Men and eating disorders!

py2006

Eating disorders among men seems to be very taboo. Certainly, as a society, when we hear the words 'anorexia'. 'bullimia' and 'binge eating' we automatically think of young girls etc.

According to eatingdisorders.ie research shows for every 4 females with anorexia there Is 1 male
And for every 8-11 females with bulimia there is 1 male. (American journal of psychiatry 2001).

I was quite shocked at this statistic.

I recall a period of my life in my teens were I had put on a bit of weight without realising it. I saw a photograph of myself with a couple friends and I was shocked at the size difference between me and them. I went through a period of time where I literally avoided food. I even remember emptying my dinner plate down the toilet so I wouldn't have to eat it. Sometimes I would literally just take a few bites out of a slice pan just to relieve the hunger and that would be all I would eat that day. Surprisngly I felt good. I lost a bit of weight but I am not sure I could call this an eating disorder as I didn't become dangerously skinny and I did start eating properly again.

There have been other periods in my life where I would over eat and feel rather unwell for doing so. I wouldn't make myself sick but I would avoid meals the following day.

I don't know of any boy/man suffering from an eating disorder. I imagine it is hard enough to admit the issue but 10 times harder for men.

Has anybody come across an eating disorder in men?

Wibbs

Yep. Two that I knew of. I knew one guy way back in the 80's(when it was considered even more a "woman thing") who became a diagnosed and hospitalised anorexic after his dad died suddenly. I knew another who became obsessive about fitness and diet and really overdid it to the point of a distorted body image and unhealthy relationship with food. In both cases it seemed to be a temporary thing. Lasted (at it's acute phase) under a year, more like six months and both fully recovered. On the other hand I've known a lot of women with unhealthy food fixations. Not full blown eating disorders*, but a low level everyday thing. I don't recall any men like that. Maybe that's the cultural pressure diff though? I gather more men are coming down with that nowadays.




*excpt for two bulemics.

py2006

Wibbs wrote: »

Yep. Two that I knew of. I knew one guy way back in the 80's(when it was considered even more a "woman thing") who became a diagnosed and hospitalised anorexic after his dad died suddenly. I knew another who became obsessive about fitness and diet and really overdid it to the point of a distorted body image and unhealthy relationship with food. In both cases it seemed to be a temporary thing. Lasted (at it's acute phase) under a year, more like six months and both fully recovered. On the other hand I've known a lot of women with unhealthy food fixations. Not full blown eating disorders*, but a low level everyday thing. I don't recall any men like that. Maybe that's the cultural pressure diff though? I gather more men are coming down with that nowadays.




*excpt for two bulemics.

Not sure if we can read anything into the lack of responses here. Is it something men aren't ready or willing to talk about? Is it not as prevalent as the research in my link suggests?

It is interesting that you point out the fitness thing. A lot of younger guys these days seem to be fixated with the gym and having a certain physique. It didn't occur to me that food and diet would be a part of this.

Wibbs

py2006 wrote: »

Not sure if we can read anything into the lack of responses here. Is it something men aren't ready or willing to talk about? Is it not as prevalent as the research in my link suggests?

My hunch? It's just not as prevalent in men or presents differently. Certainly personal however inaccurate experience would suggest that. I've known a fair number of people in my life and only two men with "classic" eating disorders.

I would believe it's far higher a problem in women. Read an interesting article about a chap who suffered from a brain injury and was essentially in a coma, or at least the world around him thought he was. In reality he was conscious and trapped in his body. One thing he comments on are the two things the female nurses talked about, boyfriends/husbands/family and weight. Nearly every one of them was unhappy with their weight. Of the women I've know well, I can't think of one that wasn't very aware of her weight. Even those who were the cultural ideal. Actually the very heavy even obese women were probably the least obsessive I've found.

This doesn't mean self destructive behaviour doesn't happen in men. The suicide rates would say otherwise. I just think it comes out in a different way in the majority of cases.

Delirium

When I was around 21 I had a very unhealthy attitude to food and my weight. It lasted for about a year.

I'm currently 15 stone, which is my average weight since I turned 18, but during that year I dropped down to 9 stone.

One of the things I noticed during that time was that it was only women that would question if I had an eating disorder. Not one guy would mention it.

And even after I changed things in my life that were causing the food and body issues, all bar one guy didn't discuss it. It was a friend of my dads who was the only guy to say anything. Basically just told me that I looked healthier since I'd put some weight on.

I definitely think a lot of it is to do with guys having a stereotype that eating disorders only affect women. At least that was the attitude among my peers at the time.

I still don't think of it as having a eating disorder type thing when I did lose all that weight. Probably because I would think of eating disorders like depression, in that you don't just change the mind, it usually requires professional help to get better.

RedXIV

kinda the other end of the spectrum here.

I'm a fatty and am slooooooooowly trying to wriggle my way out of an unhealthy rut.

I'll get there eventually but I've resigned myself to the slow and gradual change since any drastic ones never last

*sigh*

Morag

There are more types of eating disorders then just 'anorexia'. 'bullimia' and 'binge eating.
I do agree that an 'eating disorder' it is something most people don't picture men having but some of the people I know who's have the narrowest range of food that they will eat are men. Self limiting to the point that it's not healthy and they don't know it or don't seem to care.

Wibbs

Sharrow wrote: »

There are more types of eating disorders then just 'anorexia'. 'bullimia' and 'binge eating.

Oh yes but we really don't need to be going down the everything along a very wide scale is a "disorder" either. Throwing on weight because of short or mid term laziness isn't a disorder. Losing weight temporarily because of some acute stress in ones life isn't a disorder. It can happen easily enough with eff all underlying mental pathology.

I do agree that an 'eating disorder' it is something most people don't picture men having but some of the people I know who's have the narrowest range of food that they will eat are men. Self limiting to the point that it's not healthy and they don't know it or don't seem to care.

Hardly a disorder though, however longterm unhealthy from a dietary point of view. Comparing a bloke eating only a happy meal every day to an actual disorder like anorexia nervosa* is way off IMHO. Apples and oranges. No pun. Unhealthy? Yes. Disorder? Hardly.




*a disorder so serious it has the highest suicide rate of any mental illness.

gargleblaster

I have read that these are on the rise, but my impression that was the more pressing issue with respect to males and body image was steriod abuse.

Wibbs

Funny enough GB on that point I have been quite surprised at the amount of blokes who take anabolics. Never really heard of it before. Not outside expose type things on the telly around body builders. I gather it's quite the thing with older/middle aged guys in the US. In those cases though I think it's more about getting the hormonal levels back up to when they were young. A few seem to do it under medical supervision too. If I found out I was running excessively low on testosterone I'd take a supplement TBH. The problem is seeing good results and then taking too much of a good thing with the attendant risks(though I further gather unless you're overdoing it, the risks have been somewhat exaggerated)

Dravokivich

gargleblaster wrote: »

I have read that these are on the rise, but my impression that was the more pressing issue with respect to males and body image was steriod abuse.

Doesn't seem too odd to me hearing that alright. I've known people who chugged protein shakes and other supplements thinking it'll make them fitter, without working out or properly adjusting their diet. I'd recon that's more so either a lack of responsiblity or knowledge.

gargleblaster

Well here in the US the focus is more on teenage boys who are taking anabolic steroids illegally. There's a black market for them for bodybuilders, so I suppose it's those channels that made it available to younger men. Hopefully this trend won't become popular elsewhere.


Just looked up some stats and it seems that abuse by young men in high school has been declining, so that's good news.

Raze_them_all

Dravokivich wrote: »

Doesn't seem too odd to me hearing that alright. I've known people who chugged protein shakes and other supplements thinking it'll make them fitter, without working out or properly adjusting their diet. I'd recon that's more so either a lack of responsiblity or knowledge.

on this gyms have alot to answer for, they'll sell you everything they can with minimal info, oh that creatine, it's great for getting you bigger.

I used to be in two pretty weight orientated sports (kickboxing and mma), it wouldn't be eating disorders but you'd notice straight away if someone is training or not they're very much sports that focus alot on weight loss/weight gain.You have to be as light as possible but as big as possible.I went from 110kg(before training) to a weight that I wasn't since I was 15,Now I'm 6ft so I wouldn't be the smallest guy, yet I was always one of the smallest in my weight class which would just make me want to lose more weight. I'll post some pics so you can see what I'm talking about.











The difference between picturs 1-3 is 8.5 kg with picture 2 being 2.5kg heavier than pic 3.

To lose the weight I used to train 6 hours a day, 6 days a week and diet constantly which does make your stomach shrink, which reduces the amount of food needed to fill you when you're off your diet. On diet I used to eat small meals every 2-3 hours I wouldn't say I had an eating disorder but it got to the point where I'd eat any extra non diet food and my body would naturally bring up maybe a quarter to half of what I ate depending on the size. Added in with the constant exercise I lost 8-10 inches off my waist from my heaviest, which meant my clothes were massively baggy on me and had my mother proper concearned that i had a disorder. I got a couple of injuries in a row,started drinking, stopped dieting and just never got back into it and am happy enough with my weight now and honestly couldn't see myself going back to that lifestyle.

To be honest there probably isn't too big of a line from being healthy like i was to having a disorder of some kind.

This one guy I know used to have an Irish title at 51 or 54 kgs, this guy is 5'6 max, he now weighs over 110kg last time I seen him, which is what I would consider another type of eating disorder

Logical Fallacy

Many men suffer from Body Dysmophia...it's basically a very strong hang up about some aspect of they physicality.

I've got a lot to say about this with regard to the different ways they manifest within males and females in general but it's pretty complex, it's 1am and i have a track that needs to be mixed down for the morning so i'll put up a big post tomorrow.

Alopex

i have seen a reverse anorexia in guys who work out. they get panicked and fret if they don't get excess calories. other things like obsessing with protein shakes.

fortunately this behaviour is not physically damaging and often improves their physique. however if it did the damage anorexia/bulimia nervosa did it would probably be a serious health issue

guys are sort of lucky that most of them can get the body of a male model healthily but girls have to undereat. it is a pity girls in tv shows are the stick thin types rather than girls with a healthy muscle mass like some field athletes.

surely guys find this lady attractive?

the_syco

Alopex wrote: »

surely guys find this lady attractive?

Dang! :cool:

RedXIV wrote: »

I'm a fatty and am slooooooooowly trying to wriggle my way out of an unhealthy rut.

Find an exercise that you find fun, and do it.

I dislike walking, so I can't use a threadmill for long, or 10 minutes would be the maximum I could walk on one. I like weights, rowing machine, cycling and swimming.

Weights, I just do. I have a goal (example: 3 sets of 20 reps) and find that going for the goal helps keep me doing it.

Cycling and swimming I prefer to leave that to leisure. Cycling around hte block, and swiming for the fun.

Row machine; I can switch on the tunes, and row. No real thought process goes into the row machine, and thus I cab listen to my tunes and get fit.

Also, diet helps big time. Switching from white bread to "best of both" bread, and not eating late at night helped a lot.

Finally, going all in is probably a bad idea, as you'll get bored fast, and quit soon after. Best to start off small, and then expand it.

Reward also helps. You like cookies? Pick a shop that is 30 minutes walk away, which sells cookies. Walk there, buy a cookie, and eat it on the way back. You'll be surprised at how easy walking every day to the shop will be, as there is a reward in it.

Handsome Bob

Ah yeah Alopex.

RedXIV wrote: »

kinda the other end of the spectrum here.

I'm a fatty and am slooooooooowly trying to wriggle my way out of an unhealthy rut.

I'll get there eventually but I've resigned myself to the slow and gradual change since any drastic ones never last

*sigh*

Same here. I don't think I'd ever describe what I had as an eating disorder though. I was always fat and then suffered a bereavement which made me go from 12 stone to 17 stone in 2006, but I'd just put that down to emotional eating.

I'm having a strange period though. When I was obese I never really gave a crap about what society thought of me, I lost the weight because I wanted to. But now that I am closer to my ideal weight, I have developed a slight obsession with how I'm perceived. Weird.

py2006

Handsome Bob wrote: »

I'm having a strange period though. When I was obese I never really gave a crap about what society thought of me, I lost the weight because I wanted to. But now that I am closer to my ideal weight, I have developed a slight obsession with how I'm perceived. Weird.

Perhaps it is because you are anxious to stay at your ideal weight and not return to the weight you were?

Handsome Bob

py2006 wrote: »

Perhaps it is because you are anxious to stay at your ideal weight and not return to the weight you were?

Maybe. I think the main problem is that I've invested so much in my own body image, I'm starting to compare myself to other males, and that can never be good. :P

py2006

Handsome Bob wrote: »

Maybe. I think the main problem is that I've invested so much in my own body image, I'm starting to compare myself to other males, and that can never be good. :P

Have you something to tell us? :pac:

RedXIV

the_syco wrote: »

Dang! :cool:


Find an exercise that you find fun, and do it.

I dislike walking, so I can't use a threadmill for long, or 10 minutes would be the maximum I could walk on one. I like weights, rowing machine, cycling and swimming.

Weights, I just do. I have a goal (example: 3 sets of 20 reps) and find that going for the goal helps keep me doing it.

Cycling and swimming I prefer to leave that to leisure. Cycling around hte block, and swiming for the fun.

Row machine; I can switch on the tunes, and row. No real thought process goes into the row machine, and thus I cab listen to my tunes and get fit.

Also, diet helps big time. Switching from white bread to "best of both" bread, and not eating late at night helped a lot.

Finally, going all in is probably a bad idea, as you'll get bored fast, and quit soon after. Best to start off small, and then expand it.

Reward also helps. You like cookies? Pick a shop that is 30 minutes walk away, which sells cookies. Walk there, buy a cookie, and eat it on the way back. You'll be surprised at how easy walking every day to the shop will be, as there is a reward in it.

Yeah i used to do alot of training for Basketball and Martial arts, was training something ridiculous like 11 times a week and was in great shape. But a college course based around alot of desk time and job of similar have taken the edge off me and when I finish work I get home to help take the strain off herself with the kids.

Kinda sound like I'm making excuses now :P but I would like to get back into something a bit more reguarly but just circumstances at them moment make it difficult (a 1yr old at home and another due in 2 months)

Handsome Bob wrote: »

Same here. I don't think I'd ever describe what I had as an eating disorder though. I was always fat and then suffered a bereavement which made me go from 12 stone to 17 stone in 2006, but I'd just put that down to emotional eating.

I'm having a strange period though. When I was obese I never really gave a crap about what society thought of me, I lost the weight because I wanted to. But now that I am closer to my ideal weight, I have developed a slight obsession with how I'm perceived. Weird.

Similarly, I didn't seem to care about my weight until I decided to do something about it. Maybe its because the research scared the bejesus out of me