U.S. Figure Skating, It’s Time to Say No to Noom

by Taylor Kennedy

TW: Eating disorders, body dysmorphia, dieting, diet culture, calorie counting

If you watched any part of U.S. Figure Skating Nationals earlier this month, you probably saw a few advertisements for Noom – a weight loss program and one of U.S. Figure Skating’s largest sponsors.

On U.S. Figure Skating’s website, Noom explains that it ‘works with customers across the globe to create healthier habits, reduce their risk of chronic health problems, reverse disease, and foster healthier relationships with themselves in the process.’ Commercials for the app that ran during Nationals positioned the program as a behavioral/lifestyle change program that would lead to long-term, sustained weight loss.

For those of us that have been involved in figure skating for years, it was impossible to ignore the juxtaposition of a weight loss platform sponsoring an event in a sport where eating disorders and body dysmorphia run rampant. This issue has been exposed in recent years with Gracie Gold’s return to competition and her openness about her experience with depression, anxiety, and disordered eating.

Research has shown that, for female athletes in aesthetic sports – such as figure skating – eating disorders occur in as many as 62% of athletes. And, for men in these sports, the percentage is about 33%. A study of Canadian figure skaters found that 92.7% of the skaters surveyed felt a pressure to lose weight and/or engaged in disordered eating behaviors to maintain the thin ideal encouraged by the sport (Source).

Synchronized skating adds an extra pressure on athletes – with so much emphasis on matching every expression, extension, and arm placement skaters may feel an extra pressure to look a certain way to blend in with their teammates. 

In the case of Gracie Gold, the figure skating establishment has praised her comeback and recognized the mental strength necessary to do so. Following her performance at this year’s Nationals commentator Johnny Weir said her previous success and momentum ‘crumbled beneath her’ following the 2016 World Championships where she finished just short of the podium without recognizing the immense pressure to perform put on her at the time. Additionally, U.S. Figure Skating has never once publicly acknowledged the role it played in her deterioration – something Gracie confirmed in the HBO documentary ‘The Weight of Gold’ saying,  “they advertise keeping our athletes healthy and happy, but they really only deliver physically – everything else is kind of like ‘oh, not our problem.’”

Looking at U.S. Figure Skating’s complete rolodex of sponsors – Consumer Cellular, Toyota, GEICO, Guaranteed Rate, Homelight, and Prevagen – in addition to Noom, it’s clear these sponsors are chosen based on what will resonate most with the TV audience for figure skating. A fact sheet published by U.S. Figure Skating indicates that the average age of a fan is 53, with 75% being female and 81% following the sport during both Olympic and non-Olympic years.

However, U.S. Figure Skating shouldn’t ignore its internal audience when considering sponsors. In that same media kit, U.S. Figure Skating reports that 48% of its members are females under the age of 18, with 13% of that group being between the ages of 13 and 18 – ages where girls are most at risk to develop poor self esteem and body image issues. 

Because of this, and the increased risk for eating disorders in figure skaters, it’s in poor taste that U.S. Figure Skating maintains a partnership with Noom. 2014 Olympian Ashley Wagner was outspoken about this partnership on social media during Nationals – questioning what kind of message U.S. Figure Skating is sending to its younger athletes by advertising a diet platform on the board behind elite athletes. One of Ashley’s followers replied saying her 9 year old skater was asking if she needed to be using Noom after watching the ladies short program.

But what is Noom?

Abbey Sharp – a Toronto-based Registered Dietician, writer, and YouTuber – gives her thoughts on Noom’s program in a YouTube video. She explained that Noom’s branding as a wellness program focused on behavior change is a much healthier approach to weight loss than restrictive diets, but stressed that the functions of Noom’s programs don’t follow through on its promise of a wellness program.

Sharp pointed out two immediate red flags with the program. One being the fact that it seems to equate losing weight with getting fit, and the second being the fact that it breaks down foods into three categories – commonly referred to as the ‘traffic light system.’ 

Noom’s ‘traffic light system’ breaks foods down into three categories – green, yellow, and red – based solely on caloric density. Sharp explained that this can be problematic if taken too seriously – especially since the app praises users for eating mostly ‘green’ foods and warns them if their intake of ‘red’ foods gets too high. Users run the risk of developing a fear of ‘red’ foods and over consuming ‘green’ foods – something Sharp called a ‘how to guide to orthorexia.’ Orthorexia is a type of eating disorder that involves the unhealthy obsession with healthy eating and a focus on food quality rather than quantity (Source).

Sharp explained that when users are beginning with the program they’re able to input a series of goals they’d like to meet – including how much weight they’d like to lose and how fast they’d like to do so. In doing her own research, Sharp experimented with the goals setting and found that there are no checks for potentially problematic goals. As a trial, she said she wanted to lose 30lbs in 3 months and listed her lifestyle as ‘active.’ In response, the app suggested a caloric goal of 1200 a day to lose 10lbs a month. Sharp pointed out that losing 10lbs a month is unhealthy and unrealistic, and that 1200 calories a day is not enough to sustain an adult, especially one with an active lifestyle. Sharp stressed that without checks on unhealthy or unrealistic weight loss goals, the platform can become dangerous for some users – especially because of its mechanism for rewarding users for eating primarily ‘green’ foods and not exceeding daily caloric goals.

What does Noom mean for young skaters?

While Noom only allows users 18 and older to register for the platform, it’s important to consider the effects of such an app on those under 18 – especially since the majority of U.S. Figure Skating’s internal audience falls into this category. And, because the app relies on the users themselves to verify their age, there’s nothing stopping someone under 18 from adjusting their birth year to gain access to the platform. 

Annyck Besso, a Registered Dietician who specializes in eating disorders and sports nutrition, said there’s a danger in advertising any type of diet or weight loss program to kids and teens. There’s a risk that they’ll see it as something they need to be doing – especially in this case when Noom is clearly advertised behind the athletes they admire. 

Besso explained that Noom is especially dangerous for kids and teens because it positions itself as a wellness and lifestyle change, but it’s really just another calorie counting mechanism. She explained that in her work with young athletes the most common issue she sees is underfueling because they’re trying to meet certain performance or aesthetic goals. She stressed that the caloric requirements set out by Noom are too restrictive for any athlete to feel nourished.

Besso also explained that categorizing food based solely on their caloric density simplifies the role that nutrients from different foods play in a balanced diet. She said that while fruits and vegetables – foods Noom categorizes as ‘green’ – should be part of a healthy diet, athletes especially need to have enough protein and carbs in their diets to sustain themselves through training sessions.

In fact, foods that are frequently featured in high-level skaters’ “day in the life” Instagram takeovers are labeled ‘yellow’ and ‘red’ on Noom – lean protein like chicken and turkey is ‘yellow’ and nuts, nut butters, and trail mix are ‘red.’ Besso said that mixed messages could be confusing if someone is on Noom, but then seeing athletes they look up to eating ‘red’ foods as part of their training day, although she finds it reassuring that high-level athletes seem to be fueling properly before training. Besso warned though that these athletes aren’t experts and shouldn’t be offering advice on diet and nutrition – when DREAM skaters or other high-level skaters share what they’re eating, it should be stated and understood that they’re sharing what works for them, not suggesting that everyone do exactly what they’re doing.

Where does this leave U.S. Figure Skating?

For years, U.S. Figure Skating has played a passive role in the deterioration of its athletes’ mental health and the prevalence of eating disorders in the sport. U.S. Figure Skating needs to take actionable steps to address the damage it has caused, and can start by immediately dissolving its partnership with Noom.

U.S. Figure Skating needs to take the mental and physical health of its athletes seriously, and start giving coaches substantial resources and training to address instances of disordered eating and help athletes before the situation deteriorates. U.S. Figure Skating coaches of all disciplines need to renew Safe Sport training each year but this training provides insufficient information.

In the Safe Sport Program Handbook dated May 28, 2020 (which coaches used to renew compliance for the 2020-21 season) ‘eating disorder’ is mentioned only twice in the 24 page document – both in the same bullet point as an example of non-contact offenses related to physical misconduct.

• Prescribed dieting or other weight-control shaming (e.g., public weigh-ins, caliper tests for humiliation purposes, encouraging disordered eating behaviors, or failure to act or intervene upon discovery of an eating disorder) (Source).

Annyck Besso suggested that a shift needs to start at the top – U.S. Figure Skating needs to establish mandatory training and education for all coaches with experts. And, coaches need to be held accountable for setting a positive tone on their teams and within their organizations. Besso recognized that in athletics there’s always going to be a pressure to perform, and especially in aesthetic sports, she ‘doesn’t think [athletes] will ever move completely past the personal pressure people put on themselves to look a certain way’ but it’s the responsibility of coaches to set the tone for what’s normal and what’s expected to achieve goals.

Besso also explained that trainings need to go beyond information about proper nutrition for athletes and need to give coaches the tools to identify early warning signs of disordered eating. She mentioned that in her experience, many coaches dismiss amenorrhea (the absence of three or more menstrual cycles) as normal in high performing athletes, when it’s actually an indication of significant problems such as disordered eating and osteoporosis. Besso stressed that coaches should be equipped to effectively handle these types of situations and be supported by U.S. Figure Skating to get the help the athletes need. 

Besso agreed that the ‘win at all costs’ mentality needs to change. In U.S. Figure Skating, this is most notably seen in the ladies event – with commentators frequently bringing up the achievements of young Russian skaters landing multiple quads and saying that U.S. skaters need to perform similarly to be competitive at Worlds and the Olympics. In making these statements, U.S. Figure Skating is putting the same pressure on the athletes of today that it put on Gracie Gold – saying the most important thing about these skaters is the jumps they land and the medals they win. 

But why is U.S. Figure Skating so focused on replicating a system that, despite its collection of medals, is fundamentally broken? Russia was banned from the 2018 Olympic Games as a result of widespread doping among athletes and remains banned for the 2021 and 2022 Games. Russian ladies routinely retire before the age of 20 – citing consistent injury and eating disorders as their reason. The Russian Skating Federation doesn’t seem concerned about this because of the seemingly endless stream of young skaters able to perform quads and win medals and has made little effort to rectify this.

By aspiring to this model U.S. Figure Skating is ignoring the fact that skaters are people, not mechanisms to win medals. There’s nothing wrong with setting big goals and working towards them, but it becomes problematic when achieving the goal becomes more important than the means used to achieve it and the toll it takes on the skaters. U.S. Figure Skating has a responsibility to its athletes – they’re not going to be skaters forever and it’s important they leave the sport with their mental and physical health intact. 

As long as U.S. Figure Skating continues to collect a paycheck from Noom, it’s telling its athletes it cares more about their physical appearance and performance than their wellbeing. These issues won’t go away simply by ending the partnership though – U.S. Figure Skating needs to undergo a drastic cultural shift and recognize that the overall health of athletes is more important than the medal around their neck.