Since my first Ironman in 2006, I've developed a strong connection to my body. Rather than seeing it for what it looks like, I constantly thank my body for what it allows me to do. While it's not easy in a body-image obsessed society, Karel and I spend no time discussing body image in our house. We don't weigh ourselves so we couldn't tell you what our "race weight" was at any of our past races. There's no dieting, restrictive eating, watching what we eat or cheat meals. I'd say that our house is a very good place if you'd like to eat where there are no food rules, off-limit foods or controversial food discussions. While our dedication to sport, love for an active lifestyle and enjoyment for wholesome eating greatly influences the way we look, we have never fallen victim to the idea of "competitive leanness" - that the leaner we are, the more competitive (or faster) we will be in sport. We've never tried to change the way that we look through diet or exercise.
In light of a recent video of a professional male triathlete discussing his recent dietary change and current struggle of body image relating to performance, I feel this provides a great platform to once again discuss the pressure that most athletes feel when it comes to body weight/body composition and the extreme shifts that occur with diet and exercise. Even without the performance component, many athletes put great emphasis on how they look - which can contribute to great psychological and physical stress, not to mention the risk for health issues and a performance decline.
We live in an interesting time where it has become socially acceptable not to eat. In other words, it's not uncommon for an athlete to restrict food/sport nutrition and it's accepted, encouraged or advised. Some athletes are afraid to eat "bad" foods while others are afraid to eat "too much." There are tricks, rules and games that athletes play as it relates to food - all in an effort to keep, obtain or achieve a different look or weight. Athletes are fasting, eliminating food groups, strategically choosing the training sessions that deserve fuel and hydration and avoiding/reducing carb and calorie intake and it's often applauded as a way of taking control over health, being dedicated to sport or having a passion for healthy living. To me it looks like a miserable way to live but to others, it's become viewed as the right thing to do. I'm shocked to see how many endurance triathletes will train for hours at a time, only to eat a few hundred calories for fear of "eating too much."
To the outsider, certain athletes may look fit, lean, strong, healthy and happy but it's very easy to hide behind a photo on Instagram or Facebook or boast amount recent performance and health improvements from a recent extreme dietary change. It isn't until an athlete admits that there is an issue or is forced to back away from the sport due to a health issue, the dieting athlete is often praised and admired for his/her dedication (watchers are tempted to copy similar diet changes), even though this athlete has created a socially acceptable type of disordered eating. With an overvalued belief that a lower body weight will improve performance, coupled with society emphasizing leanness, performance anxiety, athletic self-identity, low self-confidence and a negative self-evaluation of athletic development/performance, it's not surprising to hear that so many athletes suffer from eating disorders and mental health issues.
Our society has a very dysfunctional relationship with food and body weight/image but things only get worse when it affects athletes who place tremendous stress on the body. A super strict, rigid and controlled way of eating often comes at a huge emotional and physical cost and takes up a lot of mental space in daily activities and food-related decisions.
It's a common misconception that the dieting athlete is lean and ripped, skinny or emaciated. This is far from the truth. You can also be very lean or skinny and be very well nourished, fueled and healthy. This is why you can't "look" at an athlete and make assumptions about health, fitness, happiness or performance. Eating disorders and disordered eating isn't a look. There are many athletes out there who are restricting and obsessing over foodwhile spending an exhausting amount of time and energy on body image and getting praised for their "healthy" efforts or being envied for looking so fit. How many times have you looked at an athlete and assumed "wow - he/she must be so fast."
Because athletes can easily hide under the umbrella of being very dedicated to healthy eating and extreme exercise because they are training for an athletic event, it's important to ask yourself if you are eating and fueling adequately for health and performance improvements or suffering from disordered eating (or an eating disorder).
There's a common saying "are you eating to be thin or eating to win?" Changing your diet and/or exercise regime in an attempt to achieve an "idealistic" body type fights against your current biology and places you at risk for physical and mental health, hormonal and performance issues. There's nothing wrong with changing the way you look for health or performance but the methods of your strategies should optimize health and performance.
Regardless of your fitness level, I'm here to tell you that it's ok to not have a body that fits into your sport specific body "ideal". Fuel for performance and eat to nourish your body. And above all, be proud of the way you look, especially when you can do awesome things with your body.