Expert comment: disordered eating in athletes (VIDEO)

From the outside looking in, athletes often appear to be the pinnacle of physical health. But behind the podium places, victory laps, and trophy lifts, a less visible struggle can often be found.  

Disordered eating is a widespread issue, and the sporting world is no exception. It can involve a range of unhealthy behaviours, such as restrictive dieting, compulsive exercise, binge eating, or obsessive calorie counting that may not meet the clinical criteria for an eating disorder.

Dr Anthony Papathomas, Reader in Mental Health in Sport and part of Loughborough University’s Women in Sport Research and Innovation Hub, explained disordered eating in athletes and how we must collectively change perceptions.

“I’ve spoken to athletes who would think that if they eat a Mars bar, it would be immediately visible on their body,” he explained.

“They would weigh themselves multiple times a day and engage in stringent dietary behaviour, even though they needed the energy to perform at the highest level. So, you're looking at it and you're thinking this is irrational behaviour.

“Researching over the past 10-15 years, with the stories I've collected from individuals, I have very much changed my perspective on that.

“What we have is athletes who have perhaps been weighed for a decade publicly by a coach, it might be athletes who have received negative comments or even mocking comments about that weight daily. Maybe they’ve been put on a dietary plan since childhood.

“When you get put in that environment, you’re thinking, well, the individual who has come through all that isn’t necessarily irrational. It’s perhaps a rational and logical response to the culture they've lived through.

“What we must do is stop blaming the athlete; we stop pointing at them as vulnerable, as personally weak, as psychologically flawed. We say this is a culture that is shaping these types of behaviours and thoughts and beliefs.”

To view more expert comments on the subject by Dr Papathomas, visit: www.lboro.ac.uk/media-centre/videos/2025/athlete-eating-disorder/

Dr Anthony Papathomas has also delivered a public lecture on disordered eating in athletes through the National Centre for Sport and Exercise Medicine (NCSEM). To view the full recording, visit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qtl9GyKZ6x0

To book an interview with Dr Papathomas, contact Loughborough University’s press office on publicrelations@lboro.ac.uk / 01509 228686

Notes for editors

Press release reference number: 25/104

Loughborough is one of the country’s leading universities, with an international reputation for research that matters, excellence in teaching, strong links with industry, and unrivalled achievement in sport and its underpinning academic disciplines.

It has been awarded five stars in the independent QS Stars university rating scheme and named the best university in the world for sports-related subjects in the 2025 QS World University Rankings – the ninth year running.

Loughborough is ranked 7th in The UK Complete University Guide 2026, 10th in the Guardian University League Table 2025 and 10th in the Times and Sunday Times Good University Guide 2025.

Loughborough was also named University of the Year for Sport in the Times and Sunday Times Good University Guide 2025 - the fourth time it has been awarded the prestigious title.

Loughborough is consistently ranked in the top twenty of UK universities in the Times Higher Education’s ‘table of tables’, and in the Research Excellence Framework (REF) 2021 over 90% of its research was rated as ‘world-leading’ or ‘internationally-excellent’. In recognition of its contribution to the sector, Loughborough has been awarded seven Queen's Anniversary Prizes.

The Loughborough University London campus is based on the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park and offers postgraduate and executive-level education, as well as research and enterprise opportunities. It is home to influential thought leaders, pioneering researchers and creative innovators who provide students with the highest quality of teaching and the very latest in modern thinking.

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