taken the time to love themselves by eating enough to support their high level of exertion; their body is slowly dying because it lacks the proper nutrients to heal. Calcium and magnesium are being used for muscle contraction and relaxation and not to build stronger bones. Iron is being used to process oxygen they inhale through that rapid breathing of stressing the body through exercise and life.
As the founder of F.A.T. Chicks, I have been through most of these symptoms of the triad. I have developed a subclinical eating disorder prior to my wedding because I was so stressed out and cared way too much about what other people think. I lost my period while I was eating raw vegan and my husband saved me from any further damage because he said, “Heidi, if you are going to run this much, you need calories, real food and meat (and maybe a little beer).” I have never had a stress fracture, however, I have dealt with plantar fasciitis, which is also a sign of not enough calcium circulating in the blood (my own personal experience). By increasing my caloric intake to a normal healthy diet, I had more than enough energy; I got my period back; I grew an inch last year (at 25!) More than any of my own experiences, I have friends and teammates who have struggled with full blown eating disorders, struggled with the inability to get pregnant because their body does not think they are healthy enough to support a child, and struggled with the desire to train hard at an elite level only to have their season ended by a stress fracture or another overuse injury. When it comes down to it mentally, as one of my friends said, "..in the end, it comes down to self-doubt."
The idea that at some level you can't, you won't or you never will be able to do something because you are not __________ enough.
How can you help?
Do you have friends who struggle finding a balance in their life?
Signs: They complain about the cant’s and the should of life but never ever do anything about it
- If they do, it is minimal, short-lived and disastrous because of their own negativity
What to do: Help them change their mindset…tell them that life really isn’t that hard and it is only hard if you set limitations for yourself about the things you cannot and should do. Help them believe.
Do you know someone who has had any of the three prongs of the triad?
If so, visit www.femaleathletetriad.org and then ask them if they are not hurt to run with you on Saturday, April 7th in the Loco Great Bay half marathon and 5K in Newmarket, NH. You can register at:
And sign up for a lifetime membership to F.A.T. Chicks to help support research regarding women’s nutritional athletic needs. These international researchers are working hard to figure out how women can effectively thrive in the athletic environment and they need your help. Contact me at coachg.fatchicks@yahoo.com if you have any specific questions.
So do something, become happy and live the life you have imagined. You cannot live the dream if you are not fully present and engaged in the life you are leading and eating enough to support the busy life you lead. Get out there and make a difference.
Heidi
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