Understanding and Identifying Eating Problems
in Synchronized Swimmers, Part 1
By Lisa Franseen, Ph.D., Clinical Sport Psychologist
From the Winter 1999 issue of Synchro Swimming USA magazine

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Most of us think of one's eating to be either normal or disordered. There is actually a third category between normal and disordered eating that accounts for the majority of eaters, especially females.

NORMAL EATER: A normal eater, for the most part, eats when she is hungry and stops when she is full. There are times when she may eat beyond a point of feeling full but tends not to feel guilty about this. She is open to eating all kinds of foods; that is, there are not any foods that she does not allow herself to eat because of calorie or fat content. She might not like her body size but she accepts it, even if it is far from socety's image of the "perfect" body. She exercises for physical and psychological benefits, not just to control her weight. She may watch her weight but does not obsess about it. And just as importantly, her self-worth is based on something other than how much she weighs, such as her relationships, her work, or who she is as a person.

DISTURBED EATER: Someone with an eating disturbance is quite concerned about "getting fat" and tends to think she is overweight. She is not satisfied with and has a hard time accepting her body size, even if it matches or is close to society's definition of the ideal body. There are usually many foods she thinks she "should not" eat, such as fried foods, junk food, or sweets. She will spend much time trying different diets without success, setting her own rules on what to eat and what not to eat, and feeling terribly guilty when she breaks these rules. She exercises mostly to help her maintain and lose weight and her self-worth is based mostly on how much she weighs. She might also eat compulsively at times (called "bingeing"), and/or force herself to vomit what she has eaten (called "purging").
Someone struggling with an eating disturbance tends to believe that she can only be happy once she loses "X" pounds. There are many girls and women with eating disturbances who say they spend about 70 to 95 percent of their waking hours thinking in some way about food, their weight, hating their bodies, or feeling guilty.

EATING DISORDERED: As the reader can see from the continuum above, the percentage of those with eating disorders is much lower than those with disturbed eating patterns. In comparing the two categories, however, many of the behanviors and attitudes are similar. It becomes a matter of degree. For example, not only does someone with an eating disorder feel dissatisfied with her body, she actually hates it. She has a hard time not looking in a mirror and feeling total disgust with herself. Her self-worth is totally based on her weight. She experiences an intense fear of gaining even an ounce. At times, her body-image can actually be distorted. Even if she is well below expected weight for her height and age, she believes she is fat. Mental health professionals and researchers are still not sure exactly what causes someone to go beyond an eating disturbance to develop an eating disorder.
Eating disorders include both anorexia nervosa and bulimia. It is very tempting for coaches and teammates to diagnose someone they know but it can only be done by a trained mental health professional, as there are certain criteria a woman must meet such as frequency and intensity of particular behaviors.

SHOULD WE ONLY FOCUS ON THOSE WITH EATING DISORDERS?
Once an athlete develops an eating disorder it is extremely difficult to help that person feel good again about herself and her body. The best approach is to prevent athletes from developing full-blown eating disorders in the first place. This means that our focus must be on those athletes with eating disturbances. According to statistics, this will account for five to eight swimmers out of every 10. Education, working with both a psychologist and registered dietician, and other preventative efforts can really help. If nothing else, these efforts give the message that we care about the swimmer's physical and emotional well-being, and that her well-being is more important than whether she wins the next competition.

TYPICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF THOSE WITH DISTURBANCES AND DISORDERS:
It is crucial for coaches and athletes to be aware of characteristics to better identify and help someone they suspect may be struggling. There are certain personality characteristics typical of those with eating issues that are also commonly found in successful athletes. This is why we find more athletes than non-athletes with eating disturbances and disorders.

SIMILAR CHARACTERISTICS BETWEEN ATHLETES AND EATING DISORDERED INCLUDED:

About the author: Dr. Franseen is a clinical sport psychologist in Denver, Colorado, who began helping athletes with eating disorders when she worked at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs. In 1999, she presented at the Annual Aquatics Convention in San Diego and to synchronized swimmers at the elite training camp in San Francisco. She also wrote a 3-Part Article on Eating Disorders for Synchro Swimming in 2000. She is available for presentations and workshops around the country and can be reached at franseen@pol.net.