Nutrition After Athletics
Nutrition After Athletics
By: Elizabeth Walsh, RDN, LDN
April 2025
Have you found yourself struggling with your relationship towards food after athletics? You are not alone. Did you know that 70% of retired athletes report eating pattern change after sport? With the already incredibly high prevalence of eating disorders among athletes it is no wonder that many former athletes struggle with their relationship towards food and their body.
Diet/Wellness Culture in Sports:
It’s no surprise that thinness is seen as desirable in our current society. In athletics, this is often taken a step further by tying performance to body shape/size. Food then becomes something to manipulate or control rather than enjoy. We see frequent underfueling, lack of body attunement and disordered eating running rampant among athletes. In many cases, this does not go away after athletics. In fact, we often see former athletes struggling with high levels of body monitoring and awareness as well as struggling with allowing themselves true permission to eat outside of movement.
Signs you might be stuck in diet culture:
Intrusive thoughts surrounding food or your body.
Feeling like you need to “earn” your food.
Confusion over hunger/fullness cues.
Having a rigid eating schedule or limiting your caloric intake.
Intuitive Eating:
If you are a former athlete, you have probably heard repeatedly how nutrition has an impact on performance. So what does it look like to eat when you are no longer fueling for performance? Adjusting to life after sport and shifting your relationship with food to no longer be largely performance based can be tough! Intuitive eating focuses on listening to your body’s innate cues and fueling your body in a way that feels good both mentally and physically. Leaning into intuitive eating by increasing body attunement, debunking diet culture myths and working towards a peaceful relationship with food has been associated with decreased disordered eating behaviors as well as a decrease in weight cycling patterns.
Body Changes:
Athletes can often feel as if their bodies are under a spotlight when competing. To add to this, in many sports there is often a perceived “ideal” body type that many athletes aim to achieve or maintain. All of this can make body changes after sport really challenging to accept because of how aware former athletes already are of their bodies. The reality of retirement from athletics is that most of the time, body changes are inevitable. When you are no longer training hours upon hours a week, it is normal and natural for your body to change. It can be hard to view these body changes in a neutral way, but the reality is that bodies cannot withstand the intense expectations that elite athletics demand for the entirety of your life. So with that, your body will likely settle into a new normal once you retire from competitive athletics. Learning to care for and feed your body after athletics is crucial to having a healthy and sustainable relationship with food and body.
Redefining your health:
Engaging in cycles of disordered eating doesn’t have to be how you spend the rest of your life as a retired athlete. Learning how to listen to your body in regards to food and movement will help you achieve a more sustainable relationship with food and your body.
How to listen to your body after sports:
Relearn your body’s innate hunger and fullness cues
Accept that body changes are a natural and normal part of life after athletics (and in many cases, healthy!)
Retire the mentality that food is fuel and nothing more
Feed your body regularly despite what your activity level looked like for the day
Allow Wellness offers both therapy and dietary sessions to aid in your journey towards a better relationship with food and body. We offer specialized disordered eating support to help you reach your individual goals. Our practitioners apply a weight neutral, size inclusive and non-diet approach in our work with clients.
