Holiday Travel Tips for Athletes From an Eating Disorder Therapist
Traveling during the holiday disrupts routine, access to food and training expectations. This makes it challenging to keep eating disorder recovery at the forefront. This is one of the hardest times of year for athletes in recovery. I am here to offer practical, compassionate strategies to support both recovery and performance during the month of December.
Why Holiday Travel is Especially Hard for Athletes in Eating Disorder Treatment
Let’s break it down. The loss of structure is one of the toughest aspects of the holidays. This includes meals, training and sleep. The stress around maintaining fitness or falling behind can lead you to feel disconnected from your sport, but also disconnected from the activities going around you. There becomes less privacy around meals or recovery behaviors and being around family with historic patterns of comments about food, weight and performance can be distressing. Family members may emphasize “earning”, “burning” or “saving” calories, which may feel triggering when trying to gain a healthy relationship with food. So let’s dig into the tangible tips.
Tip #1: Plan Your Fueling Ahead of Time
Creating a flexible meal plan for travel days that may include airport, road trips or long layovers is key. Talk to your registered dietitian about your options and pack snacks that align with your meal plan. Coordinate with your eating disorder treatment team if meal timing needs adjustment. Eating more frequently or at different times during travel is expected.
Tip #2: Prepare for Training Changes Without Spiraling
Reducing your training volume during travel is part of being an athlete. Flexibility is important when other stressors are high. Create a realistic movement plan with flexibility. For example, going for a slow and short, enjoyable run with a family member, instead of your normal mileage or pace. Honoring recovery often improves long-term performance. Travel can stress the body physically and being able to accommodate the extra stress, such as going for a walk instead of a run, will help in the long run (pun intended). Collaborate with your coach and eating disorder therapist if fear about losing progress is high. Communicating is a key part of managing emotions around performance.
Tip #3: Set Boundaries Around Food and Body Comments
Establish a few scripts for what to say to family members when comments come up. This may sound like, “I’m focusing on fueling in a different way right now.” or “I’m not discussing training today, but thanks for asking.” Having a support person such as a friend, partner or eating disorder therapist on call can help give you a back up of support if boundaries become difficult or triggering. Athletes often receive more body and food scrutiny, but it is okay to step away.
Tip #4: Build Structure Into Unstructured Days
Create simple daily “anchors” such as breakfast time with mom or a time to ground and reset. Use routines that support recovery over rigidity. This may look like having structured meals created with your dietitian, but being flexible about time. Have a check-in set into your schedule such as journaling, notes app or voice memos. Give yourself the time and space to reflect and connect with your emotions.
Tip #5: Create a Coping Plan for Triggers
Identify likely triggers ahead of time. This may include travel delays, snacks out all day, lack of routine, or changes in hunger and fullness cues. Pair each trigger with a specific coping skill. Here are a few to get you started:
Grounding or breathing exercises
Reaching out to a support person
Calming the system through music or podcasts
Reviewing affirmations specific to athletic identity and recovery
Having a plan created ahead of time and written down, will make it easier to lean on healthy, recovery oriented decisions when in a difficult moment.
Tip #6: Bring Recovery Tools with You
Having your tools handy and ready to go when triggered is a key factor in a successful holiday during eating disorder treatment. Here are a few recovery tools that may be helpful for you:
Journals or apps to help with food accountability
Affirmation cards or quick reminders
Comfortable travel clothing that doesn’t trigger body checking
Water and snacks at even access
A small grounding object such as a hair tie, bracelet, stone or fidget
Tip #7: Reframe Rest as Part of Performance
Rest is a key factor in improving performance. Muscle and strength grows not by the workouts but through rest. Resting enough and reducing training during stressful times, improves hormonal balance, bone health, glycogen restoration and prevents injury. To check out more on how rest and fueling reduces risks of Relative Energy Deficiency in Sport (RED-S), check out “Under-Eating Isn’t Always Intentional: Redefining Nutrition in Eating Disorder Therapy for Athletes in Cherry Hill”.
How Family Can Support the Athlete
Supporting a loved one through eating disorder treatment can be difficult if you don’t know what to do or say. Here are a few tips to get you started. However, asking the athlete what feels supportive to them, is the best place to start!
Avoid commenting on food portions or body changes.
Don’t push exercise or make food moral (labeling foods as “good” or “bad”).
Hold space for breaks during meals or gatherings.
When to Reach Out for Additional Support
Signs that you or a loved one may be struggling more than expected may look like a refusal to eat on travel days, panic around meals, over-exercising to “compensate” or shutting down socially. Encourage contacting their eating disorder therapist or dietitian if symptoms escalate. The need for ongoing support over the holidays is normal. Find a support group that offers pop up holiday groups such as ANAD.
Conclusion
Navigating travel during eating disorder treatment as an athlete is possible with tools, flexibility and compassion. Reach out if you or a family member needs support during the holiday season. Serendipity Counseling offers 1:1 eating disorder therapy for athletes. To get started take the following steps:
Reach out for a free 20 minute consultation call.
Schedule the first session and see if we are a good fit!
Begin your journey to building a healthy relationship with food, body and sport!
If you are not ready for individual therapy, Serendipity offers group support for those looking to gain a healthier relationship with movement. You can also check out podcasts or books about eating disorder treatment.
About the Author: An Eating Disorder Therapist in NJ
Kate Ringwood is a compassionate eating disorder therapist for athletes. She works one on one with folks struggling with their relationship to food and body, while also keeping sport and performance in mind. Kate focuses on meeting you where you are at in your journey while keeping your values at the forefront of recovery.
