Eating Disorders Among Athletes: Why They Develop and What to Do About It
Written by ‘Ai Pono Hawaii Staff Writer
For athletes, their body is their instrument. It has to be fine-tuned and taken care of in order to reach peak performance. And athletes know this, which is why they often hyperfocus on diet and exercise — focus to the point that it becomes dangerous. Eating disorders in athletes are not surprising when considering the pressures to look and perform in a certain way.
In this article, we will discuss:
Why athletes develop eating disorders
How to tell the difference between dedication and disordered behaviors
What to do if you think you, or another athlete, has an eating disorder
It is absolutely possible to be an athlete and have a healthy relationship with food and exercise. But it all starts with understanding what that healthy relationship looks like. From there, you can build habits that nurture your body for a better performance, rather than ones that push your body past its limits.
While it may seem like you should work harder to reach your goals, working smarter and more mindfully are what really help you succeed.
People develop and maintain eating disorders because they serve a purpose.
There are many reasons to develop and maintain them in sports.
Not every athlete develops an eating disorder. So obviously eating disorders are not caused by sports alone. No eating disorder developers in a bubble. Rather, the development of an eating disorder is caused by a complex combination of genetic, environmental, and psychological circumstances.
But for an eating disorder to manifest in conscious thoughts and behaviors, there is usually an environmental trigger. Eating disorders have been linked to childhood bullying, being forced into dieting, prolonged body shaming, and — overwhelmingly — trauma. Sports, with its intense focus on the body and the way it performs, can be the catalyst that sparks an eating disorder.
Eating disorders do serve some purpose, which is why people maintain them after being exposed to an environmental trigger. Eating disordered thoughts and behaviors are seen by many athletes as a solution to problems like intense pressure to look or perform a certain way.
Below are the most common problems athletes face in sports, and how eating disorders serve as solutions for them:
1. Excessive exercise is a status symbol in a pressure-filled, competitive environment.
There’s a massive trend right now, who some have called the militarization of fitness, that glorifies pain and exhaustion as status symbols. The fitness and sports industries have made people believe messages like “no pain, no gain,” and “you have to push yourself, to suffer, to achieve peak fitness.” Pushing yourself in sports is not, in itself, a bad thing. You have to reach beyond your comfort zone to grow stronger or faster.
But there’s a difference between pushing yourself and pushing yourself past a healthy, reasonable limit. If you continue to work out despite injury or illness, or get anxious about missing a workout, you may be suffering from exercise dependence. This is a big indicator of an eating disorder.
Excessive wear and tear on your body, despite popular opinion, will severely impact your performance — and not in a good way.
Related: As an athlete, the line between intensive exercise and exercise dependence is blurry. Read more about the difference between healthy and unhealthy movement here.
2. Athletes are prone to perfectionism and performance anxiety.
When there’s a lot of pressure to do well in sports, many athletes suffer from performance anxiety. The fear of failure is so intense that you feel mental and physical changes. Losing a lot of weight is — to many athletes — seen as a way to improve their ability to win. Using eating disorder behaviors like caloric restriction may seem reasonable to help them achieve their goals. However, losing a lot of weight actually causes the body to lose muscle mass, lose energy, and fail to perform as you might expect.
Athletes with eating disorders are also at a greater risk for serious physical complications like electrolytes imbalances and cardiac arrhythmia, because of the pressure put on the body. If you are dehydrated from laxatives or purging, or have been withholding nutrients from your body, it will be literally unable to handle practice and competitions.
Related: Many athletes place their self worth based on scoring systems, and become perfectionists when it comes to their sport. Read more about perfectionism and eating disorders here.
3. Eating disorders serve to help athletes obtain the “perfect” (completely unrealistic and unhealthy) physique.
The pressure to have the “perfect physique” comes from two sides: the pressure from judges, and the misconceived ideas about how athletes in certain sports are “supposed to look.” In aesthetic sports like dancing, figure skating, and gymnastics, you are expected to have a certain figure.
Judges are looking for that kind of figure. But all bodies are not made in the same way, so many athletes resort to eating disorder behaviors like starving, purging, or overexercise to make their body fit “the look” of an athlete. And in general society, people have preconceived notions of how an athlete should look. This is especially true for runners, who are expected to be very thin.
For example, Louise Green tells the story of her first half marathon. When she went to sign in before the race, she was immediately handed a 5K race package and a shirt that was way too small. 5K is no small feat, but the person checking her in looked at her and automatically assumed that there was no way she was running long distance. He assumed that her larger body couldn’t do something like that.
But she could. And she did, because athletes come in all shapes and sizes. No one should feel the need to change their bodies to fit an aesthetic.
4. Eating disorders serve to help athletes “make weight” in weight classified sports.
Some sports split competitors into weight classes: wrestling, bodybuilding, and karate, to name a few. Many athletes bulk up, or lose weight (aka “cutting”) to “make weight.” While this practice is not uncommon, some of the ways that athletes do this are not healthy. Disordered eating behaviors, like binging to bulk up or starving/purging to slim down, can develop.
But undereating actually makes you lose muscle mass, therefore making you weaker and hurting your performance. And compulsively overeating can cause you to feel lethargic and guilt-ridden, which also negatively impacts performance.
Eating Disorders in Athletes: How can you tell the difference between dedication to a sport and an eating disorder?
It’s really difficult for an athlete or trainer to differentiate between intense dedication and passion, and an eating disorder. There are many signs of an eating disorder, such as restricting food or food groups, exercising past exhaustion, engaging in purging behaviors such as vomiting or using laxatives, or compulsively eating even after extremely full.
There are also many thoughts and emotions that can indicate a problem with food and exercise. For example, feeling worthless or weak if you don’t follow rigid food or exercise rituals, or having extreme anxiety when those rituals are broken — these are eating disorder thoughts. Eating disorder thoughts can negatively impact your experience as an athlete. Anxiety and depression can develop, and those take a toll on your body just like any physical activity.
What should you do if you suspect you or another athlete have developed an eating disorder?
If you suspect that you have an eating disorder, the first thing to do is to tell someone. Eating disorders are complex illnesses, and should never be handled alone. Getting help will help your performance, and it may save your life.
If you suspect another athlete has an eating disorder, there are ways to talk to them about your concerns. They may deny behaviors, or get defensive, but it’s worth talking to them. You can encourage them to get help. But that might not be enough to get them to speak up about their struggles.
If they don’t speak up, then you have to. You have to tell someone else who can get them help, even if they beg you not to. Coaches and loved ones are able to assemble a support system, including a therapist, dietician, and social supports, to help with their eating disorder. Many athletes are unwilling to get help out of fear of being removed from their team. But telling someone can save an athletic career, and possibly, a life — whether it’s your own or someone else’s.
If you or a loved one is suffering from an eating disorder, take the first step today and talk to someone about recovery or simply learn more about the holistic eating disorder recovery programs we offer.