Life after gymnastics -- Retired gymnasts deal with sudden weight gain
There is an article about a retired Romanian gymnast who talks about her sudden weight gain after quiting gymnastics.
The first paragraph of the article:
"The first two days after quitting gymnastics, Simona Amânar gained 6 lbs. "It was a very sudden chance and I was almost terrified," she recalls. No longer under the watchful eye of national team coaches, she was free to enjoy everything that was a "forbidden fruit" until recently. "We were allowed to eat almost anything we wanted at Deva, but only in small quantities. So the first week I got back from Sydney, I was on a steady diet of two chocolate bars and three ice-creams a day. I didn't want anything else." By the end of last year, Simona was already 10 lbs heavier than she was in Sydney. "I took on weight very suddenly, and then it slowed down. I was gaining at most 2 lbs per month." Even though this wasn't an unexpected change, Simona's reaction was somewhere between resignation, worrying, and useless stress. "I just felt my stomach getting bigger and bigger. Not to mention I had to buy new clothes. I gave my cousins all the clothes I had from my gymnastics days, some of them brand new that I never worn. I couldn't even fit my leg inside my pants," she confessed. "
An example of another article:
Former gymnastics great Lavinia Milosovici remembers that after quitting gymnastics she gained almost 30 lbs. "Despite that, I don't have too many food craving. I wasn't crazy about sweets, and I ate more home cooked meals," says Milo. She says that she started losing weight after about 8 months, without any special exercise program or diets. "It's normal. All gymnasts gain weight after quitting. While competing, we took vitamins to compensate for lack of certain food. When we were no longer required to take pills, we had to assure our vitamin intake through our diet, just like everyone else does."
There are many other articles and stories about gymnasts who suddenly gain weight. Most of them belive that its the transition from training everyday all day, to doing nothing everyday all day. It can be dangerous to gain that much weight in such a small period of time so retired gymnasts really have to watch what they eat and continue exercising (even if its not at their gym).