NEDA TOOLKIT for Coaches and Trainers
Nutritionists’ stories
Dealing with weight, weight limits, and recruiting in the athletic setting
Talking with Marcia Herrin, EdD, MPH, RD, Founder, Dartmouth College eating disorders program and co-author,
The Parent’s Guide to Eating Disorders: Supporting Self-Esteem, Healthy Eating & Positive Body Image at Home
In sports where there are weight restrictions, I like
the approach that one small New England liberal arts
college takes. Coaches hold unscheduled, random
weight checks so that an individual athlete might get
weighed once or twice a season. The weight check
only evokes a response from the coach if the athlete is
losing weight. This approach is positive (to safeguard
the health of athletes) and not punitive (to punish them
for their weight); athletes know it’s just a routine check
that is part of being on the team.
Even in sports with no weight limits, my advice to
coaches is to be so careful and circumspect about
broaching the topic of size and weight that before you
approach the athlete, you ask yourself whether the
athlete’s current body size makes them a good fit for
the team. If you feel the athlete weighs too much, she
may be in the wrong boat, or the wrong sport.
Weight is what it is, and it’s up to the coach to position
athletes appropriately, instead of having athletes strive
to manipulate their weight.
Although eating disorders are in part genetically
determined, meaning one can inherit a predisposition
to them, there can also be a kind of “contagion effect,”
a spreading of eating-disordered behaviors among
teammates. What I see even more than this, though,
is the kind of stress an eating-disordered member can
create on the team. I see team members really worried
about a fellow athlete. They may be asked to keep
secrets, or cover for the eating-disordered person in
some way. This can be very anxiety-producing for team
members and is another reason to carefully consider
adding an eating-disordered member to your team.
Reconciling an eating disorders recovery meal plan with athletic life, the dangers
of weigh-ins
Talking with Andrea Kurilla RD, LD, MPH
For athletes, one of the hardest parts of battling an
eating disorder is following a meal plan when the
athlete has not talked about the problem with his or
her coach and teammates. Recovery meal plans are
pretty structured and include at least one dessert a
day, which helps to normalize eating and de-stigmatize
forbidden or “binge” foods. Often, though, this
directly contradicts the coach’s nutritional advice
to the team to cut out sugar in an effort to enhance
performance. Athletes are caught between the
conflicting philosophies of their treatment team and
their coaches. Team dinners, where there is constant
talk and comparisons made about food and eating, can
also be hard.
The best thing for you to do as a coach or trainer is to
foster an environment where an athlete feels safe and
able to — if not openly share his or her eating disorder
with the team — at least have your support. You might
not feel able to tell your team, as we do, that “no food
is forbidden,” but you can at least support your athlete
in following his or her meal plan.
As a former college lightweight rower, I know that in
some sports weigh-ins are inevitable. If that is the case
with your sport, try to keep them as free of stigma
as possible. An athlete may just need to lose a few
pounds to make the team, but it’s very easy to slip into
a dangerous mentality about food and weight. A health
professional or a trainer should initiate and monitor
weigh-ins, and, if they are part of team protocol, food
records. Although I believe food records are more
dangerous than not, if you do use them make sure that
it is not a teammate who is monitoring them, but a
trainer or dietitian.
There is a difference between promoting healthy
eating and promoting restriction; a trained expert
can counsel athletes who are not getting adequate
amounts of iron, protein, fat or calories. Young female
athletes, in particular, often don’t believe their calorie
requirements are as high as they are. Try setting a
minimum standard for food intake rather than a
punitive upper limit.
Page | 36