Are You Training for Sport — or An Eating Disorder?

Over the holidays, I found myself in a conversation with a relative who is a competitive powerlifter. As we talked about her training and preparation for upcoming competitions, it stirred up a familiar set of thoughts I’ve had many times in my clinical work about sport-specific “norms,” and how easily those norms can increase the risk for eating disorders.

In powerlifting, significant weight cutting in the months leading up to a meet is often considered standard practice. For some athletes, this process can be structured, time-limited, and reasonably safe. But for others, weight cutting can ignite or intensify eating disorder behaviors — particularly when weight loss, restriction, or control already carry psychological reward.

The tricky part is that from the outside, these behaviors often look “normal.” They’re sanctioned by the sport. Sometimes they’re even praised.

And that’s where things get complicated.

When Sport and Eating Disorders Overlap

This conversation sent me down a familiar mental rabbit hole:

How does someone choose a particular sport in the first place?
Is it always driven by enjoyment, curiosity, or love of the activity — or can it sometimes be about changing the body?
About control?
About reinforcing an already fragile relationship with food or weight?

On the flip side, how do sport cultures themselves contribute to eating disorders? How do norms around leanness, discipline, weight manipulation, or “mental toughness” create an environment where disordered behaviors are not only allowed, but expected?

In some sports, eating disorders don’t stand out — they blend in.

Training for Performance vs. Training for Control

Athletes are often praised for:

• extreme discipline

• high pain tolerance

• ignoring hunger, fatigue, or injury

• doing “whatever it takes” to improve performance

But these traits can overlap uncomfortably with eating disorder pathology.

So where is the line?

When does dedication become compulsion?
When does performance-driven training become weight-driven training?
When does sport become a socially acceptable way to restrict, compensate, or punish the body?

And perhaps most importantly — how do we, as clinicians, coaches, or support people, recognize when someone has crossed that line?

Why This Is Hard to Detect

Eating disorders in athletes are often missed because:

• the behaviors are framed as necessary for performance

• weight manipulation is normalized within the sport

• high training volumes are praised, not questioned

• rest is seen as weakness rather than adaptation

An athlete can be fueling inadequately, training compulsively, and ignoring recovery — all while appearing highly committed and successful.

This is especially true in sports like powerlifting, endurance running, cycling, aesthetic sports, and weight-class sports, where body weight and performance are closely linked.

A Tool to Support the Conversation

These questions come up frequently in my work, but we don’t always have a structured way to explore them. This led me to draft a Training Motivation & Eating Disorder Risk Questionnaire that clinicians can use to guide discussion with clients.

The questionnaire is designed to explore:

• motivation for training

• flexibility around rest and recovery

• the relationship between food and exercise

• the role of weight, control, and identity in sport

It’s important to be clear: this is not a validated screening or diagnostic tool. Instead, it incorporates concepts from several validated instruments, including:

• the Eating Disorder Examination Questionnaire (EDE-Q)

• the Compulsive Exercise Test (CET)

• the LEAF-Q

• the RED-S Clinical Assessment Tool (RED-S CAT)

• the Exercise Dependence Scale

The goal isn’t to diagnose — it’s to help identify patterns, open dialogue, and bring curiosity to behaviors that are often dismissed as “just part of the sport.”

Why This Matters

You don’t have to quit your sport to heal from an eating disorder.
But sometimes, you do have to change how and why you train.

My hope is that this framework helps clinicians and athletes alike step back and ask more nuanced questions — especially when eating disorders are hidden behind socially sanctioned behaviors.

If you’re a clinician and this feels useful, you’re welcome to download the questionnaire here:

👉 Download the Training Motivation & Eating Disorder Risk Questionnaire (PDF)

These are complex issues, and there are rarely simple answers. But noticing the question — am I training for my sport, or for something else? — is often an important first step.