GPWizard F1 Forum
F1 News & Discussions => General F1 Discussion => Topic started by: The Stig on August 20, 2007, 06:00:23 PM
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Formula One veteran David Coulthard has revealed how he suffered from an eating disorder as a teenager.
The 36-year-old Red Bull Racing driver developed bulimia as he battled to keep his weight down for racing.
The Scot, who is nearly 6ft (1.83m) tall, now weighs 11st 6lb (72.5kg).
But his weight dropped as low as 9st (57kg) as he worked out regularly and controlled his diet obsessively.
In his autobiography, entitled It Is What It Is, Coulthard said: "I stopped eating fattening food and, before I knew what had happened, I was bulimic.
"In my mind the only way I could keep my weight down was by making myself vomit.
"I have always taken racing seriously, even when I started out in karting," he said.
"By my teens, however, my focus - in particular, my weight - took a slightly more sinister turn. I was nearly the same height as now but I weighed only just over nine stone.
"At first I was just very, very lean. I became skin and bone, but I weighed myself every morning, noon and night - in the evening if I was half a pound heavier, I'd get in the pool and swim."
Coulthard admitted that his behaviour could be viewed as obsessive but he said that dedication was needed to achieve success.
Coulthard has won 13 Grands Prix in his 13-year career and has scored the most points of any British Formula One driver.