?She Had No Body Fat?: Michael Phelps Once Recalled Swimmer Sister?s Struggle With Health Led to Mother Sneaking Calories in Her Diet

Michael Phelps, aka the Flying Fish, earned 28 Olympic medals for his country, including 23 golds. The 37-year-old swimmer retired from the Olympics in 2016 and has been an active mental health advocate since then.

Since Phelps has struggled with anxiety and depression issues, the 23-time Olympic gold medal champ once opened up about a mental health struggle his sister Whitney faced that also affected her physical health.

Phelps’ sister’s health concerned him and his mother

In his book “Beneath The Surface,” Michael Phelps wrote about his sister Whitney’s weight loss.?Whitney consistently denied having any health problems whenever asked about them. Phelps said, “She had no body fat“. He added, “Whitney did not train well at all,”.

After her swimming lessons, Whitney frequently felt exhausted and turned blue. Whitney had become skilled at masking her weariness and wounds. She was consuming fewer calories than necessary, which was starting to cause her problems.

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Whitney’s diet used to be closely monitored by Debbie Phelps. Michael confirmed that Debbie ?would try to sneak calories into Whitney’s dinner” by slipping more butter into her potatoes and other dishes. Michael Phelps also noted Whitney took many bathroom breaks after having her meals.?

Debbie and Michael had suspicions that Whitney was purging, but she was adept at covering up all traces of her conduct. Whitney was still able to advance to the 1996 Olympic Trials, despite everything going on with her health. She also became the 200-fly swimmer with the fastest time in the trials.

Michael Phelps as a mental health advocate

For as long as anyone can remember, Phelps has promoted mental well-being. He had attention difficulties as a child, followed by anxiety and depression in adulthood. Phelps even attended rehab for his drunk driving incident.

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Michael Phelps overcame his issues with mental health. His current goal is to raise awareness of the value of treatment worldwide. Phelps usually takes over various social media platforms to strengthen the advent of therapy and lessen the surrounding stigma.