Hi ! My name is Lisa and my daughter Samantha is 13 and joined a swim team this year. She was doing amazing and had moved up to the main level but then hurt her wrist and has been out for 3 months. We are back for the last few weeks and I am baffled by what is going on when we come home from practice. Sam gets home from school at 3 and has swim practice from 5-7. She comes home from school starving and has a whole wheat bagel with a banana and a cheese stick. I am afraid to give her dinner because I was told she could throw up. We come from the world of competition dance where all you do is eat eat and eat. When we come home at 7:00 after practice she is so hungry but then she sits down and says she can't eat. She almost feels very gassy and like she could throw up.
Is this normal? She has no eating issues any other time so I have to believe it stems from the swimming. The practice is an intense non- stop 2 hours. I don't know what to do. I am hoping someone will be kind enough to guide me.
In my experience the world of competitive swimming in HS was very similar to how you describe competition dance. I could not eat enough. I ate a huge dinner before practice and would then come home and put away a second dinner. 2+ hours of cardio (not to mention puberty) required a LOT of energy. I would definitely try giving her more to eat before practice. I've found that if I don't eat before afternoon practices my stomach may cramp up from the lack of food (hunger pains on steroids). That may be causing her not to feel well enough to eat after practice too...
In my experience the world of competitive swimming in HS was very similar to how you describe competition dance. I could not eat enough. I ate a huge dinner before practice and would then come home and put away a second dinner. 2+ hours of cardio (not to mention puberty) required a LOT of energy. I would definitely try giving her more to eat before practice. I've found that if I don't eat before afternoon practices my stomach may cramp up from the lack of food (hunger pains on steroids). That may be causing her not to feel well enough to eat after practice too...
