A Clueless Medical Professional

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Jan 22, 2011
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She looks right about the size I'd want most 13 year old softball players to be, with room to add a few more pounds of muscle. But I'm not a medical professional, just a softball coach.
 
Apr 30, 2018
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My experience as a pediatrician is that athletic girls that register as overweight as teens have to be very careful when they stop playing sports or they will convert muscle mass to fatty adipose tissue and simply become overweight ex athletes. As a doctor it is my responsibility to warn patients and parents of this reality. It's not a fun or easy conversation and I certainly don't shame anyone but I do tell them that your body type is at risk for having a weight problem if you slow down your athletics and don't adjust your eating accordingly. Now before you jump all over me realize that I have thousands upon thousands of patients to base my conclusions on while you each have your couple of Dds or teams/students you have coached over the years. Estrogen is not a womans friend as girls go through puberty. Athletic boys have an advantage as testosterone will help convert to muscle mass while estrogen is all about adipose. Either way though extra weight still damages bones and joints eventually so it's an important conversation to have.

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From my very limited sample size, I would agree with you. Watched it happen to a girl who was heavily involved in athletics thru high school and college. When she graduated she stopped doing athletics. It didn't take long for the ripped muscular build to fade away and she put on some weight when she didn't adjust her eating.
 
Oct 11, 2010
8,337
113
Chicago, IL
My brother calls my only DD a wraith so I have not needed to deal with this.

Serena Williams’s commercial with her running around neighbor ask me who that was, only probably best women's tennis player ever. He is like no way.
 
Jun 8, 2016
16,118
113
My experience as a pediatrician is that athletic girls that register as overweight as teens have to be very careful when they stop playing sports or they will convert muscle mass to fatty adipose tissue and simply become overweight ex athletes.

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I hate to nitpick, but muscle mass isn't "converted" to fat. You may lose muscle and gain fat, for various reasons, but there is no "conversion" strictly speaking. The body isn't able to convert different tissue types(one mostly made of protein e.g. muscle and the other adipose e.g. fat) like that...
 
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Jun 8, 2016
16,118
113
BMI is garbage for anybody that has any significant amount of muscle mass. I am 6" 220 lbs and my bodyfat is around 10% and I am classified as obese according to the BMI charts :cool:
 
Jul 26, 2016
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From my very limited sample size, I would agree with you. Watched it happen to a girl who was heavily involved in athletics thru high school and college. When she graduated she stopped doing athletics. It didn't take long for the ripped muscular build to fade away and she put on some weight when she didn't adjust her eating.

Happens to many male athletes too, once you stop sports you need to be careful because your body was used to burn 1000 extra calories a day and you could eat a ton, later that is not true anymore.
 
Jul 26, 2016
108
18
I hate to nitpick, but muscle mass isn't "converted" to fat. You may lose muscle and gain fat, for various reasons, but there is no "conversion" strictly speaking. The body isn't able to convert different tissue types(one mostly made of protein e.g. muscle and the other adipose e.g. fat) like that...

I agree. What happens is that muscular guys have an increased need for calories to build and keep those muscles and once you stop training without adjusting eating you lose muscle mass and at the same time gain fat. But there is no direct conversion.
 

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