RED-S, Systems, and the Loss of Trust in Your Body
I'm absolutely delighted to share that RED-Scue has been selected as a Finalist in the 2026 Enterprise Vision Awards (EVAS).
The recognition means a lot, not just because of what we're building, but because of why we're building it.
Before starting RED-Scue, I spent years struggling with RED-S (Relative Energy Deficiency in Sport). Looking back, one of the hardest parts is reckoning with potential — the years I lost because I genuinely thought I was doing everything right.
I thought I was healthy.
I thought I was disciplined.
I thought more control would lead to better outcomes.
Instead, I was under-fuelling.
And honestly, that still hurts.
I sometimes wonder about the performances I never reached, the adaptations that never came, and how different things might have been if I'd understood what was happening sooner.
What I’ve realised since is that knowledge wasn’t the problem.
Like many people experiencing RED-S, I had read the guides, listened to the podcasts, and understood nutrition, recovery, carbohydrates, energy availability, training load, and rest days.
Yet I was still stuck.
Because RED-S isn’t always an information problem.
It’s often a systems problem.
When your environment rewards productivity, excessive exercise, food rules, control, and constantly doing more, underfuelling can look a lot like “being healthy.”
Overtraining becomes dedication.
Restriction becomes optimisation.
Restlessness becomes discipline.
And because these behaviours are often praised, they can be incredibly difficult to recognise.
Most advice about fuelling more is simply: “eat more” or “follow my guide.”
But how much can you actually take in if your entire environment rewards underfuelling?
The question isn’t always:
“Do I know what to do?”
It’s often:
“Does my environment make fuelling enough the easiest option?”
Looking back, recovery didn’t come from finding another article or expert.
It came from changing the system around me.
My routines.
My training.
My relationship with food.
The people around me.
The way I measured success.
Because underfuelling and overtraining are often systemic problems, and systems need changing.
The loss of trust
One thing I don’t think we talk about enough is trust.
RED-S doesn’t just affect energy availability — it affects your relationship with yourself.
For years, I trained myself to override my body:
Ignore the hunger.
Push through fatigue.
Do the extra session.
Walk a little further.
Eat a little less.
Be more disciplined.
Over time, you stop trusting hunger.
You stop trusting fatigue.
You stop trusting recovery.
You stop trusting yourself.
And that’s where things like imposter syndrome can creep in.
Not because you’re incapable.
Not because you’re a fraud.
But because you’re rebuilding trust in something you’ve spent years overriding.
Around 70% of people experience imposter syndrome at some point, particularly high achievers — and in recovery, it can feel amplified.
Because rest can feel like laziness.
Fuel can feel like “too much.”
Slowing down can feel like failure.
What RED-S taught me
As much as RED-S took from me, it also gave me perspective.
It forced me to question so many of the messages we’re taught about health, fitness, and body image:
That thinner is always better.
That more discipline is always better.
That hunger should be ignored.
That food has to be earned.
That health can be measured by control.
What I’ve learned is that a body that’s constantly under-fuelled isn’t healthier.
It’s simply surviving.
I can grieve what RED-S cost me, while also being grateful for what it taught me.
Two things can be true at the same time.
That understanding is what inspired me to create RED-Scue.
Not as another product built around restriction, control, or chasing smaller bodies.
But as a reminder that fuelling matters.
That energy availability matters.
And that supporting your body will always take you further than fighting against it.
Being recognised by EVAS feels particularly meaningful because RED-Scue isn’t just a business. It’s the product of lessons I learned the hard way, and a mission to help others avoid making the same mistakes.
Questions I started asking myself
Some of the questions I started asking myself were:
Work
Does my job support regular eating?
Can I take breaks without guilt?
Are long periods without food built into my day?
Training
Is my training structured around performance, or around fear of losing fitness?
Are there genuine rest periods?
Food
Is food available when I need it?
Am I relying on willpower instead of planning?
Timing
Are eating opportunities protected in my schedule?
Is fuelling automatic or negotiable?
People
Am I surrounded by people who normalise fuelling?
Or people who reinforce leanness, discipline and constant activity?
Hobbies
Do I have interests unrelated to exercise and performance?
Is there somewhere for my attention to go when I’m not training?
Mind
Can I tolerate uncertainty, reduced fitness and imperfect control?
Can fuelling enough exist without turning into another optimisation challenge?
If you're currently in it, or coming out of it, you're not alone.
Sometimes the shift isn’t about knowing more.
It’s about changing everything around the knowing.
