Recognising the Signs and Supporting Our Sporting Community
Eating disorders are often a taboo conversation within sport, and can often be perceived as an uncomfortable environment to ask for help. Eating Disorders Awareness Week offers an important opportunity for our university sport community to start conversations and break these stigmas. While sport can be a powerful force for confidence, teamwork, and wellbeing, it can also become a place where unhealthy relationships with food, exercise, and body image take root. Understanding eating disorders and knowing how to respond can make a meaningful difference.
What are eating disorders?
Eating disorders are serious, complex mental health conditions, which can lead to serious physical health problems if not treated. They affect people of all genders, body types, backgrounds, and sporting levels.
Common eating disorders include:
- Anorexia nervosa – restricting food intake, intense fear of weight gain, and a distorted body image.
- Bulimia nervosa – cycles of binge eating followed by compensatory behaviours such as vomiting, fasting, or excessive exercise.
- Binge Eating Disorder – recurrent episodes of eating large amounts of food with a feeling of loss of control.
- Avoidant/ Restrictive Food Intake Disorder (ARFID) – extreme avoidance of varieties or groups of foods stemming from fear, sensory sensitivity, or lack of appetite
Eating disorders are not:
- Lifestyle choices
- Diets gone wrong
- Attempts to seek attention
- Defined by weight
It is important to know that even when diagnosed with a specific eating disorder, they will present differently person to person, with different triggers, behaviours and discomforts. Additionally, someone may not only suffer from one eating disorder at any one time, and it is common to fall into different disorders before and during recovery.
What signs should we look for, especially in a university sport environment?
Spotting an eating disorder isn’t always straightforward. Many signs are invisible or intentionally hidden. Remember, it is a mental illness driven by thoughts and feelings, so behaviour may not always be telling. But there are patterns to pay attention to, especially in teams, clubs, and training environments:
Physical signs
- Noticeable weight changes (either up or down)
- Frequent fatigue, dizziness, or fainting
- Sensitivity to cold
- Injuries that occur repeatedly or heal slowly
Behavioural signs
- Skipping meals or “already having eaten”
- Excessive or secretive exercise beyond team training
- Withdrawal from social events involving food
- Obsessive calorie counting, body checking, or comparison
Sport-specific signs
- Avoiding weigh-ins, nutrition meetings, or group meals
- Declining performance despite increased training
- Anxiety around training breaks or rest days
- Overtraining when injured or instructed to rest
Emotional signs
- Irritability, low mood, or increased perfectionism
- Negative body talk; either about themselves or others
- Feeling overwhelmed by small setbacks
While these signs on their own don’t confirm an eating disorder, frequent appearances and collections of them in a person are important signals that they might be struggling. Another key aspect with these symptoms, particularly in a sporting environment, is a thing called Relative Energy Deficiency in Sport (REDs). Some of these symptoms can be as a result of REDs.
Is Relative Energy Deficiency in Sport (REDs) a type of eating disorder?
REDs occurs as a result of not consuming enough energy to meet the demands of their energy expenditure in training, competition or general exercise. This leads to low energy availability, performance decline and the person may start to present as underweight with low body fat and muscle loss. While it is not strictly a type of eating disorder, it can often be present alongside eating disorders or event lead to them if unmanaged.
It can be a physical health outcome condition as a result of an eating disorder, if someone is restricting or purging food intake. This is why it is so important to recognise and support eating disorders in sport, as REDs is a likely outcome. However, this is not always the case, as not everyone with an eating disorder is underweight or at high risk of developing REDs.
Similarly, someone with REDs may not always have an eating disorder. It can also be a result of a lack of nutritional education, financial difficulty, or overworking. They can affect people with healthy relationships with food, whilst eating disorders are driven by thoughts, feelings, “food noise” and other psychological incentives.
Recognising these signs within a student sports club or training environment is important as there is support available for students with financial difficulties through Student Money, and becoming overwhelmed through stress particularly around assessment periods.
How can teammates, coaches, or friends offer support?
In sport, the relationship between performance, body expectations, and identity can make athletes particularly vulnerable. Pressure to “look the part,” fear of falling behind, or the misconception that “lighter equals faster” can all contribute. It is first and foremost important to avoid promoting any of these unhealthy ideas, whether that be seriously or in jest.
Supporting someone with a potential eating disorder requires care, sensitivity, and patience. You don’t need to diagnose anything; you just need to be a compassionate presence. Eating disorders are mental illnesses, they need help with their thoughts, feelings and mindset first, not their behaviours. Be aware that approaching someone with the intentions of encouraging them to change behaviours before they have addressed the disordered thoughts behind them can be more detrimental. Just talk and be there for them. You are not responsible for “fixing” the problem: just for helping them not face it alone and get professional help.
1. Start with a gentle conversation
- Choose a private, relaxed moment and express concern using observations, not assumptions: “I’ve noticed you seem a bit stressed around training recently, and I’m concerned about you. Is everything okay?”
2. Listen and communicate non-judgmentally
- Avoid comments about weight, appearance, or food. Focus on how the person feels and what they’re experiencing.
3. Give support and information
- Provide information about charities or reputable organisations that deal with eating disorders. It is worth having access to this before you engage in a conversation. Guidance can be found using the help links below.
4. Encourage professional support
- Suggest reaching out to university wellbeing services, a GP, or counselling services. Offer to help them make an appointment if that feels supportive and they seem receptive to getting help.
5. Respect their pace and encourage other support
- They may not want to open up immediately, or at all. Stay patient, consistent, and kind and recommend support groups. Alternatively, suggest they speak to friends and family, or even confidential support networks.
If you believe someone is at immediate risk or their physical health is deteriorating quickly, seek urgent support, speak confidentially to a coach, a student wellbeing officer, or a safeguarding lead.
Why is it important to recognise eating disorders early and seek help?
For athletes, delayed support can mean long recovery times, reduced performance, or stepping away from sport altogether. But with timely help, recovery is absolutely possible.
- Seeking help is not a weakness, it is courage. In sport, we value bravery, strength, and teamwork. Asking for support embodies all three.
- Our university sport community thrives when everyone feels valued, healthy, and safe. By learning the signs, approaching conversations with compassion, and encouraging professional help, we can create a culture where wellbeing comes before performance, where no one struggles in silence.
If you or someone you know is concerned about an eating disorder, please reach out to our university's Student Wellbeing team, a Mental Health First Aider, or trusted staff member. Help is available, and recovery is possible.
Help, support and sign posting
Student Wellbeing:
Available to students in Portsmouth and London, find free mental health, wellbeing and counselling services including daily sessions, personalised 1 to 1 support, and other resources.
Access Student Wellbeing services
BEAT Eating Disorders:
BEAT are the UK’s eating disorder charity. Founded in 1989 as the Eating Disorders Association, they aim to end the pain and suffering caused by eating disorders. They encourage and empower people to get help quickly, because we know the sooner someone starts treatment, the greater their chance of recovery.
Local NHS Support
The Eating Disorders Service provides assessment and treatment for people with eating disorders, including anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, binge eating disorder and some atypical eating in Hampshire and the Isle of Wight.
National Eating Disorder Association (US organisation)
Self screening tool that can help you figure out if you're at risk of an eating disorder. This will not give you a diagnosis but can help you better understand if it's time to get professional help and support.