You can break the cycle.
Binge Eating Therapy for Athletes
Virtual therapy for athletes caught in the restrict-binge cycle, loss of control around food, and the shame that follows.
We provide sport-informed, virtual therapy for athletes with binge eating across PA, NJ, DE, FL, VT, IL, SC and OR. Therapy focuses on breaking the restrict-binge cycle and rebuilding a steady, trusting relationship with food that supports your sport instead of fighting it.
Binge eating involves eating a large amount of food while feeling a loss of control, often followed by shame, distress, or attempts to make up for it. For athletes, it's especially easy to miss. You're expected to eat a lot and stay disciplined, so a pattern that feels out of control can hide in plain sight, or get written off as a lack of willpower.
Binge eating is common in sport cultures built around strict food rules, weigh-ins, or a strong focus on leanness, and it often follows periods of restriction, like an in-season meal plan or a weight cut.
What is Binge Eating?
-
Eating past fullness or feeling unable to stop once you start
Eating when you're not physically hungry
Eating in secret or hiding food
Rigid food rules that break down under stress or when the season ends
-
Extra training or stricter rules to "make up for" eating
Fatigue, stomach discomfort, or feeling sluggish in training
Avoiding team meals, travel meals, or eating around teammates
Anxiety about weight or body changes during injury or the off-season
-
Shame, guilt, or disgust after eating
Fear of losing control around certain foods
Constant preoccupation with food, or with "being good"
Discipline in your sport that doesn't carry over to eating
Signs & Symptoms of Binge Eating
I want you to know that struggling with binge eating is not a lack of discipline or willpower. Restriction and rigid rules reliably increase the drive to eat, and that response is biological, not a personal failing. Athletes can look completely put-together, and even perform well, while feeling out of control around food in private. You don't have to feel "sick enough" to deserve support.
Binge eating often goes unnoticed.
How Therapy Helps with Binge Eating
Therapy for binge eating focuses on the patterns and beliefs that keep the cycle going, while supporting sustainable recovery and performance.
In therapy, we may work on:
Understanding the restrict-binge cycle and what keeps it going
Building coping skills for urges, stress, and difficult emotions that don't rely on food or exercise
Softening all-or-nothing food rules and the guilt that follows eating
Rebuilding trust with hunger, fullness, and consistent eating through the season and off-season
Addressing compulsive exercise or "making up for it" behaviors
Supporting an identity and self-worth beyond your body and performance
Stride takes a collaborative, sport-informed approach using evidence-based tools like DBT and ACT, and regularly works alongside dietitians, physicians, and sports medicine providers when appropriate. Sessions are led by Hannah de Groot, LPC, a licensed athlete-focused therapist listed on the US Olympic and Paralympic Registry for Mental Health Providers, and Taylor Hunter, LCSW.
Some athletes who binge meet criteria for binge eating disorder. Others do not.
Binge eating can occur with or without a diagnosable eating disorder, and therapy can be helpful regardless of diagnosis. Early support can keep the pattern from becoming more entrenched. If you're unsure where you fall, therapy can help you clarify what's happening and decide on next steps.
Competitive and recreational athletes
High school, collegiate and elite-level athletes
Athletes in endurance, aesthetic, weight-class, and team sports
Athletes questioning if they’re fueling enough
Athletes in endurance, aesthetic, weight-class, and team sports
All therapy is provided virtually, making it accessible around training, school, and competition schedules.
Who We Work With:
Get in touch
Change is possible.
Frequently asked questions
-
No. Everyone overeats sometimes, and athletes often need to eat a lot. Binge eating involves a sense of loss of control, along with distress, secrecy, or shame afterward. If eating feels out of control or is followed by attempts to make up for it, it's worth exploring with a therapist.
-
Yes. Binge eating can affect athletes of any gender, sport, or level, and it's often overlooked because athletes are expected to eat a lot and stay disciplined.
-
Rigid eating during training, followed by less structure or more anxiety during time off, commonly triggers bingeing. It's a predictable response to deprivation, not a personal failing.
-
Not necessarily. Treatment is collaborative and, when appropriate, coordinated with your care team so it fits your situation.
see how far you'll grow
—
see how far you'll grow —