Cookouts, Control, and Comparison: Navigating Summer Events with Eating Disorder Therapy for Athletes in NJ
It is finally summer, and the smell of burgers on the grill, teammates in swimsuits, and casual talk about macros are constantly happening. Summer cookouts can be anything but relaxing for athletes in recovery. For athletes struggling with eating disorders, summer events like cookouts bring unique challenges around control, body image, and peer comparison. This blog explores those challenges and offers tools from eating disorder therapy for athletes in NJ.
The Athletic Identity and Summer Pressures
The link between performance and body image is tricky. Athletes are often praised for discipline, which can be seen as disordered behavior. How many times have you heard someone complimented for skipping the BBQ meal to “stay on track”? Off-season anxiety festers in the lack of structure and control. Summer is the off-season for most sports and creates fear of bodies changing as the structure fades. Social comparisons intensify as bodies are more visible and more scrutinized in the summer months.
The Role of Control at Summer Events
Control over food can feel like a way to increase structure, as structure loosens during the off-season. Unpredictable food options can spike anxiety. Control over routines can also be a way of creating a false sense of safety. Disrupted eating or training routines may cause panic or restriction. For example, not knowing when or what the next meal is can lead to compensatory behaviors. Control can feel like the only constant and is used as a coping mechanism. Eating disorder therapy helps explore what the control is protecting. Often, control over food is a stand-in for control over performance, identity, or stress.
Comparison Culture: When Conversations Become Triggers
Food talk can be everywhere. Teammates or family members may make comments like “I shouldn’t eat this” or “You can eat that because you burn so many calories”. These types of comments can trigger shame or body checking. Conversation about bodies can also dominate cookouts and beach gatherings. Even if the comments are about another athlete’s physique, it can lead to feeling triggered to engage in unhealthy behaviors. The comparison around performance and pressure to be the “fittest” or most committed can lead to overtraining or underfueling.
How Eating Disorder Therapy Helps Athletes Navigate These Challenges
Identifying and reframing triggers, as well as body image work, may feel like a scary place to start, as these triggers are intensifying in the summer months. At Serendipity Counseling Services, eating disorder therapy is taken slowly and introduced at a pace that feels comfortable to each athlete. These are just a few ways of how it is introduced:
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)
CBT helps you connect your thoughts and feelings to behaviors. It helps you learn skills in breaking down how these three things are connected and how to start shifting how you think about food and your body.
Radically Open Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (RODBT)
RODBT helps teach you how to tolerate discomfort through vulnerability and exposure exercises around difficult emotions. Here, you learn emotion regulation, the importance of relational vulnerability, and having a flexible mindset. This may look like learning to be open to feeling imperfect at a pool party.
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)
ACT helps guide you towards turning thoughts such as “I can’t eat that” into “All foods can fuel my body and performance”. It uses values-based techniques to help you accept your body for what it can due for you, versus placing judgment on how it looks.
Each of these techniques helps guide you toward flexibility in variety, enjoyment, and social connection around food and your sport.
Practical Tips for Athletes and Their Support Systems
Whether you are supporting someone with an eating disorder through the summer months or you are the one struggling, having a plan can help. Preparing for events with flexibility is key. For example, having a balanced snack beforehand or knowing a few grounding techniques for triggering moments can be helpful. Here are a few other tips to keep in mind as these events start coming up.
For Athletes:
Practice self-compassion before and after summer cookouts or events.
Have a support person or therapist “on call” for check-ins. Yes, that means don’t skip therapy sessions over the summer, as much as it may feel like a good time for a break!
Focus on connection (not comparison) during social events.
For Parents, Coaches, and Friends:
Avoid commenting on food choices or bodies.
Normalize all types of foods and eating behaviors.
Encourage rest, flexibility, and enjoyment (not just performance).
Conclusion from a Trusted Eating Disorder Therapist in NJ
Summer events can magnify eating disorder triggers for athletes, but with the right therapeutic support, they can also become spaces for healing, connection, and growth. If you or someone you care about is an athlete struggling with food, control, or body image this summer, reach out to work with an eating disorder therapist in NJ. Help is here, and healing is possible!
Find Summer Support with Eating Disorder Therapy for Athletes in NJ
Summer doesn’t have to mean stress around food or performance. If cookouts, team events, or downtime feel overwhelming, you’re not alone. At Serendipity Counseling Services, we offer eating disorder therapy for athletes in NJ that honors your lived experience, both on and off the field.
Here’s how to take the first step:
Schedule a free 15-minute consultation to explore what’s been weighing on you and see if we’re a good fit.
Book your first therapy session and start working through the pressures tied to food, identity, and athletic culture.
Feel more grounded in your body and choices, so you can move through the season with more confidence, connection, and freedom.
Additional Services at Serendipity Counseling in Cherry Hill, NJ
In addition to eating disorder therapy for athletes in Cherry Hill, NJ, I offer focused support for runners and speak engagements to challenge diet culture in sports and reduce stigma around disordered eating.
I also lead a virtual Retired Athlete Support Group, a space to process life after sport, reflect on identity, and reconnect with yourself in a judgment-free setting.
For families, I provide family-based therapy to help strengthen communication, deepen understanding, and create a more supportive environment for lasting recovery.
Meet the Author: A Compassionate Eating Disorder Therapist in Cherry Hill, NJ
Kate Ringwood, LPC, is the founder of Serendipity Counseling Services and specializes in eating disorder therapy for athletes in Cherry Hill, NJ. With a background as a competitive runner, Kate brings lived experience and insight into the complex relationships between sport, food, and body image.
Her work blends evidence-based therapy with empathy, creating a supportive space where clients can rebuild trust in themselves and their bodies. Beyond the therapy room, Kate speaks and podcasts on disordered eating, mental health, and the impact of athletic culture, helping to spark change and understanding in the community.
