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Sometimes the need to lose body fat is desirable and achievable. Some athletes become overfat due to poor dietary intake (e.g. as a result of poor nutrition knowledge or erratic eating patterns due to travel) or due to a period of a low energy expenditure (e.g. during the off-season, or while injured). These athletes can be assisted by changes to nutrition, training and lifestyle to regain their ‘optimal’ body fat level. In general, body fat losses are achieved by a sustained program of moderate energy restriction and appropriate training/increased energy expenditure.

However there is much concern about athletes who seek to achieve body weight and fat goals that are extreme and unnatural. There is considerable pressure on athletes in many sports to achieve very low body fat levels in the belief that ‘less is better’, or to achieve body fat and weight standards that are arbitrarily set by coaches or other authorities. These practices do not allow for individual variability in physique, nor do they encourage safe and healthy methods to achieve loss of weight and body fat. This situation is particularly true for female endurance athletes, whose desired body fat levels often seem below the ‘natural’ level for the individual, despite their heavy training programme. The problem is compounded in the case of females in ‘aesthetic’ sports (e.g. gymnasts and figure skaters), where training is skill-based and energy balance must be changed primarily through energy restriction. Problems also occur in weight division sports where the tradition is to compete in a weight class which is considerably below ‘normal’ training weight, and to ‘make weight’ by ‘dieting’ to reduce body fat levels, superimposed by acute dehydration during the day(s) prior to the event. Performance in ‘weight making’ sports is likely to be impaired due to the effects of fuel depletion and dehydration.

However, in the larger view there appears to be an increased risk of disordered eating and eating disorders among athletes in sports in which low body fat levels are emphasized. It is a challenge of sports nutrition to assist athletes to set and achieve body weight and body fat goals that are truly ‘ideal’. This should include the notion of individuality, allowing the goals to be set according to the athlete’s history and realistic potential. Studies of elite sports show that, although there is a ‘typical’ physique that seems favourable for performance, there is considerable variation in the physique of well-performing athletes.

 

The athlete should be aware of the disadvantages of fad diets and of extreme fat/weight loss techniques. They should also recognize that there may be penalties for achieving very low body fat levels, at least when it does not seem to be penalties for achieving very low body fat levels, at least when it does not seem to be the athlete’s natural physique. These include hormonal, physiological and psychological disturbances and may result from the low body fat level itself, as well as from the methods involved in achieving it (i.e. restricted eating, overtraining, stress). An ‘ideal’ weight and body fat level for any athlete should guarantee consistently good performances over a long term period, promote good health, and allow the athlete to consume a diet of sufficient energy and nutrients that allows all goals of training to be achieved. The need for individualized and expert advice on management of body weight and fat is the most common reason for an athlete to seek the services of a sports dietitian.