Why We See Eating Disorders In Athletes

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Last updated on January 25th, 2025 at 10:55 pm

Eating disorders in athletes are common. The pressure to engage in disordered eating patterns as a person who participates in a sport is abundant.   Disordered eating can occur as a response to the naturally high energy demands of a sport or social pressures. 

It is estimated that 19% of males and 45% of female athletes have eating disorders. Eating disorders commonly seen in athletes include anorexia, bulimia, orthorexia, and eating disorders not otherwise specified. 

Eating disorders in athletes can be related to: 

  • Pressure from peers
  • High energy demands of a sport
  • Intentional over exercising 
  • Pressure from coaches
  • High body image pressure

Athletes may believe that disordered eating patterns will make them more competitive, reduce their overall body fat or both.  It is also not uncommon for what start out as healthy behaviors to improve performance to transform into an eating disorder. 

This article explores why some athletes might develop disordered eating habits, how to prevent and recognize disordered eating in athletes and what you should do if eating patterns become dangerous. 

infographic with colorful circles on the causes of eating disorders in athletes

Why Do Some Athletes Struggle With Eating Disorders

Sometimes eating disorders can develop in athletes because they believe they are doing the right thing to improve their sports performance.  High energy demands mixed with expectations from diet culture to have a lean body or bulk up can often transform what start as healthy eating behaviors into disordered eating. 

Here are some of the most common contributors to eating disorders in athletes.   

Energy Demands are High

Many sports, particularly endurance sports, require extremely high caloric demands (sometimes as high as 5000-7000 calories per day).  

High energy demands can lead to eating disorders because: 

  • It might require counting calories which can become obsessive
  • Time required for school/work and sports might make it impossible to have time to eat
  • Exercise can suppress appetite which makes it difficult to be motivated to eat 
  • Meal prepping and grocery shopping this much food can feel exhausting and be skipped
  • People may opt out of meals related to discomfort during sports performance

These things can leave a person malnourished and lacking in hunger cues even if this is not intentional in the beginning.  

A person with high energy demands may lose weight and get used to their smaller body. They may choose to be continually undernourished to maintain a certain physique.

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Pressure To Follow Certain Diets For Athletes

There can be a lot of pressure in athletic communities to bulk up, lose body fat, or make a certain weight category. 

Some dietary practices can be downright dangerous and lead to disordered eating patterns.  

Common diets for athletes include: 

Some athletes will take dietary behaviors like avoiding carbs, avoiding added sugars, or avoiding processed foods to the extreme.  There is a fine line between following a meal plan for the purpose of enhancing sports performance and muscle gains and an eating disorder. 

Eating Disorder Symptoms are Normalized In Sports

Many eating disorder behaviors are often categorized as “simply something that happens in sports.”  

Disordered eating patterns being normalized by coaches and peers is very dangerous and a major risk factor in later development of eating disorders. 

Here are some disordered behaviors that are seen as normal in athletes: 

  • Cutting weight (no food or water before big events)
  • Loss of period for women
  • Injury (common in sports but could be heightened by poor nutrition
  • IBS
  • Significant weight loss
  • Significant drops in body fat percentages 

Demographics of Athletes

In addition to the high caloric demands and time constraints of athletes, there are other variables that place these individuals at risk for eating disorders. 

Many athletes are teenagers or young adults.  These age groups have the highest rates of eating disorders

Because athletes are usually young adults they have additional risks for eating disorders including: 

  • Pressure from peers to be thin or attain the perfect body for your sport
  • Pressure from social media to be thin
  • Family challenges that can increase anxiety
  • Pressure from school 
  • Pressure for thinness from movies, music and other forms of entertainment

Urges to Compulsively Exercise  

While many athletes may start out with a healthy desire to exercise and improve their sport, this can quickly turn into compulsive exercise

Compulsive exercise is often used as a form of purging in eating disorders

Exercise may become compulsive due to: 

  • Pressure to outcompete peers 
  • Requirements from coaches
  • Addiction to an “exercise high” 
  • Feeling like they need to compensate for food with  more intense exercise

Loss of Hunger Cues  

Athletes might experience a loss of hunger cues related to their sport. This can lead to forgetting to eat, intentional food restriction due to not feeling hungry or both. 

Hunger cues can be disrupted in sports because: 

  • Exercise can suppress appetite
  • The athlete’s body gets used to not eating necessary calories 
  • The athlete intentionally restricts calories prior to their sport due to discomfort

The loss of hunger cues for athletes can lead a person to develop further eating disorder behaviors.  Athletes that have lost their hunger cues will not be able to intuitively eat.

infographic on sports prone to eating disorders

What Sports Do We Commonly See Eating Disorders In

Eating disorders can occur in any sport, but there are some sports where the culture around weight, food, and body shape might make an eating disorder more likely. 

Athletes at the highest risk for eating disorders include

  • Dancers
  • Gymnasts
  • Cheerleaders
  • Wrestlers
  • Swimmers
  • Runners

Any sport that encourages or promotes maintaining a small body size will have an increased risk for developing eating disorders. Sports that encourage dangerous practices such as cutting weight will also have a higher risk of eating disorders. 

infographic on preventing eating disorders in athletes

Preventing Eating Disorders in Athletes

Preventing eating disorders in athletes will include making sure to get enough food to meet the high energy demands of the sport.  Athletes should also be encouraged to respect their bodies and honor all types of hunger.  

Encourage athletes to recognize that food is more than just fuel.

Athletes should be educated on the ways malnutrition can lead to health risks as well as poor sports performance.  Athletes should work with a HAES dietitian in order to make sure all of their nutritional needs are being met. 

Treating Eating Disorders in Athletes

Eating disorders are a very serious mental health and medical condition. If you feel like you or someone you know has developed an eating disorder, recovery cannot be done alone.  

If an athlete develops an eating disorder, treatment should be sought out as soon as possible. 

Treatment for eating disorders in athletes will often include: 

Treating eating disorders in athletes may also require that athletes temporarily discontinue regular physical activity.  
There are many in person and virtual treatment options available if an athlete has developed an eating disorder.  It is critical that treatment be sought out as soon symptoms of an eating disorder begin to emerge.

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Shena Jaramillo. Registered Dietitian
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