Life After Athletics
When Michael Phelps revealed what he ate while training for the 2008 Olympics, his enormous food intake shocked the world nearly as much as did his record-breaking, 8-gold-medal performance. While the Olympian’s diet might be an extreme example of how much an athlete needs to eat to nourish their body, it is undeniable that anyone competing at an elite level must eat quite a bit differently than the average individual to fuel up for intense training and competition.
But what happens to this grandiose relationship with basic nourishment when an athlete gives up the game? Navigating food can become complicated - or, even more complicated than before - as scheduled exercise no longer dictates the timing, quantity and quality of meals, and the insidious fear of bodily changes starts to creep in and influence food choices. Hours are spent in grocery store aisles scanning nutrition labels for calories and sugars, guilty feelings follow any bite of eaten without compensatory exercise, and mirrors only reflect loss of the body’s visible identity as an athlete. Worst of all, these distressing feelings arise at a time when an athlete’s lifelong support system - their sport, and the daily presence of their teammates - disappears.
So, as athletes transition into the unknown – a life without their sport – disordered eating behaviors can develop as a means to maintain some sense of control over their body and preserve their athletic identity. Some studies have found that more retired athletes engage in disordered eating behaviors than currently competing athletes, who have already been shown to have higher rates of eating disorders than their non-athlete peers. This statistic provides some evidence for positioning post-athletics retirement as a high risk period for eating disorders, not unlike puberty or menopause. Moreover, this phenomenon is witnessed most frequently in retirees who had previously competed in sports with an emphasis on an ideal body shape or weight class (think rowing, wrestling, gymnastics, swimming, dancing) or those who strongly identified as an athlete. And sadly, for athletes who retired after a disappointing or unsuccessful athletic career, the risk of developing eating disorders during this time is even higher than other athletes.
Athletic retirement is an under-appreciated point in the life cycle of an athlete, and its propensity to promote eating disorders requires further study. Yet, it is apparent given the increased risk of eating disorders while actively participating in sports that efforts to reduce the risk of eating disorders in athletic retirement should begin before an athlete stops competing. Athletic departments furnishing a team of professionals (namely a psychologist and a registered dietitian at minimum) to prevent and treat eating disorders are leading the way in improving the wellbeing of their athletes both on and off the field. However, even with these resources, many current and retired athletes suffer quietly without realizing that their struggle is significant enough to require treatment, given how normalized dieting and body dissatisfaction is in our culture.
Retiring from a career of elite athletics is a hard-earned accomplishment, and when there is peace in one's relationship with food and their body, many wonderful opportunities can fill up the space previously occupied by practice and competitions. Disordered eating shouldn’t have to limit the enjoyment that can be experienced in this well-deserved phase of life.
References:
Buckley GL, Hall LE, Lassemillante A-CM, Ackerman KE, Belski R. Retired Athletes and the Intersection of Food and Body: A Systematic Literature Review Exploring Compensatory Behaviours and Body Change. Nutrients. 2019; 11(6):1395. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu11061395
Buckley GL, Hall LE, Lassemillante AM, Belski R. Disordered eating & body image of current and former athletes in a pandemic; a convergent mixed methods study - What can we learn from COVID-19 to support athletes through transitions?. J Eat Disord. 2021;9(1):73. Published 2021 Jun 24. doi:10.1186/s40337-021-00427-3
https://www.nationaleatingdisorders.org/athletes-eating-disorders
https://www.nationaleatingdisorders.org/statistics-research-eating-disorders
