Eating Disorders in Athletes: The Link Between Performance Anxiety and Disordered Eating
Athletes have such big pressures to perform at every level or sport. Often time this shows up as performance anxiety or ruminating thoughts. Many athletes think their constant thoughts about food are discipline. The connection between performance anxiety and eating disorders in athletes is rarely talking about in sports culture, so I am here to do just that!
What Is Performance Anxiety in Athletes?
Performance anxiety can look like pacing back and forth before a race or competition. It can look like isolation or increased irritability. However, it stems from a fear of failure. Failure may be fear of losing starting position / scholarships, fear of body weight impacting performance, or fear of disappointing coaches, teammates or parents. Athletes live in a constant state of pressure and perfectionism runs high. This puts athletes at a higher risk of physical and mental health consequences than the general population.
Why Anxiety Turns Into Food Control and Disordered Eating
Anxiety is uncomfortable and let's be real, nobody wants to feel uncomfortable. This leads the body to do anything possible to control that discomfort or just control anything possible. The overlap here is that eating disorders are about control. It may start with positive intentions to control anxiety, but quickly turns to a lack of control over behaviors and thoughts around food.
Whether it is binge eating the night before a race or restrictive eating just to feel more in control in the moment, it doesn't work. You may get that short term relief. However, it leads to uncontrollable thoughts about food, body shape, and often times risk to your physical health.
Control Feels Safer Than Uncertainty
I get it. Controlling anything feels great. Who doesn't want to be in control of their life? However, there are so many things that we just cannot control in life. As an athlete, you can't fully control your race outcomes, game performance, injuries or the competition. So then why not try to control calories, macros, weight or training volume, right?
Food Becomes a “Performance Variable”
There is almost this subconscious belief of, “If I eat perfectly, I’ll perform perfectly” or “If I gain weight, I’ll lose my edge”. Rigid food rules and obsessive tracking becomes a way to try and control performance. However, it really fuels anxiety, disordered eating and eating disorders.
Why Athletes Start Thinking About Food All Day
When athletes engage in restrictive eating, the brain increases food thoughts and the body pushes survival signals. See the thing is, thinking about food is actually a sign of hunger. When we do not listen to that hunger signal, the body tries to fight back and the obsession intensifies. Food obsession is a biological response, not a lack of willpower!
The Restrict → Obsess → Binge Cycle
Let's walk through a specific example of how the restrict/binge cycle happens. Sam is a long distance runner. When Sam feels anxious about a race, she feels weak and lacks confidence. (This is due to messages in team culture around emotions in sport being a weakness).
Sam tries to feel more confident by controlling the things around her, such as food. She heard messages about lighter being faster for long distance running and makes the connection to eat less and maybe it will increase her performance. Throughout the next day, Sam becomes preoccupied with food and her cravings increase.
She gets home from practice starving and feels a loss of control as she grabs food from the cabinet. The aftermath of shame and guilt leads to more restriction. Feelings of failure set in as she feels she doesn't have the willpower to lose weight.
It's Not Just Female Athletes
This restrict binge cycle occurs in female athletes and male athletes, professional athletes, elite athletes, and athletes of any body mass index. You do not need to have an eating disorder, such as bulimia or binge eating disorder for it to occur. Endurance sports specifically leave athletes at a higher risk. The struggle often goes unnoticed due to the athlete being at a "healthy weight". The thing is, disordered eating and eating disorders in athletes can occur at any body weight and still impact mental and physical health.
Signs Performance Anxiety Is Affecting Your Eating
Signs of disordered eating in athletes include:
Constant thoughts of food
Fear of rest days
excessive exercise
Isolation or avoiding social eating
Rigid food rules or rituals
Restriction of certain food groups
Negative body image or constant body checking
Anxiety after eating
Hiding food or binge eating
Why This Is So Common in Sports Culture
Sports culture praises discipline. Weight loss is often complimented and eating disorder behaviors are normalized. Demonizing food groups and low weights leads to poor mental health and negative body image. Team comparison culture leaves athletes feeling as though they are not strict enough, healthy enough, light enough, or serious enough. Yet the Diagnostic Statistical Manual written by the American Psychiatric Association associates these behaviors as eating disorders. Diet culture and team culture matters.
Toxic sports culture puts an emphasis on weight loss, pushing negative emotions away and minimizing mental health struggles. It increases the risk of eating disorders, low bone density, the female athlete triad (now acknowledged as RED-s), broken bones and other factors such as, long term health problems.
What Recovery from Restrictive Eating Actually Looks Like for Athletes
Eating disorders or restrictive eating impacts fueling for performance recovery and impacts risk factors for long term health. By working through recovery you will notice many benefits such as, less mental energy spent on food and more joy in sport. Through eating disorder therapy you will learn healthy ways to cope with anxiety and the stress of training. Your treatment team, including an eating disorder therapist, sports dietitian and doctor will help guide you to find a healthy weight for your body, improved mental health and building trust with your body's internal cues.
How Eating Disorder Therapy Helps Athletes Break the Cycle
There are many different ways to start your recovery process. Eating disorder therapy can look different for everyone. Whether you have anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, binge eating disorder, or are just struggling with anxiety around food or performance, you deserve support. Serendipity Counseling offers therapy for athletes with eating disorders.
We take an eclectic approach to support through a few different types of therapy. Eating disorder treatment can include CBT for food anxiety, ACT for performance anxiety, RO-DBT for overcontrol/perfectionism or a combination of all! Serendipity Counseling also offers virtual and in person therapy for athletes. To get started on your recovery process through eating disorder therapy, follow these steps!
Schedule a free consultation with the eating disorder therapist for athletes!
Chat with Kate to see if you are a good fit.
Schedule the first session and start your journey to food freedom!
Eating disorders are common in sports culture. However, recovery is possible. You do not need to choose between sport and recovery. Serendipity offers in person therapy in NJ and virtual eating disorder therapy in NJ, PA, ND, FL, AZ ad VT. For more support for eating disorders in athletes check out our blog posts on eating disorders, as well as our featured podcasts.
About the Author: An Eating Disorder Therapist for Athletes
Kate Ringwood is an eating disorder specialist in NJ with a specific focus in athletes of all abilities. Whether you are a cross country runner, a skier, or a family member of a loved one with an eating disorder, she has your back. Kate is an expert in eating anxiety, sports, and improving long term well being.
