A Competitive Powerlifter Open Ups About the Mental Health Effects of Cutting Weight to Win

Content material warning: This story incorporates references to disordered consuming and excessive weight-loss methods, which can be upsetting or triggering for some readers.

At her very first powerlifting meet, Brittainy Chown had already seen a stress to “weigh in” as gentle as attainable with the intention to nab the highest spot. A former collegiate observe athlete, Chown turned to powerlifting—a sport that entails lifting as a lot weight as attainable for one single rep—to faucet into her latest appreciation for power coaching whereas satisfying her must compete.

But it surely took her a few yr to lastly decide to a meet. Her years of working five-plus hours a day had made her physique small and lean. It was onerous to shake the nagging feeling that she wanted to be “this tremendous skinny, skinny” athlete. “I used to be type of embarrassed about what my weight had gotten as much as within the yr that I had taken off from any type of train,” she says. “I personally felt like I wanted to drop extra pounds to get into what I used to be contemplating a extra favorable weight class, so far as, like, what I wished to be often called.”

Chown spent someplace between six and eight months making an attempt to drop extra pounds earlier than her first meet, finally dropping 20 kilos in that interval. For the following 4 years, Chown mentioned she “compelled” herself to remain throughout the 75-kilogram (165-pound) weight class. However by 2018, her lifts have been plateauing. She was struggling harm after harm, she recalled. In her ninth meet, the then-27-year-old had lifted a complete of 881.8 kilos throughout her bench press, squat, and deadlift—greater than 100 kilos lower than what she had lifted in a contest simply eight months prior.

Though lots of the powerlifters in her circle inspired her to embrace weight acquire—and, in flip, muscle and power—and bump up a category, “in my mind, I used to be like, ‘Positive, I am going to get stronger, however I am additionally heavier, so it does not matter,’” she remembers. “As if it does not rely in the identical method, which is silly, however in my mind, that is what made sense.”

Chown’s not the one powerlifter who’s turn into fixated on the size, both on account of both inside or exterior voices. As much as 70 p.c of elite athletes competing in weight-class sports activities weight loss plan and have some sort of disordered consuming sample with the intention to scale back their weight earlier than a contest, based on 2012 analysis¹ in Sports activities Well being. In a latest 2024 survey² of 16 aggressive American Olympic weightlifters, contributors seen competing with out slicing weight beforehand as “unimaginable.” And the athletes’ personal weight-class selections have been pushed by the game’s condemnation of physique fats, based on the research authors.

For some athletes, competing at a decrease weight class may give them a aggressive edge—as long as they’re participating in healthful, sustainable practices with the assist of a crew of execs (together with a registered dietitian, sports activities psychologist, coach, and healthcare supplier), based on the specialists interviewed for this story.

However for a lot of lifters, policing physique weight for the sake of a win can have severe psychological and bodily well being results. And, as Chown later found, escaping the confines of a weight class might be liberating.

Why physique weight issues in powerlifting

Powerlifting is promoted as a “you versus you” sport—you’re striving to be the most effective, strongest model of your self. That distinctive sort of competitors makes for a usually constructive surroundings, with a supportive group that can cheer one another on no matter what number of plates are on the bar. And that’s what hooks many athletes, says Natalie Ribble, MS, CSCS, CFSC, an athlete, powerlifting coach, and the chief of employees at Seattle Energy & Efficiency.

What your physique appears to be like like—its form and dimension—shouldn’t be a priority. In reality, athletes interviewed for a 2023 research³ within the Girls in Sport and Bodily Exercise Journal all described the powerlifting group as body-positive, due to the emphasis on coaching to stage up bodily power—not aesthetics. The game provides athletes a deeper appreciation for his or her our bodies and their capabilities, enhances mind-body connection, and improves self-compassion, based on the findings.

Nonetheless, for severe lifters seeking to win, physique weight does matter. The first powerlifting organizations divide opponents up right into a dozen or so weight courses. USA Powerlifting (USAPL), for instance, splits feminine athletes into 11 weight courses, spanning from 44 kilograms (97 kilos) to 100-plus kilograms (roughly 220 kilos and above). Top, physique composition (i.e., quantity of lean physique mass and physique fats), genetics, age, and different elements can all affect your physique weight and, in flip, have an effect on which weight class you’ll “naturally” sit in. The scoring system, nonetheless, can go away lifters feeling pressured to lose physique weight or keep a decrease weight.

Powerlifting is promoted as a “you versus you” sport—you’re striving to be the most effective, strongest model of your self.

Awards like “Greatest Lifter” of the whole intercourse class are decided by an athlete’s DOTS rating, which is basically your ratio of power to physique weight, Ribble says. In idea, having the identical power in a decrease weight class will make you extra aggressive, she says. For instance, somebody who lifts 200 kilos in a decrease weight class would have a better—and extra aggressive—DOTS rating than somebody who lifts the very same weight however is in the next weight class. (Throughout the weight class, nonetheless, DOTS usually does not matter for placement. Awards are given based mostly on who has the best whole weight lifted throughout the class, based on Ribble.)

“We’re all fairly ingrained early on that with the intention to win the meet, you need to carry essentially the most weight on the lightest physique weight,” Chown says. “That is going to be what is going on to provide the highest rating. So there’s this stress to weigh in as gentle as you may, as a result of if you wish to win general, that is going to be one solution to do it. Clearly lifting extra helps, but when it’s also possible to carry extra at a lighter physique weight, then that ratio goes to go up.”

In powerlifting and different weight-category sports activities, that narrative typically encourages weight reduction⁴. Ribble factors out that reducing weight with the intention to compete in a specific weight class might be performed in sustainable, non-restrictive methods. In a 2023 survey⁵ printed within the European Journal of Vitamin, lots of the powerlifters who reported long-term weight-reduction plan adopted an “If It Matches Your Macros” or “versatile” plan, each of which are supposed to be much less restrictive.

Contemplate Ribble herself. In 2022, she sat on the sting of the 90- and 100-kilogram courses and wasn’t inserting in addition to she wished within the increased class. As a powerlifting coach, she wished first-hand expertise with the weight-loss course of. For a whole yr, she steadily misplaced 24 kilos. She dropped to a decrease class for her subsequent two meets and bought even stronger. Her totals went up, as did her DOTs. She clinched second and third place.

The harms of shrinking for aggressive edge

That mentioned, some athletes resort to excessive, short-term weight-loss strategies which can be confirmed to be dangerous, Ribble says. In a small 2022 research⁶ within the Journal of Energy and Conditioning Analysis, 83 p.c of the surveyed athletes reported “slicing weight,” doing so by proscribing fluid consumption, fasting or skipping meals, rising exercise, taking laxatives or diuretics, and utilizing the sauna. Weight-category athletes have been discovered² to attenuate vitality consumption.

The vast majority of lifters within the above 2022 research reported unfavorable modifications to their psychological state, experiencing fatigue, anger, emotions of isolation, and anxiousness. And these weight-making strategies have been proven to extend the danger of in-competition accidents, compromise bone well being, and hurt basal metabolic well being, per a 2024 overview² printed in Efficiency Enhancement & Well being. 

As a coach, Ribble typically sees this sequence of occasions: First-timers stroll into their meet at their baseline, “as-is” physique weight. After competing, they begin to surprise how they may place in the event that they did drop extra pounds whereas sustaining their power. Then, they attempt to lower down a weight class for his or her second, third, and fourth meets.

However this course of tends to turn into irritating; perhaps they’re not as robust as they’d wish to be or they’re struggling to take care of that decrease physique weight within the low season. “When you attempt to lower weight quick for a meet, then what is going on to occur is after that meet is over, in your low season, your weight goes to pop again up,” Ribble says. “Relying on when you’ll want to compete once more, then you need to undergo one other small lower to get again right down to your weight class and one other after which again up once more. Every time you type of fluctuate up and down like that, it will get more durable to chop again to that weight class.” To not point out, for those who’re placing on muscle (which theoretically comes with⁹ potential will increase in power), you’ll usually weigh extra over time, she says.

It’s why Ribble doesn’t particularly suggest slicing to any of the athletes she works with. In the event that they ask for steerage on weight reduction, they’ve an in-depth dialog concerning the shopper’s “why,” their relationship with meals and their physique, and what a sensible, mentally and bodily supportive plan may seem like. As a rule, although, she reminds those that their smallest physique just isn’t their strongest or healthiest physique. “I feel for me and for most individuals, except there is a nationals qualifier on the road or one thing like that, it’s not usually price it.”

“For the primary time in my life, I used to be consuming to handle my weight and never consuming to gas my coaching.” —Brittainy Chown, powerlifter

For Chown, sustaining her 75-kilogram weight class wasn’t simple—or wholesome. She remembers obsessively counting energy, overanalyzing the whole lot she was consuming, and battling an incessant cycle of proscribing and binging. “I feel mentally, that was actually tough,” she says. “I’ve at all times been an athlete. I’ve at all times eaten quite a bit and eaten to carry out, after which for the primary time in my life, I used to be consuming to handle my weight and never consuming to gas my coaching.”

A majority of these restrictive practices can’t solely result in under-fueling⁵ and bodily exhaustion, particularly given the depth of a sport like powerlifting. However they’ll additionally have an effect on your social and emotional connections, says Melissa Streno, PsyD, CMPC, a licensed scientific psychologist in Denver who makes a speciality of physique picture, consuming problems, and disordered consuming, notably amongst athletes.

Meals isn’t simply gas on your physique; it’s additionally a supply of pleasure and a solution to join with others. And having to remain at a specific weight, keep away from sure kinds of meals, or feeling like “I can’t get pleasure from XYZ meals” typically modifications your day-to-day routine and negatively impacts your social life, she explains. “I feel over time, that may get actually draining and actually disconnecting.”

In the meantime, one other damaging connection is fashioned: The quantity on the size can turn into a lot greater than a easy truth. In her early days, Chown’s weight class was a tenant pole of her identification. Chown, like many different athletes, put that quantity in her Instagram deal with, @brittchown75. It was immediately recognized within the powerlifting group that she was within the 75-kilogram weight class—and that’s what individuals would anticipate of her, she says. She remembers considering, “If I have been to realize weight and transfer up a category, what would everybody suppose? When you’re connected to it and also you suppose that is your weight class, you may do no matter you may to carry on to it.”

This inside and exterior stress to suit into one weight “field” can occur in any weight-category sport, whether or not it’s powerlifting, bodybuilding, or wrestling, based on Streno. “You are feeling like you slot in. You are feeling like you’ve gotten a spot. You are feeling such as you belong,” she says. “If there’s alternative in with the ability to transfer away from that [weight] to one thing which may really be helpful in the long run—on your well being, on your efficiency, all of these issues—but it surely seems like this unknown territory…there’s hesitation to that.” Creating that distinction, nonetheless, can take away among the energy these numbers carry, she provides.

The liberty of devaluing physique weight

Following 4 years of restriction, poor efficiency, and harm, Chown hit a breaking level. Lastly, she started to let herself develop. It’s a mindset shift many elite powerlifters expertise, Ribble says.

“When you have been to speak to anyone who’s been on this sport for a extremely very long time—tremendous mature lifters who’ve been competing for 10 years or extra—they might say the identical factor: Your smallest weight class just isn’t at all times your best weight class,” Ribble says. “Possibly generally it’s, but it surely will not at all times be that. And with the intention to proceed to develop into the game, you’ve bought to placed on muscle, which suggests you’ve bought to placed on weight in some unspecified time in the future.”

Streno places it this manner: Simply because a pair of denims suit you in faculty doesn’t imply they have suit you for the remainder of your life. In powerlifting, you shouldn’t anticipate your self to take a seat in a single weight class for each competitors, particularly if it’s doing extra hurt than good from a efficiency or well being standpoint.

For Chown, transitioning out of that decrease weight class wasn’t as simple as flipping a “reset” change behind her mind. She spent a yr engaged on consuming extra gas for her coaching, feeling comfy seeing her physique weight go up, and breaking the behavior of—deliberately and subconsciously—proscribing herself when she did see these will increase. Whereas she apprehensive that when she noticed, say, 175 kilos on the size, she would all of the sudden hate her look, “that by no means occurred,” she says.

As an alternative, Chown says her power elevated a ton when she hit the 181-pound weight class. “I noticed a lot progress going from these two courses, and I simply stored kicking myself, like, ‘Why did I wait 4 years to do that?’ It was horrible. I used to be so mad at myself.”

“It is such a great feeling to not be so burdened over a weight class, and I can simply deal with the coaching.” —Brittainy Chown, powerlifter

In 2023, Chown has moved up yet one more weight class. Whereas within the 181-pound class, she discovered herself doing water cuts (dehydrating herself to the purpose she would drop 10 kilos of water weight alone) with the intention to make weight on meet days, a apply she now admits “bought actually unhealthy” and is harmful.

Now in her tenth yr of powerlifting, Chown usually competes within the 198-pound class. It’s a weight that her physique naturally sits at (typically referred to as a “set level”), no obsessive restrictions or weight loss plan micromanaging required. “It’s a weight that enables me to reside my life,” she says.

It’s additionally a weight that enables her to achieve new private information and take residence first place titles. In June, Chown nabbed the highest spot in her weight class at the USA Powerlifting Affiliation’s Examined Nationwide Championships in Nevada.

“I really feel the strongest I ever have,” says Chown. “It is such a great feeling to not be so burdened over a weight class, and I can simply deal with the coaching. Who cares what the quantity is that I weigh in at, ? It is a part of the game, however I haven’t got to have any type of emotional ties to that quantity.”

Some individuals may even see a efficiency enhance from dropping down a weight class, as long as there’s a assist system making certain it is performed in a wholesome method, Ribble says. However for many athletes, powerlifting isn’t a severe profession. It’s merely a pastime sport that helps individuals discover their power and, in lots of instances, heal physique picture points, she provides. The fixed stress, identification disaster, and danger of dangerous bodily and psychological well being results? That’s simply not definitely worth the trophy.

When you or somebody is fighting an consuming dysfunction, name the Nationwide Alliance for Consuming Problems Helpline at 1-866-662-1235 for fast assist or go to allianceforeatingdisorders.com or anad.org/get-help for extra assets.