"I got down to 57 kgs from 64 kgs" - Former Australian skipper Meg Lanning opens up on health issues before her retirement

Former Australian women's team captain Meg Lanning recently opened up about her health issues on the "The Howie Games" podcast with Mark Howard.

Lanning spoke in detail about her unhealthy obsession with exercise and not eating enough, which ultimately led to her retiring from international cricket in November 2023 at the age of 31.

According to Lanning, a significant weight loss from 64 to 57 kg and an imbalanced diet forced her to pull out from the 2023 Ashes. Also, she used to take only two "insignificant" meals in a day, run for about 90 km, and enjoy being in a private space.

"I was over-exercising and under-fuelling," Lanning said. "I got to the point where I was doing about 85-90km [running] a week. I was in denial. It became a bit of an obsession. It was because I could escape mentally."

She continued:

"I got down to about 57kgs from 64kgs. The ratios were out of whack a lot. I did not realise (it affected) my ability to concentrate. I didn't really want to see other people. I disengaged a lot from friends and family.

"I was not eating enough. I'd eat maybe a couple of meals a day if I was lucky and they weren't significant. It didn't start off as a deliberate thing. It just became a bit of a new normal."

"I was not in a place to be able to go on tour and play cricket and give the commitment levels required for that Ashes series, mentally and physically," Meg Lanning added.

Before her retirement, Lanning missed three international series in 2023, including the Ashes, while citing medical reasons. She finally decided to call it quits in November.

Thereafter, the 32-year-old has continued to play domestic cricket for Victoria. Further, she captained the Delhi Capitals, who emerged as the runner-up in the Women's Premier League 2024. In nine games, Lanning amassed 331 runs, with four fifties.

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Meg Lanning's illustrious international career

In January 2011, Meg Lanning made her ODI debut against England. In her only second appearance, Lanning became the youngest Australian (18 years and 288 days) to hit a century in international cricket.

Under Lanning's leadership, Australia secured four ICC T20 World Cup trophies (2014, 2018, 2020, and 2023) and the ODI World Cup title in 2022 as well.

In total, she amassed more than 8,350 runs across all formats, with 17 centuries. Her finest ODI innings of 152* came against Sri Lanka in the 2017 World Cup.