Experts warned Monday that the athletes’ regular practice of intentional dehydration and strict limitation of daily caloric intake is dangerous; this is especially true for wrestlers, gymnasts, and boxers who often feel the pressure to maintain a certain weight to boost their performance.

The National Athletic Trainers’ Association has recently issued a set of guidelines for safe weight loss among athletes. The guidelines include using body composition assessment which is a way to measure gat against lean body mass, losing a maximum of 1.5 percent of body weight per week, eating a balanced diet, and shedding pounds with a nutritionist’s supervision.

Paula Sammarone Turcoy, chairperson of the athletic training department of Duquesne University of Pittsburgh and lead author of the guidelines, said that many athletes are pressured by the society to not only perform well during a competition, but to also look good while doing it. She added that there is an unspoken rule that some athletes have to maintain a certain body type in order to “succeed” in their field.

Turcoy, however, said that weight loss and getting to an ideal body weight is actually not a problem; the issue arises when these athletes go to extremes just to achieve or maintain a certain weight. She added that when weight loss is not done properly, it can actually lead to poor performance and eveb health problems.

The guidelines were published on the Journal of Athletic Training June issue and were presented last Monday at the National Athletic Trainers’ Association’s annual meeting.