Just a couple of weeks ago there was a worrying article posted on BBC News about athletes starving themselves for success. Whilst it sounds extreme, unfortunately it is a sad truth that in the competitive world that we live in, athletes really will do whatever it takes to succeed. For many athletes, these behaviours and mentalities will go unnoticed.
It is hard to avoid at times, high volume training means that athletes can often fall into a negative energy balance without almost realising. If weight loss which starts as being accidental is then associated with improvement in performance, athletes can fall into a tricky mindset where they then want to lose more weight.
Many (definitely not all) athletes will see some level of performance gains when they lose weight. Certain sports are more susceptible to this; running (and more widely athletics), cycling, dancing often being the most common. Formerly known as Female Athlete Triad, the condition has been renamed Red-s (Relative Energy Deficiency in Sport) as it applies to male athletes as well as female.
Over training and undereating can cause several different health issues;
- Drop in hormone levels
- Deterioration of bone density leading to conditions such as osteoporosis
- Drop in metabolic rate
- Mental health problems
Athletes may never stop seeking these performance gains linked with weight loss. However, taking supplements may help reduce the long term effect. Increasing the awareness and education around these issues is so important as many athletes may not think of the consequences of their diet until it is too late and they get a stress fracture or other serious injury.
A #Trainbrave campaign has been launched to raise awareness of the risks of Red-S. Visit https://trainbrave.org/ for more information.