The Impact of Underfueling on Physical Performance
Underfueling (in the context of student-athletes, not eating enough calories and important nutrients to meet the energy needs of their training, recovery, and overall health) takes a serious toll on the physical performance of D1 female athletes, limiting their strength, endurance, and ability to recover, ultimately compromising everything they train for. Earlier in my career, I pushed myself hard every day but didn’t realize I was underfueling. I thought I was doing the right thing by eating clean, skipping snacks, avoiding carbs. I was trying to stay in shape like the women around me. But over time, I felt more tired than usual. I couldn’t keep my energy up through an entire practice. My legs felt like they weighed more than they should, and I noticed my jumps weren’t as high and my hits weren’t as powerful. During games, especially long ones, I could feel myself burning out. I also stayed sore for way longer after lifting, and I started getting small injuries, ankle tweaks, muscle tightness that just wouldn’t go away. At first, I blamed it on stress or overtraining, but eventually I realized it was because I wasn’t eating enough to let my body recover.
When athletes aren’t eating enough or eating the right types of food, their bodies can’t keep up with the demands of their sport. Carbs provide us energy quickly, protein helps our muscles heal, and fats keep our hormones in check (Manore, 2017). If you cut back too much, you start to feel it, low energy, longer recovery, slower reaction time, and a higher chance of injury. It also weakens your immune system, which means more time sick or out of the gym. As McKendry and Oxfeldt (2023) explain, when the body senses an "energy crisis," it goes into survival mode and stops processes that use a lot of energy, like repairing muscles, speeding up metabolism, and even regulating hormones. A lot of athletes fall into the same trap I did, thinking that eating less is the key to performing better. But in reality, it does the opposite. Without enough fuel, your body starts to break down. This isn’t just about one person, it's a common problem in college sports. Until more people start taking nutrition seriously, athletes will keep underperforming, not because they aren’t working hard, but because their bodies just don’t have what they need.
The Mental and Emotional Consequences of Disordered Eating
Disordered eating not only harms your body, but also harms your mind and emotions, too. The anxiety regarding food, the way you start to hate or distort the way you view your own body, and all the self-doubt that comes along with those feelings can be exhausting and hard to overcome. I've been there myself. At the beginning of my collegiate career, comparing myself to others was a routine part of my life. I was constantly in this mindset where I thought I wasn't "good enough" because my body didn't look like the lean, toned body I saw on other teammates or on Instagram. This made me very critical of myself, and food become a huge source of stress. Eating was like an experiment to me, and if I messed up or ate something that I "shouldn't", I felt guilty and ashamed. That guilt wasn't temporary, it made me restrict further, like a loop of self-punishment but justifying it as for the "right" reasons. Over time, it wasn't so much about bodily performance anymore but control, fear, and constant anxiety. Instead of being powerful or confident, I was trapped and isolated inside my own head.
Far too frequently, this emotional and psychological weight falls on many athletes struggling with body perception and fueling. Wells et al. (2015) note that playing "lean" (having a low body fat percentage with visible muscle) sports are more likely to have eating disorders, and peer, family, and media pressure are big reasons why. Self-doubt based on fear and skewed body perception only serves to solidify restrictive tendencies and unfavorable behaviors. Hardie, Oshiro, & Dixon (2022) also found that a lot of former athletes still have trouble with their body image even after they stop playing sports. This shows how deep this damage may go. This negative cycle is so powerful that it continues on its own, holding athletes in a powerful stranglehold and rendering it very difficult to ever give up control without professional help. When the mind is completely mixed up about food, body image, fear and guilt, the physical consequences are that much more alarming. That's why it's so important to come to understand that fueling issues aren't just about nutrition, they're absolutely about your mind and mental health, and both need to be addressed to heal and get well.
The Role of Toxic Team Culture and Coaching in Fueling Issues
Negative team culture and subtle messaging from teammates or coaches can be at the forefront of keeping issues going, especially in women's athletics where appearance is often equal to how athletic someone is perceived to be. It doesn't always have to be overt and intentional, though, but when weight loss is praised or body proportions are emphasized as the "ideal," there is no question about the message - your body is being judged and less is more. I have witnessed it firsthand throughout my career. No one ever directly said to me, "You need to lose weight," but the message was everywhere. Coaches would praise players who did look like they had lost weight, typically relating it to how they played, saying something like "you look faster" or "you've lost weight, looking good out there." I remember that one time, one of my teammates received a compliment after losing a little weight on winter break, and instead of raising red flags, it simply made the rest of us jealous. Even small remarks, like commenting on what someone was eating or bodies in the locker room, started to invade my mind. It wasn't always mean or blatant; it was just constant. You start to believe that your looks are equally as valuable, if not more valuable, as your performance. Once you believe that, it's an easy excuse to skip meals, overtrain, or hide bad habits.
This is not necessarily "tough love" or competition pressure, it teaches athletes to prioritize appearance over health. Wells et al. (2015) found that female athletes in sports that care about weight or looks had much higher rates of disordered eating behaviors, and many of them were affected by what their coaches said. When leadership leans that way, deliberately or inadvertently, it affects everyone. That's why fixing nutrition issues in college athletics isn't just about motivation or education on the part of the individual. It requires an entirely different culture, one where power, health, and function matter more than size or appearance. The fix must involve coaches, officials, and teammates. If the environment remains toxic, no amount of nutrition facts or meal plans will make a real difference.
The Turning Point – Getting Help and Learning to Fuel Optimally
My breakthrough was when I transferred to Virginia Tech and received the support that I never knew I needed. It wasn't just a change of schools, it was completely transforming the way I viewed food, my body, and my health as an athlete. At Virginia Tech, I started seeing a sports nutritionist, and my whole world changed. For the first time in college, I had someone not just telling me that I needed to "eat better," but was teaching me how to fuel my body optimally. I learned how many calories I really had to eat, how carbs weren't evil, and how underfueling was dragging me down in all areas: physically, mentally, and emotionally. Instead of skipping meals or focusing on my body, I started listening to how I was feeling and how I was competing. My energy came back, my mood improved, and I started enjoying the sport again. The practices no longer seemed like punishment, and I could finally begin to heal in ways that truly counted.
It was such a revealing case of what can happen when athletes are guided and cared for. Manore (2017) emphasizes that female athletes can avoid a lot of dietary problems by learning about them early and working with a trained sports dietitian. Access to knowledgeable staff like dietitians and sports nutritionists are a game-changer, but sadly, not every athlete has that kind of help. Without it, we’re left to figure things out on our own, relying on social media, bad advice, or just guessing. My experience at Virginia Tech showed me how important it is to make that kind of support normal and available in every college athletic program. Learning how to fuel appropriately shouldn't be related to having some secret advantage, it should be an inherent part of being a healthy, functioning athlete. It's not just food; it's education, empowerment, and getting athletes equipped with what they can do to take care of themselves in the long term.
On August 5, 2025, I sat down with Clint Wattenberg, associate athletics director, sports nutrition at Virginia Tech, to get a better understanding of the reality of underfueling in Division 1 sports. "Under-fueling is very common for college student athletes, especially female athletes," he told me, clarifying that it is not always disordered eating. Most frequently, though, athletes are underfueling due to a "nutrition knowledge deficit" or because they "underestimate energy expenditure and nutritional demands to meet these needs.
Wattenberg also discussed some of the most harmful misconceptions he comes across. "Many athletes perceive nutritional needs to become more selective and restrictive as training demands and competitive levels increase," he said. But in his mind, that idea is completely reversed. He added that even processed or ultra-processed food—usually demonized by diet culture—could be a lifesaver for athletes who are trying to meet high energy demands, especially when they cannot obtain enough calories from 'clean' or whole food sources alone. "When an athlete is burning energy at a high rate, it may be helpful and even required that they consume processed food," he went on.
One of the most surprising things Wattenberg shared was that athletes may not feel the effects of underfueling right away, which is how it can go on for such a long duration. "Athletes tend to be pretty resilient to underfueling in the short term," he said, "and might even feel lighter since there is less food in the system." That short term feeling might be misinterpreted as a good result when, all the while, long-term damage is taking place beneath the surface. "Underfueling has a far more insidious impact on an athlete over the long term," he warned, referring to the Relative Energy Deficiency in Sport (RED-S), a syndrome that occurs when an athlete's energy intake fails to keep up with the intensity of their training and daily living. RED-S, he explained, can damage nearly every system in the body, from brain function to mental health.
When I questioned Wattenberg about what he would tell a new D1 female athlete, he did not hesitate: "Work to balance energy demands of your training with strategic fueling to fuel up for training and to recover from it." He was clear that perfect eating is not the goal, timing and consistency are more significant. "Sometimes suboptimal fuel at optimal times is far better than falling short in an effort to eat clean," Wattenberg stated. His final message was one that has stayed with me "If body image or other eating concerns exist, seeking RD (registered dietitian) and mental health support sooner than later will be critical in you taking those steps toward using the power of nutrition for good versus using it to abuse yourself and stifle your potential."
They Should Know Better
Others may say that athletes are adults and should already know how to take care of themselves, particularly when it comes to something as fundamental as eating. And fairly, many of us do have food available and the autonomy to make our own decisions. But simply having food around doesn't necessarily mean athletes know how to fuel appropriately for the rigors of high-level performance. Sports nutrition is far more than "eating healthy." It is not something most people ever learn, and it wasn't something I fully understood until I got actual guidance. Most athletes are victims of diet culture, social media misinformation, or even toxic team cultures encouraging unhealthy behaviors. It is easy to fall into restrictive behaviors, overtrain, or skip meals in the name of discipline without guidance.
Thinking that young athletes can navigate the complicated world of sports nutrition on their own is thinking that a person can fly an airplane without ever having taken a flying lesson, it's not realistic and it's not safe. Athletes might appear tough on the outside, but that doesn't always mean they have what they need on the inside. Proper fueling is not common sense—it's science. As Manore (2017) explains, energy requirements for performance include not only determining baseline metabolic requirements but also training requirements, recovery requirements, and competition requirements, variables that shift on a daily basis. Most athletes are not prepared to make those calculations without professional assistance.
It's estimated by McKendry & Oxfeldt (2023) that up to 60% of female athletes are underfueling without even being aware of it, because they have not received education on just how much energy their bodies truly need. Hardie et al. (2022) also noted that even mild, chronic energy deficits can impair hormonal health, bone density and recovery, leading to long-term performance deterioration. That is the majority of athletes at risk, and it is not a statistic. Which is the reason why access to and education by qualified professionals like sports dietitians is so valuable. Athletes should not need to choose between performing at their best and protecting their health. They require true guidance, not expectations. Athletes should not be left to guess their way through fueling when performance, health, and happiness hang in the balance.
Conclusion
Looking back, I can see how normal my story really is and how dangerous it is that so many athletes are still enduring it in silence. Underfueling is not always evident. It acts as the face of discipline, of being praised for dropping pounds, of what we think it takes to be a serious competitor. But the truth is this; without enough fuel, we break down physically, emotionally, and mentally. What happened to me in the earlier stages of my career wasn't necessarily a situation of making poor choices or not knowing any better, it was one of being immersed in an environment that subtly encouraged unhealthy habits and did not provide the support systems needed. It wasn't until I made the transition to Virginia Tech, spoke with a nutritionist, and eliminated a great deal of the practices and habits that I had formed that I finally knew what proper fueling was. If we anticipate that change must come for other athletes, giving them a meal plan and hoping they follow through isn't going to do the trick. We need to change the culture. That means educating coaches, countering negative messaging, and giving athletes access to the support they require. Female athletes shouldn't just be hanging on - they should be flourishing.
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