Impacts of Body Dissatisfaction On Performance

As an athlete, you know you need to fuel properly to train, recover, and stay healthy.
And to help, there are apps, experts and articles to keep you accountable to eating enough.

But if you struggle with your relationship with your body, that dissatisfaction can silently interfere with your ability to eat enough, fuel your workouts appropriately and support your body with the nutrition it deserves.

In simple terms:
👉 When you respect your body, you give it what it needs.
👉 When you dislike your body, you withhold fuel.

A healthy body relationship removes emotional roadblocks so that fueling can be based on science, health, and performance. 

Body Image and Gratitude

For many people, November begins the season of gratitude. Starting with Thanksgiving - whcih literally has THANKS in the name, it's important to ask yourself how often do you thank your body?

Learning to quiet the body bashing and negative body thoughts is not easy. The mental picture you have of your body is constantly compared to an image of what you think you should look like. This is due to the social impact of body image. Seeing images over and over again is linked to poor body image and feelings that your own body is not normal. As a result, you may shame, criticize and hate certain parts of your body. 

Body image refers to how you see your body. What you believe about your appearance, how you feel about your body and how you move, nourish and use your body. 

Gratitude is the expression of appreciation for what one has. It involves being thankful. 

The human body is incredible. Just think about all your body can do and has done for you - crossing finishing lines, bringing another human into this world, traveling, overcoming obstacles. And now think about what your body does on its own, without you even asking it to - overcoming illnesses, giving you another year of life, thinking, remembering, moving, breathing. 

The simple act of body gratitude can shift how you view your body. Because body shaming has become a social norm, it's important to take a conscious effort to love, appreciate and thank your body. 

It's very hard to take care of your body and hate your body. 

Start showing your "As It Is" body love by offering it gratitude for all that it does for you. 

Why are you grateful for your body? 

Need to eat more but scared of weight gain?

An eating disorder distorts the way you think about food and your body, causing you to eat and exercise in a way that can be harmful to your mental and physical health.

A critical step in eating disorder recovery is working through counterproductive and destructive thoughts, emotions and behaviors - not just relating to food and the body but also with self-esteem, confidence, control and perfectionism.

To fuel, nourish and train in a way that will optimize performance and to become more comfortable and confident with your body image, it's necessary to break away from unhealthy food and exercise-related behaviors and to challenge and fight against disordered thoughts.

Keep in mind that the weight/body image that you think you need to perform well in sport will likely be different than the body composition/weight that allows you to train and race in a way that supports your physical and mental health.

An eating disorder is not about food.

Body weight is also not the issue.

The body composition insecurities and overwhelming food-related decisions are symptoms of a problem, but not the problem itself.

Therapy is critical. Don’t let yourself give up - even if it feels like you aren't making progress.

A huge part of the recovery process is accepting that your body and mind will change. Your body and mind may heal at different times. Learning to let go of control can also be hard.

Once you restore your physical and mental health and strengthen your relationship with food and the body, you will physically feel better, your decisions around food and exercise will begin to work for you (and not against you) and any body composition changes will never be as visible as you fear/believe.

Although the road will be bumpy at times, trust the process and journey ahead of you.

Your body is worth the time and effort. 💕

Body Shaming and Fat Talk

 

"Too big." "Too small."

Your body is not an object.

Let's stop shaming the body of an athlete. Including your own body. 

It's crazy to think that so many athletes believe that they must attempt to train the body to succeed in sport while simultaneously maintaining a specific body type idealized by social media.

Whether you criticize your own appearance through comparison or judgement, criticize another's appearance in front of them or criticize another's appearance without their knowledge, this is a form of abuse.

The first step in overcoming body shaming is to appreciate your body just as it is.

We can all do better to love ourselves and our bodies just as we are.

When you have a healthy relationship with your body, you are more likely to respect and value the bodies of others.

You are not born hating your body

We live in a society where we are constantly being told that losing weight is good and gaining weight is bad. Although segments of the population may benefit from dietary changes that will promote healthy weight loss to reduce the complications from metabolic syndrome, many individuals (particularly athletes) are constantly striving for a smaller version of themselves. 

Often times - as a result of undereating, dieting, overtraining and underfueling - physical health gets destroyed and emotional well-being becomes compromised. 

You are not born hating your body. You are not born fearing weight gain. You learn to feel fat. Thanks to a society that believes that gaining weight in any context is shameful, unhealthy and bad, you grow into hating your body. Society is constantly trying to sell you the idea that you will never be good enough the way that you are. That you would be happier, healthier or fitter if you weighed less, had less fat around your stomach or toned up your arms and legs. As you buy in to the damaging and deceiving messages from the media, you learn that any type of weight gain will negatively affect you socially, physically and psychologically. You have been told that if you gain weight (or maintain your weight), you will look worse, you are not a good person, you are lazy or you are unhealthy. 

I know this mindset shift is challenging. It will take time, it will feel like an everyday task and you may need help. It can be extremely difficult to learn how to love your body what you have spent so much time hating your body. But you must fight these thoughts in order to restore your health and to heal the damaged relationship with your body and food.

It won't be easy but the ultimate goal is to learn to really love yourself and to detach your value and self worth from your appearance. Continue to challenge negative talk. Surrender to your fears. It's time to put more energy into what's most important to you in your life. There is so much more to you than your body image. Learn to love and to accept yourself. Your body is amazing. 

Becoming more body image positive in 2019

The New Year is flooded with ways to improve your health - specifically through diet and exercise.While there is nothing wrong with embarking on a new journey, the first step to improve your health is to learn to be kind to your body.

To start the New Year, I wanted to share a few of my thoughts on the topics that I feel athletes become vulnerable to as it relates to diet and exercise. Athletes are very disciplined, dedicated and hard working individuals but tend to function on the side of extreme. Many athletes are so focused on an outcome that they forget to be kind to the body. Most diets and exercise plans require a lot of willpower and discipline. People fall in and out of programs because they are exhausting - mentally and physically. In turn becomes body shaming, critical judgement, self-hate and unrealistic body ideals. In other words, in a quest to become healthier, you lose sight on the first step of improving your health - being kind to your body.

I hope you find these videos helpful as you explore a new journey of good health, happiness and body kindness.

New Year.....New You?
As you count down the hours until the New Year, are you once again resolving that this will finally be the year where you will take better care of your body?

Despite the many ways that you can practice self-improvement, January 1st is strongly associated with making changes to your body size, weight and looks through extreme exercise and rigid dieting.

Sadly, social media has a lot to do with your body image and relationship with food.

Here are my thoughts on how you can start the year off right, without falling victim to the New Year, New You campaign.

                                                     
                                   
Quick Fixes and Trendy Diets

We are a weight obsessed, social-media influenced, quick-fix seeking culture.

While there are many reasons why people diet, those with low self-esteem, poor body image, individuals with an addictive personality, anxiety, depression and feel pressure from society to look differently are susceptible to follow a style of eating that includes rules, good vs bad foods, strict eating regimes and social motivation.

Therefore, it's no surprise why so many people are tempted to follow a trendy diet that claims to improve mental and physical health, boost self-esteem, improve body image, eliminate cravings, boost energy levels, heal your gut, reprogram your body and achieve incredible results.

Don't be fooled! There are many physical and mental dangers of extreme dieting.

                                                    
     
Race Weight
Let's talk race weight.

We live in a society that focuses on competitive leanness. Most athletes train, eat and live with the mindset that the leaner or more defined you are, the better you'll perform in sport.

Often this mindset gets messy. Whereas the initial focus for weight loss is to perform better, athletes can easily get obsessed with the idea of achieving the perfect athletic body image but sadly, sickness, injury, a performance decline and burnout occurs.

Do you nourish and fuel your body because it's an incredible vehicle that allows you to do incredible things in your sport or are you chasing a weight/image through rigid eating, calorie restriction and over exercising?

                                                   

Gadgets and Trackers

Fitness tracking, calorie counting, body composition measuring and body weighing may not be inherently bad, unless you have an obsession with data.

An obsessive focus on numbers may encourage unhealthy attitudes, behaviors and thoughts related to your self-worth, body image, eating choices, exercise regime, athletic worthiness and self-esteem.

Are your gadgets and tracking devices doing more harm than good?

                                                      

Now is not the time to diet

Nearing the 2-3 months out from a key race, many athletes start paying close attention to any limiters that could potentially sabotage race day performance. Weight is typically one of those "potential" limiters that comes to the front of the mind for my athletes.

Although weight can play a positive or negative role in performance, it's not the only way to improve or destroy performance. Sadly, when athletes start looking at performance and how to get faster, stronger or go longer, weight becomes the only focus.

It's not uncommon for the athlete who wants to achieve a specific body composition to look for strategies and behaviors that are extreme in order to make for quick changes. Because most people won't keep up with new habits if they don't result in quick changes or feedback, many of the strategies that athletes take to change body composition adversely affect health. Fasted training, restricting fluids and calories during prolonged sessions, not focusing on good recovery, eliminating food groups, drastically cutting out calories and not having an all around good relationship with food can cause a host of issues, such as : hormonal disturbances, slow tissue growth/repair, slow energy metabolism, declining energy and excessive fatigue, bone issues, endocrine issues, altered pyschological and physiological functioning and a decline in performance. The athlete who feels the need to make extreme changes in the diet is typically the athlete who will experience the greatest risk to health and performance down the road, if not immediately. In other words, a strong desire to get leaner for performance actually destroys performance, instead of helping it.  

Keeping in mind that even short periods of intentional or unintentional food restriction, food group elimination or poor sport nutrition fueling can negatively affect how you train, compete and recover. Poor exercise performance and an increase in injuries and burnout is common in the underfueled and undernourished athlete. 

Let a change in body composition be a direct and non-forced result of good nutrition habits and behaviors. By doing a great job of meeting your daily energy needs, focusing on nutrient timing, using sport nutrition properly and not neglecting your health, you'll find yourself with a body composition that you can be proud of because it's the body that is fueled, fit, strong and healthy and ready to perform. 

A healthy body performs amazingly well. Instead of making strict changes in the diet in order to change your body image, focus on fueling and nourishing your amazing body.

I never said you can't lose weight or change body composition to boost your performance. But now is not the time to diet (nor is it ever OK to make an extreme change to your diet that isn't sustainable). If your strategies for weight loss or body composition change are counterproductive to your initial goals of being faster, more resilient, healthier, stronger and more powerful or you are unable to meet the athletic demands of your sport with your new lean and toned body, your dietary approaches are not productive. 

Drive for athletic leanness

Picture source

For much of my career as a Board Certified Sport Dietitian with a Master of Science in exercise physiology, I have spent a great amount of time and energy helping athletes with their relationship with food and the body. Knowing that athletes feel a strong relationship between food and body composition relating to athletic success, I have never refrained from speaking about this topic openly and honestly for many years in an effort to help athletes stay healthy throughout a sporting career (and for many more decades to come). I have even reached out to many magazines (and publishing companies) to write more about the topic of body image and athletes but my pitches are often denied and in exchange, I am asked to write about the latest diet fad or nutrition strategy to help athletes gain the competitive edge.

In light of another recent social media post involving a professional athlete discussing body image struggles and restrictive eating measures, I am reminded that I have a very small voice in the big world of athletics as it relates to being heard but I refuse to stop expressing my thoughts and concerns as to how athletes eat and fuel for endurance sports as there is a safe way to achieve athletic excellence without compromising health and performance.

Sadly, our culture is obsessed with leanness. It's far too often that an athlete is praised for being lean and competitively fit, which drives the athlete to assume that leanness is the key to athletic success, self-confidence and notoriety. On a daily basis, athletes receive persistent spoken/written/viewed messages about body composition and performance/fitness from social media, magazines, books, notable athletic figures, coaches and other experts which reinforces the need to look a certain way - often at any cost (health, performance and quality of life).

Without even the slightest disclaimer that there can be great physical and psychological damage that stems from being strict, ritualistic, rigid and anxious about eating when training for an athletic event, athletes literally feed off the reinforcement given by society when the body becomes more athletically "acceptable" in terms of body composition.

Every time an athlete is glorified for experiencing athletic success while achieving/maintaining a lean, toned and fit body composition, there's a good probability that society is rewarding unhealthy eating and training behaviors. Eventually resulting in low energy availability (RED-S), there are great health and performance consequences to overtraining and undereating.

Picture source

There's no denying that a fit and strong body is what every athlete strives to achieve come race day and to achieve a body that can survive the demands of race day, training and nutritional adaptations can be made to foster performance improvements. But without optimal health, the body image that you achieve is all for nothing if you can't do much with it on race day.

What's the point of having a lean body if you can't do anything with it when you are asked to perform at your best?  Far too many athletes are training and not eating for an image competition instead of an athletic competition.

Although more and more athletes are speaking openly about personal struggles with eating and body image, there is still a strong taboo with disordered eating and eating disorders. There are some brave athletes who openly admit to some type of body image struggle or disordered eating/eating disorder habits during or at the end of a sporting career (often concurrent with a serious health issue, debilitating injury or mental health disorder) but we can not overlook the fact that a great amount of athletes are secretly training with a very restrictive diet in an effort to change body image, often encouraged, inspired and counseled by a coach or nutrition expert.

Knowing that goal-oriented, highly disciplined and competitive athletes who like to feel control in life and base self-worth, athletic readiness and confidence on a certain body image, are at greatest risk for an eating disorder, it's critical that coaches and professional experts address their own personal relationships with food and the body prior to delivering nutrition advice. I personally believe that due to the many uncredible nutrition experts and weight-focused coaches providing unethically safe advice to athletes, athletes are led to believe that the best/only/most effective way to experience performance gains is to change body composition through dietary/fueling manipulation and training.

Because there is such a very thin line between maintaining your health, having longevity in your sport and maintaining quality of life and achieving athletic excellence on race day with a forced body composition change, if an athlete has even the most smallest struggle or occasional thoughts about body image or restrictive eating strategies in an effort to improve performance or to change body composition, it's highly recommended and encouraged to seek help from a trusted, credible and sport dietitian who specializes in your sport and understands how to counsel athletes who suffer from poor body image thoughts and a tendency/desire to intentional restrict food/fuel.

Before a serious health issue negatively affects your performance, now is the time to ask yourself....

What's driving your need for athletic leanness? 

Making peace with your body

Today is International Day of Peace, which is "devoted to strengthening the ideals of peace, both within and among all nations and peoples."

The theme for this year is “The Sustainable Development Goals: Building Blocks for Peace."

In honor of making peace, I thought it would be appropriate to talk about making peace with your body. Ultimately, when you are at peace with your body, you are a better human.
When you hate your body, you may find that you also hate life.
This is not the way that you should be living.

Accepting and appreciating your body will improve your quality of life as you are not spending your days trying to fix yourself, but instead, you are focusing on doing things that really matter in life - like your career, your hobbies (ex. sports), your close friendships, your family and personal life experiences (ex. traveling).  

Here are a few tips to help you make peace with your amazing body.

1. Figure out your internal dialogue - Every day, we have thoughts. Often, thoughts lead to actions. When you are feeling upset about something related to your body, verbalize it - don't just think about it and assume that immediate action will make you feel better.
Consider how many body-related thoughts you experience each day and after you say those thoughts out loud, get to the root of why you feel that way about your body. Many times, thoughts about your body have nothing to do with your body but instead, the rest of life.
You had a bad workout, you are stressed, you didn't sleep well last night, you feel overwhelmed, etc. yet you blame all of this on your body???
Don't believe everything that you think and most of all, don't act on every thought (ex. That's it - I'm starving myself tomorrow because I'm too heavy!")
When your mind tells you something negative, don't let your thoughts control your behaviors. Instead, create a better dialogue in your head that is more proactive to healthy living and eating habits and above all, lets you think more positive about your body.

2. Stop the comparison game - Just because someone else weighs less than you, this doesn't make you fat. Don't let the weight of someone else make you feel bad about your own body. It's dangerous to constantly compare yourself to other people because you will never feel good enough or happy enough. It's so easy to compare the worst about yourself to the best (assumption) of someone else. The more positives you assume are in another person, the more negatives you will make up about yourself. This includes a past version of yourself as well.
Sometimes the best strategy for stopping comparison is to change your surroundings. You should be surrounding yourself with people who make you feel great about your body and your life. Are there people who you need to remove from your social media channels or stay away from at the gym or at a race? You are unique and an important person in this world, just the way you are.
You never need to be compared to anyone else because you are YOU and just fine the way that you are.

3. Understand your feelings - When you have a negative thought about your body, ask yourself what else is bothering you. Body hatred is an easy way to dismiss other issues in life that may be bothering you. Instead of obsessing about your body and using diet and exercise to numb emotions and to gain control over a situation, explore the deeper reasons of your stress. It's important to experience happiness and joy in your life but using food and exercise to cope with deep feelings to make you feel less stressed are not healthy coping strategies.
Choose self-love not self-hatred. 

4. Positive affirmations -  Life will often give you many opportunities to either love your body (you nailed your workout) or hate your body (ex. looking in the mirror, feeling bloated). It seems appropriate to suggest that you should simply minimize the occasions when you experience the most body-hate in life but in reality, there will be times in your life when you can not escape an experience where you will immediately put blame on your body.
It is important to remain body positive as much as possible....especially if you are a parent. If you find yourself constantly talking about your body as fat, ugly, chubby, disgusting, etc., you are not describing a positive reflection of yourself.
What are you thankful for that your body allows you to do?
Constantly remind yourself that your body is more than just a number or a look.

5. Do things that make you feel great about your body - If running is hard on your body, you are not going to find joy in running when you are looking for a way to feel happy with your body.
Regardless if you are an athlete training for a sport or a fitness enthusiast, you should choose activities that make you feel connected to your body and grateful for your body.
When you feel connected to your body, you will be more likely to acknowledge your strengths as an individual but more so, you will feel happy as you use and move your body.
Don't let other people persuade you to do something that truly doesn't make you excited to workout or train.


Did you thank your body today? 

Disordered eating

We live in a culture that emphasizes, rewards, worships and celebrates lean, toned and fit bodies. Individuals with an unhealthy relationship with food and the body may seek extreme events to train for and restrictive methods of eating and fueling in an effort to control weight and to justify excessive exercise patterns.  

Many athletes succeed in sports (especially endurance events) because they are great at doing things in extreme. But extreme thoughts, attitudes and beliefs about food and the body (especially as it relates to performance improvements) can become obsessive and may lead to more serious disordered eating habits.

If your self-imposed rules, regulations and guidelines about what to eat and not to eat around and during workouts are taking precedence of what your body actually needs (and even with alarming symptoms like low blood sugar, dizziness, nausea, fatigue, blurred vision, headache, dehydration manifesting into your workout or day), you are manipulating your diet in a restrictive way as a coping mechanisms for not dealing with feelings about your body, relationships or in life, needing to feel more control, or you want to please others or you hate the way you look, don't wait for a serious health issue or a massive performance decline or blood tests to demonstrate an underlying issue. Get help now.

We live in a society where it's easy to get stuck into one style of eating and then to jump from one style to another when you no longer find success in one diet. 

Sadly, many athletes believe that the thinner and leaner you are, the better you will perform and the happier you will be. And when you don't succeed with your weight goals, the blame is often put on you that you "failed" the diet and that you didn't give it "enough time". You then scratch your head because you simply don't understand how the method that apparently works for everyone else (as claimed by social media, forums and word of mouth) is not working for you, despite every article and scientific research study proving that this is the best way to eat.

Athletes are exceptional at adhering to guidelines and rules and can believe that there's only one right way to eat, thus assuming that everything else (ex. sugar, carbs, sport nutrition, hydration, salt, grains, dairy, etc.) are "bad".

We live in a world where seeing is believing. 

What if the fitness experts, coaches and athletes (of all levels) that you look up to and follow are engaged in disordered eating? These disordered beliefs, attitudes and behaviors around food or exercise make onlookers and followers (YOU) believe that these depriving and restricting methods are "normal" or even required in order to be healthy and to perform at your best.

Athletes can easily hide or rationalize disordered eating behaviors under the claims "I'm training for an event and I need to get leaner" or "I'm improving my performance by becoming a better fat adapted" or "I can't eat that because it will ruin my health" or "I need to exercise more to get into better shape."

While every athlete can welcome a healthier style of eating and should consider working with a sport dietitian to master performance eating and fueling, extreme methods or unrealistic weight or performance goals can can easily foster unhealthy eating habits and disordered body image thoughts. These eating habits cause also cause great stress, anxiety and social isolation.  

To develop new skills and dietary habits that actually improve your health and performance you must be willing to welcome positive messages about food and your body.

The more rules, plans, experts, diets and nutrition information overload that you welcome into your life, the more likely that your your eating patterns (and thoughts about your body) will become more distorted and obsessive which will ultimately sabotage your performance and health goals.

If you are struggling with your relationship with food and the body, get professional help.
Let food enhance your life, not control your life. 

Athletes - Make peace with food

Some people exercise and some people train.
Either way - moving your body is great for the mind, body and soul.
 
Regardless if you are exercising to improve your health or training to improve fitness for an upcoming event, you know that if you eat better, you will perform better. 

For athletes, when you fuel your body optimally you have more energy, your fitness improves, you are happier, you think better, you delay fatigue, you sleep better and you have a more positive outlook on life. 

I hope that every athlete and fitness enthusiast is on a mission to be at peace with food.
Food should enhance your life and should energize your body and mind. 

I encourage you to think about your current eating and fueling habits to decide if what you are doing right now is working for you. 

It's important to have a great plan for good nutrition because good nutrition habits bring great workouts. And when you are consistent with your training, you can look forward to great race day performances. 

Sadly, for many athletes, food is not for energy.
It's the enemy. 

Are you habitually using food for reward (when exhausted, you completed a hard or long workout) or punishment (you feel fat, you hate your body, you had a bad workout)? 
Is food the awful thing in your life that keeps you from being happy?
Do you live in constant fear about gaining weight or becoming fat? 
Do you wish there was a way to stop your chaotic eating patterns and body dissatisfaction?

Do you find yourself unable to cope with day-to-day responsibilities and stressors and the only way to feel in control is to not eat, binge eat or excessively workout?

Are you constantly preoccupied with food?

Are you letting your desire to be thinner override practical eating habits and behaviors?

Are you pushing people out of your life so that you can maintain a strict eating and exercise routine?

If you are starving/restricting your body from key nutrients and energy, especially around and during workouts, you are moving further and further away from achieving attainable performance goals and you are slowly deteriorating your health.

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Clearly exercise is a great thing and for athletes we must train a lot in order to adapt to training stress. But a lot can be defined in many ways. If you feel irritable, guilty, anxious or upset if you miss a workout or do not complete your entire workout and feel depressed and are worried about gaining weight (or not losing weight), you may find yourself with little energy for the rest of your life because you are addicted to exercise. 

As athletes, we must be able to turn on and off our commitment switch. That means installing great lifestyle habits to ensure that our workouts and eating habits have positive outcomes.

If you find your training excessively to burn calories or in an effort to experience an emotional high that you may think you are missing from your ever day life, ask yourself how you can achieve a more balanced life.
Address your priorities in life and bring good intentions to your workouts. 

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While there is nothing wrong with the occasional indulgence, coaxing yourself to get through a workout with the anticipation of guilt-free unhealthy or excessive eating may create a dysfunctional relationship with food. 

If you are intentionally restricting calories before or during long workouts so you can "reward" yourself with "off-limit" food or food with little to no nutritional value, this will not only increase cravings for unhealthy foods but this habit undermines the importance of developing appropriate fueling and hydrating habits around/during workouts. 

If your daily diet is so unappealing, boring or awful that you feel the need to "cheat" with your diet or workout for hours in order to remove the guilt of eating something "bad", you are creating an unhealthy relationship with food and the body. Eventually, you are going to find it difficult to improve performance and/or meet healthy body composition goals.

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Restricting food or calories or excessively exercise, all in attempt to improve performance or to change body image is no way to live your life.

There are many healthy strategies to achieving your health, body and performance goals and those practical strategies won't impair performance or destroy your health.

Thinner doesn't mean happier.
Leaner doesn't mean faster.
Eating doesn't mean cheating. 

Make peace with food.
Don't bash your body for what is it not. 
Love your body for what it allows you to do.

Did/Will your "healthy" diet turn unhealthy?

If you have been trying to train your way to great fitness with a dieting mentality, you better believe that in your attempt to improve performance, you may actually be becoming less healthy.

Don’t assume that just because you are an athlete, that health and fitness are interrelated because for many athletes, they are not.

Just because you can run for 2 hours, swim 4000 yards or bike 100 miles, perhaps all in a weekend, this doesn’t mean that you are healthy, especially if you are not fueling and eating adequately and making smart lifestyle habits (like good sleep, good stress management, etc.).  

I have witnessed many athletes who are extremely active, look fit or are dedicated to training, yet when it comes to making smart choices with their diet, they are either too extreme and restricted or too careless and negligent.    

Have you or someone you know, experienced one or more of the following while training for an event? 

Hormonal dysfunction, poor bone health, stress fractures, decreased thyroid output, increased cortisol, impaired mood and cognitive functioning, suppressed immune function, muscle catabolism, anemia, inadequate hydration, hypoglycemia, constipation, diarrhea, anxiety, depression, chronic fatigue, interrupted sleep, inflammation, sudden/chronic loss of motivation, trouble sleeping/restless sleep, preoccupation with food, eating disorder, nutrient deficiencies, unintentional weight gain or loss, chronic muscle cramps/weakness, kidney issues, adrenal fatigue, cardiovascular stress, respiratory issues, gastrointestinal disturbances, nausea, intense headaches, skeletal, tendon and ligament injuries, thinning hair, decline in performance. 

Whereas we all know that injuries and sickness are typical health issues that affect athletes (especially endurance and high intensity athletes and new athletes), the above list features some of the health issues that are becoming more and more common among athletes, especially new or endurance athletes, due to not fueling properly around and during workouts, training too intensely or too long or due to food or calorie restrictive diets.

The physical demands of training and racing, especially in endurance events can be so extreme that it is no surprise that many athletes are unable to maximize performance and keep their body in good health at the same time. 

But, when an athlete intentionally restricts food, sport nutrition or calories in an effort to lose weight or to get leaner, you can see why health issues, beyond sickness and injuries, can occur. 

And the above list does is not a list that should be brushed off as "well, I'm training for an event and this feeling/issue is "normal".

If you do want a change in muscle or body fat for performance or health and want to ensure that your season is not derailed due to a nutrient deficiency, low energy availability or a complicated health issue, you must have an appropriate, safe plan to ensure that health is not compromised in the process of improving performance.  

If a body composition modification is a desired goal to enhance performance, the methods should not be strict, limited or extreme. You should allow for gradual weight loss (not a quick fix), without extreme food restrictions, excessive exercising, unsafe behaviors (starving, purging, laxatives) or use of weight loss supplements.   

If there is too much focus on what not to eat in an effort to be thin, rather than what to eat in order to win, an obsession and hyperawareness with food may intensify disordered eating patterns, which could turn into a clinical eating disorder and severely affect your health and quality of life. 

If you are constantly focused on the outcome, like being a great fat burner and/or getting leaner, you will find a constant struggle as to how you can actually improve your performance to be fit enough to race well on race day while intentionally trying to lose weight.

Ironically, when you put emphasis into how to train and eat in order to optimize performance, thus becoming "performance adapted", favorable body composition changes occur naturally because you are trained, fit and strong for your upcoming event.

Athletes, it is time to forget the diet mentality. Let’s make peace with food. Stop associating all of your health, performance and body issues with carbohydrates. 

Instead of trying to manipulate your diet or training regime to become better fat adapted, how about train and eat in a way that helps you become more performance adapted. 

Please love your body in motion. 

Respect it with food and exercise. 

Stop the body bashing, food restriction and overexercising.

YOU are an athlete.

Train smart, fuel smart and don’t forget to thank your awesome body.

Turn body image dissatisfaction into satisfaction

When was the last time you thanked your body?

When you look in the mirror, how do you talk to/about your body?

When you train and eat, does your body image dictate your choices in a positive or negative way?

An unhealthy body image in athletes can increase the risk for disordered eating habits. 

Avoiding major food groups (carbohydrates), not fueling around/during workouts, skipping meals and snacks and dehydration are some of the examples of unhealthy strategies that athletes often take to gain control over eating in an effort to change body composition/image.

Whether you are an athlete who seeks weight loss/body composition changes to improve overall health, you are an athlete who struggles with body image due to comparison with other athletes, comparison to a past you or overall discomfort with your body image, or you are an athlete who follows a very restrictive diet and extreme exercise routine in an effort to maintain a specific body composition/image which has damaged overall health, irregardless of initial performance gains, it's important to focus on the health of your body...not the image. 

You can't live the rest of your life obsessed with an image.

I'm not saying that you can't change the way you look through diet and exercise but I want you to consider why you want to change AND the methods that will elicit a change in image/body composition. 

It's very common that athletes who are unhappy with their body will seek a diet strategy that involves restriction or food elimination but claim that they are changing the way they eat/fuel in an effort to improve performance.
It's also common that athletes will follow no extreme style of eating or diet but just focus on eating for fuel and for nourishment and achieve their goal body image and performance gains. 

Many athletes are led to believe that food restriction/elimination is the only way to change/improve body composition. 

I am here to tell you that that thinking is not accurate. 

You CAN change your body composition and eat before a workout.

You CAN lose weight by eating carbohydrates. 

You CAN feel comfortable with your body image.

A dissatisfaction for your body composition can lead you to believe that if you lose weight or change your body composition (get a flatter stomach, decrease your thigh size, get a more muscular butt, etc.) you will enhance your appearance, improve performance or improve your health. 

But the problem isn't your body but instead, what you think about your body. 

When an athlete feels as if losing weight/changing body composition is the only, best or necessary way to improve performance, restrictive eating and/or overexercising may result, often causing disordered eating patterns.

A preoccupation with body image may affect training in that every workout could be affected by what you didn't eat (but should have eaten) or is controlled by what you did eat (feeling guilty).

This is not the way that you should be training or thinking.

Learn to love food.  

For sport RD's who work with athletes, we educate on seeing food for fuel and for nourishment. For myself, I educate on learning how to have a better relationship with food and the body in addition to mastering healthy eating and nailing sport nutrition (I specialize in endurance triathlon sport nutrition).

For nutrition professionals, it is important that any athlete who has a body image obsession or concern, that he/she is detoured from any mass-marketed diet that involves food elimination/restriction. 

If you are uncomfortable with your body image, it is important to ask yourself why. 

Why don't you thank your body more often? 

Why do you need to change the way you look? 

Why don't you love yourself?

Why do you take such extreme measures to change the way you look when you should be focusing on food for fuel and for nourishment? 

Don't destroy your health in an effort to get healthier.

Don't restrict energy when your goal is to have more energy to workout longer, harder or faster. 

It's time to think more about yourself. 

Your body is amazing.

Mindful eating part IV: Body image

In sports like running and triathlons, there will always be a focus on body composition and for many athletes, a desire to be leaner.

Specific to running economy, speed and aerobic capabilities, leanness in athletes, as it relates to performance improvements, is a topic that will never go away.

There's nothing wrong with athletes seeking weight loss, a decrease in body fat or an increase in lean muscle mass. This could be for aesthetics and self-esteem, to experience and improvement in performance and/or for overall health. 

Every year, I see my body composition change as I prepare for my peak races. But my race weight is unintentional as it is simply the weight on my body that I bring to race day. 

And I don't know that number because I don't weigh myself. 

I have never been against the idea of athletes changing body composition, especially if it improves overall health but there are many ways to improve performance and not always is weight loss the catalyst for performance improvements.

Health is always my number one goal when I work with athletes on nutrition or coaching. So when it comes to performance improvements, related to body composition, my strategy for changing an athlete's body composition involves no extreme strategy except to to make sure that my athletes eat a healthy diet and support their metabolic demands with proper nutrition before, during and after workouts.

Body composition changes can be a direct result of fueling your body properly before, during and after workouts, staying consistent with your training plan, getting good sleep and eating a healthy, balanced diet to support metabolic/energy demands throughout my season.  A change in body composition does not have to require extreme approaches unless you call eating before a workout, fueling during a workout, recovering after a workout and eating a healthy diet throughout the day, extreme.

In my opinion, intentional weight loss strategy like don't eat these foods, don't eat more than this many carbohydrates, fast before workouts or consume less than this many calories during long workouts are unhealthy for athletes. I believe that weight/body changes can occur naturally as a result of making sure that athletes properly fuel and nourish their body at all times.
And guess what, with this approach performance improvements happen naturally as well.

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Athletes are driven. 

They are hard working, a bit stubborn at times and they love consistency.

They strive for improvements and they are willing to make sacrifices and investments in order to experience progress.

When a hard working, driven, disciplined and focused athlete is training for an event, it is normal that body composition will be on the mind of an athlete. Because you see and feel our body, often wrapped tight in spandex, with every aerobic and anaerobic effort, it is normal to assume that a change in body weight and/or body composition may make you feel better when you workout and may improve your training which may improve your race day performances. 

However, athletic performance can not be predicted by a certain weight, body composition or change in weight or body composition. Many times, athletes try to change body weight/composition and performance and/or health declines.

It is important to understand that body composition or weight changes may not be ideal for every athlete and above all, the strategies that athletes employ to change body composition may increase the risk for eating disorder thoughts and behaviors.

For age-group and professional athletes, the very same qualities that help athletes improve fitness in order to be prepared for race day may resemble the traits of athletes who are at risk for an eating disorder.

Athletes are already known to demonstrate extreme behaviors to improve performance so it wouldn't be a stretch to assume that many athletes see extreme eating behaviors as "normal".

BUT......

without the ability to eat mindfully or to maintain a healthy relationship with food, an athlete who seeks body composition changes may have the tendency to restrict too much, with the intention to lose weight quickly and can ultimately carry restrictive or obsessive eating habits throughout the entire training and racing season.

Do you have a healthy relationship with food?

Eating disorders are a serious concern when it comes to athletes as a body that is malnourished or deprived in key nutrients, energy or fluids will not perform well and will certain struggle to remain in good health. You may feel that you are not at risk for an eating disorder but instead, you are following the advice of a professional who is helping you lose weight or change body composition in a "healthy" way in order to improve performance.

Let's consider the basic strategies to improve performance:

-Follow a smart, periodized training plan

-Eat a healthy diet to keep the body in good health

-Fuel for workouts appropriately

-Hydrate the body appropriately 

-Get good sleep

-Stay consistent with training

-Strength train and work on mobility

-Focus on individual development. 

With the most basic strategies, athletes can improve performance and ultimately may experience a positive change in body composition as an unintentional side effect. If body composition changes do not happen, the athlete should not stress as performance gains will likely still occur as you will be racing with a healthy and strong, well trained body. 

Although many great athletes understand and execute these basic strategies and let body changes be a side effect of smart training and fueling, some athletes desire a more extreme approach to eating and training. For the later, it is typical that these athletes have yet to master a healthy relationship with food and may have body image issues.  Using sport nutrition, eating around workouts, planning meals and snacks - many  athletes don't even consider the basics as they want to jump to a more severe, hard core and sexy approach. 

Let's now consider some current eating trends among triathletes:

-Fasting workouts

-Skipping meals/snacks to save calories

-Avoiding carbohydrates around workouts
-Avoiding certain foods termed "bad" like dairy, legumes, nuts and grains

-Low carb diets
-High fat diets

-Intentional dehydration
-Calorie deprivation during workouts

Hmmmm. Those habits sure resemble the habits of dieters who seek rapid weight loss results:
-Fasting
-Skipping meals and snacks
-Avoiding certain foods
-Abiding by an off-limit food list
-Intentional dehydration
-Using energy drinks, energy pills or laxatives
-Extreme calorie deprivation


Let's now explore some of the primary symptoms of eating disorders:
-Intense fear of being fat
-Resistance to maintain a healthy weight
-Inability to recognize (or feel good) in a comfortable at a healthy weight
-Loss of menstrual cycle in women, cardiovascular and hormonal issues in men and women
-Distorted body image
-Feeling out of control with eating behaviors
-Lack of control around food
-Feeling ashamed by eating behaviors
-Extreme concern with body weight/image
-Obsession with calorie counting, weight control and food intake

Now I want you to imagine what happens when you take an athlete who wants to improve performance or/and change body composition, who has yet to master a healthy relationship with food, has never learned how to eat mindfully and has poor body image thoughts and now this athlete consults a professional to help improve performance and/or change body composition and that athlete.

And the professional says "I want you to workout on an empty stomach, don't consume carbohydrates during the workout, only eat x-calories per day, cut back on carbs and avoid these foods. And by following these rules you will lose weight, performance will improve and you will be healthier than ever."

These extreme habits are not helping the athlete tackle his/her primary eating/body issues but only adding fuel to the fire to make unhealthy eating and body image issues even worse. 

Because many athletes seek body composition or weight changes at some point in their athletic career, I can't stress it enough that athletes must focus on their relationship with food before even considering to change body composition.

This entire blog series on mindful eating is dedicating to the athlete who struggles with body image and feels great anxiety, concern or struggles when it comes to food.

I promise that you can reach performance and/or body composition goals with a better relationship with food and your body. And you don't have to follow extreme eating habits.

There's nothing wrong with wanting to change your body composition and not every athlete takes extreme approaches to eating, fueling and training. 

But since we live in a diet-centric culture, you must learn how to eat in a mindful way by not seeing food as good or bad but as nourishment and for fuel.

If you are an athlete who has taken an extreme approach to changing body composition or to improve performance this past year (or for many years in the past), it is time to learn how to eat mindfully.

Consult a professional if you can not do it on your own so that you can make 2016 amazingly great by improving your body image and creating a great, healthy, feel-good relationship with food.

When you master mindful eating you may learn that your entire drive for changing body composition really came from your unhealthy relationship with food or your body image struggles were causing an unhealthy relationship with food.

It is only when you master a healthy relationship with food that you will have a healthier perspective on your body and you will perform better.

It is my hope that through mindful eating and a great relationship with food and your body, that you will experience amazing performance and health improvements and you will stop putting so much energy into changing your body but instead, enjoying what your body can do in training and on race day. 

Healthy relationship with food - athlete edition

We are all aware of how diets work - follow rigid food rules and you will lose weight.

If you can follow the diet for a specific period of time, you will lose weight. It's as simple as that.

With every diet, there are certain foods that are allowed at certain times of the day, a specific amount of food that is allowed to be eaten and foods that are forbidden.

This is why people love diets - they are nothing more than a plan telling you how to eat so that you have a reason to avoid certain foods and to ignore biological hunger cues.

With a diet, you don't have to learn how to be a mindful eater or how to eat with intention. You become a robot in that you only have one program for x-weeks and that is all you have to focus on.

Ask any person who has followed a diet plan and she/he will likely say that food rules offer boundaries or perhaps a level of discipline that the person wasn't able to do on his/her own and this is why diets work so well. Whereas once a person had trouble resisting treats, sweets or specific foods, rule-based eating provides strict guidelines as to what not to eat.

But as we all know, diets don't work.

Furthermore, a diet is nothing more than a dysfunctional relationship with food.

It's very interesting how a diet can change how a person views food. With almost every diet, there is a fixation on good and bad foods relating to health, appearance and weight.

The act (or even thought) of eating a cookie, a banana, a piece of pizza, a pancake, a slice of bread, a potato, ice cream or any other food that has been termed "bad" is associated with shame and guilt.

And above all, a poor body image combined with conflicting information as to what you should and shouldn't be eating increases the risk for more and more food restriction which can increase the risk for an eating disorder.  

But as an athlete, you would never diet, right?

You know better than that. 

Cleanses, fasts, avoid food groups or restricting calories is not how athletes eat as we need food for fuel. 

So why is it that so many athletes justify a new style of eating (often starting in the off-season, after the holidays and around the New Year) all in an effort to improve health and performance that is nothing more than a well-marketed diet for athletes?

Since when did depriving your body of crucial nutrients, intentionally not fueling or hydrating before, during and after workouts, limiting, reducing or avoiding carbohydrates, skipping meals or snacks or not eating when you are biologically hungry, become socially acceptable for athletes?

Since when did it become ok for athletes to think it was ok to deprive the body of energy, fluids and electrolytes when the body needs it the most - when training!!!??

Where are our ethical standards for coaches, dietitians, nutrition experts, physicians, personal trainers, chiropractics and other professionals who provide nutrition advice to athletes?

These fueling/hydrating practices are NOT ok!

If we know it is unhealthy and damaging for a normal person to follow a diet, why are we pretending that these extreme eating and fueling methods are "healthy" for athletes? 

It's very evident how many athletes are treating their bodies around/during workouts and during the day when it comes to their eating (or lack thereof) and it is not for a healthier lifestyle, a better body composition or for performance gains ...it's not healthy, it's just plain dangerous.

I find it important that before the holiday season and right now in your  off-season, prior to starting the first phase of your training, that you work on your relationship with food. The number one reason to justify food restriction is body dissatisfaction and because athletes will always associate body composition to performance, it is extremely important that you improve your relationship with food before increasing the intensity and volume in your training regime. 

Food is designed to nourish your body and fuel your workout routine. Eating enhances your life. It should not be an obsession or a vehicle of guilt, shame or fear and you should not blame poor performances, injuries or slow fitness progress on your body. 

Whereas you may engage in unhealthy behaviors, like extreme dieting, restricting nutrition around/during workouts, calorie restriction, using diet pills, laxatives or diuretics or engaging in excessive exercising as an easy fix when you feel dissatisfaction with body or after you eat "bad" food, by developing a healthier relationship with food and your body, you will be well on your way to also improving your relationship with your body.

When you eat better, you feel better. And when you feel better, you make better choices. And with better choices, your body will remain in better health as you train to improve fitness, endurance and strength.

So how can you improve your relationship with food and your body?

It's not a quick fix and it takes work. But it is worth it.

Here are three tips that you can start applying to your life today when it comes to improving your relationship with food. 

First, focus on eating mindfully. Listen to your body. Accept biological hunger and don't get mad at your body for being hungry. Learn to create a diet that works for your lifestyle and learn to respond to cravings in a responsible way. Eat with intention and enjoy eating. Next time you say to yourself "I shouldn't eat this", ask yourself why you are questioning the food that you are about to eat? If you have a good reason for not eating something (for example, you just finished a meal, you are comfortably full and someone presents you with a brownie for dessert), don't eat it. Say no thank you and move on with your day. Life will go on and you will feel better without thoughts of guilt that you should not have eaten something that doesn't make you feel good inside. 

But if you are in the mood for rice, pasta, chocolate, a glass of milk or some other type of "forbidden" food, ask yourself why you created this off-food list? Be a mindful eater as you are figuring out the best diet for you. 

Eat when you are physically/biologically hungry and stop when you are satisfied.

It's time to get more in-tune with your body and hunger cues as well as understanding (and possibly adjusting) the thoughts that are associated with how you currently eat.

Next, you should always feel better after you eat than before. I find that this is so important for athletes to keep in mind in the off-season as there is a brief period of indulging after the last race of the season, especially with food that was not once not consumed as it was viewed as "non-performance enhancing".  But after a week (10 days at most), it is important to indulge responsibly. Sometimes, food just tastes better than other times - like pancakes after a long ride. But certainly in the off-season, you are still allowed to yum over food.... you just don't want to overdo it. It is possible to eat the same foods year round (like "reward" food) but you must adjust how much you eat based on your workout load. If anything, you want to avoid "making-up" for how you eat as you must learn how to feel good about your eating habits without justifying how much you worked out before/after or trying to "save" calories.
You can still yum over pancakes in the off-season without having to workout for 5+ hours and just because you eat pizza for dinner, you don't have to avoid carbs for the next 24 hours. 

Lastly, within our diet obsessed society, we have lost the enjoyment for eating.

Our society has such a big obsession with healthy eating yet we have such an unhealthy relationship with food.  It sounds so simple but our society really misses the mark when it comes to educating on how to eat "healthy." The first step is to focus on eating real food. Nothing will make you feel better than eating food grown from the earth, with the help of a farmer. Next, those food needs to be purchased (or grown) and then prepared. This takes time, planning and effort. We live in a world we are driven by being busy and have easy routes for eating quickly.

Sadly, much of our society has become rather comfortable with eating but not making time to nourish the body.

If you really want to improve your relationship with food, an easy place to start is by appreciating a varied wholesome diet, with you as the cook.
It's time to make peace with food. 

If you are missing out on life or struggling with improvements in performance because you want to maintain a certain style of eating that makes you feel in control or the opposite, food overwhelms you or stresses you out and you don't feel comfortable around food, it is time to start seeing food for what it is - nourishment, fuel, satiety and enjoyment.

No diet can teach you how to have a better relationship with food.

It is time that you are honest with yourself and if you feel as if your past thoughts and actions were not healthy for your body, it's time to change. 

It's time to start improving your relationship with food. 

In case you missed the  last blog - address your off-season relationship with food HERE. 

Appetite Awareness tips

If you missed the last two blogs, I recommend to read before continuing on:
Appetite Awareness
Is hunger a bad thing?

APPETITE AWARENESS TIPS: 

-In reference to the above hunger rating chart, numbers 4 and 5 are ideal when you think about when you eat and how you feel when you eat. It is normal to feel number 3 as an athlete and often times, you may experience number 6. You should be able to identify the numbers that you do not want to experience as an athlete and if you do experience an unwanted number, recognize how to prevent that from happening again. Feeling very full or irritable are not enjoyable outcomes from eating (or not eating). 

Use this chart to think about your current eating habits on a daily basis and if you are eating too much or too little, focus on that one specific meal/snack in your day to try to tweak. Ideally, you should be eating three meals that leave you satisfied for at least 2.5-4 hours. Although a mid morning snack may be needed to honor a little biological hunger, almost all athletes would benefit from having an afternoon snack to avoid lower numbers on the hunger rating scale and additionally will prevent 6+ numbers in the evening. For many athletes, there is often a missing link in a meal that is causing hunger too soon after a meal. Often a little more carbs, fat or protein to a meal will help you feel more satisfied. Neglecting fueling before, during and after workouts may be causing you to not meet your energy needs which leads to more fatigue during/after workouts and to overeating, overindulging or ow blood sugar.  

Before you blame a food or food group, reflect on your typical diet. Do not overthink the chart - become aware of how your current eating style is working (or not working) for you.

-Every athlete/individual has an appetite control switch, even if you think you don't. Depending on what you eat, you may not receive the signal to stop eating and depending on your energy, mood, emotions, sleep or stress level, you may ignore that signal. Processed foods are much more calorically dense than real foods and per bite, it takes much longer to feel satisfied with processed food despite providing your body plenty of "energy" while eating. A diet rich in nutrient density, like fruits, veggies, high quality proteins, healthy fats, grains/high fiber starches and low fat dairy will help to control your appetite so that you feel more satisfied without over-exceeding your energy needs.

-A little hunger is not always a bad thing. For example, if your belly feels empty before a workout this may, in no way, affect your performance because your liver and muscles are stocked with available fuel, along with thousands of calories worth as stored body fat to use for energy. Also if you allowed 1 hour to digest your pre training snack, you may not only feel light but you will also more effectively metabolize fat for fuel (yes, even if you have a pre training snack). Many athletes prefer going into a workout feeling "empty" in the gut for the sake of feeling lighter, less bloated and less uncomfortable while working out. However, you can still feel this way and eat before a workout but allow time for digestion and consume low residue/fiber foods which clear the gut in less than an hour.

-If you experience a drop in blood sugar and ignore #3 on the hunger rating chart and find yourself into a place of #1 or 2 on the chart, you are putting your body into a dangerous and uncomfortable situation as you have low blood glucose levels with extreme hunger and it isn't until you eat food that will raise your blood sugar (not nuts, fat or fiber but instead, sugar/high glycmic carbs) that you control your irritable mood, depressive/angry state and extremely weak/vulnerable body. Don't keep putting yourself in this situation!!! Many times, the athlete who has let their blood sugar drop (intentionally or unintentionally) will find themselves overeating at the next snack/meal which is no less uncomfortable than low blood sugar. Consuming a low glycemic index diet has not been shown to solve the issue of low blood sugar but instead, a balanced diet that is timed appropriately with your life. Many high glycemic foods are healthy and when combined with protein/fat, they do not affect blood sugar levels and can leave you satisfied and nourished.

-Sleep, stress and exercise intensity/volume all after your appetite. Sleep deprived athletes will often find it harder to feel satisfied when it comes to diet and will additionally seek pick-me-up options that are often not healthy (ex. energy drinks, sugar, sweets, etc.) Regulate your appetite by focusing on restful sleep most days per week. Ideally 7-8 hours per night and an additional 30 minutes after very intense or long workouts. 

-We all know that cortisol increases belly fat as the commercials have embedded this into our brain. But it is true that stress affects appetite and hormones. Food doesn't solve problems so seek a healthy alternative to alcohol, sweets, processed food or overeating when you feel stressed out. I like to watch cute doggy videos on YouTube. 

-As exercise volume/intensity increases, you will receive a natural increase in the appetite as this is a signal that your body requires more energy to support the increased training load. Although you may feel like you are eating all the time compared to your co-workers/family, it is your  responsibility to meet your nutrition/health and energy needs through your diet and sport nutrition regime. If you don't understand how to do this on your own (and fear gaining weight or overeating/causing GI issues) consult a sport RD to help. 

For the next week, use these tips to better understand how you are eating and how it affects your quality of life. As I do with my nutrition athletes that I consult with, I encourage you to plan out your day before it happens. Write down what you will eat before during and after workouts, what meals you will eat and when and what snacks. Once you have this plan, you can then hold yourself accountable to this plan by preparing food ahead of time, thus consciously preventing overeating or underfueling. 

If  you can eat in a way that improves your quality of life, we can assume that health, happiness, performance and a better relationship with food/body will also improve. 

Happy eating! 

Changing your perception of "race weight"

104lbs - 2006 IMFL
Kona qualified


113 lbs - 2010 IMWI
Kona qualified

116lbs - 2013 IM Lake Placid
Kona qualified

112 lbs - 2014 IMWI
Kona qualified

9 years and 9 Ironman triathlons completed.
Never have I had a "race weight" because I race with a body that is healthy, well-fueled and well-trained on race day.
A number does not define me or my athletic capabilities nor does it determine how well I will (or won't) succeed on race day.
I don't chase a body image when I eat and train, I chase a body that is strong, healthy and resilient.

I often hear athletes talk about their "race weight" and many of these athletes come to me asking me to help them get to their "race weight."

Some athletes feel that losing 10-15 lbs will help them reduce risk for injury, improve health and recover better after endurance training. A loss in body fat and an increase in lean muscle mass can certainly improve overall health and performance in this athlete so long as the approach for weight loss does not go against the initial goals of being healthier and faster/stronger.

Then there are the athletes who tell me that they have raced his/her best at a certain weight and now the he/she explains it is nearly impossible to get to that weight despite exercising more and eating less.

As you can see from my past 4-Kona Qualifying Ironman race weights (in my 5-foot frame), I have never been close to my first Ironman race weight and I have raced well nearly 10 lbs over that first race weight. Can you imagine the stress, struggle and possible sabotaging performances I could have placed on myself if I always felt that I needed to achieve that first IM race weight?

Since I (or Karel) don't weigh myself and these weights are from pre-race weigh-in's before each Ironman, the biggest take away is just because my body raced well at 104lbs, that doesn't mean I need to be at that weight in order to perform well and keep my body in good health for the rest of my Ironman athlete career. Chasing an image or a weight goal is just not how I want to eat or train. I absolutely love using my body and seeing what I can achieve and in order to do that, I have to love food, eating and sport nutrition.

It makes no sense to expect your body to do more if you are intentionally eating less than your body deserves/requires or not fueling appropriately around/during workouts.

Would you believe me if I told you that your "race weight" is a natural result of meeting your nutritional needs throughout the day, intentionally fueling before, during and after all workouts and following a well-designed, periodized training plan. I have no way of determining my race weight because every year my training changes. Life changes and my race schedule changes and thus, that affects how I fuel and train for triathlons. But I never, ever, restrict food to achieve an ideal body composition or weight.

If you take the time to understand your basic nutritional needs and continue to focus on how to best fuel before, during and after your workouts, come race day you will be at your "race weight" which simply means - racing with the body that you have used through months of previous training and that has successful adapted to months of training stress all because you met your daily and metabolic dietary needs.

If this post hits home to you, I need you to stop thinking that you need to be at a certain weight come race day. You can absolutely be focused on weight loss as an athlete and lose weight and boost performance/health but if you feel pressure to look or weigh a certain amount on/before race day or feel as if you don't look the "athlete" part, you may feel so overwhelmed with this perceived (or past) weight/image that you end up taking extreme measures in your diet/exercise regime that ultimately sabotage performance and health. 

Nobody said achieving race weight involves restriction, food elimination, dieting, cleansing, fasting, low carb or eliminating sport nutrition so stop sabotaging your health and performance as you train your body to get stronger, healthier and faster.

There's no point having a lean body if you can't race strong with it on race day.

As a sport RD I spend a great amount of time giving the athletes I work with, permission to eat and to learn how to love their body. Many times, athletes will thank me when I say it's completely fine and healthy to eat grains, drink milk or use sport nutrition products or they are in total shock when I tell them they need to eat more food (often times, more quality food).
There is a large disconnect in athletes as they want their body to look or perform a certain a way but rarely does an athlete give their body the credit it deserves on a daily basis by appreciating their good health.

It makes me sad to see athletes who have stopped eating certain foods that worked well in their diet because someone else said it was "bad" food or seeing athletes restrict food to try to lose weight to get to an ideal weight/image. 

If you are currently experiencing worries, guilty feelings or anxiety when it comes to eating or your body image, take a deep breath....wheww.... and thank your body for being awesome.

Thank your body for being strong, for being durable and for being so impressive with every workout.
That is the body that is going to allow you to race strong on race day. 

I give you permission to race with a body that you are proud of because it's your body and that body is going to perform amazingly well on race day. 

#NEDAwareness Week - start your recovery now

I had no idea that my passion became a problem
I had no idea that bullying can trigger disordered eating
I had no idea that my quest for health was making me sick
I had no idea that eating disorders don't discriminate
I had no idea that eating disorders are often overlooked or misdiagnosed

I had no idea that eating disorders are not just "a phrase"
I had no idea that the "perfect" images I see everyday are just digital illusions

With so many "love your body" campaigns/messages and "healthy eating" websites, articles, experts, etc, you would think that a large percentage of men and women in the U.S. would have a positive perception of their body, know how to eat for health and for fuel and understand that leanness/thinness does not create happiness, success or improvements in self-worth. 

With so many resources for those suffering with eating disorders and their loved ones, you'd think more people would be getting the help they need and being in the know when it comes to minimizing the risks for eating disorders, understanding the signs and symptoms and providing the right recovery.

Thirty million people are impacted by an eating disorder at some time in their lifetime. Extreme emotions, behaviors and thoughts about food and the body can limit enjoyment for living and complicate health to the point of death, so there is no denying that early intervention can reduce the risk and immediate treatment can improve quality of life.

Do you feel as if you have stopped living a great life because you have started to spend all your energy focusing on the food you eat and the flaws/imperfections in your body?

We live in a society where it's typical to spend all day obsessing about the body and food. More than typical, it's accepted to talk and search about anything food-related. You feel accepted if you follow a diet trend and it seems logical to stop eating in order to lose weight. Our culture has normalized body-hatred and we have allowed it to be ok to bash the body (even in front of others). And food elimination appears to be a means to an end as the only "healthy" way to improve overall health. But seeing that 25% of pathological dieters will progress to a clinical eating disorder, it's important to understand that eating disorders are complicated but there's help available so that you do not have to wait another day trapped with negative thoughts about food and the body.

Preoccupation with food and the body will never go away. Diets will never go away, airbrushing models will never go away and photos of ripped bodies will never go away.
The image of perfect exists according to the media but you do not have to live your life trying to achieve it.

The day you go from diet to disorder your thoughts, methods and actions for your eating and exercise routine become compulsive and obsessive. They take over your life and you stop living.
If you feel like it's time to get help, wait no longer.

-Do you frequently rationalize what you are or are not eating?
-Do you feel uncomfortable eating around others?
-Do you obsess over ingredients, calories, portions or food combinations?
-Does the scale run and ruin your day?
-Is your self-esteem affected negatively by your weight?
-Can you not eat food that is not prepared by yourself?
-Do you feel guilty after you eat?
-Do you have anxiety before, during and after meal times?
-Do you frequently eat until you are sick or uncomfortable?
-Are you noticing physical signals with your body that you are not nourishing your body properly?
-Do you feel like you have to keep your eating regime a secret around friends/family?
-Are you considering/using laxatives, diuretics, weight loss pills or energy drinks/pills as the last resort for weight loss or to help control your weight?

Imagine living an amazing life, loving your body and eating and exercising in a healthy way because you genuinely want to keep your body in good health. Yes, you can have all of this but it starts with developing a healthy relationship with food and the body.

Eating disorders can be fatal. Anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa and binge eating are complex  illnesses caused by genetic, biological, behavioral, psychological and social factors.

Eating disorders and disordered thoughts about food and the body continue to thrive because we are constantly exposed to tips, methods and photos in the media - all helping people obsess further about food and the body. With so many body images to compare to and strict diets to feel pressured to follow, we live in a world where we raise our risk of developing negative body images just by connecting with strangers. 

National Eating Disorder week is here to help you (or any individuals you know). You can feel safe seeking help for your struggles with eating or the body. 

There are many stigmas that come with eating disorders which often keeps an eating disorder as a secret from family, friends and the world. But the beautiful thing is that there are trained, professionals who can help you so that you don't have to continue to live life feeling stuck, trapped or overwhelmed with your eating or body image concerns.

Recovery is possible. 

The day you decide you are ready for a change, you will recognize that you can finally start living life again. 

Beauty comes in all shapes and sizes
I am more than my appearance
Nobody is perfect
I love my body
I love being me
I am grateful for what my body allows me to do
I eat for fuel and for health
I won't compare myself to others

FOR MORE INFORMATION 

You are not alone. Help is just a call or click away. Learn more about the resources available to you.

Online Eating Disorders Screening

Are you worried about your food or exercise habits? Take this free, confidential online eating disorders screening.

NEDA Navigators

Are you new to an eating disorder diagnosis for yourself or a loved one? Do you need support navigating the overwhelming process of seeking help? NEDA Navigators are highly trained volunteers—and they are here to support you. Learn more about the program available to you with no commitment required.

NEDA Toolkits

Each NEDA Toolkit helps tackle the complex nature of eating disorders in a way that is useful and easy to understand. They are intended for guidance, not for standards of care and are based on information available at the time of publication. While the NEDA Toolkits provide reliable information, they may not address all the nuances of some unique circumstances. Find out more about each toolkit or download them below:

• Parent Toolkit
• Educator Toolkit
• Coach and Trainer Toolkit
• Digital Media Literacy Toolkit

Body image and sport performance - make the changes, now.

There is so much nutritional dogma out there and it's hard to go a day without feeling overwhelmed by nutrition and body composition. 

 On social media, TV, in magazines and pretty much wherever you go, nutrition is the most dominant topic when it comes to health, wellness, performance and disease. Of course, there is a great reason why we should focus on nutrition for it is the vital component in our life that keeps us healthy and well. But, would you be surprised if I told you that much of my work with athletes as a sport RD is clearing up confusion, worry, fear and guilt about eating and fueling a body in  motion?

Can you be fit, healthy, strong, lean and fast and eat carbohydrates, drink milk, use sport nutrition products and eat before a workout?

Probably not if you have been listening to the loudest voices in today's sport nutrition/diet industry. 

Rather than learning about moderation, balance, mindful eating and nutrient timing, you may find yourself drowning in information on what not to eat. Now a days, many athletes feel pressure to pick a diet fad to "fit-in" and to find comfort in controlling your food intake. 

I work with many athletes who adhere to a gluten-free, vegan, dairy/lactose-free or vegetarian diet but it's not because media or someone on a forum told them too. There are underlying issues going on and they are seeking help to stay healthy and take performance to the next level. 

Healthy eating is a lifestyle 
Not that it was ever a focus of our society, but we have completely overlooked the necessary component of making healthy eating part of our lifestyle. Learning how to cook bread, slowing down for meal time and eating around the table, having a meal plan for the week on Sunday - with a grocery list  and recipes - for you and your family, making it an effort to prepare leftovers, seeing eating out as a special occasion, making time to soak grains and beans and lentils overnight, finding fun ways to eat your "5-a day" of fruits and veggies and making a few swaps from eating entertaining foods to eating more sustaining foods. 

Nope, now we live in a world of shame, guilt, self-hatred when it comes to food. Just eliminate these x-foods foods and you will be healthy...even if that means sticking to a diet of broccoli, sweet potato and chicken for the next 30 days. 

It doesn't hit every athlete or fitness enthusiast this hard but I do believe that people are becoming much more vulnerable to their bodies these days and a dietary fad or extreme measure is the quick fix. 

Developing a healthy relationship with food and the body
  I'm proud to be one of the few sport RDs who make an effort to focus on sensitive and not commonly discussed issues like body image and learning to develop a healthy relationship with food in athletes. 
And I'm also proud to be one of the few sport RD's who still advocates eating carbohydrates, using sport nutrition products (yes, the ones with sugar in them) and eating before every workout because I know these things boost performance and keep an athlete healthy.
Yes, I said it - these things can be done and you can still be fit, lean and healthy. 

You can still be metabolically efficient by eating before a workout.
Sugar is not evil or poison.
Carbohydrates will not cause inflammation or make you experience more sugar cravings throughout the day. 

However, you must ask yourself what does your typical diet look like throughout the day that would favor fueling properly before, during and after workouts? If you want to take your training to the next level, you have to see your daily diet and fueling regime as two different entities. 

As a coach and dietitian, before I give an athlete the best training plan I can create or provide the best fueling strategy before, during and after workouts, it is critical that my athletes have a healthy relationship with food and the body. And this doesn’t happen overnight and it's no quick fix. 

But no female OR male athlete is going to reach her potential if she/he doesn’t learn how to have a healthy relationship with her body. 

Changing your body on the outside, doesn’t always make you healthier, stronger or fitter in the inside and there is a fine line as to how much weight should be lost before performance and health are compromised.

Certainly, let's not make the method of losing weight be counterproductive of the goal of improving health and performance. 

Stop the body bashing

 In the mix of hundreds of pictures on social media of athletes showing their ripped abs and flexed legs and biceps, there are many athletes who struggle with body image to the point that they  sabotage performance and even health in order to “look like an athlete."

Guess, what...you are an athlete and no one can take that title away from you - no matter your weight, body composition or speed. 

Let's not forget that personal best performance comes from a well-laid training plan and a well-fueled body. 

You can't put a specific number on the scale or body fat percentage on that fact.

There is a broad spectrum of shapes and sizes when it comes to the physiques of female and male athletes, specifically triathletes. Athletes of similar sports tend to carry similar physiological traits such as runners legs, sprinters butt, swimmers shoulders/back, gymnasts abs, cyclists quads. 

But when it comes to triathletes, we are merging three different sports that require stamina, power and efficiency. When it comes to performance, leanness is not our missing link in triathlons.  The three big limiters in a poor endurance performance are fatigue, glycogen depletion and dehydration. Not being 5 lbs over your race weight or not being 12% body fat. 

I am sure we have all done some body examining, “oh she/he looks so fit, so she/he must be fast” but let’s not forget basic physiology. 

A body performs based on consistent hard work which happens with a smart training plan and good daily and sport nutrition. 

 Body image is getting in the way of happiness, health and performance for so many athletes. 

This must stop. 
Now.
 Let’s stop the body bashing and extreme exercise and dietary practices and let’s start living an amazing life with a healthy relationship with food and the body so you can finally reach your full athletic potential.

Put an end to the diet fads and off-limit food list because you need to start thanking and respecting your body in motion.

If you need help or have some questions that you want answered, reach out to a sport RD. 

Trust your sport RD

When I was finishing graduate school at FAU to earn my Master of Science degree in Exercise Physiology in December 2005, I found myself obsessed with sport nutrition. I was reading every book, research article and magazine I could access in the Exercise Science department. When I heard Krebs cycle, I got excited and when we discussed metabolism of carbohydrates or anerobic training, I could not get enough of the topics. 

I became an endurance athlete in graduate school despite having very little time to train for anything. But after 4-years of collegiate swimming, something was missing from my student-athlete lifestyle and running and triathlons was my missing link. 

In January 2005, I crossed my first marathon finish line and qualified for the Boston Marathon which I ran in April of 2006, 1 month before my first half Ironman and 7 months before my first Ironman.

Yep, I got the endurance bug and it bit me hard. My boyfriend (at the time), Karel was along for the long ride after we met in May 2006. 

The more I learned about sport nutrition, the more I found myself feeling more confident with my training which was good because I found myself wanting to get faster in the Ironman distance. And without a doubt, no matter the training plan, you can't expect your body to train and race for 140.6 miles without fueling it properly and keeping it in good health.

 When I trained for my first marathon, I didn't know a lot about sport nutrition and found myself bonking quite often as I progressed to longer distances with my running. I found myself struggling to recover after workouts but dismissed that as part of the normal fatigue of marathon training. And on race day, I didn't have a well-practiced pre race meal because it was my first go-around at running 26.2 miles so a Clif Bar, Gatorade and a bagel fueled my first marathon which ended up being a pretty good run by Boston Marathon qualifying with a time of 3:38. 

After qualifying for the 2007 Ironman World Championship after my first Ironman in November 2006 by winning the 18-24 age group in 11 hours and 47 seconds, I decided that I needed to fill in some nutrition gaps with my ongoing sport nutrition knowledge, so my next venture was to earn my RD credential. 

However, I never wanted to step away from the sport nutrition field for not only was it something that I was heavily passionate about but it was also an area that I could relate to with my active lifestyle and endurance athlete background. 

Because I specialize in endurance sports, specifically triathlons and running (and single-sport cycling and swimming thrown in there too), I work with athletes who are very performance focused (regardless of fitness level) and desire a better understanding of nutrient timing, how much to eat around workouts and what sport nutrition products/fuels will be most appropriate during workouts.

But much of my work (which I enjoy very much) is dedicated toward athletes who feel limited by their restrictive or unhealthy eating regime and unhealthy relationship with the body. 

Thankfully, almost all of the athletes who reach out to me desire an improvement in performance and thus are motivated to make tweaks in the diet/fueling regime.

Each athlete has his/her own journey and that's what I love about being a sport RD. 

As a female athlete, I can identify with many of the concerns, struggles and issues that female athletes talk about on forums, social media, in the locker room or with training buddies.  

But as a health professional and endurance athlete, I strive to demonstrate my healthy relationship with food and the body and pass it along to others. I enjoy helping athletic women and men reach body composition and/or performance goals BUT without compromising overall health. 

When I titled myself as a sport-focused RD, I knew changing body image/composition was part of the "performance" package. 

But I find it extremely important that my method of helping athletes take their fitness to the next level never goes against my philosophy of making sure athletes create and maintain a healthy relationship with food and the body. 

And certainly the methods of changing body composition or boosting fitness should not be counterproductive to an athlete's initial goal of getting faster, stronger or fitter. 

There are several sport RD's out there who specialize in your sport of choice. There are also RD's who work with athletes with eating disorders.
Find the right one for you based on his/her personal philosophy and referrals from other athletes.
Take advantage of their knowledge so you can move closer to your goals and reach your full potential as an athlete without compromising your overall health.