The Negative Effects of Undereating for Athletes

Undereating can have a major impact on performance for athletes. Even for regular day people, undereating can take a huge toll long term. You may think that eating less is what is or what will keep you lean, but you're hindering not only your ability to build and maintain muscle but also your body's internal systems and functions. Not getting the calories that you need on a daily basis throws your body off and puts it in a state of panic. This is why people who undereat tend to feel nauseous, fatigued, irritable, mental fog and are typically sluggish more often than not during the day. 

Athletes that undereat may experience these symptoms amongst a host of others, such as:

• Muscle loss

• Impaired recovery

• Persistent soreness and fatigue

• Impaired mental cognition

• Increased chance of strains, pulls and tears

• Negative effects on body composition

Ensuring that you are staying properly hydrated and fueled throughout the entirety of your day as an athlete is highly crucial to being at your best both mentally and physically. Calories are the main driver of fueling our performance and promoting recovery. If we aren't providing our bodies with sufficient nutrients then at some point something is going to breakdown.

 Food is better than no food, but what you are eating is equally important. We do want to prioritize quality food sources from single ingredient, whole foods that will give us our macros: protein, fats, carbs and micronutrients such as vitamins and minerals as well. We can't ask our bodies to give us consistent high output in practice, the weight room and in competition without giving it the proper nutrients to do so.

If you don't consume enough protein then you are going to lose muscle over time, this isn't up for debate. Even if you are in the gym and training your tail off, if you don't consume enough protein you will not build muscle. But if all you eat is protein and nothing else, your body will use that to fuel other systems and functions in the body, which will detract from how much of it your body can use to actually build and repair muscle tissue. Carbs and fats are equally as important. Most athletes don't have issues consuming enough of either, it is always the protein intake that holds them back.

Protein is the building block of muscle, if you are constantly breaking down muscle and asking so much from it yet not giving it enough protein to repair and grow, you can't be surprised when you get injured. This is why you feel so bogged down and tired, your body is suffering from not getting the quality nutrients to properly heal itself. Your body is trying to preserve itself so its sending a signal that you need to do something to help it. This is also why when you tend to undereat, your body composition tends to suffer and you may unintentionally tack on unneeded fat stores. When your body isn't getting the calories that it needs, it's going to want to hold on to more calories than normal due to the fact that it is in a state of panic.

This is why when people go on weight loss diets they struggle at the beginning to see changes because the body has settled into its current state of homeostasis, even though losing weight and especially fat will be a great thing for the body, it doesn't see it that way. It sees the reduction in calories as a state of alert that it isn't getting what it needs and it needs to take action against it. Eventually things give with consistency and a solid strength training program but the reaction from your body is no different when the undereating is unintentional, because it can't tell when you are intentionally going into a caloric deficit or not, all it knows is its not getting the right amount of calories. 

Typically since the undereating is unintentional by athletes, it goes on for much too long and this is why the major effects of things like muscle loss, reduced cognitive function, constant fatigue and an inability to recover show up and prevent us from truly excelling at our sport or activity. Fueling yourself properly is not something you should neglect or take lightly. There is a reason why a lot of high level professional athletes hire personal chefs or partner with meal prep service companies because they know how important it really is. Set yourself up for the best chance of success by giving your body the proper care and nutrients that it needs on a daily basis, not just before the big events. Eat your food!