As an athlete, you have a deep love for your sport and a drive to excel. However, this drive can sometimes manifest in unhealthy ways, leading to the development of an eating disorder. Eating disorders are serious mental health conditions that can have devastating effects on your physical and emotional well-being. They can affect anyone, regardless of age, gender, or body size. However, athletes may be at a higher risk of developing eating disorders due to the intense physical and psychological demands of their sport.
If you're an athlete who is struggling with an eating disorder, we want you to know that you are not alone. Many athletes have been where you are and have found a path toward recovery. We undersatnd how overwhelming and impossible it feels to have this often invisible struggle, and we know that your full recovery is absolutely possible. Yes, it requires hard work, dedication, and a willingness to seek professional help, and you deserve to feel free and at home in your body. We strongly recommend working with specialists, since generalist therapists often don’t have the specific and necessary education.
Because eating disorders do not spontaneously remit, meaning that they don’t go away on their own, you may have noticed that your symptoms go away or get better, but they always seem to come back. It’s time for you to really face this issue, even though it’s scary.
In this article, we will explore what it's like to have an eating disorder as an athlete, and provide you with five tips to jumpstart your recovery process. We will also discuss the issue of compulsive exercise in eating disorders, and how you can heal this aspect of your recovery.
Eating disorders & Athletes
As an athlete, you may be particularly vulnerable to the development of an eating disorder due to the unique demands of your sport. Some of the factors that may contribute to the development of an eating disorder include:
Pressure to perform: Athletes are often under intense pressure to perform at a high level. This pressure can lead to feelings of anxiety, which can manifest in disordered eating behaviors.
Body image concerns: Athletes are often pressured directly or indirectly to maintain a certain body weight, body fat percentage, or “look” in order to perform or compete with other athletes. This can lead to obsessive thoughts about food and weight, as well as body image distress.
Societal beauty standards: Society and white supremecy culture in general places a great deal of value on thinness and a certain "ideal" body type. Athletes may feel pressure to conform to these standards in order to be seen as successful or attractive.
Overtraining: Overtraining can lead to exhaustion, burnout, and acute and chronic injuries. Athletes who overtrain may also be more likely to engage in disordered eating behaviors as a way to control their weight and maintain their performance.
Your ambition & drive for perfection: This is simply part of your personality, and we do not want to change it! You are likely a high-achiever, hard worker, and have incredible determination. These are wonderful characteristics and they will take you very far in life. The thing is - when you point these traits at your body or your eating, things spin out of control really fast.
If you're an athlete with an eating disorder, you may feel overwhelmed, isolated, and ashamed. You may worry that seeking help will hurt your performance or cause you to be judged by others. However, we hope you remember that your whole health, including mental health, matters so much for the quality of your life - not to mention your longevity and joy in your sport.
The ACED clinicians are fully specialized and trained to help athletes who are struggling with an eating disorder. Please reach out to us for confidential support - we are here for you! We offer both in-person sessions (Austin, TX) and virtual sessions (for Texas residents) with compassionate therapists and dietitians who know exactly how to help you.
Compulsive Exercise in Eating Disorder Recovery
Compulsive exercise is a common aspect of many eating disorders, particularly for athletes. It involves exercising to an excessive degree in order to burn calories, lose fat, seek perfection in performance, or "make up" for food that has been eaten. Compulsive exercise can be a difficult aspect of eating disorder recovery to address, as it can be hard to distinguish between healthy or intuitive exercise and compulsive exercise.
Some signs of compulsive exercise include:
Exercising even when injured or ill
Exercising for hours each day
Feeling anxious or guilty when unable to exercise
Exercising to the point of exhaustion or injury
Feeling like you “have to” exercise in order to feel good or avoid negative feelings
Healing from compulsive exercise requires a multi-faceted approach. It's important to work with a team of specialists (a therapist, dietitian, and often and MD) who understand the complexities of eating disorders and who have experience working with athletes.
A specialized therapist can help you identify the underlying self-beliefs, thoughts and feelings, external forces, and emotions that are driving your compulsive exercise, and develop strategies to manage them in a harm reductive way. It doesn’t necessarily mean quitting exercise completely (unless your life is in danger) - we can look at taking a harm reduction approach, so that you can continue to play your sport, given your physical safety and ability to properly nourish yourself.
It's also important to work with a registered dietitian who practices from a Health at Every Size (HAES®) perspective. A dietitian can help you understand your food rules, fear/safe foods, and educate you about nourishing your body, which typically requires a lot of myth-busting. You will learn to better care for your body through structured and guided nourishment, based on your preferences and needs, so that you can excel in your sport and avoid injury. Your food therapist will guide you away from disordered eating that shrinks your life, and move you toward Intuitive Eating and your full, sustained recovery Just like you have to rely on and trust your body in your sport, your dietitian will help you to learn to trust and rely on your body’s interoceptive cues (hunger, fullness, cravings) to make decisions about food.
5 Tips to Jumpstart Your Recovery
1. Seek professional help
Eating disorders are serious mental health conditions that require professional treatment. It's important to work with a therapist and dietitian who have experience treating eating disorders and who understand the unique challenges faced by athletes.
Remember to look for clinicians who are HAES® aligned. Unfortunately, professionals that do not work from a HAES® perspective may accidentally trigger your eating disorder, making it harder to recover fully.
Ask us all your questions by scheduling a consult if you live in Texas.
2. Build a support system
Recovery takes a village and eating disorders thrive in secrecy and shame. Eating disorder recovery can be a long and challenging process. It's important to build a support system of people who understand what you're going through and can offer encouragement and guidance along the way. This may include family members, friends, coaches, or teammates who you trust and feel comfortable talking to. Along with a specialized treatment team, we also recommend joining a recovery support group to connect to folks who are going through the same thing.
3. Talk back to your eating disorder from your Healthy, Wise Self
Along with your recovery team, you yourself will heal your eating disorder. Part of this process involves slowing down, and digging deep to reconnect with your Wise Self, the part of you that believes that you are more than a body, more than an athlete, and wants a freer, more fulfilling and joyful life.
Eating disorders often involve negative self-talk, or the constant critical voice in your head that tells you you're not good enough or that you need to be perfect... and seems to know exactly how to get there. Your eating disorder is great at convincing you to engage in harmful behaviors, and the truth is that you’re not done with these behaviors. That takes time! However, you can begin to talk back to this bullying voice with different ideas and options for self care. For example:
Your eating disorder: “I can’t believe you ate xyz. You’re disgusting. No wonder you suck so bad at [your sport]. You don’t deserve [a meal or food] tonight.”
Your Wise, Healthy Self: “I hear you and it’s ok to feel anxious and disappointed. You’re trying to protect us from failure, but we need nourishment to be able to perform, to think clearly, and to feel better. We don’t want an injury! This body is worth caring for, and that means eating.”
Of course this takes time and specialized support. But you can begin to chip away at the self-attacking eating disorder thoughts by summoning your Wise Self, and simply giving yourself other options besides engaging in eating disorder behaviors.
4. Practice self-care
Self-care is an essential part of eating disorder recovery. This means taking care of your physical, emotional, and mental health through activities like healthy emotional expression, meditation, journaling, taking a full rest day, and spending time with safe, loved ones. It's important to make self-care a priority, even when you feel like you don't have the time or energy for it.
The part of you that clings to your eating disorder is listening, and when you invest in self-care by compassionately caring for your body and emotional self, this part of you hears the message that maybe you don’t need to rely on your ED as much as it thinks. The goal of recovery is to put your eating disorder out of a job!
5. Celebrate your victories
Recovery from an eating disorder is a long, winding road, and it's important to celebrate the small victories along the way. This might include trying a new food, taking more rest days, challenging a eating disorder thought, or reaching out for support when you need it. Celebrating these victories can help you stay motivated and remind you of how far you've come.
You Can Do This
While it’s true that athletes are vulnerable to developing eating disorders, it is also true that the very thing that drives you to perform to the best of your ability will also guide you to summon the courage and fortitude to get help… and to recover. A joyful and peaceful relationship with your body is for you.
Investing in the quality of your life now by facing your eating disorder will pay off exponentially over your lifespan. You are so important and the world needs you… the healthiest and most vibrant version of you. We hope that you will be patient and compassionate with yourself along the way, and know that you already the strength and courage inside that is needed to face this. You are more than a body, more than an athlete, and we can’t wait for you to discover a happier life on the other side of your recovery.
Get Specialized Support
The ACED team is an inclusive group of specialized therapists and dietitians who can help you to heal so you can get back to living your life.
We’re here to help. Schedule your complimentary 15-20 minute phone consultation to find out if the ACED team could be a good fit for you. If you’re ready, we’ll match you with your dream team.
Legal disclaimer: The ACED team is comprised of mental health professionals licensed to practice in the state of Texas. Reading our blog does not create a therapist-client relationship between us. Our blog is designed for informational purposes only, and is not intended as a substitute for professional care. The contents of this blog should not be used to diagnose or treat illness of any kind, and before you rely on any information presented here you should consult with a trusted healthcare professional. If you are currently experiencing a mental health emergency please call 911 or the National Suicide Prevention Hotline at 1-800-273-8255.