This, according to Guarda, pressures athletes to lose weight and increases their risk of developing anorexia. A disturbing trend noted by Vanderbilt is that svelte, female Olympic gymnasts are getting thinner. In addition, Guarda noted that top athletes often have personality traits that predispose them to anorexia. Typically, they are perfectionist over-achievers who like to please others. This syndrome consists of disordered eating, amenorrhea, and osteoporosis.
Bone loss starts within six months to two years of the loss of menses and it's irreversible.
The only way to truly stop it that we know of is to gain weight, return to at least low normal, and start menstruating again. According to Guarda, anorexics have seven times more risk of fractures than non-anorexics, and underweight athletes frequently get stress fractures. While teenage pregnancy is usually something to be strenuously avoided, most older women want to have children. Lehigh University sports medicine and nutrition consultant Jennifer Becker noted that in order to bear children, women need approximately 7 percent more body fat than men. According to Becker, amenorrhea in pre-menopausal females leads to osteoporosis and barrenness.