159. Eating Disorders in College Athletes: Megan’s Story with Bulimia, D1 Rowing, + Recovery

Female Athlete Nutrition

This episode of the Female Athlete Nutrition podcast is with NCAA DI college athlete Megan O’Connor. After taking to social media to share her eating disorder recovery story, Megan wanted to come on the show to continue raising awareness for eating disorders. Megan candidly details her struggles with bulimia and how it intersected with sport, she speaks out about the harms to health and performance of eating disorders and the importance of getting help. We discuss mental health resources for college athletes and tips for telling someone you’re struggling and having the courage to ask for help. Megan shines a light on the support she found at Ohio State University, how she advocated for treatment, and her path from rock bottom to recovery and returning to sport. We cover relapse and recovery timelines, different levels of treatment, the importance of a support team, and life and sport after recovery.

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In this episode we talk about:

6:00 How Megan came to be on the show

10:30 Megan’s eating disorder story

21:10 The power of speaking out

24:30 Mental health resources for college athletes

29:30 Realities of rock bottom; trigger warnings and sharing with sensitivity

33:10 Bulimia: stigma, dangers, impact on health and performance

39:00 How to tell someone you’re struggling and ask for help

46:30 Recovery timelines and relapse

49:30 Megan’s treatment and recovery journey

53:00 Advocacy and accountability during ED recovery

59:40 Sport after recovery

1:03:10 End of the podcast questions

Follow Megan on Instagram @megannnoconnor and me, your host Lindsey Cortes, on Instagram @female.athlete.nutrition

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