EATING DISORDERS & EXCESSIVE EXERCISE
How we can help
There are many forms of eating disorders which can manifest in many different ways. Excessive exercise is a common symptom in those with eating disorders and plays a role in the development and maintenance of the disorder. Restrictive eating, binge eating, or obsession with food coupled with an unhealthy amount of exercise can have an array of effects on the body such as:
Hypothalamic amenorrhea (absent periods for several months)
Low bone mineral density
Disrupted sleep patterns
RED-S (relative energy deficiency in sport)
Altered resting heart rate
Do you answer YES to some of the statements below?
My exercise interferes with important activities such as work or socialising?
I experience stress or guilt when I am unable to exercise?
I exercise at inappropriate times and places?
I find it difficult to supress the behaviour?
I continue to exercise despite injury or illness?
I use exercise as permission to eat?
I become secretive about my exercise?
Many individuals with eating disorders and excessive exercise tendencies are unsure what a healthy or normal relationship with exercise looks like and it can be tough to self-regulate. This is why it is so important to involve professional help.
Guidance and education through a regulated and graded treatment plan can help you recover and heal your relationship with food and exercise, creating a healthy and sustainable lifestyle. Involving a doctor, psychologist, dietician, and exercise physiologist, can help you start to feel in control again.
The Seed Exercise Physiology blog has a number of posts that provide you with advice, guidance and support relating to women’s health conditions and concerns.