10/09/2026
Some of the women I’ve seen struggle the most with food were the women everyone else thought were the “healthiest” by the way they looked. Praised.
Athletes. Aspiring Moms. Everyday women.
Women exercising every day because they were terrified of gaining weight.
Women trying to get pregnant.
Women who had spent years dieting, restricting, tracking, weighing and trying to make their bodies smaller.
Women in fitness and wellness.
And yes, I’ve had to examine some of these messages in my own life, too.
Because diet culture can take behaviors that deserve attention and give them prettier names:
“Discipline.”
“Clean eating.”
“No excuses.”
“Getting back on track.”
“Burning it off.”
“Being good.”
“Summer body.”
But there is a point where pursuing health can start harming it.
In female athletes, we have an entire body of sports-medicine research around low energy availability, the Female Athlete Triad and RED-S—Relative Energy Deficiency in Sport.
Not eating enough to support the work your body is doing can affect far more than body weight.
Menstrual and reproductive function.
Bone health.
Recovery and injury risk.
Mood.
Metabolic function.
Cardiovascular and blood health.
Performance.
And you don’t have to “look sick” for something to be wrong.
This matters outside elite sports, too.
It matters for the woman training twice a day because she’s AFRAID TO REST.
The mom skipping meals because she’s trying to get her pre-baby body back. Relying on coffee. And no protein coffee doesn’t cut it maam.
The woman struggling with her cycle or fertility while simultaneously trying to eat less and exercise more.
The woman taking increasingly aggressive approaches to weight loss because gaining five pounds feels terrifying.
And the woman whose entire day is beginning to revolve around what she ate, what she weighs and how she’s going to compensate for it.
Not every one of these behaviors automatically means someone has an eating disorder.
But they’re worth paying attention to.
And maybe we need to stop asking only:
“Does she look healthy?”
and start asking:
“Is what she’s doing to stay that way actually healthy?”
If food, exercise or fear of weight gain is beginning to control your life, please talk with a qualified professional. Eating-disorder-informed physicians, registered dietitians and mental-health professionals can work together—and athletes may also benefit from a sports-medicine team familiar with RED-S and the Female Athlete Triad.
You don’t have to wait until you’re “sick enough” to ask for help.
Save this for the woman who needs the reminder.
And send it to a coach, trainer, parent or athlete who needs to know that under-fueling isn’t a badge of discipline.
